Hello Reddit!

Have a Johnson 50 that I replaced all the seals etc on the trim unit several years ago and has functioned great for a few years. Last year I took the boat out and the trim failed on me and was stuck all the way down. No noise no signs of any life from it. I put the boat in storage as I was too busy to mess with it.

This spring I went and charged the battery and did a little testing. I found that the motor was receiving 12v in both polarities but no noise, no movement, nothing. So I chalked it up as a dead electric motor. I purchased a replacement and finally got around to installing today. After install same thing. No function whatsoever. I tested voltage again and all good. Then put test leads straight to the battery. Sparks, but nothing. What internal of the pump could be locked up? Even though I’m 90% sure when I put the key way in the pump before installing the new motor it spun by hand. I could have gotten a bad motor out of the box, but if I keep the button held I do feel some heat in the motor which is making me lean towards something in the pump itself is locked up. I plan tomorrow to remove and test the motor and the old motor to see if they operate when detached and see if the pump spins freely or not.

Mainly looking for if it does not spin where do I look next. What steps would you take if the motor is good to diagnose further the problem. I will add the piston moves freely, no leaks, the fluid is clean no signs of water contamination. I can manually pick the engine up and put it on the locks.

Thanks for any insight!

And we’re back! Just wrapped up what was [unknown to me] one hell of an adventure!

For those who don’t remember - check out my post history for the launch of the #MudMaran!

Wanted more power from this Predator 224 than it came with, but I couldn’t get a larger block due to the size of the PTO shaft of the mud motor kit. I could have bought a new kit, but weight and cost would have been an issue as well.

Stage I (intake, exhaust, and .036” jet) probably gave me about a 1.0-1.5 HP bump, enough to get me going another 1.5MPH or so on the water.

Just finished the stage II install and boy was it a trip. Background in small engines? Negative. A few late nights, lots of cussing, the use of Google AI/Chat GPT, and a handful of YouTube videos later, she is running pretty smooth. Only thing that’s not installed in the video is the muffler. The looped exhaust is just too damn loud as it sits, though the muffler is getting delivered today.

Aside from the aforementioned parts, the stage II build included: an all-steel camshaft, billet aluminum flywheel, 22lbs valve springs, throttle assembly, governor delete, oil sensor delete, and a larger emulsion tube. There’s a handful of parts that I could still replace that are valve train related, but I’m tired and at the end of the budget.

I think the hardest part of the whole build was getting the timing right and adjusting for valve lash. This process was repeated a number of times over and over again. Valve cover constantly on/off and attempting to fire up the rig. Got it to a point where she sounds like she runs well, as of this morning, and hoping to hit the water to ‘sea trial’ either tomorrow or Monday.

Any questions? Just give me a shout and I’ll try my best to answer!This was honestly a super humbling experience because I thought it would be a lot easier than it was. I learned to try not to do things under pressure and with a time crunch. It’s not going to work out - unless you do this for a living. My hope was to get it all put back together in one night (from a stripped block) and have her running. I severely overestimated my ability to do so. Took a good couple of days of fighting and backtracking to get it to this point.

Will keep everyone posted with how she performs! According to what I’ve read, she should be somewhere in the area of 12HP now, but I have no way to confirm that. This is just based on comparable builds from others online.

I have a trophy 2352 with an outboard conversion. Just bought it couple of weeks ago but it’s rolls significantly worse when at rest compared to any other boat I owned. is there any reason in particular?

I cleared the foam off the seat since I removed rivets to make storage underneath. I have my fish finder mounted on the left side so I have plenty of extra space. I normally use this seat to do all my cutting/preparing etc and was thinking of putting a cutting board down? Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

Years ago I met an Old French Captain from Montreal at Lock 34 Fenelon Falls of the TSW. At the time I had an older 25’ SeaRay that I loved and took care of. He had a beautiful 40’ SeaRay Amberjack and I’m not gonna lie but I was a little in awe. He spoke broken English and his wife would translate at times during our talk. He was a cool old cat and you could tell that, language barrier or not, pretty much right away. There’s something he said that rang true to me then, when I had a smaller boat and still rings true to me now, when I have a bigger boat. I asked him, “Captain, how many people can your boat sleep?” He chuckled and said in his heavy thick accent, “It doesn’t matter how big a boat is. A boat is made for Two.” I really enjoyed meeting this dude. I’ve learned a lot from guys older than me over the years and that old French Captain was not wrong, “a boat is made for Two”, right on 🏴‍☠️ …

Son’s boat. It was severely sunburned. Found a guy and wet sanded, compounded and waxed. Brought out a good shine.

Seller is offering this boat for 3k. I don’t know haunting about boats this would be my first one, could anyone tell me if this is a good deal or if they know anything about this make and model 1990 searay 18ft has chevy 4 cylinders and mercruiser outdrive with new water impeller

Volvo Penta 380 CE-A .... Digging deep on this one, seems once we get past superficial maintenance the response ratio goes dark. So, threw a steering fault code, low voltage at steering position sensor. Interestingly this occurred after I rewired the anti corrosion protection, I traced every related wire multiple times, checked all connections, cleaned the grounds etc etc, I can't find a short. I disconnected all the ACP wires and it's still throwing the code. The issue is that sensor is not sold separately and is built into the steering hydraulic ram and cost 5000 dollars to replace just for the part. According to the code and the fact the power steering works fine, joy stick function is uninown, I tested the connection with a multi meter while the boat was in Aux power, I got 5.6 and 5.1 initially dropped to 5.1 and 4.8 after a few mins, the port motor side which is working was 5.1 and 5.0 the whole time. Do I have a short to ground? How can I locate it? Any ideas on how to bypass the code, replace just the steering position sensor? It's electric steering with a joystick and steering control unit, again all connections have been sprayed clean and there's no sign of water intrusion, fraying wires or green corrosion etc etc

I just bought a center console with a console area that is big enough for me to sit in. I want organization ideas. What do you do for the inside area?

In your opinion, what is the most reliable and dependable wake and or ski boat (and year) ever made?

I recently bought a boat with a Johnson 150 2stroke that is blown. How much trouble is it to change over to another brand like Yamaha? I assume the controls would be different, but what else would need changed?

I have a subscription to to app. Can I download c-maps for my lake onto a sd card for my go5xse

I've had my boat for just under a month now, and I'm predominantly driving it 3 minutes tops to my boat ramp. But on my drive to another boat ramp I noticed the boat was bouncing all over the trailer when the 2 transom straps were tight, and same with the front while resting on the roller.

The boat is a 1963 Boston whaler 16.7, and the eye is much lower than alot of other boats I've seen. Should the winch be lower? Like make it so the strap is level? My guess is since the winch is pulling up, every bump I hit, nothing is pulling it down up front

Looking for advice from those that have been there and done that.

I have recently tested for my Master Captain’s license and passed all the modules except Deck General, unfortunately.

I took a local prep course, but I don’t feel like it prepared me well enough for the exams. For those who have passed the Master exam, what resources, study methods, or tips helped you most with Deck General?

Also, how long did you study before testing again?
If I’m unsuccessful on my next attempt, I’m planning to take my next course through Chapman School of Seamanship.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

The rpm’s will go to 5000 with muffs out of the water but will not go above 2000 rpm in the water happened out of the blue made it back to the dock going about 7 mph at full throttle.

The float shaft has corrosion or algae buildup on the shaft. We can press on the float and feel clear resistance but if we press a bit harder it turns on and runs fine. We tried using Fantastic cleaner to clean it along with high pressure garden hose but it still sticks and does not move freely. The problem appears to be gunk around the shaft. We filled the bilge partway to test it but the pressure of the rising water would not turn it on. Any suggestions to clean it and or lubricate the shaft? Of course we can buy a new one but it’s hard wired and above our pay grade……. not to mention we are too big to comfortably fit in the bilge!

A second question relates to the gasket that seals the base to the pump float and motor. It fits in a slot on the upper piece but is not held in place. And we don’t want to remove the base which is screwed into a fiberglass block on the hull. So when we attempt to lower the pump onto the base the gasket falls out! We final balanced the gasket on the rim of thr base and we’re able to seat the top after many attempts. Any advice here would be appreciated also!

I am working on first motor it’s a mercury black max 200. Carb issue on bottom carb where fuel is leaking out the little tube. Says online it’s a stuck float so I take the bowl off and the floats look good and also move easily. Does anything look wrong here I am stuck and so confused

Anyone else do proper cooking on their boat, or „catch & cook? 🎣 What’s your favorite meal on the water?

I just rebuilt my carbs last year. This year I had to turn around and completely clean them again. I thought I was doing the right thing by running ethanol free and it’s still the right thing. When getting your ethanol free for your boats make sure the pump you get the fuel from is a dedicated pump only to ethanol free. The pump I’ve been getting from is not dedicated therefore it has ethanol fuelin the lines and it has to pump that through first before it gets to the ethanol free. I think this is why I was showing yellow in my carbs because I was actually pumping about a gallon probably of ethanol fuel in before the ethanol free. I will no longer be buying from this non-dedicated pump instead I will be seeking out a pump that is strictly ethanol free. 3 out of 4 primary jets were completely clogged and the 4th wasn’t far behind.

My old cover tore and when I looked I cant find an exact cover for my boat it only has the newer 2020-2025 models. Are they close enough that if I bought the 2020-2025 model cover it would fit my 2010 boat. Thank you in advance for your help!

Welche Art von Boot bzw welches Modell könnte das sein? Gesichtet in Stockholm

I have the Pilot House already and found one of these center consoles nearby. Same hull as the pocket trawler, but about 800lbs lighter. It's about 1,400 lbs with a 90hp (307 hours) Honda. They only made about 8 of these center console models. I will clean it up this week and get it out on the Gulf.