Just fired her up on the trailer...

[trapjaw]

Bought a 5 foot piece of 1.25 '' hose, disconnected the water pump intake, hooked-up the new piece of hose, dropped it in a bucket, added a garden hose to the bucket, and fired her up. Man! That water pump SUCKS! Within 10 seconds that bucket was almost dry and my woman had to run and turn on the garden hose all the way.
I let her run for about 20 minutes, she sounded great! I'm really diggin this new boat of mine...and i haven't even rode behind it yet!
While i was hookin-up the shorter hose for the bucket, i had an idea...more of a recollection of an idea i had back in my commercial fishing captain days in Alaska...
I'm gonna cut-in a nipple and ball-valve into the intake supply line for the water pump. That way i just unhook one hose end from the nipple and then i can drop it into a bucket for a trailer start.
Anyway, with that nipple there, if my boat ever starts taking on water, and my bilges can't keep-up, i can quickly disconnect the intake hose at the nipple, close the ball valve, drop the intake hose into the shaft alley, and let the engine suck the water out of the boat.
Of course it would be in a desperate situation only, but it would work if the boat was taking on alot of water.
Anyway, that's all i got...later.

[Covi]

Glad to hear you had fun with it today trapjaw! One questions what temp was the boat running at?

[trapjaw]

She never got over 145. I didn't just idle her either. I ran half a can of carb cleaner through her, and had quite a few rev-ups at high RPMs.

[jdhart73]

What Carb cleaner did you use?

[jvbaca]

Ran my newly installed perko flush with a garden hose hooked up at high the other day for 1/2 hour at about 1k rpm and just listened to the engine purrrrrr. Never got about 160 degrees which should be about right at engine run/warm temp...........2005 X-45ss 6.0l 385hp....new to me and so excited about the warmer temps coming. Can't wait, c'mon summer!!!!

[woobiedmd]

Ditto the perko flush. Very easy to hook up the garden hose directly to it. I always fire up the engine in the driveway before driving to the lake. I would have a lot of explaining to do to my wife and kids if we got to the lake, put the boat in , and it wouldn't start. Anybody ever in that situation?:(

[Miss Rita]

...put the boat in , and it wouldn't start. Anybody ever in that situation?

A few years ago I was getting ready for the first trip of the season. I started the engine at home in the driveway, checked hoses, blah blah blah. Everything was fine.

An hour later I got to the lake, backed 'er in, turned the key. Nothing. The engine was still warm fer chrissake!

Turns out that one of the wires on the ignition switch had a slightly bad connection, easy fix. It was frustrating, to say the least.

[woobiedmd]

Sounds like you got lucky , that's for sure. Last summer, I saw a guy(grandpa) put a large 24 foot bowrider(obviously not a Mastercraft) into the water. He had a large group with him. He was just standing there holding the rope. I asked him what he was waiting for. He replied "I forgot the boat keys and we are 2 hours away. I'm going home" I felt bad for those kids. Obviously a Mastercraft owner has never forgotten the boat keys..............

[Jerseydave]

Fired mine up on the trailer today after doing the following:

-New spark plugs
-Changed trans fluid (engine oil was changed when I winterized it in the fall)
-Checked everything for leaks

Boat sounds good, ready to splash it next saturday
(already went out last weekend on my buddy's X-star and 9 of us wakeboarded so I've got the fever!)

[woobiedmd]

njskier- what kind of pump and where did you get it to change your tranny oil?

[Jerseydave]

I use to sell these when I was a Mac Tool dealer, but you can buy them almost anywhere like NAPA, Autozone, West Marine, etc.

Mityvac #7400

57194

How much work is left on your boat until she's ready?

[woobiedmd]

My boat is new to me last year. I fired it up 2 weekends ago and changed the oil. My tranny oil looks nice and clear in color but I guess it wouldn't hurt to change it. How often should the plugs be changed? This will be the third season on this set per the PO. Is that OK or should they be changed annually? Way too windy this weekend. I guess I'll do some chores around the house...LOL:D

[Chicago190]

My boat is new to me last year. I fired it up 2 weekends ago and changed the oil. My tranny oil looks nice and clear in color but I guess it wouldn't hurt to change it. How often should the plugs be changed? This will be the third season on this set per the PO. Is that OK or should they be changed annually? Way too windy this weekend. I guess I'll do some chores around the house...LOL:D

I change the spark plugs every year.

[Jerseydave]

I change plugs every 2 years or about 200 hours. Same with trans fluid. Some people do change plugs every year, which is ok but mine are platinum plugs so they do last longer.
Oil change twice a year, or every 50 hours.

[FrankSchwab]

I've owned mine for 5 years, and never changed the plugs. For chrissake, they see the same environment as my Explorer, and it's had one plug set change in its 13 year, 160,000 mile existence (the last 5 years pulling the boat). I figure worst case, a plug goes bad on me and the engine misses a bit on my way back to the dock.

But, getting back on topic, I dragged the boat out to Saguaro lake today for its first run since September. Backed it down the ramp, the wife fired it up in less than a second, backed it off the trailer, and we were good to go. The water was a bit chilly for us - probably low 70's - but I got the kids and me wet.

Trapjaw, that's a great idea for an emergency bilge pump. I'll have to work on one of those.

/frank

[airdrew99]

The only time the engine won't work as your bilge, is when you have a freeze plug that has pushed out. I backed my wife down the ramp in early December a few years ago. It had got below freezing over Thanksgiving. I winterized by draining all the drain ports on the engine. I guess there was some trapped water and a freeze plug pushed out. My wife back the boat off the trailer and idled there while I parked the truck/trailer. She pulled up to the dock and I jumped in. I immediately noticed that the carpet was saturated. I lifted the engine hatch and saw the water was up to the floor. I knew for sure I put the plug in. I took me a few minutes to find which plug had let go.