Hull Hugger

This topic may have been covered before but has anyone ever cut open and removed the Hull Hugger baffles? I really don't see much of a use for them other than noise and mine have developed an annoying rattle. It seems one or more have broken lose inside.

Removing the baffles kind of defeats the purpose of the muffler. So yeah, you could remove them but then the muffler won't 'muffle' as well.

Here's a post of mine on how to rebuild your muffler for about $20. Did mine last summer and still going strong.

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17967&KW=&title=blown-muffler-rebuild--easy

Hey Jones,

Where did you find your y-pipe? Looking to find one asap, adios hull-hugger....man I hated that thing!

Thanks

I spent two hours searching before I posted that question! "marine" was the term I wasn't using. Dohh!

Thanks as always Pete. You da man!

Sephmu wrote: Hey Jones, Where did you find your y-pipe? Looking to find one asap, adios hull-hugger....man I hated that thing! Thanks

I haven't replaced it yet but I'm planning on it. Being the cheapskate I am, I decided to buy one of these and modify it rather than fork over the $100 plus:Centek Surge Chamber This is how it turned out.

$145!

Found this bad boy, and at that price I can assure you that I will be measuring twice

Thanks again everyone!

-Sean

Yeah, they have all the sizes on that sight which is nice, I just linked one at random. but I believe mine is 3.5 inch in as well, I'll double check when I get home.

Like I said, at that price I'll have my ducks in a row before I order!

Hopefully I'll get some pics up when I'm done next week

Just took a Y pipe and crap out of mine.

Got tired of having a headache after driving the boat for a couple hours.

Some people say too loud, others love it and say it's not obtrusive at all. It seems some of the early morning skiers around here have "un-Y-piped" more out of courtesy to the sleeping residents on shore rather than not liking the sound.

All depends on your use and preferences I guess

I see. That would be a problem. I just didn't think the Y pipe made that much of a difference in the noise. I sure would like to hear the difference before I make the switch.

I've been having a couple issues I have been unable to completely solve and which I thought were unrelated until I finally solved both over the weekend. As mentioned here Hot Exhaust HoseI've been having intermittent issues with hot exhaust hose to the point of blistering the inside. I thought the risers were the issue but they weren't. Manifolds are in great shape, the engine runs at perfect operating temperature and water flow appeared to be good. I was beating my head against the wall trying to figure out the problem. Another issue was a rattle in the muffler that prompted me to plan on replacing with a Y-pipe. The comments here from Mr Muskewitz and watrski caused me to change my mind. The rattle was not very noticeable when the boat was in the water so I thought I would just leave it alone. And finally, I've recently been having some hesitation at WOT I thought were the vacuum secondaries.

Then, Friday night it came to me that blockage in the Hull-Hugger could be creating excessive back pressure resulting in the hot exhaust and was probably also causing my high RPM issues. The first thing Saturday I dug into it figuring I had nothing to lose.

Thanks to Eric Crawford for his recommendations regarding the 45 degree cut with the Dremel.

The debris in the picture is after I had to reach in and break it apart to remove the tube. If I would have known what was in there, I would have cut a larger access hole (and wore some gloves)

I took it to the lake yesterday and problem(s) solved!! The exhaust hose is now warm, not hot and I had no problem getting to 4500 RPM. In fact, it seemed to run better the longer I was out on the water. There is no doubt quite a bit of crap on the valves that was blown off.

Another surprising part is that it had little if any noticeable effect on the noise. Although it may be louder than a properly functioning Hull Hugger, it is still A LOT quieter than my old '79.

Hi.., wondering if Jones is still on this board... I have the same issue with a hot port downpipe and would like to ask him some questions. I've already fried the port downpipe and have replaced it with a new one. But when I run the engine the port side get really hot. I checked the risers and everything looks really good so I'm leaning towards the hull hugger thingy. I'm wondering if I can simply take the rubber hoses off and check for blockage.

Does anyone have an email address for him ?

Here's the link to my thread.
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23036&PID=289015#289015

PhiloM5 wrote: Hi.., wondering if Jones is still on this board... 5

Phil,
All you need to do is click on the down arrow next to the members screen name. Click on his profile and it will bring up all the data. One of the items is the last time he logged into the site.

Also, you can not just copy and past a link on CCfan like you can do on other sites. First, you must go to the "post reply" and not the "quick reply". You will find the "world" icon. Clicking on it will bring up a window where you what to type in the description of your link. Click ok and the next window is where you what to paste the copied link.

Thanks Jones, Eric and Pete for all the help. This is really a great board and the willingness to help reminds me of some of the Euro car forums I belong to. But don't hold that against me ;)

The risers are off and there is no blockage.., although other say there could be blockage down in the header. So should I take the port header off and flip it upside down and flush it out ?

Will also take the fiberglass down pipe off and see if i can feel any blockage in the tube leading into the muffler.

Again.., thanks for the help and will report back if I find anything.

Phil