Strut10 Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Well......me & my buddy Dave hauled our newly acquired boats a couple hours over the mountains for the first session of working bugs out before our Canada trip in June. First thing I found out is that Momma's Suburban is going to make 13 mpg pulling the boat from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay. Because that's just the kind of hills that are between my place and Raystown Lake here in PA. Dave put his in and it fired right up. He swung it around and tied off on the dock. Then we put mine in. I had started and run it on the garden hose last week and all went O.K. But after the initial crank at the lake, the starter gear didn't want to reach the whole way up to the flywheel. I messed around a bit setting the gear by hand and the motor started fairly easily. The engagement problem seemed to improve over the day. So I don't know if it was just a "sticky starter" problem or a voltage problem. So we putted out of the "No Wake" zone and into the lake and wound them up a bit. My Johnson only had about 2-3 hours on it since a complete rebuild. So I had to go conservatively for the first hour of running (and run 25:1 mix fuel). We hadn't gone too far when Dave said his carpet was getting wet. Didn't seem to be getting much worse as long as we were running so we went on. A couple miles further and we decided to dock my boat at the marina and swap plugs in Dave's boat. But the way his plug was positioned, we couldn't do it in the water. His bilge pump was not working either. We pulled outof the marina and kept going. But another mile or so and Dave motioned we needed to head back. We ran back to the launch and trailered his boat. Figure it's got a leaking livewell line or some other intake fitting. So he got in with me and we took off to run some fuel through and put some hours on mine. Ran like a top. Wide open or at an idle it pretty much purred like a kitten. Most of the engine time in Canada will be trolling. It idles at a tenth or two either way of 3 mph right now. I need it at about half that. I have a trolling plate to install, yet. That should do the trick. Only thing that needs figured out from this trip is the fuel gauge. It dropped from a little under 3/4 to E just like that. Dunno what that's about yet. Here's a couple as we're coming out of the launch area toward open water: Here's one of Dave's unit once we got going some: Dave's rig as we're loading up to leave: Mine getting ready to leave: All in all it was a great day. We both found things that need adressed with our boats and we both can't wait to hit the lake again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Archer 01 Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Nice pics. Glad you had a good day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Great pics Don! Looks like a nice day out on the water. The Ottawa River is wide open here but there's still some ice floating out there. Can't wait to get out on the water again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted March 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 It was about 31-32 degrees when we hit the water. There was some ice floating in a slack area behind the dock. First time I ever boated in Under Armor, wool socks, a polypropylene union suit and my deer hunting clothes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairiepredator Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Glad you had a great day out on the water! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA_Spike_King Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 I bet it was a little cool out there. lol Don, what hp is that Johnson on your boat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Going by the size and shape, I'm guessing a 125hp V4, could be a 115 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 It's a 115, yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Looks like a great day out Don. Hope Dave's water problem is easily resolved. Man those pics make me really miss my parents always having boats when I was a kid, great times. Maybe a small boat will be in our future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Man those pics make me really miss my parents always having boats when I was a kid, great times. Maybe a small boat will be in our future. I was thinking the same thing!! Every weekend I remeber going out on the lake with my parents and having such a great time.....Of course gas was MUCH cheaper then so skiing and tubing all day wasn't a much of a cost! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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