first run, now a few questions

[sheboyganjohn]

Well I had a chance to make the maiden voyage with my 1973 115 johnson on a 1972 Starcraft Capri. It ran great minus a few minor issues.

The main issue is in the shifting. Neutral is fine, reverse is fine, but when I shift into forward to the shift lock position (for lack of a better term) it does not fully shift, you can hear the gears grind and no go. Advance past the shift lock another inch or two and it will fully engage and you can back down to the lock position before going into neutral and it will stay in gear. I looked in the manual and could not find anything about adjusting the shift on it. It shifted fine on the muffs before I replaced the water pump. I do not know if the shift link eye at the top of the shift rod rotated or not. So do I need to adjust at the eye, or just the shift cable?

Another issue I that I have a lot of water spraying vertical around the motor, to the point that the sides of the motor cover are being washed. I had my passanger run the boat and I watched. The water level on plane is just below the upper plate and fully covering the cavitation plate. The motor is mounted as low as it can go on the boat. I am running one hole below the highest setting on the tilt.

Hit 35 mph with a 17 pitch hustler prop. I have a 21 pitch on order. Seemed the motor was running high RPM's. I will know more once I get the tach installed.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: first run, now a few questions

it sounds like you need cable adjustments. remove shift cable at the motor, put motor and control in neutral now adjust cable to the motor. also when shifting the lever has to be move forward about 30* to put the motor into forward, do not shift slowly, deliberately put it into gear.

raise your motor, the AV plate should be 1inch above the bottom of the boat.

 

[crb478]

Re: first run, now a few questions

I agree with what TD said above. If after you adjust the cables it still will not shift properly I would next check the shifter rod height. If it did get moved when you changed the impeller it will effect how it shifts. Your manual will have the specific length needed.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Re: first run, now a few questions

Thanks TD. I was hoping it was only a cable adjustment, less things to take apart.

As for the motor, I will have to come up a ways. Looking out the window (its raining here) it looks like the AV plate is 2" below the bottom of the boat. Now when I raise the motor up, do I put a shim block under between the motor and top of the transom?

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: first run, now a few questions

No need. The 4 bolts do all the work of holding the motor on. Pretty simple to raise it as well. Just needs two guys (one inside to hold the nuts while you loosen the bolts).

Block the trailer wheels. Drop the trailer tongue. Lower the motor and put a strong 4X4 under the skeg of the motor. Loosen the bottom 2 bolts remove the top two. Jack the trailer tongue up. This will lower the transom of the boat with the motor not moving (because you've blocked it). When you get the top bolts to the holes you want (I'd suggest going up two and seeing what it does) stick them in and tighten them up. Tighten up the bottom two. Lower the trailer jack and you're good to go.

I doubt you will be able to turn a 21p on that setup. I've got a 1980 115 on an 18' Starcraft SS (aluminum) and I'm running a 15p (40 mph). 21 just seems too much for the setup.

Get the tach working before playing too much with anything else. Without it you are really just guessing at what the motor is doing. You want to get the rpms above 5500.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Re: first run, now a few questions

Thanks for the info, that sounds fairly simple.

As for the prop, I ran my set-up through the prop selector at turning point and it was telling me with two people in the boat, 6 gal of fuel and 150lbs of extra weight I should be running a 23p prop for general use and a 21p for water sports. My plan was to use the 21p when it is just me and my son fishing and the 17p when it is the whole family out doing water sports. Since I was able to get the 21p on ebay for $44 I figured I would give it a try.

I have a tach sitting at home waiting to be installed. If turkey hunting goes as planned on Thursday, I will have all day Friday to play with the boat since I have both days off.