No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

[bobeeker]

Hello I run a small part time charter business out of Wilmington, North Carolina. I have a 23' cuddy Stripper brand boat that up to last week was great. It has a OMC 5.0L engine in it with a 2 barrel Holly carb. The problem I am having now is it has NO takeoff power at all. You go full throttle from a dead stop and it takes a good mile to plain off. Once it plains off its the best running boat ever and runs 30 or knots. Also idels fine at dead stop as well. But the no take off power is killing me through our inlet as it can get very interesting with full power on take off. Please help me as I have a charter this weekend and cant loose that money. What do you guys think my problem is and how do I fix it????? Thanks a million in adavance. Joe

 

[QC]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

OK. We need more info. How long have you owned the boat? Has it always performed this way? Did it plane better before? How much stuff on board? Same as always? 30 knots from what source? WOT RPM, typical load, trimmed properly? What are you doing with trim for starting off? Does your trim work? Trim tabs? What drive? Stringer? Cobra? I know you need and want quick help. You answer all of that stuff and we may have a quick answer. Good luck!!! We sincerely want to help. Mo info = mo betta answers.

Edit: Ooops, just saw that this started last week. Nothing else changed?

 

[bobeeker]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

OK. We need more info. How long have you owned the boat? Has it always performed this way? Did it plane better before? How much stuff on board? Same as always? 30 knots from what source? WOT RPM, typical load, trimmed properly? What are you doing with trim for starting off? Does your trim work? Trim tabs? What drive? Stringer? Cobra? I know you need and want quick help. You answer all of that stuff and we may have a quick answer. Good luck!!! We sincerely want to help. Mo info = mo betta answers.

Edit: Ooops, just saw that this started last week. Nothing else changed?

I have owned the boat for 2 years. No it just started doing it over the past couple trips. Yes it used to just hop right out of the water. 2-3 people on board and a few tackle boxes and rods. 30 knots from gps unit. rpm im not sure of as it does not work properly. Trim down for take out and trim out for full speed with 30-32 knots max speed depending on wind and tide. Yes trim works fine. No trim tabs but boat is pretty level in water when going. It is the king cobra drive.

 

[blouderback]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Dirty bottom or running gear?

 

[bobeeker]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Boat is taken out of the water after each use so its not that. Not sure what you mean by running gear.

 

[QC]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Does it sound like it's lugging or is it revving and nothing happening? Prop looks fine? And I just want to confirm. No change whatsoever in top speed performance?

 

[bobeeker]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Does it sound like it's lugging or is it revving and nothing happening? Prop looks fine? And I just want to confirm. No change whatsoever in top speed performance?

I just sounds like its starting at a low rpm and building up rpm as the boat very slowly begins to plain off. I can have 2 guys go to the front in the cabin and it only take a few hundred feet to plain off. But it used to literally just hop right out of the water no problems at all. Prop was just re-done literally 1 month ago from yesterday and looks great. And top speed has always been around 30 knots or so. I have no smoke coming out of the engine or anything it just takes for ever to plain the thing off now.

 

[QC]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Did the performance change coincide with the prop work? Has it ever "hop right out" since you had the prop worked on? I am just trying to eliminate as many things as possible. Sounds like an engine issue, but as you have noted, few things will affect an engine and not show up at the high end too. The complaint sounds more like a boat, prop or trim issue, so that's why focusing there until eliminated.

 

[bobeeker]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Did the performance change coincide with the prop work? Has it ever "hop right out" since you had the prop worked on? I am just trying to eliminate as many things as possible. Sounds like an engine issue, but as you have noted, few things will affect an engine and not show up at the high end too. The complaint sounds more like a boat, prop or trim issue, so that's why focusing there until eliminated.

We started having the problems and someone said the hub might be spinning out or something like that so I had the prop rebuilt by and OMC dealer in Lake Norman North Carolina and it didnt help at all. My first mate just reminded me that when trolling at around 5 knots the last time we took it out the carb sounded like it was starving for fuel or air. It did not cut off and when we got back going and plained back off it was fine but everytime I tried to stay around the 5 knot range it made that starving sound.

 

[QC]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Spun hubs will rarely make speed, and they spin up high RPM without going anywhere.

Looks more and more like an engine issue. Hopefully guys with Carburetor and Gasoline engine performance will show up. I'll work on getting someone else involved. I'm thinking all tune-up type stuff. Timing, car, Plugs, points etc.

 

[bobeeker]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Spun hubs will rarely make speed, and they spin up high RPM without going anywhere.

Looks more and more like an engine issue. Hopefully guys with Carburetor and Gasoline engine performance will show up. I'll work on getting someone else involved. I'm thinking all tune-up type stuff. Timing, car, Plugs, points etc.

I just sent the carb off to flyfishcarbs to have it rebuilt but was looking to see if there is anything else i should be trying or looking for. But thanks for all the time. Joe

 

[Bondo]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

We started having the problems and someone said the hub might be spinning out or something like that so I had the prop rebuilt by and OMC dealer in Lake Norman North Carolina and it didnt help at all. My first mate just reminded me that when trolling at around 5 knots the last time we took it out the carb sounded like it was starving for fuel or air. It did not cut off and when we got back going and plained back off it was fine but everytime I tried to stay around the 5 knot range it made that starving sound.

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... I'm guessin' ya picked up some water, or crud in yer fuel...
or, yer way over-due for a Tune Up...

I'd start by inspectin' the contents of the fuel filter for water, 'n crud...

If there's no joy there,... Do a diagnostic tune up,...
plugs, cap, 'n rotor,... points if ya got 'em...
Meter the plug wires, 'n check their ohms...
While the plugs are out, run a compression test, 'n maybe a leak-down test...

Is the oil in the drive full,..?? contaminated,..??

It really sounds like the carb picked up some crud, 'n restricted the low-speed circuit to me...
Do the listed above, 'n it'll either be Fixed, or you'll Know where the problem lies....

 

[astuckey]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

Really sounds like your carb. I had the same symptoms with mine. Started to rebuild it, and found a piece of paper towel in one of the jets. Also, the accelerator pump was bad, and had a vacuum leak. The carb rebuild should fix it. In the mean time, check your fuel water separator for water, and debris.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

rpm im not sure of as it does not work properly.

You need to either fix the Tach (problem) or replace it. You cannot effectively diagnose the problem until you know what RPM it's running at WOT.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: No take off power please help asap!! have charter this weekend

rpm im not sure of as it does not work properly.

Disconnect your tach to make sure a bad tach isn't causing your problems.

Does your tach acting up coincide with your problems?