Anyone here own a boat, or know a lot about boats?

[CGMKCM]

Thanks for the link. I see that the boat's lighting complies with "The International Regulations for the Prevention of Collision at Sea (COLREGS) apply to all vessels upon the high seas and vessels on most waterways, bays, inlets, rivers connected to the sea."

Some limited research reveals that additional lighting is not a violation of any Coast Guard regulations unless it interferes with the navigation lights described in COLREGS. I have a DeWalt spotlight like this model but it's older and has a red light too. I use it regularly so perhaps I'll put that on the boat for now.

View attachment 104028

I agree you can add lights. If I am a boater in close proximity and your headlights make it so I can't see the red and green is when it becomes a problem.

I was on a Coast Guard vessel that had a large spot light mounted forward to spot floating logs. That light was 6' above the water and lit up an area that reached out 150yds. Our Red and green lights were 30' aft and 20' above the spot light. A complaint was made by a mariner and we had to scrap that light.

Another example is the Deadliest catch boats. Those huge lights are supposed to be used to light up the deck for crew safety. They like to leave them on and use them for headlights and to see what the waves are doing. They get warned often to shut them off. The lights are so bright that you cant see the running light.

The spotlight is a good option.

 

[CGMKCM]

Just throwing this out there for folkd searching in the future or following this thread. Some insurance companies reduce theur rates if you can document taking boating safety courses. Here is a Link to some of the courses. US Coast Guard and power Squadron and I am sure by now others offer the courses. Contact your insurance company and ask about the discount and who they recommend for training.

 

[mcmxi]

Well, the maiden voyage is in the books with a fantastic cruise and dinner on Flathead Lake . There was some minor drama on the boat ramp in the form of no "tell tale" water flowing out of the top of the engine, but we were relatively smart about it and only ran the engine for very short periods during troubleshooting. My first thought was that I might have messed up when I serviced the impeller, but I was careful and so couldn't see how I screwed up. The next thought was a blockage in the water cooling lines. We pulled the boat and trailer back out of the water, removed the cowling, removed some covers on the engine, traced the cooling lines and then decided to hook up a water hose to the flushing fitting. With the water running we inserted a section of plastic "wire" into the water outlet at the top of the engine, and much to my relief some Duckweed type vegetation came shooting out, after a little more reaming we had good flow. 15 minutes later the boat was back in the water and ready to go.

I put about 30 miles on the boat going from my friend's place on the river, down to Woods Bay and back. We tied up at The Sitting Duck and had dinner and some drinks before heading back around 8pm. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening and I am hooked. We got the boat up to around 30mph at 4,600 rpm, and my friend who is a pilot (flies a Falcon) and experienced boater was really helpful in educating me about various aspects of operating a boat. I really enjoyed the GPS/depth finder display on the Garmin and was able to find my way back to the channel and up the river without any help. Overall it couldn't have been any better of a first cruise.

Here are some photos from yesterday. I'll post a video later today showing the engine running at 4,500 rpm or so.

 

[mcmxi]

This will most likely be the final update on my boat experience unless I have anything interesting to add. It's been a good journey so far and I sincerely appreciate the experience and advice of many here. I'm looking forward to the next four to five months on the water this year as well as many more years of boating fun. Here's a link to a video showing the engine running during yesterday's maiden voyage. If you like the sound of an outboard humming at 4,200 rpm you might enjoy this minute long collage.

 

[bird dogger]

mcmxi, when hooked up to a water hose....will your outboard's water "flushing hookup" allow you to run your motor at a low rpm....out of the water? If not, a "water muff" that fits over the water intake ports to the water pump and supplies water to the pump via a garden hose can be a handy way to check your motor's cooling system at home before hauling to the boat ramp.

Edit: maybe what you're calling the flushing unit hookup is acually an outboard motor water muff.
From your post I took it to be a "built in" feature on your outboard when it maybe isn't.

 

[dirtydeed]

mcmxi, when hooked up to a water hose....will your outboard's water "flushing hookup" allow you to run your motor at a low rpm....out of the water? If not, a "water muff" that fits over the water intake ports to the water pump and supplies water to the pump via a garden hose can be a handy way to check your motor's cooling system at home before hauling to the boat ramp.

Edit: maybe what you're calling the flushing unit hookup is acually an outboard motor water muff.
From your post I took it to be a "built in" feature on your outboard when it maybe isn't.

X2.

You can burn up a new impeller in VERY short order by not having water flowing thru the system. IE, never run it it without that water....ever. (at least that was what was required for my Mercury outboard and stern drive).


edit: and congrats on your successful maiden voyage. I hope that it serves you well and brings you lots of pleasure...

I miss mine....but, I don't miss the a-holes on the local lakes.

 

[mcmxi]

mcmxi, when hooked up to a water hose....will your outboard's water "flushing hookup" allow you to run your motor at a low rpm....out of the water? If not, a "water muff" that fits over the water intake ports to the water pump and supplies water to the pump via a garden hose can be a handy way to check your motor's cooling system at home before hauling to the boat ramp.

Edit: maybe what you're calling the flushing unit hookup is acually an outboard motor water muff.
From your post I took it to be a "built in" feature on your outboard when it maybe isn't.

You can't run the engine when using the hose connector on the left side of the engine (see below) since there won't be any water inside the water pump so it'd be running dry. Basically you're forcing water through the cooling water passages in the head and out of the cooling water pilot hole and down through the water pump and out the intake.

Those ears would be required to cover the intake if I wanted to flush the cooling water passages with the engine running. In retrospect I should have checked this before heading to my friend's place, but the engine was supposedly serviced and ready to go. The engine oil looks to be very clean, but once the lower unit oil pump shows up I'm going to complete the 300 hour service. I have no idea what fluids they used and I'd rather take 100% responsibility for any maintenance.

 

[mcmxi]

X2.

You can burn up a new impeller in VERY short order by not having water flowing thru the system. IE, never run it it without that water....ever. (at least that was what was required for my Mercury outboard and stern drive).

When the boat was in the water initially and there was just a trickle coming out of the pilot hole, I'm 99.9% sure that water was being drawn into the intake, through the water pump, and up into the cooling passages even if dead heading. I did grease the impeller and impeller housing in order to reduce friction at initial start up.

The ECU has a safety shut down feature if excessive heat or low oil pressure is detected in the engine. I was closely monitoring engine temperature and it was fine.

 

[bird dogger]

When the boat was in the water initially and there was just a trickle coming out of the pilot hole, I'm 99.9% sure that water was being drawn into the intake, through the water pump, and up into the cooling passages even if dead heading. I did grease the impeller and impeller housing in order to reduce friction at initial start up.

The ECU has a safety shut down feature if excessive heat or low oil pressure is detected in the engine. I was closely monitoring engine temperature and it was fine.

If the new outboards are anything similar in design/function to the older models (like I've got and am familiar with) the "pee stream" or "tell tale" is just an indicator that your water pump is working. The main water "exhaust" from the pump is not through that pee hole. So if your tell tale was plugged and your motor was running in the water with a good impeller......as yours was.....no harm done or anything to worry about.....other than some anxiety of why wan't there a stream out the tell tale hole.

the water flush "hookup" would be a nice option to have on all the motors when operating in somewhat "dirty" water as you can basically flush the system without running the motor. Before I leave the yard with the Glastrons they always.....well, most always.....get run with the water muffs on the lower unit to check out the water pump, battery, and that the boat will actually run! As cheap as those muffs are, they're a handy quick check before you head to the lake.....or river.

Our water "Go-Karts".

David

 

[mcmxi]

If the new outboards are anything similar in design/function to the older models (like I've got and am familiar with) the "pee stream" or "tell tale" is just an indicator that your water pump is working. The main water "exhaust" from the pump is not through that pee hole. So if your tell tale was plugged and your motor was running in the water with a good impeller......as yours was.....no harm done or anything to worry about.....other than some anxiety of why wan't there a stream out the tell tale hole.

the water flush "hookup" would be a nice option to have on all the motors when operating in somewhat "dirty" water as you can basically flush the system without running the motor. Before I leave the yard with the Glastrons they always.....well, most always.....get run with the water muffs on the lower unit to check out the water pump, battery, and that the boat will actually run! As cheap as those muffs are, they're a handy quick check before you head to the lake.....or river.

Our water "Go-Karts".

David

Nice boats and thanks very much for that post. I'm still learning, and your post got me looking at the cooling flow schematics in the shop manual. You're absolutely right. The only thing you know for sure if you have water coming out of the pilot hole is that your water pump is working. If you don't see water coming out it doesn't mean that your water pump isn't working , but you can see how I was concerned having just worked on replacing the impeller and all related serviceable water pump parts.

It's highly unlikely that the thermostat had opened when we were running the engine for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, but I'd rather be overly cautious with this sort of thing given the cost of the engine.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Warning Will Robinson!!!! Warning Will Robinson!!!!!!

Just a heads up or FYI, that I found out last year.

Not all Yamahas can successfully use the muffs, and many people claim the freshwater flush port is only for flushing salt water out and will not properly lubricate or cool a running engine.

Disclaimer: Since I am NOT a Yamaha tech, I can't argue the merits of any flush system; however, I can testify that my engines "pisser hole" will not pee water out when using standard muffs.

My 300's intake has a 4 intake holes and the typical muffs only cover 2 ports, so some sort of "votex" occurs causing no water to pee out.

I have not tried to use the fresh water flush port either.

Hence I have to use a giant water bag or barrel of some sort. But since the lake is only about 1/4 mile down the road, that's what I use.

YMMV on a 150 though...I have no idea, just be careful and pay attention to the "pisser hole"

 

[bird dogger]

Warning Will Robinson!!!! Warning Will Robinson!!!!!!
View attachment 104349

Just a heads up or FYI, that I found out last year.

Not all Yamahas can successfully use the muffs, and many people claim the freshwater flush port is only for flushing salt water out and will not properly lubricate or cool a running engine.

Disclaimer: Since I am NOT a Yamaha tech, I can't argue the merits of any flush system; however, I can testify that my engines "pisser hole" will not pee water out when using standard muffs.

My 300's intake has a 4 intake holes and the typical muffs only cover 2 ports, so some sort of "votex" occurs causing no water to pee out.

I have not tried to use the fresh water flush port either.

Hence I have to use a giant water bag or barrel of some sort. But since the lake is only about 1/4 mile down the road, that's what I use.

YMMV on a 150 though...I have no idea, just be careful and pay attention to the "pisser hole"

Not sure if your post was/is directly addressed to me with my comment or more a general cautionary note......but I agree with you. And I have no experience with the newer outboards and especially the newer large HP outboards. And that was the reason for my post to mxmcii. I got the impression from some of the previous posts that the "pee hole" or "tell tale" might have been the main final discharge of the water pumps output. And to my knowledge on the older motors that I've worked on that's never the case. Usually it's out through the prop. Being @mcmxi is a new boat owner and was initially worried about the no "tell tale" stream..... (and for good reason)......I thought I'd mention it. And the possibillity that a water muff might be a handy item for some basic pre outing checks. Which would need to be confirmed for anyone's specific outboard and especially the larger HP outboards. My experience stops at 125 HP.

Your 300 HP outboard on my Glastron GT150's would have them pointing straight up from the bottom of the lake!

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Not sure if your post was/is directly addressed to me with my comment or more a general cautionary note......

It was not directed at you. I probably should not have quoted you. That was a bad effort on my part at joking around. My apologies.

I will edit it.

My intention was just as a general warning because I had no idea that muffs wouldn't work, so luckily I was paying attention when I did my first of the year start last year.

 

[bird dogger]

Nice boats and thanks very much for that post. I'm still learning, and your post got me looking at the cooling flow schematics in the shop manual. You're absolutely right. The only thing you know for sure if you have water coming out of the pilot hole is that your water pump is working. If you don't see water coming out it doesn't mean that your water pump isn't working , but you can see how I was concerned having just worked on replacing the impeller and all related serviceable water pump parts.

It's highly unlikely that the thermostat had opened when we were running the engine for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, but I'd rather be overly cautious with this sort of thing given the cost of the engine.

View attachment 104307

You're absolutely right to be concerned when you don't see any water coming out the "tell tail" port!! But it's excellent knowledge to know your specific motor's cooling path and pump condition as well. I had to read through all the comments from the beginning before I posted. Knowing you had just rebuilt your pump and how it was done.....it didn't make sense that your pump wasn't working......along with the other questions.

That's a beautiful boat and outfit!! In a couple of weeks, we're heading to Boise and the McCall area of Idaho for a visit and vacation. If we weren't hauling stuff out to our son, I'd be loading the Air Chair in the Tacoma and stopping to share a few beers, some laughs, and a "pull". Guess it's gonna have to wait until the next trip until you get your Air Chair pilot's "Wings"!! We can't have @B737 as the only recognized pilot here on OTT.

David

 

[bird dogger]

It was not directed at you. I probably should not have quoted you. That was a bad effort on my part at joking around. My apologies.

I will edit it.

My intention was just as a general warning because I had no idea that muffs wouldn't work, so luckily I was paying attention when I did my first of the year start last year.

No offense, whatsoever, taken!! And no apologies needed as well. LOL!

I'd be curious if there are now water muffs available for the large HP outboards of today. The normal ones are somewhat limited in how much water can be supplied into the the water intakes so I'm always careful to limit our outboards rpms to a fast idle for tuning the carbs or a very short runup of higher rpms.

But your advice is spot on with deciding what to do and making sure it's adequate for one's specific brand, type and size of outboard motor.

 

[mcmxi]

You're absolutely right to be concerned when you don't see any water coming out the "tell tail" port!! But it's excellent knowledge to know your specific motor's cooling path and pump condition as well. I had to read through all the comments from the beginning before I posted. Knowing you had just rebuilt your pump and how it was done.....it didn't make sense that your pump wasn't working......along with the other questions.

That's a beautiful boat and outfit!! In a couple of weeks, we're heading to Boise and the McCall area of Idaho for a visit and vacation. If we weren't hauling stuff out to our son, I'd be loading the Air Chair in the Tacoma and stopping to share a few beers, some laughs, and a "pull". Guess it's gonna have to wait until the next trip until you get your Air Chair pilot's "Wings"!! We can't have @B737 as the only recognized pilot here on OTT.

David

Come on over!

I need to add a ski tow tower on this boat for sure. I'll most likely weld one up and have it powder coated in silver to "match" the rest of the hardware on the boat. I like the idea of a one-piece design rather than the bolt together aluminum models sold on Amazon and similar. Most of those $500 Chinesium models are not rated to survive much of a load, particularly a significant lateral load that you might encounter pulling a tube.. Robalo wants $1,300 for their tower which only comes in black or white powder coat and that doesn't include shipping. I have a spare Jeep DOM CrMo roll cage that no one wants to buy so I could piece together something nice that's custom fit to the boat/engine.

 

[lugbolt]

yup I replaced a lot of impellers due to folks trying to run them on the flush port. It's a flush port not a run port. It doesn't supply enough volume to the pump to keep it lubricated and cooled. Remember, water also COOLS the pump, and the pump sits in the exhaust stream so it needs lots of coolant. Don't take long to burn one up, and some of them....oh my goodness...were completely utterly burned up, melted impeller, melted cup, melted lower unit seal, etc. A couple of those customers, couldn't tell em no different, either. Hotly debated. So be it, if they know more than I do, then they can start their own business and attempt to be successful

yes some outboards (and even some inboards) the muffs don't cover enough of the intakes to feed the pump properly. The pump actually creates a low pressure region which is connected to the intake passages, this draws water up through the pump and then the pump forces it through the rest of the machine as needed. If muffs are used and some of the intakes aren't covered, being that a pump takes the path of least resistance, it'll pull air in around the uncovered intakes rather than water through the covered ones, and then you have a starved pump. Some of the bass boat motors have a low water pickup and there ain't many "muffs" that will work for those. I used a horse trough. 100 gal of water in it. Dunk the motor into the trough, fire it up and inspect. It duplicates being in the lake better than a set of muffs forcing water into the covered intakes. Seen a lot of them, "It pumps fine on muffs but not when in the water". That's cause the water going into the muffs is at around 40-100 psi, it's forced in. In the lake, it's not forced in like that. Again, some folks refused to understand that concept.

Also on lubricating the pump, I do not use grease. Grease can get congealed and stuck in the powerhead, thermostat, pee hole, etc....Instead, I use dawn dish soap. Doesn't hurt anything, just passes right through, and is a decent enough lube to keep the pump lubricated when not in use. Lastly there are some greases that attack the rubber parts that the impeller is made of so we have to be careful there too. Dawn, or just put it together dry. Either way is fine.

 

[mcmxi]

yup I replaced a lot of impellers due to folks trying to run them on the flush port. It's a flush port not a run port. It doesn't supply enough volume to the pump to keep it lubricated and cooled. Remember, water also COOLS the pump, and the pump sits in the exhaust stream so it needs lots of coolant. Don't take long to burn one up, and some of them....oh my goodness...were completely utterly burned up, melted impeller, melted cup, melted lower unit seal, etc. A couple of those customers, couldn't tell em no different, either. Hotly debated. So be it, if they know more than I do, then they can start their own business and attempt to be successful

yes some outboards (and even some inboards) the muffs don't cover enough of the intakes to feed the pump properly. The pump actually creates a low pressure region which is connected to the intake passages, this draws water up through the pump and then the pump forces it through the rest of the machine as needed. If muffs are used and some of the intakes aren't covered, being that a pump takes the path of least resistance, it'll pull air in around the uncovered intakes rather than water through the covered ones, and then you have a starved pump. Some of the bass boat motors have a low water pickup and there ain't many "muffs" that will work for those. I used a horse trough. 100 gal of water in it. Dunk the motor into the trough, fire it up and inspect. It duplicates being in the lake better than a set of muffs forcing water into the covered intakes. Seen a lot of them, "It pumps fine on muffs but not when in the water". That's cause the water going into the muffs is at around 40-100 psi, it's forced in. In the lake, it's not forced in like that. Again, some folks refused to understand that concept.

Also on lubricating the pump, I do not use grease. Grease can get congealed and stuck in the powerhead, thermostat, pee hole, etc....Instead, I use dawn dish soap. Doesn't hurt anything, just passes right through, and is a decent enough lube to keep the pump lubricated when not in use. Lastly there are some greases that attack the rubber parts that the impeller is made of so we have to be careful there too. Dawn, or just put it together dry. Either way is fine.

Thanks for the information. The Yamaha factory service manual specifically states that grease should be applied to the impeller, inside the impeller housing and the various o-rings. I don't know enough to be clever so I opted to buy all factory parts including Yamaha grease, oil and filters.

One thing I noticed when operating the boat is that it's harder to steer to port compared to starboard. After reading the service manual and engine owner's manual, I noticed a section on steering and adjusting the trim tab anode. When I removed it in order to remove the lower unit I marked its position which was rotated 5 to 10 degrees to starboard and returned it to that position. I'm going to center it up since the manual states that if it's hard to steer to port you should rotate the trim tab to port. We'll see this weekend if that makes a difference. I was surprised by how heavy the steering is when under way. There's a lot of resistance to turning, which given the chunk of metal in the water is not that surprising I suppose.

 

[Downeaster]

I do know a lot about boats. I have owned about 6 bass boats, a 24 ft Grady white, and a 33 ft Young Brothers commercial boat. It is easy to get swayed by the inboard outboard, but it is a poor choice. They are a bear to work on, and if it goes bad it is a horror to replace. If you are wanting a boat under 25 ft, I strongly recommend an outboard, that is four stroke. You will have as good a mileage, as the inboard, and if for some reason you need to replace it. It can be done in minutes at a dealership. They also don't take up space in the cockpit. Today's outboards are quiet, powerful, and sip fuel, unlike their older 2 strokes.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I do know a lot about boats. I have owned about 6 bass boats, a 24 ft Grady white, and a 33 ft Young Brothers commercial boat. It is easy to get swayed by the inboard outboard, but it is a poor choice. They are a bear to work on, and if it goes bad it is a horror to replace. If you are wanting a boat under 25 ft, I strongly recommend an outboard, that is four stroke. You will have as good a mileage, as the inboard, and if for some reason you need to replace it. It can be done in minutes at a dealership. They also don't take up space in the cockpit. Today's outboards are quiet, powerful, and sip fuel, unlike their older 2 strokes.

+1

I want a Grady White in the worst way......A Grady with twin Yamahas is my dream boat...

I would like to add that outboards Vs. IO's are a dream to "winterize" for those of use that live where it freezes. Not to mention IO's have Gimble bearings and boots to replace.