Finally took her out!!! But it didn't end well
 

Well finally I got to take the old girl out today for a test ride. Just took a little cruise up the river and stopped and let the kids poke the jellies. Had my dad launch his boat and go with us just in case something broke...which we will get to that.

My mom snapped some pics for me. Pulled out of her marina and she pulled along side us and took a few.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psjrwchwsw.jpg

The green definitely looks good on the water. It's really grown on me.

Then I told her I wanted on of us going. Unfortunately their 20' Hurricane deck boat with a 150 Johnson couldn't keep up so this is the best she got.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psuqeppty3.jpg

So guys I got a question. Is it normal for these boats to have those 2 huge tails coming off the stern? I messed with the trim on the motor and it never changed it. I've never had a boat that did it that bad. Anyways this biotch looks awesome cruising on plane. Definitely a head turner.

Of course we had to take a family selfie.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psa5pxbsbx.jpg

Notice the swag I slapped on the E-Box. Perks of having my own vinyl plotter as long as I don't let myself get carried away with it.

So now for the bad news. When I bought this boat the guy warned me the engine was bad. He told me that it was just rebuilt and didn't even have 1 tank of fuel ran through it. I found the water pump to be bad and he unhooked the alarm which kills 3 cylinders apparently because when we hooked that back up it fired right up. There was low comp. on one cylinder 125 on 5 and 100 on 1. I pulled the head off back then and the walls were perectly honed except the low cylinder. It had some mild scarring. I decided F-it I'm gonna run it and see what happens.

About 2 miles of running 4000rpm I started hearing a faint knock about once every second. If I slowed the motor so did the knock. Decided to head back and when I got into the harbor I backed off the throttle and the motor made a horrible knocking sound for a few seconds and died. When I tried to start it the motor turned over a few turns then seemed to be trying to seize. It would stop the starter dead in its tracks and the starter would just buzz. It started back up and I pulled up to the dock and shut it off. I got the boat tied up and the kiddos in the truck and went back and hit the key and nothing. The starter engages and hums but the motor won't turn over.

I was in a rush so I left it in a slip (my mom runs the marina so I get hooked up with the empty slip numbers) and went to watch fireworks. Figured on my way home I'd stop to check on her. Put the key it and hit it and bam, fired right up. However it sounds horrible. Something is definitely banging around inside the motor. Guess tomorrow morn I'll pop the plug out and do a comp check on the existing low cylinder and see if it's changed. I got a feeling that piston is just whacking all around in there.

All well, looks like a repower may be in order. I really don't want to spend the money but I feel a Zuk DF-140 or maybe a Merc. 150 4-stroke may be in order. I feel the 200hp is unnecessary for me at this point. According to my GPS, with this knocking POS motor I was cruising at 49@4500. That's plenty fast for me.

I love the way the boat rode. When we got to the mouth of the river we had a maybe 1' chop and it rode like glass. Some d-bag cut across my bow and I hit his 2-3' wake at about 30mph and it sliced right through it. I gotta feeling I'm gonna love this thing. Looks like the fiberglass guy will have plenty of time to get the top fixed up for me now though. Looks like I'll be bumming mom and dads boat for the rest of the summer.

Great pics. Your boat looks awesome. That green machine is eye catching. Very sorry on the engine. :( If/when I repower I've already made up my mind that a 150HP 4 stroker will probably be the way I go. I love my Merc 200, and as long as she lasts she'll stay on the boat, but there's a lot to be said for the fuel sipping 4 strokers. Like $$$$ saved in fuel costs and reliability.

Yea there is so many benefits to a 4 stroke. Most importantly fuel consumption and reliability. Also I love the quietness and lack of odor that you get from a 50:1 premix motor idling. Gonna try and get some bills knocked out and free up some money then a trip to my local Merc dealer may be in order.

The boat looks awesome. i don't know what to say about those rooster tails. Mine doesn't kick up anything. My guess would be that the tabs were mounted too high and water slipping over the front of them is kicking up. (???)

Good luck.

Haven't put tabs on it yet. Only 1 transducer on the starboard side. Both sides are identical. Doesn't appear to be coming off the motor but hard to tell for sure.

Take a straight edge and put it along the bottom of your boat running fore and aft. Check that there is no gap from the transom to a few feet forward. I'm wondering if you might have a little cupping in your hull. (Cupping is caused by too short a trailer not supporting the stern properly so over time the hull actually bends down a little because of the weight of the engine). I highly doubt it, but since you don't have any tabs, and only one transducer on one side it's about the only thing I can think of. :head:

I'll take a look at that soon as I can. I know for the past 15 years it was kept in a boatel and I'm sure they knew how to support the hull. But then again who knows and there's still 22 years before that something could of happened also. I actually dropped it off today to the fiberglass guy to finish the top off so I'll talk to him about it too. He will know what to look for.

What amazes me is the speed I read about from assorted posters......

If I read correctly, you recorded 49 mph at only 4,500 rpm with a less than perfect 200 hp outboard.

That suggests to me that full out / approx another 1,000 rpm you'd be around 55-60 mph.

Impressive.

That's according to a late 90's/early 00's GPS. But I did pull away from my dad like he was sitting still and his hurricane will do 38 or so. Not sure what prop I have yet. Never bothered to look.

I don't doubt that a 200 would push a V20 to 50 mph. My uncles V20 cuddy with an old 225 Yamaha is scary fast. Granted i didn't check the speed with a gps but it's way faster than my 22 footer.