1980 Center Console repower

phatdaddy said:
do you have the smart gauge for the merc?
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Yes. Analog tachometer & speedometer, the 5 inch Mercury Vessel View display, plus a Garmin unit- run by the Smartcraft Connect device.

Btw, my brother has the older Vessel View Mobile on his boat, and he could get a lot more info out of it, including PDFs of speed/rpm/mpg. I can't seem to get that out of the newer Smartcraft devices.
 
Hey Invisibill. Did you get your 200 to turn up yet or figure out what the problem is? I’m working on finishing some work on my v20 and have a 200 merc 3.4 ready to put on it. I was thinking of starting with a rev 4 17. Curious what prop you ended up with
also have sea keeper ride tabs ready to install. Is there a noticeable difference if you try to turn it on and off in difficult seas?
 
phatdaddy said:
Was wondering because my Garmin’s voltage is usually 1-1.5 volts lower than the Mercury gauge.
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Garmin voltage isn’t the input voltage as you would have at the fuse or plug going into the chartplotter. They measure voltage after it has left the processor. At least that’s what they have told me.
 
Johnsonboat said:
Hey Invisibill. Did you get your 200 to turn up yet or figure out what the problem is? I’m working on finishing some work on my v20 and have a 200 merc 3.4 ready to put on it. I was thinking of starting with a rev 4 17. Curious what prop you ended up with
also have sea keeper ride tabs ready to install. Is there a noticeable difference if you try to turn it on and off in difficult seas?
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I have it on the wait list at the Mercury dealer, sitting in their yard. Since the engine was new to me, I figured it was better to let a professional tune it up, than me just changing spark plugs this week, an oil filter next week, etc. Currently, they are hoping to start work on it next week. Hopefully it's an easy and fast tune up. I didn't have time last week or this week to work on things anyway, so no real time lost on my end.

I have a thread at https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/1393379-wellcraft-v20-repower-prop-suggestions.html discussing the propeller. I currently have an 1980s 17 inch 3 blade prop I'm using. I've ordered a used 18 inch Enertia prop. It should arrive tomorrow, but I need to install a hub. I'll test that out sometime after the first weekend of June. Based on my hopeful usage (waterskiing/tubing, camping trip loads for a week on Lake Powell), I'll probably end up in the 15 or 17 inch pitch range. I'm curious about the Rev 4 myself, as it will support a higher mounted engine.

Sea Keeper Ride made a world of difference inside and outside the LA harbor breakwater. I didn't do anything too challenging conditions wise, about 15 to 20 mph of wind, some light swells, and a lot of boat traffic wakes. But setting it to manual (and all the way up, so essentially "off") I could feel the boat responding to the waves a lot more, with lots of up and down and sideways. I felt myself easing off the throttle a lot with SKR "off".

I left it on after that! When I get the boat back, I'll try a few things out again.
 
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“Out on the Reef” on YouTube installed the Sea Keeper tabs on his Parker. He installed them himself and had some on and off videos.

Pretty interesting system
 
Put a new alternator on today. I had to go with the stock Mercury 85 amp one. I wanted to go to their upgraded 115amp kit, but it was backordered till late July.

Voltage went from 12.0 to 14.6. Hopefully this lets me get full power out of the engine. I was only getting 5000 rpm out at the start of a trip, and 30 minutes later, maybe 3000 rpm. I first thought it was all fuel related, but I went through that several times.

I doubt I'll get on the water this weekend. Too much activity at the launch ramps, and too many home duties to attend to. Hopefully I can test it out in the next week!
 
phatdaddy said:
Take your old one to a local alternator shop, should be able to have it rebuilt.
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That's my plan for Tuesday. That way I'll have it on the shelf ready to go if I need to replace this one again.

Probably should have done that in the first place, but I'm ok with this route.
 
How many hours? This engine has about 850. No idea if it's second or third or fourth. My actual usage will be 100 hours a year, or less, at times.
 
Updates: Took the boat out on the water Monday afternoon.

For the life of me, I couldn't get to 5000 rpm. Maxed about 4900 rpm, 36.9mph. 15 inch Enteria prop. So no change from before.
Remote fuel pump (it can do about 40 GPH into a 5 gallon can), was showing 0 PSI when I was at 4900 RPM.

Hole shot was pretty good though. 0-20 was 6 seconds, 0-30 at 10.3 seconds for my best times. Fuel economy was only about 2 MPG, which I think is a bit low for this boat and engine. I was hoping for 3.5 to 4mpg at 3500 RPM, not 2.4 that I got. Maybe I need to do more long distance testing, not start and stop

Tested this on my reserve tank (aftermarket 30 gallon added 40 years ago), and on a 12 gallon Moller tank on the deck, connected via quick disconnects. I should have tested off the 60 gallon factory tank too, but didn't switch the valve over.

I've started going through fuel lines. I found the ball valve at the stock factory tank is smaller than expected. 1/4 inch threads into the tank, but the ball valve opening is tiny. I could get a 13/64 drill bit though it, but nothing larger. I wanted to put a new 3/8 inch full port valve (so a full 3/8 opening) on to the tank, but the stem was too tall, and I couldn't rotate it on to the tank. So I went with no shut off option, and did a 1/4 inch NPT to 3/8 inch barb for the hose connector. New fuel test got me 46 GPH out of this tank, instead of 40 GPH before hand. Reserve tank, I'm only at 20 GPH. Sadly, I can't find the access port for the reserve tank. I can find the fuel level sending unit, but no hose connector there. I might have to tear apart that decking to find it.

Today, we checked the fuel pressure on the fuel inceptor rails. Both port and starboard were about 50 psi with the key on, engine off. At idle, starboard was 50psi, port was up to 60 psi. The service manual says about 45psi is the upper limit. In all cases, my remote fuel pump was off.

Hopefully I can test the boat again this next weekend. I'm hoping that with less fuel restrictions from the main tank, that I can hit a full 5800 RPM on the engine. Then I'll test out a high pitch propeller to see if I can get more speed out of the boat and still hit WOT.
 
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