I should start by mentioning that I'm 20 years old, and that this was my first boat purchase. I'm not useless, but I don't exactly have an extensive working knowledge of mechanics. I do my own oil changes, brake changes, stereo change things like that, but I'm far from an expert. I recently purchased a 1973 MonArk Marauder with a Mercruiser 3.0 140HP i/o on the back. When I purchased the boat, the guy told me it hadn't been out since last spring, but that he had winterized it, and that it ran. I even watched it run in his driveway when I bought it. It started up, went into forward and reverse, and that was that. I now know I should definitely see any boat I buy on the water before I buy it. This being said, the boat did run in his driveway on the hose, and it went into gear just fine, the biggest issue being that the motor idled really high, and ran rough. Like really hard surging while it ran. I had purchased it on a Friday, and that Saturday decided to get it out on the water and see what how it fared. After all, it ran and was ready to go as far as I knew. Upon getting a new battery, filling with gas, and performing a test run in the driveway on the muffs before we (my buddy and I) left, we got to the lake only to find that the boat wouldn't start once it was in the water on the ramp. We pulled the boat back home, and thought that maybe the reason it was running so rough was a dirty carb. So we took the top half of the carb off, sprayed it with cleaner, popped it back on, and then we couldn't get it to work at all. Luckily, my girlfriend's father is a talented mechanic and decided to help me with my boat. Upon hearing it, he told me it needed a timing adjustment bad, and when he saw that there were two fuel filters on the in-line gas line, decided that the tank needed cleaned too. Fast forward a week or two, and the timing, points, and distributor, have been adjusted. The fuel tank has been cleaned and lined, the spark plugs replaced, and a complete carburetor overhaul done. Now the boat runs and starts like a dream on the muffs, and as of Saturday 5/25, the boat was ready to rock (as far as I knew). Memorial Day my girlfriend and I decided to try a test again, and after all that work, upon pulling it out to the lake.....the same problem. Still won't start on the ramp. We tried it in the water, and then tried pulling it out of the water and it still wouldn't start. I watched a video of someone running their motor (Mercrusier 3.0 140HP) on the muffs on youtube, and noticed that their boat shoots out more water and at a higher pressure than mine does. I knew the guy before me did an impeller change, but it had been at least a year since that was done. I'm currently waiting on some parts in the mail for the water pump/impeller change, but I've got the unit off, and everything is going smoothly thus far, but I'll have to see what happens once I get the water pump back on.
A few other things worth mentioning. 1. The boat has good fuel, compression, spark and a clean, freshly overhauled carburetor. Compression (in neutral) was between 110-120 lbs in all 4 cylinders. 2. All new spark plugs, and the timing and condenser points have all been set according to the manual. The fuel tank has been cleaned and lined, along with new fuel lines. 3. It has an electric fuel pump, and a new fuel filter. 4. This boat starts and runs INSTANTLY in the driveway, and revs well in neutral and in forward and reverse. 5. This boat does NOT overheat in the driveway. Even running for 30+ minutes, there is no overheating issue.
A little more explanation on the last test we did.....We weren't exactly planing to go out, but found ourselves having better weather on Memorial Day than we expected (lots of rain in KS around then), and we had off work, so we gave it a shot. Unfortunately, this means my battery didn't have very long to charge. It was only on the charger for around an hour, and we didn't hook up the battery until we got to the lake. When we got it to the ramp I made a few mistakes. 1. I forgot to put my plug in prior to backing the trailer in. *I realized what I did right away and we pulled it out, let it drain and put the plug in before getting back on the ramp.* When it was on the ramp and in the water, it had a slow crank, but it wouldn't turn over. Looking back on this now, I think this may have been because of a nearly dead battery. At the time however, I thought that maybe I had it in too deep, and that there was too much resistance for the boat to start up. The boat was only in deep enough to cover the water intake holes on the lower unit. I pulled the boat out a bit so that the water intake holes were only partially submerged, and still nothing. So we decided to pull it out and see if it would start out of the water...no luck there either. After getting it home, getting some rest, and putting it on the hose the next day with a charged battery, it started right up again. A video from Dangar Marine taught me that lower unit water pumps aren't self-priming, and that just submerging the water intake vents isn't enough for the pump to begin pumping water. So, my current explanation involves two things:
1. My battery was very weak/too weak. I think this would explain the slow crank in the water, and also explain why it didn't want to start out of the water on the ramp either.
2. I didn't have the lower unit submerged enough on the ramp. My explanation (correct me if I'm wrong) is that when the hose is hooked up to the muffs, that water is being *forced* through the unit well enough to cool properly without any issue, but the lack of submersion depth on the ramp kept the lower unit pump from sucking water through the unit. Paired with a weak battery, it didn't want to start.
Any advice would be helpful. I want to mention that I am 100% certain its got a clean carb, its getting fuel and good spark, as those are really the only suggestions that I can find thus far on the internet. I've also seen grounding issue suggestions? We did voltage tests and had the alternator tested, everything appeared to be in working order there too. I'm hoping that my issue stems from the battery and that once I get my new water pump/impeller on things will work out with a charged battery and with everything submerged on the ramp as it should be. Hopefully that all makes sense. I just want my boat to run as well in the water as it does in my driveway.
Thanks!
A few other things worth mentioning. 1. The boat has good fuel, compression, spark and a clean, freshly overhauled carburetor. Compression (in neutral) was between 110-120 lbs in all 4 cylinders. 2. All new spark plugs, and the timing and condenser points have all been set according to the manual. The fuel tank has been cleaned and lined, along with new fuel lines. 3. It has an electric fuel pump, and a new fuel filter. 4. This boat starts and runs INSTANTLY in the driveway, and revs well in neutral and in forward and reverse. 5. This boat does NOT overheat in the driveway. Even running for 30+ minutes, there is no overheating issue.
A little more explanation on the last test we did.....We weren't exactly planing to go out, but found ourselves having better weather on Memorial Day than we expected (lots of rain in KS around then), and we had off work, so we gave it a shot. Unfortunately, this means my battery didn't have very long to charge. It was only on the charger for around an hour, and we didn't hook up the battery until we got to the lake. When we got it to the ramp I made a few mistakes. 1. I forgot to put my plug in prior to backing the trailer in. *I realized what I did right away and we pulled it out, let it drain and put the plug in before getting back on the ramp.* When it was on the ramp and in the water, it had a slow crank, but it wouldn't turn over. Looking back on this now, I think this may have been because of a nearly dead battery. At the time however, I thought that maybe I had it in too deep, and that there was too much resistance for the boat to start up. The boat was only in deep enough to cover the water intake holes on the lower unit. I pulled the boat out a bit so that the water intake holes were only partially submerged, and still nothing. So we decided to pull it out and see if it would start out of the water...no luck there either. After getting it home, getting some rest, and putting it on the hose the next day with a charged battery, it started right up again. A video from Dangar Marine taught me that lower unit water pumps aren't self-priming, and that just submerging the water intake vents isn't enough for the pump to begin pumping water. So, my current explanation involves two things:
1. My battery was very weak/too weak. I think this would explain the slow crank in the water, and also explain why it didn't want to start out of the water on the ramp either.
2. I didn't have the lower unit submerged enough on the ramp. My explanation (correct me if I'm wrong) is that when the hose is hooked up to the muffs, that water is being *forced* through the unit well enough to cool properly without any issue, but the lack of submersion depth on the ramp kept the lower unit pump from sucking water through the unit. Paired with a weak battery, it didn't want to start.
Any advice would be helpful. I want to mention that I am 100% certain its got a clean carb, its getting fuel and good spark, as those are really the only suggestions that I can find thus far on the internet. I've also seen grounding issue suggestions? We did voltage tests and had the alternator tested, everything appeared to be in working order there too. I'm hoping that my issue stems from the battery and that once I get my new water pump/impeller on things will work out with a charged battery and with everything submerged on the ramp as it should be. Hopefully that all makes sense. I just want my boat to run as well in the water as it does in my driveway.
Thanks!
