Sea Trials. Fail. 1999 Sport Nautique

Well, I took "Squirrel!" out on Lake Lavon this morning. It was a beautiful morning.


The boat ramp was deserted, the fishermen had already departed and left only their empty trailers in the lot. It was much too early for the water sports people.

Excellent. I can do my one-man-launch routine and not worry about anybody getting angry. (I idle around the jetty to the courtesy dock and walk back to the truck... takes 5 minutes in the slot). My wife is at the gym with The Kid safely in the gym's child storage area- they are going to meet me later, if all goes well. All did not go well. I'm alone, and ready to cruise! After all of the work last weekend I'm eager to test her out.

I idle off the dock, idle out of the marina, get clear of the buoys and roll into the throttle. Full throttle.

Damn. This boat leaps out of the water compared to my old wooden TonkaCraft, and the pontoon boat that we used to rent for vacation.

I keep it in kinda close, but not so close as to screw with the two guys who just showed up at the boat ramp. I'm playing around, maybe 2,000 feet from shore. Then - BLAAAAAAAHphhhh.   Engine dies.


I goof around for a few minutes. I catch a re-light a few times but it dies out shortly thereafter. Acts like it's starving for fuel. I kick back and drink a bottle of water, confident that the guys on the pontoon will get that fish-fry kit launched eventually and will be willing to tow me in if I bring them beer later. Fisherpeople love beer, or so I've been told.

The marina is dead. The pontoon is still on the ramp. I text a buddy, he calls a buddy, they are fishing at the marina, he calls me back, ENGINE STARTS. Idles fine, idles in gear. Try to give it power to get above above 1,200 RPM and it dies.   I waved off the rescue crew so they didn't miss any crappie and started the idle back in to the dock.

Remember, it's a one man boat launch and recovery... so I have to idle past the boat ramp, not really knowing if I'll ever make it back. (Insert dramatic music here) Pontoon boat is still there.

I do my thing, get the trailer in the water and drag the boat out. I must say, that boat looks AWESOME on the water. It has great lines. The pontoon guys believed they spun the prop hub on startup trying to power off the trailer with the motor trimmed down. My day isn't that bad!!!

I got it home, started messing with the carb - it has fuel in it. Carb is nasty. Fuel filter is buried way up under the engine, but when I feel it with my hand it's rusty and I get big flakes of white paint in my hand when I retract my arm from the bowels of the beast.


I've decided to rebuild the carb based on my observations of the secondaries failing to open and I pulled the fuel filter bracket out so i could change the filter - it's the only way i could figure to get it out, so I painted the bracket while it was out.



A rebuild kit for the Marine Holley 4160 has been ordered because nobody had it in stock. I got the Holley 703-29 because it was specific to Marine applications.

I'm working on getting the fuel filter. I wanted one with a petcock on the bottom but I was wrong and got the wrong Napa part. the hole is too big to screw on.

So, Until next week... Squirrel! is dry docked.

Dreaming wrote: the kits are specific to the number that you find on the horn of the carb.    (the list number)    I cant see it on your picture, but if you turned the carb 90° counter-clockwise,

Good info.

My Carb has these numbers stamped on the horn:

SAE J1223 75009-4 3249

   The kit I ordered matches the picture on SkiDim, and yes, I can return it if it's not right - it'll be here tomorrow. Or I can buy the right power valve, etc.

Here's a shot of the rusty ass fuel filter: I figured if it had been on there long enough for the outside to get that way then the inside couldn't be far behind it.

You're right...that carb is nasty. There is quite a lot of gook build-up on the choke plates (picture of the air horn with carb numbers). Good advice to check your anti-siphon and fuel tank vent.

If the carb is that bad -- you may also want to check the distributor cap and rotor. Those few things can make-or-break engine performance.

JQ

Forrest,
The anti siphon and vent serve two unrelated different purposes. The vent allows air in and out of the tank for different fill levels and expansion/contraction. The anti prevents gas from flowing into the bilge in case of a fuel line breach. The anti is located at the top of the tank where the fuel pickup is located. It looks like a hose barb fitting. Open it up and see if there's anything inside of it.

Thanks guys.
I mentally correlated the anti-siphon valve that you guys were talking about with the similarly named equipment on a car's filler neck (that prevents fuel thievery).

Makes 11 times more sense now that I know it's to keep from flooding the bilge.

Thanks again! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions :)