'84 Mariner 30HP, smoking?

[howlingmoki]

Hi all,

Last year I inherited a 1963 Elgin 14' runabout with a low-hours '84 Mariner 30HP that'd been hibernating in my parent's backyard since I moved out on my own in 1994. I've tinkered with it in my spare time since then, replaced the impeller, spark plugs, fuel pump and lines, rebuilt the carburetor, changed the lower unit gear oil &etc.. Finally got it out on the water for a shakedown cruise this afternoon and it did pretty well. Smoked a lot at first from the oil I'd put down the cylinders when I was going over the motor, then settled down to what seemed normal from my teenage memories of running it on Trinity Lake and Lake Sonoma, CA in the late '80s and early '90s.

Good power, runs pretty steady though the carb still needs some dialing in and the drum steering needs a couple of new pulleys to go with the new cable. Approaching the dock at the ramp to pull out and go home, it started smoking a bit from under the cowl, and the smoke increased bit by bit until I shut it down and drifted the rest of the way in, then pulled out onto the trailer and went home. I don't see anything obvious under the cowl that would cause smoke like that, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with teh running either -- I put the hose muffs on and fired it up and it sounds fine, water peeing out of the telltale like it should. I'm guessing it may just be crud burning off the motor, but I'm also wondering if it might be overheating? Thinking maybe I'll run it with the muffs again in a few days after I find my IR thermometer?

Thanks, all. This is mostly a new experience for me -- despite running this boat all those years ago, this is the first time I've worked on the mechanics of it, and also the first time for launching it and pulling it out myself. The old man always used to do that because he didn't trust either of us boys to not screw things up. :lol:

Here's my boat and my '75 VW camper/tow rig. Good match, it barely feels like I've got anything back there going down the road.

 

[roscoe]

Good looking rig.

Welcome to iboats.

Probably a good idea to check/replace the thermostat.

Then I would do is run it, keep an eye on the temp with the IR, and determine if it is smoke or steam that you are seeing.

 

[tommarvin]

Wow, you are one dynamic dude.What a story, brings back memories when my dad brother and I would got to lake lopez with our glaspar.
I must say the bus is cooled than the boat.What a great story,the old man didnt trust my brother and I either dont feel bad.
You boated all day everything was fine till the ramp approach,then the black smoke under the cowl. not good.
Good for you to shut her down immediately, something burned under the motor cover, what was it ?
Its amazing it would start and run but you need to find what burned, the crude was all burned up from boating all day.
Im guessing something electrical under the motor cover.burned. .
Good call run the boat on muffs and find the burning, it could be the stator under the flywheel burning up ,you need to find and fix whats burning before you go boating anymore could be a electrical connection, or part,ignition burning up?

 

[howlingmoki]

It was a grey-ish exhaust type of smoke, and we'd honestly only been out for maybe 30-45 minutes at that point -- like I said, it was really just a short shakedown cruise, and at that point we'd accomplished what I'd set out to do that day .. namely get the boat in the water and run it a bit to see how it does.

Motor under the cowl looks pretty clean, a slight bit of grime but more spiderwebs and dust that I hadn't gotten to cleaning off yet. I'll check/replace the thermostat -- didn't realize it had one. I saw no burning on the wiring and there was no smoke anywhere when running it on the muffs yesterday evening though I didn't run it very long. Well, no smoke other than the 2-cycle exhaust that I deliberately made oil-rich for the first tank.

 

[Tassie 1]

then the black smoke under the cowl.

where did you get the BLACK smoke thing from??

nice kombi, my son has one, not a camper though
dosen't tow either of his boats ( 15 and 23ft )
with it, mainly coz it's gutless, lol

he borrows other peoples vehicle's to tow them.

Consequently, l dislike kombis.

 

[GA_Boater]

Howdy.

Did you change the impeller? Most motors will pee on muffs because the hose water pressure masks a bad impeller.

 

[Mohawkmtrs]

+1 on changing impeller.

Smoke could have been "spiderwebs, dust" and who knows what else burning off.

 

[howlingmoki]

Changed the impeller early on when I went over the motor, but it then sat dry over the winter. It was a thought I had also, but .. not sure. I'll double check that as well as the thermostat. Hopefully later today but I've got the last of the garden produce to bring in and deal with, might wind up helping my wife process & can tomatoes instead.

Camper has a 1998 1.8T engine swapped into it; 150HP is plenty of power to tow a boat+trailer as small and light as this one.

Thanks for the input.