Years of work, engine won't run. Running out of options and about ready to sell.

get a tach. to check wot rpm's, i like my "tiny tach", then get with a good prop shop to get you in the right range, well just looked at your video, think you have one, whats its turning

If it helps, my boats weighs in at right around 1,000 lbs (boat and motor). I have a 65hp motor on a 16' aluminum runabout. At WOT, I can hit 29-32 mph according to the gps on my FF. Your boat looked to be fiberglass, so it's going to have a good deal more weight than mine. 25mph would be pretty good for your boat I would think. My good friend has a 14' fiberglass runabout that weighs 1,800 with a 50hp motor. He's got all the prop under it that it can handle for top end speed and he just barely hits 30mph. Takes a bit to plane out though. My boat jumps on plane almost instantly.

Have been getting speed readings from my phone (speed box app) which seems very accurate, from testing in my car. I also have a conventional pitot tube actuated speedo in the boat, which is slightly less accurate.

My tach in the boat doesn't seem functional. When given power, the needle just buries itself clockwise. Think I have it wired right, it's pretty foolproof.

Sounds like I might just have a heavy boat with a medium engine, which is fine, I'm only concerned that low power might be a sign of a problem that could leave me flagging for a tow someday. If it's just a little small for the boat, that alright- 18mph will still get me out there.

This weekend I'll get the gf on the throttle and make some slow jet adjustments, see if I can get it smoothed out.

thanks for the replies.

Is it possible you sheared off the flywheel key, and the flywheel only moved a little creating all these issues?

I have considered this. The flywheel is tough to get off and I was hoping to make removing it a last resort, but at this point it might be worth the trouble. Think my neighbor has a socket large enough for the main bolt.

kippstakes said:

I have considered this. The flywheel is tough to get off and I was hoping to make removing it a last resort, but at this point it might be worth the trouble. Think my neighbor has a socket large enough for the main bolt.

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An Electric impact wrench makes it easy. Make sure you replace the "key" in the keyway with the proper dedicated key for that engine, you don't want just any old "soft" key replacement.

Alright, the job's done. Finally caved and popped that thing off. The flywheel came off much harder this time, was brutal. Ended up having to get a puller for the job.
Anyway, the key was fine and everything seemed to be in order. I took a minute to clean all the stator terminals and put it back together.

When I started it up it ran the same, strong with a racing idle. I haven't had her in the water yet, plan to this Sunday, so we'll see what happens then.