CptnBlues63
New member
I'm going to try to be as brief as possible...last year was a bummer. Up until fall of 2022 my boat was running like a top. Then it started to run like crap. I put it away for the winter. Come last spring I towed it to my friend's house (he lives on a lake some 20 miles away) and I rebuilt the carbs with OEM carb kits. After I was done we attached the baffles and got the water going gently and it fired right up like it always does and was running good again. Or seemed to be. I put it on the water and everything seemed fine until I gunned it.
Average top speed of this boat (16' Starcraft, also 1977) with a work prop on it was just over 30 mph. Say 32ish. Well, when I gunned it, I topped out at 10-15 mph. I wasn't sure what was wrong so I took it to a local marine repair place. They told me it was the throttle cables and for around $1,000.00, replaced them I dropped it on the water and the exact same thing happened. Needless to say I wasn't happy. Called the repair shop and they offered to have a look but it would cost me more $$$
The marine mechanic also pointed out my impeller had stopped functioning.
A good friend came to visit and who's more knowledgeable about boats than I am so we took it out. He said it sounded like I was missing a cylinder. I hauled it back to my friend at the lake's place and we changed the impeller. After replacing the impeller (it was pumping water properly now) we pulled the wires off the spark plugs one at a time. When I pulled the top one, the engine just kept on purring. I put it back on and pulled number 2 and the boat died (I got shocked a bit too which I didn't pulling #1) I plugged 2 in, and started her up and pulled 3, same thing as 2...boat died and I got a bit of a shock.
We swapped 1 and 2 wires and spark plugs and still no joy on #1. I figured it might be the coil so we swapped 1 and 2 coils. Still 1 wouldn't fire so it had to be the power pack. I ordered a new one and put it on. The ol'girl was singing after I replaced the power pack. I took her out to the lake and when I hit the throttle, she jumped like I'm used to. Only problem is, she topped out at 25 mph....not 32 like it always has (my dad bought this boat new in 77, it's only ever been in the family)
I checked the throttle adjustments (I wouldn't mess with them myself as I've never played with those) but it seemed like she was getting full throttle when I shoved the control arm all the way down in forward.
So I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. I don't want to take it back to the marine mechanic as he misdiagnosed the issue right from the outset (and cost be about $700 more than had he got it right to begin with).
In any case, it's the exact same work prop it's always had....that was never removed. As stated, I did carb kits on all 3 carbs and replaced the impeller as well as the power pack last year. Does anybody have any idea what I should be looking at?
TIA
Average top speed of this boat (16' Starcraft, also 1977) with a work prop on it was just over 30 mph. Say 32ish. Well, when I gunned it, I topped out at 10-15 mph. I wasn't sure what was wrong so I took it to a local marine repair place. They told me it was the throttle cables and for around $1,000.00, replaced them I dropped it on the water and the exact same thing happened. Needless to say I wasn't happy. Called the repair shop and they offered to have a look but it would cost me more $$$
The marine mechanic also pointed out my impeller had stopped functioning.
A good friend came to visit and who's more knowledgeable about boats than I am so we took it out. He said it sounded like I was missing a cylinder. I hauled it back to my friend at the lake's place and we changed the impeller. After replacing the impeller (it was pumping water properly now) we pulled the wires off the spark plugs one at a time. When I pulled the top one, the engine just kept on purring. I put it back on and pulled number 2 and the boat died (I got shocked a bit too which I didn't pulling #1) I plugged 2 in, and started her up and pulled 3, same thing as 2...boat died and I got a bit of a shock.
We swapped 1 and 2 wires and spark plugs and still no joy on #1. I figured it might be the coil so we swapped 1 and 2 coils. Still 1 wouldn't fire so it had to be the power pack. I ordered a new one and put it on. The ol'girl was singing after I replaced the power pack. I took her out to the lake and when I hit the throttle, she jumped like I'm used to. Only problem is, she topped out at 25 mph....not 32 like it always has (my dad bought this boat new in 77, it's only ever been in the family)
I checked the throttle adjustments (I wouldn't mess with them myself as I've never played with those) but it seemed like she was getting full throttle when I shoved the control arm all the way down in forward.
So I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. I don't want to take it back to the marine mechanic as he misdiagnosed the issue right from the outset (and cost be about $700 more than had he got it right to begin with).
In any case, it's the exact same work prop it's always had....that was never removed. As stated, I did carb kits on all 3 carbs and replaced the impeller as well as the power pack last year. Does anybody have any idea what I should be looking at?
TIA