What did you do to your boat today

YYZRC

I have nothing but praise for those Aquor fittings. I have an anchor washdown, stern washdown and I replaced my fresh water fill with one as well. 

Dream_Inn

@tonyG13 I may take you up on the pump offer if no one else does. I may have some different use for it though.

tricountytrail

Prop Cleaning Anyone see this pitting is this something I need to worry about?

mbnarney

Actually just took a run on the New River. Last time out had to be towed in, 18 gallons of water removed from the fuel. Still have some old gas I am burning off. Uneventful other than a sighting of a Manatee pod. Great day 

Rich_

Put a battery charger on one of the whalers and the Grady, then watched the rain come down most of the day

aero3113

I got a lot accomplished today. I changed the IAC filters, ran her, cleaned the props and drives, removed the shrink wrap from the water line down and washed her. Big jobs left are bottom paint, painting the drives and replace the anodes.

aero3113

When I was removing the shrink wrap I went to cut one of the nylon straps and my knife slipped. Put a little chip in the gel-coat. Everything was going too smoothly…. Patch Paste on order ⚓️

YYZRC

@aero3113 did you find a decent price on the filters? I replaced mine last year and they were like $15 each. Gonna have to buy a Scotch Brite pad and cut it up this year!!

https://a.co/d/aiYzVmR

aero3113

No!
I paid $27.92 for both. I couldn’t believe it 😂
Next time I’m going to cut up the Scotch Brite pads.

aero3113

I forgot, I have new caps and rotors to install also.

YYZRC

Based on the long range weather forecast, I don’t think I will be boating until mid-June. 

aero3113

I’m sure you’ll be in and cruising way before that.
Forgot I have cool fuel filters to replace also!

Rich_

Grady is mostly bottom painted, still have to do the engine bracket and brush the spots that are too tight for a roller. I have to find a broken wire for the trim/tilt on the remote (engine switch still works and I rigged a quick external switch) and might change the transducer, but other than wax that will probably be the first one to get wet.

aero3113

I bought some new spark plugs, should be arriving tomorrow. I forget, do the ACDelco 41-993’s come pre gapped? If not the correct gap is .060, correct?

aero3113

Another productive day.
I installed the new cap and rotors. I put a light coat of dielectric grease around the base of the cap to seal it off. Port side definitely would’ve gave me issues if I kept it in. Starboard side was very clean. I can’t stress enough how important it is to go around and tighten your clamps! I couldn’t believe how many I was able to tighten up (multiple turns). I noticed that there were two areas under the port engine that were wet. I investigated and found 2 leaks. One was at a line that had a crimp clamp on it. I tried to tighten it with a crimp tool, it didn’t work so I just double clamped it. (Why do they use those!) The second one was at the water drain tube. I tightened both clamps and it was still dripping. I tightened more and no luck, it was driving me crazy. Now I went and looked at the bottom of the tube with a mirror and I couldn’t believe it. There was a pin hole in the tube!! I’m glad I found this now and not when it got worse out on a trip. Tube is ordered, $107.00!! Last season I noticed that my starboard oil pressure would do some bouncing every once in a while, so I changed that. Turns out the previous owner had it replaced with an aftermarket one. Was all rusted also. I went and replaced the port side as well. That had the correct one installed. I also cleaned the spark arrestors, they were pretty dirty I was thinking about replacing them because there’s still some debris stuck in the folds of the screens after cleaning them with brake cleaner. I probably won’t replace because they’re crazy expensive!!!!!

Rich_

Not much left of that oil pressure sender

Ian

Careful tightening clamps. On mine there is a harness that has a large connector of 20 pins maybe with a boot over it and clamped. This seemed to be the root of my random fuel pump alarm going off over a couple of years as perhaps the clamp was tweaking the pins and if cold there was a conducting issue. Found purely by mechanic poking every wire and connector possible until the alarm sounded then went off. No bad wire or corrosion and tightening and loosening the clamp made it go on and off.

aero3113

@Ian I had that type of connector on my 242 and had an electrical issue because of that clamp. I can’t remember what it was but backing off some fixed it. My 330 has a locking cannon plug for the harness.

aero3113

@Rich_ I’m lucky the threaded part didn’t break off in the hole. This one was in much tighter than the port side and I did hear a crack when it broke free.

aero3113

Do you guys gap your plugs? I’ve read that Iridium plugs should not be gapped, you can damage them. But the box says “set gap per vehicle specification (exceptions may apply)” Mercruiser says plugs should be gapped to .060. Are the 41-993 pre-gapped? 

Rich_

I’ve never gapped iridium plugs. The writing on the box is probably just generic because it is cheaper to use the “same” box across many plugs

aero3113

I was thinking that also, thanks @Rich ⚓️

aero3113

I changed the plugs this morning, they all seem to look pretty even except Starboard #8, it was pretty coked up. It’s been about 4 years since I replaced the Starboard plugs. If you zoom in Starboard # 5 had a little build up also. Port was all clean, I replaced them 3 years ago when I replaced the manifolds.

Port

Starboard

aero3113

You can see how worn the electrode is, it wasn't burning correctly for a while.

raybo3

I might be crazy but I have mine tuned up every spring and I have my water pumps serviced every spring. 

aero3113

Plugs I usually wait some time, I replaced the wires 4 seasons ago, not sure when to replace them. Caps and rotors every season, impellers every 2-3 seasons.

aero3113

I received spare impellers today to keep in my storage box on board. I also noticed the port side trim reservoir cap was cracked the other day, received the new one today also.

Ian

Interesting re the plugs. I’ll have to check mine.

captkevin

You have inspired me to do this before we start using.

aero3113

@captkevin it’s an easy project. ⚓️