How do I free my muffler?

Any binding slime or moose juice in the boat?

Nothing similar in the nightstand drawer?

Gary S wrote: 26 year old hose- cut them

Well... Good point. I'll try some lube first and if no go start hacking. Good point.

For personal future reference - is that the "good" kind of a lot louder or the "bad" kind of a lot louder?

Are we talking crappy old F 150 with no muffler or sexy boat here?

Did the Y-pipe myself .... Some say a bit too loud, others really like it. I LOVE it... but then I'm a gearhead at heart anyway and really appreciate the loud, throaty tones. My engine sounds about the same at speed as the link above. In the water at idle you really don't hear much of a difference. The noticeable difference comes while under way since the exhaust is at least partially exposed and especially when there is a significant load on the engine.
believe it or not, on the trailer there isn't much difference either. Well, unless you rev it like a race car - then you can really hear it.   Not that I've done that ....

With fewer unmuffled older boats on the lakes, it's a sound I miss. Thankfully, I have a couple older boats that still sound like they should.

Is that the factory mounting spot for your battery? I have a 1979 and before this I had a 1988. My batteries were always in the front. It kind of makes more sense having them back there.

gt40KS wrote: Glad you got it handled without too much headache. Did you have a chance to fire her up and experience that sweet sound?

Not yet... hoping to get a test run in the next day or two. Will post up video with sound.

DHMcFadin wrote: Any sound clips yet?

I do... Here's the link.

Unfortunately the sound didn't really pick up, it sounds way too quiet on the video. No idea why, I'll try it again at some point.

My observation: I like it, and the difference is more subtle than I was expecting. It's definitely louder, but contrary to others' opinions, it's much more noticeable at idle / low speed than when running / cruising. On the trailer it was SUPER loud, made me kinda nervous.

My theory is that my muffler was so fried internally that it really wasn't doing anything anyway, because this just doesn't sound much louder.

I'll need to give it some regular use over the next season to decide if I want to keep this setup or put a new muffler in to quiet it down, but initial impression is that it brings out that throaty V8 sound and yet isn't obnoxiously loud inside the boat.

Hard to tell with video. Does it sound like a regular dual exhaust boat or louder ?

I think it sounds great and it's definitely an improvement even if it's not as noticeable as you think while under way. Trust me, others outside your boat hear it much more clearly than you can. Boating buddies have told me they were very jealous of my exhaust and that it was a definite difference from the old muffled sound.

Was there still water in your muffler when you pulled it? if so then it was still functioning, more or less. There's not really anything inside it to baffle the sound, merely a sound trap with water as the medium. If the inside were rotted/ decayed to the point it wouldn't hold water in the main chamber the sound would still be baffled somewhat by the offsets and path the exhaust would have to take. Exhaust straight out of the risers into pipes (hoses) out the back are definitely lower restriction and virtually baffle free.