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Random Quote: If ya gonna be stupid you gotta be tuff
<...> Even with it raised, the motor cowling STILL gets wet when I first hit the throttle and the bow rises as it comes up onto plane. And yeah, I tilt it all the way 'Bow down' before doing that. It also gets wet when I come off plane, as the following 'boat swell' ( what IS the word for that?) catches up to us and the water level goes about two inches above the gasket where the cowlings meet.
Right now it's looking like my choices are to
a.) keep the motor as dry as possible and just understand that I can never run it WOT, without it overheating,
b.) lower the motor and deal with the consequences of the outside of it and some of the wiring getting dunked at least several times a trip, hoping that the water level inside the cowling doesn't get high enough to get in the intakes, again, or
c.) I dunno. What's another choice? My guess is I lower it one mounting hole and see what happens.
But I am so overjoyed at it running until it overheated that it's just making me jump around like Snoopy doing his happy dance.
If I can work this out, the For Sale sign is going on.
As I recall, the inital water inside the cowl problem was from a defective poppit valve pumping cooling water inside faster than it could drain.
With a bracket motor, you can expect to see it half-submerged as the bow rises to get on plane and when the following wave overwashes, coming off plane.
The cowling and lower gaskets should be able to prevent flooding from this brief submersion. You can minimize the overwash somewhat, if you slow down more gradually. You could check with SIM about the Yamaha water intrusion kit for your 300.
Hope that your overheat symptom is easily resolved. A lighter engine (like others have mentioned came with that Contender) might make a more practical package.
But from your early post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gringo
<...> The problem with the Contender is that the list of places it can go is a very small list compared to the list of places where it cannot go.<...>
it would seem that your "For Sale" (do they have a 'craigslist' in the DR?) idea would work best for you.
Considering that water activities present such a large portion of 'what-to-do' in Provo, you need to be equipped to take most advantage of it. Perhaps a 'fishing' boat that can handle your sea conditions and 'go more places' AND a Sailing craft to enjoy when wind conditions make powerboating less fun...
yes, that is pretty much what we have come to realize. We have run four boats extensively in the four years we have been here. A 17 ft. Whaler Montauk with a 70 hp Evinrude,, an 18 ft. Whaler Dauntless with a 150 Merc, a 22 ft. Andros with the 150 Yamaha, and for the last year, this 25 Contender with the 300. We spend about 20% of our boating time trolling, about 20% jigging and bottom fishing, and the other 60% we are diving or exploring places for the hell of it. We have come to the conclusion that a small, trailerable catamaran would probably be the logical choice for a power boat for home waters, And a sailing catamaran for cruising weeks at a time.
The Contender is by far the best riding boat we have had. The Dauntless the worst. The Contender can handle heavier seas than any of the others, but the bottom line is that when the sea conditions are bad, we don't bother to go out. We don't have to. We have 350 days of sunny weather a year here. We don't have to make these 50-100 mile "canyon runs" that others have to make. We can be in 5,000 feet of water in ten minutes from the ramp. We can be back at the ramp from that in another ten minutes.
300 horsepower? Why? Doesn't make any sense. Doesn't float any better, and the fish and conch don't seem to care. And gasoline at the auto stations here is $ 4.30 a gallon right now. For crummy gas.
I have been spending a lot of time looking at specs and writeups on small catamarans lately. Right now, this new AeroCat and the Caracal are at the top of my list. 18-22 ft. Hopefully, I can find someone who is so into offshore fishing that the Contender will be a good find for them.
And I will tell them to watch the filters, and to grab a 250 Yamaha two stroke when they get a chance.
Gringo, Dumb question here, Would it be cheaper to just buy a Yamaha F250 and install ?
Will the 4stroke mate with existing wiring and controls ?
Lester
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I'd pay probably $6,000 in transportation costs plus 12.5 % of the value in import duty at this end. A locally obtained, new "commercial" 250 Yamaha, two stroke, installed, is about $12K.
Somewhere in that is the number I would have to sell the Contender for to break even with a used Caracal or equivalent. I suspect there's a slight gap between the two, and that's the number I have to dig out of my pocket to come up with a smaller cat.
Anyhow, I don't want another 25 foot boat to horse over these atrocious unpaved 'roads' around here. I end up driving in low range towing the Contender. I want something smaller, that I can easily trailer to various ramps around the island and save the boat time. 22 ft. max.
I just saw an ad from Ocala for a '96 SL1 with twin commercial Yamaha 85's on it. Can't contact the guy, though.
I might have someone here interested in the Contender already.
Anyhow, your idea will be easy to check. I can pull hoses off and bypass the 2 micron Racor easily enough. Thats one thing I can say for Contender. that section of the bilge is easily accessible.
Don't know what I would do if I needed to find and replace a fuel sender though.
HI gringo,
I beleive the VST screen is 3 micron. This is why I think your starving the engine using an additional 2 micron filter.
What was the fix? It seems you have fixed the problem but I couldnt find the resolution in your posts.
i didn't get the feeling it was starving on the last trip. It was running solid at 5200 RPM, WOT. Then it overheated, and shut itself down to under 2000 RPM for a while.
Did not get to take the boat out yesterday, had to deal with contractors. Should be able to today. Only things that have changed since the overheat alarm are that I lowered the motor one mounting hole and yesterday I took the gearbox off to take a look at the water pump and impeller. They looked fine to me, no cracks, distortions, noticeable wear etc.
Did not get to take the boat out yesterday, had to deal with contractors. Should be able to today. Only things that have changed since the overheat alarm are that I lowered the motor one mounting hole and yesterday I took the gearbox off to take a look at the water pump and impeller. They looked fine to me, no cracks, distortions, noticeable wear etc.
Ya need to change that impeller. The warp shows it got hot n' will not pump as much water as it should.
I know ya ignore me, but ya should look into a jet IMHO.
The 327 CI Vortec, (by Gubmint Motors), gets the best gas milage of all the marine gas engines, and twins on a welded allumum hull would be real REAL fast, take real REAL big water, n' go in 3 inches of water on step n' prolly 10 inches puttin' on one engine. One engine would be almost as fast n' much lighter.
Ya could do a Yanmar diesel too which is cheaper then the German high tech diesel n' gets the best fuel economy fer the $. Twins would be a little heavy but no gas to go bang!
My bother's twin 496 BBC with twin 10" Hamelton jets would be overkill, n' at 32 feet by 11'6" way too big fer yer roads. He pulls it out n' trailers it with his F250 Ford.
You could build a 22 foot or soooo with lots of beam n' deadrise, n' the small blocks, (maybe one fer the weight n' expense issues with a kicker fer spare power), are lighter then the BBCs.
It would be a little spendy, but it would be easy to werk on, nearly bullit proof, (me nephew has twin small blocks like I talkin' about here n' me Bro hit a rock this season with no damage at all ), go nearly anywhere. Me Brother's boat goes right to any beach he wants to, (it is a "gill netter" so it must get to beaches).
Commercial Fishermen aren't stoooooooopid Gringo. They use what werks as their income is dependent on 'em.
I allready made the suggestion pages ago. So ya can't say the idea that werks real well in Commercial Fishing way up North in a very remote area with very poor fuel quality has not been put forth.
Well, SIM tells me that those little impeller vanes are supposed to stick straight out, not be curved like that. Heck, I didn't know. This is the first time I ever took one of these apart.
I guess the good news part of that is that if I have indeed found the reason the temperature alarm went off, this might be (knock on wood) the last of it!
For now.
Do any of you know where I can find the specs on a new Yamaha 250 carbed two stroke? the Yamaha site in the US doesn't list them even as a product, near as I can tell.
Couple things. Resist the temptation to flip it over. Sometimes the size will work, but usually not once the vanes have taken a set (like yours have.)
As to whether them not sticking out straight, like when new, will hurt, it depends. The real answer is how tight the tips still fit to the pump case when the impeller is in it. If they are tight, it will pump fine. As SIM said, maybe not like a new one, but plenty good enough. If all (or any) of the vanes don't contact the edge, or just barely, on the wide side of the shaft (the side where the the vanes have to stick out the most to contact the side) then replace it. (That o-ring gasket on the pump body looks a little sketchy in the photo, but hard to really see it. Is it nicked or flattened?)
Having said all this by way of education, when you have had a known overheating problem, I would replace it in a heartbeat. Now if you can only get one from the states, it's kind of a "labor call" for you if it's worth sticking it back together to try while you're waiting for the new one, or just wait. ????
I agree and will just replace it. I am putting together another small list for SIM, cause I can think of another few things I can use. Like a spark gap tester. Things one would normally just buy in the States that don't exist here.
I have already put the Yamaha back together. IF I can run at 4000 RPM without overheating that will pretty much get me by for boating. until I get the impeller. We never run WOT in normal use.
So, you think I didn't need to lower the motor, with the impeller being the likely culprit?
By the way, the local Yamaha guy says they carry motors in 2,8,15,25,40,48,75,85,115,200 and 250 hp 2 stroke carbed. They do not carry any HPDI motors at all. These are commerical motors, direct from Japan, and not the 'consumer/recreational models sold in the USA. Biggest I could find on Yamaha USA's site was a carbed 150. I have been thinking of all the options.
Sometimes I forget that I am not limited to what is sold in to USA to meet USA emission standards.
I know someone here who is interested in swapping me a 24 ft. Aquasport with a 200 on it for the Contender, but that really doesn't sound like what I want. I am not very familiar with Aquasport but think they draw about as much as the Contender.
So far, my specs for a "new" boat keep bringing me back to looking at the Caracal and the Twin Vee 19 ft. catamarans.
The dual console setup option on the Twin Vee is really interesting.
So, you think I didn't need to lower the motor, with the impeller being the likely culprit?
No, I don't think that. Don't really know what to think about that issue. I guess it might still need lowering. Since that's a PITA, maybe run it now like you are going to. If it doesn't heat even with old impeller, gaskets, etc. that probably answers it. Even if it DOES heat, then put in your new impeller when it arrives and try it again. If it still heats, then lower it? That might be a plan.
Like you, I like the "fix one thing at a time" approach, and so far, it is not clear the impeller is "fixed" in the sense of pumping adequately.
Can't you get a son or two down again to help drop it?
Oh, I dropped it one hole by myself. That's a piece of cake now. I don't use the 'crank the trailer tongue' up or down method. I put an 8 ton hydraulic bottle jack under the prop housing and it goes up or down easily. No problem at all.
No matter what I would replace the impeller. It looks like it has enough curl that it wont pump enough water as it is. Add to that big time centrifugal force at 5200 RPM and it curls up even more. Keep us posted we are all learning something.
), go nearly anywhere. Me Brother's boat goes right to any beach he wants to, (it is a "gill netter" so it must get to beaches).
