can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

[jeremiahwg]

I have a 1984 bayliner 2230 with an aq 125 volvo motor. The outdrive is the 270 series and the boat has hydraulic trim tabs. I purchased the boat last year and she sat for 3 years with gas in her. I didn't know that there was gas in the tank and I topped her off with around 15 gallons of fresh fuel. Took her to the river and she ran fine for about an hour and a half. Up around 4000 rpm. After a while she started sputtering and spiting and she wouldn't get back up to speed or rpms over 2800 or so without almost dying. We brought her back in and she sat for 5 months. I drained all of the gas out, made sure the tank was clean, rinsed her with fresh fuel, added a fuel filter, removed the top of the carb and blew everything out with carb and choke cleaner. THere was no visible varnish. We took her out yesterday up in Lake Pleasant and the rpm I have noticed has gone up in max from 3100 to around 3300 with 5 people on board. Max speed with nobody onboard was 18.5mph and 3400 rpm. Speed from a GPS. The prop has some broken edges on the tips. Also, The boat was up to over 4000 rpm when in Pa, but I just pulled her across country and now she is in Az. around 2500ft elevation. I just put new marine plugs in and checked the timing and everything looks ok. My question for all of you knowledgeable boaters out there is this. WHat do you think is causing the boat to not get up in rpms and speed. Could the fuel pump be clogged from the bad gas or maybe the pickup in the tank??? Also, I had the trim tabs down all of the way and the outdrive set bolt is on the farthest forward bolt hole pattern. Thanks for the advice.

~Keep boating and having fun~

 

[tommays]

Re: can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

You would need to do a real tuneup and i would thing the carb could use some cleaning from the long sitting around

BUT the boat allready has a small motor and with the 2500 ft elevation its going to need a smaller prop to try an make up for the power loss


Tommays

 

[jeremiahwg]

Re: can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

The bayliner is a 2050. The carb was really clean when I opened her up. DO you think that the fuel pump may be bad?

Thanks.

 

[tommays]

Re: can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

Let me try again

To run well your motor needs a tuneup EVERY YEAR things like point dont store well

All the settings dwell, timeing,ect need to be right on the money for it to run well

A carb is usallly going to have problems you cant see from sitting a long time like yours has

And then your loseing about 10 % of your power because of the higher elevation

To run like it did at sea level is usally going to require a prop change and liveing with the fact that it will not be as fast as it was

Tommays

 

[jeremiahwg]

Re: can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

Do you think that the boat bogging down after running for a hour and a half would be directly related to fuel, that is do you think that the carb could've been bogged down from the bad gas. I did do a complete cleanup on the carb.

Thanks and keep boating!

Jeremiahwg

 

[bamadave]

Re: can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

A complete clean up on the carb requires soaking the carb parts in carb cleaner for a while. Just cleaning the parts that you can see leaves alot unclean that you cannot see. Based on info given so far, my recommendation is let a pro have it to rejet for the altitude difference and a rebuild at the same time.

 

[jeremiahwg]

Re: can't get over 3400 rpm and 18 mph in az

The carb on the boat has 2 adjustments. The idle air mixture and the depth set screw for the throttle. The High speed jet is set and the float is working pretty good. How can you test the fuel pump to see if it is working properly? Also, does anyone have any idea what the top speed expected for this boat would be?
Thanks for all of the input!

Jeremiahwg