Fairly new boater here.
Bought used 21 ft Monterey w/4.3 Mercruiser last year
Just over 400 hours. Boat and motor appearance in very good shape for used.
Last year first time out, Light/Alarm near throttle goes off after an hour. Brought to shop and it they disconnected and told that there was water in gas so they added a couple of bottles of SeaFoam and brought back on water with same issue. I replaced the fuel/water filter and problem went away. Never got a great answer for what the alarm was all about.
This year: after winterized boat at another shop (just because didn't want to use last shop). They changed out prop to increase rpm's and also was chewed up pretty bad. Told that boat should be ready to go for new season. Just put gas in and re-hook batteries and go. Problem was that batteries were not unhooked so makes me wonder what they did do. Brought boat on water and now runs smooth under 3000rpms (10-15mph range) but anything more shows power loss, sputtering with only half throttle. Full throttle is major sputtering and no gain in speed or rpms. I replaced fuel/water filter again but no improvement this time.
What's the deal here? Bad gas, too much water in gas tank, fouled plugs? Looking for advice on what to do next. I don't mind doing it myself if fairly easy work. Thanks in advance!
Bought used 21 ft Monterey w/4.3 Mercruiser last year
Just over 400 hours. Boat and motor appearance in very good shape for used.
Last year first time out, Light/Alarm near throttle goes off after an hour. Brought to shop and it they disconnected and told that there was water in gas so they added a couple of bottles of SeaFoam and brought back on water with same issue. I replaced the fuel/water filter and problem went away. Never got a great answer for what the alarm was all about.
This year: after winterized boat at another shop (just because didn't want to use last shop). They changed out prop to increase rpm's and also was chewed up pretty bad. Told that boat should be ready to go for new season. Just put gas in and re-hook batteries and go. Problem was that batteries were not unhooked so makes me wonder what they did do. Brought boat on water and now runs smooth under 3000rpms (10-15mph range) but anything more shows power loss, sputtering with only half throttle. Full throttle is major sputtering and no gain in speed or rpms. I replaced fuel/water filter again but no improvement this time.
What's the deal here? Bad gas, too much water in gas tank, fouled plugs? Looking for advice on what to do next. I don't mind doing it myself if fairly easy work. Thanks in advance!