1995 Johnson 130 Looper

[jwall116]

I have owned my 'new' boat, a 1995 20' Sunbird Neptune 201DC for about a month now. The previous owner disabled the VRO system on the engine so I have been premixing 50:1 in the main tank.

I have decarbed once via the sea foam spray down the carb method. Did this about 5 hours ago and got lots of carbon out. Engine ran great before, and even better now.

Now, my question is when I flush the motor in the trash bin I have sticky oil residue all over the bin when i'm done. Is this normal or is this carbon still freeing itself?

I don't know what oil was previously ran in this engine, I am running royal purple fully synthetic 2 stroke oil. Found it on clearance, $12/gallon and bought all they had. Once thats gone its getting Quicksilver premium plus

 

[boobie]

The oily sides is usually normal in a trash bin. To small of an area.

 

[James R]

Boobie is correct so no worries. All of my motors run on Penzoil Synthetic Blend and I recommend it.

 

[sutor623]

No Title

Nice, you have the exact same boat as me, same year and same motor. I am real happy with mine. Heres how mine is set up for fishing. Lets see some pics of yours!!

 

[jwall116]

No Title

I am so glad to find someone with a Neptune, they don't seem to be overly popular. I don't think they were in business very long before Hydrasport took over the name. However it has been a fantastic boat to me!

My setup is a bit different than yours for sure. Mine came with quad swivels, I fish off of the rear swivel and put my feet on the back small seats.

What sort of speed are you getting out of yours? Fuel Burn? Trying to find the best cruise for this girl, so far 4500 is a good comfortable ride.

4000 - 22mph
4500 - 27mph
5000- 31 mph
5500-36 mph
6000-41 mph

Just had my prop cupped, and made a huge difference in the performance of this boat. It seems very happy at 4500-5000, but I do wonder what my fuel consumption is. Running a 3 blade SS 14X19 prop. What about you? I have been considering adding a fuel flow meter, but no one is making a stand alone unit, they all went to that NEMA 2000 high tech stuff, which I don't have and dont want to spend the cash on.

 

[sutor623]

Great boat!! Looks awesome. I am also very happy with mine. Only bummer is, they took the wood out and went all composite in 1996. Bummer dude!!!! But my wood seems to be holding up well.

I used to have a back to back seat on the port side, and yanked it out to put a pedestal in. I am thinking that someone added those rear seats on yours as I have never seen a neptune with them before.

Not sure about speed vs. RPMs. Have to look at the prop pitch also. These tanks are huge so I haven't really been too worried about consumption. I put in a reed style fuel sender ($36) and I feel like my fuel gauge is more accurate. RDS manufacturing made the tanks in these boats and is where I got mine from. Good fuel gauge is all ya really need. Nobody wants to run around with 64 gallons of gas to keep the tank topped off.

I put trim tabs on my boat (SX smart tabs) because I felt like it wanted to porpoise on me too much. Bow was skipping around when I trimmed out. Before trim tabs I was reading 39MPH at 5800 rpms via GPS. With trim tabs I am hitting 37MPH at 5500rpms (with a 40 gallon bait tank and two others on board). I also have 4 group 31 batteries on the boat, adding another 240lbs. I may need to step down in pitch on my prop since I always run a pretty hefty load on her.

My favorite cruise RPM has come down significantly since I added the trim tabs. I like you was happy at 45-5000, but now my favorite cruise RPM is 4200. I can even plane the boat out at 3500rpms, but you wont catch me at those speeds very often. And keep in mind I have another 240lbs in batteries, a 50 lb trolling motor, and and 40 gallon bait tank towards the stern, that when full weighs almost 400lbs.

I cut the bow rail out in the very front to install a 24V trolling motor. Ill post some pics of that when I can find some.

 

[jwall116]

I am pretty sure my year 1995 is all fiberglass. From my understanding all of the Neptune line is all fiberglass. I haven't noticed any wood anywhere, even when replacing the bilge pump and installing the new fish finder I didnt see any wood on drill bits.

From anothers post in a different forum
"Sunbird was acquired and modernized by OMC in approx 1994 95. The Neptune line was added and All wood was removed. They were about the first to go to the gridcage filled with foam construction [COLOR=#67B045 !important]method[/COLOR][FONT=verdana, geneva] with Hydra Sports."[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, geneva]I am interested in a different fuel sender! this one jumps all over the place. It reads accurate as far as I can tell, from watching it while filling the boat. 64 gallon tank from my research is the capacity. I find that 50-55 Gallons gave me a full indication on gauge (When i purchased the boat with an empty tank) and I stop there. I have only owned the boat for a little over a month and am not done making changes. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, geneva]Trim tabs may be on the horizon for me as well, it does like to purpose the bow if its choppy. I've noticed I am not able to trim up to optimal if it is choppy 2-3' waves and holding the bow down provides a better ride. [/FONT]

Did you add a fuel water separator on the boat? Getting ready to change the impeller, lower unit fluids and plugs. NGK or Champs?

 

[sutor623]

Oh yea fuel water separator for sure. I use champion plugs only on Evinrudes.

The wood is in the floor and the transoms. You wont see it unless you pull the fuel tank hatch of take the scuppers out of the transom. Trust me we have the same year boat, and mine has wood in it.

 

[sutor623]

Hey bud,

So I have been doing some finagling with the boat with trim angle, trim tab settings and weight loads. I am disappointed with the performance of my prop compared to the numbers you are getting. Now, keep in mind, I am carrying three extra batteries, a trolling motor, and a loaded bait tank along with battery jumper, tool bin, etc. This all weighs up to an additional 700 lbs. or so.

Fishing is the primary purpose of the boat, so that is what I want to prop it to. I noticed that trimmed out with bait tank and two others I am running 5500rpms at 35MPH at WOT, but can still cruise very well at 4200rpms. Running solo fully trimmed up with no bait tank I am running in the 5700 rpm range at a top speed of 36.7MPH. Prop slip is 10%

The prop I am running is an aluminum solas amita (cheapie) and it is a 14.8x17. Diameter is a little bigger than yours so I am guessing that may be another reason why I am not revving up as high. How was that prop running before you had it cupped?

 

[jwall116]

I went out the other day with some Texas sized big boys in the boat maxing out the 1200 lb limit and only got 38mph WOT and 5800 RPM. So even at gross weight im still out running your boat. In your defense, I have a stainless 3 blade on it. 14X19 seems the be the correct prop for the boat, until learning this from you I was I thinking I wanted to go up on diameter. My hole shot is great, although when at gross weight I must us full throttle, my 4500 slow shots wouldn't get me on plane.

Before having the prop cupped, I was hitting 6200RPM WOT solo and 43MPH. The problem was when I backed off the throttle the boat fell flat on its face and the slip went through the roof. Prior to cupping 4000RPM gave me around 18-20mph.

With the cupping I now cruise at 4500 and around 27 mph. I am going to do some GPS speed testing with some 'ESTIMATED' fuel burn numbers ive calculated and figure out my best cruising speed. My guess is 4000-4500 with 4300 being the sweet spot.

You need to get a 3 bladed stainless prop on it, you wont be disappointed. Buy one used from ebay or a prop shop.

 

[sutor623]

This is very odd to me. It's crazy that that boat can spin a 19p prop at 6000 rpms if mine is only spinning a 17 at 5700. I have a brand new powerhead on the engine. I'm sure the trim tabs are adding drag to my equation also.

Makes me wonder. Is the SS prop adding that much more benefit? I think without tabs and a light load I was running 5800 rpms at 38-39 mph.

And needing to be at full throttle to plane out with a heavy load shows me the benefit of adding the trim tabs. You definitely lose too end with the tabs, but they help the boat plane much better. I can ease into the throttle with 1800lbs of gear motor and people on board and still plane out easily at 3500rpms. This is a very interesting comparison, to say the least!!!

 

[sutor623]

Hahahaha reading through all of this I think I have it all figured out now. My poor boat is being loaded die hard by adding that big ol 40 gallon bait tank. Completely insane that with a full bait tank, full 64 gallon gas tank, 4 batteries, lots of fishing gear and three people on board that this boat can still plane out and hit 35mph. Sounds like I'm going to need a bigger boat here soon

 

[sutor623]

Kinda strange that the limit is only 1200 lbs. motor is 350, start battery another 50, full gas tank 480, 100 lbs cooler/ gear etc, two average 150lb guys and that already puts ya at 1280lbs. I wonder why they Putin such a huge gas tank whe you can barely legally fill the thing.....

 

[jwall116]

I loaded it with full full 64 gallons and 1000lb of people. I thought it was 1200 empty with no fuel, outboard included........

 

[sutor623]

Sorry not sure what you mean? Are you saying 1200lb limit is not including fuel on board? That would make sense because that tank will hold 500lbs of fuel.

 

[jwall116]

I'm pretty sure mine has two weight limits. One 8 persons or 1200 LBS. Then under it says "XYZ lbs person,motor,gear" This secondary # includes your engine and fuel. I will double check this when I get the boat in the next couple of days, going to change out the impeller.

 

[sutor623]

Hmmmm, Im pretty sure my tag says 1200lbs. persons, motor, gear.

 

[jwall116]

Honestly I would invest in a SS prop, the performance gain isnt huge but it is noticeable. Mostly you will see the response in the boat as being more stable at all RPM's.

My prop is a Stiletto 14.25X19. I didn't choose this prop, it is what came with the boat when I purchased it. I wish it had a slightly better cruise speed, but thats probably more into the boats design and power available.

Loaded to max capacity, I generally see 38MPH WOT and 57-5800 RPM. Light load and im right at 6000 and 41MPH. Hole shot is great with light load, with heavy load I need full power and it takes a bit. This boat loves to drag the ass on the launch before it jumped on plane.

How do you cruise at 4000 RPM, mine seems to lug around at that rpm around 21-22mph at that RPM.

Any idea what the fuel burns are on this motor??


Also, what oil do you run in yours? Hard core debating on Penz Premium Plus and Quicksilver prem plus.

Just changed the water pump and had one HELL of a time getting the lower unit off and back on. Seems mine has some corrosion in the tube. 6 hours later and shes pumping with a new impeller. Going to be doing very specific speed trials this week and recording them, trying to find the ideal cruise rpm. I'm guessing 42-4400.

 

[racerone]

Changing prop pitch will change motor RPM.---Boat top speed usually stays the same.

 

[sutor623]

This boat loves to drag the *** on the launch before it jumped on plane.

How do you cruise at 4000 RPM, mine seems to lug around at that rpm around 21-22mph at that RPM.

Any idea what the fuel burns are on this motor??


Also, what oil do you run in yours? Hard core debating on Penz Premium Plus and Quicksilver prem plus.

Just changed the water pump and had one HELL of a time getting the lower unit off and back on. Seems mine has some corrosion in the tube. 6 hours later and shes pumping with a new impeller. Going to be doing very specific speed trials this week and recording them, trying to find the ideal cruise rpm. I'm guessing 42-4400.

I cruise at 4000-4400 rpms. I can plane out at 3500rpms. The reason being simply because of my $128 investment. SX trim tabs. You can see em here.......


I think I am running 22MPH at 4000rpms, planed out well with little bow lift. All thanks to trim tabs. Only downside is I lost about 250 rpms and 1.5-2MPH with the tabs. I recall running 5850 rpms at around 38mph, now I am at 5600 rpms in the 36MPH range..............

Fuel burn at cruise seems to be about 6-7 GPH. Heavy cruise (5000rpms) seems to put me in the 8-10 GPH range.

I use pennzoil synthetic from wally world. $20 a gallon. Used it on every motor I have ever had. Seems to work perfectly.