Jordonelle shakedown cruise

[Gone Forever]

Decided that I could not get a good assesment of how the motor on my recently refurbished boat unless I was on a lake, so off to J for an afternoon of giving it a shakedown cruise and see what else needs doing.
Launch went well and my reliable 6hp fired right up and took us to the dock.  
Fiddled with the big motor for a while, starts up, runs nicely but won't get to WOT.  Gets about 1/2 way then flattens out,  I am beginning to think it's the spark advance not advancing.
So, after runing around at 1/2 speed for a bit and not progressing it was decided that the bow mount should be tested.  It worked flawlessly and pulled the boat 1/2 way around and back across the lake with no problems about 3 hours of near continual running.  It was able to maintain .4mph to 2.8 speed ranges.
The electric panel worked as I wanted, the master switch and the 4 connected sub switches for anchor lights, bow lights, courtesy floor lighting and depth sounder.  The 12volt and USB ports worked great.
The Bimini was exceptional, providing a nice place to just drift around in the shade.
Since this was about testing the boat and not fishing only one rod and small tackle box was brought.
We trolled 30 to 50 FOW, marking some fish here and there, some as shallow as 8-12' and some in the 40' range.  Using a CD9 long lined at 1.5 brought a few slimers to the boat, one a healthy 18".  A smallie of about 12" was also caught.  Same lure.

[wiperhunter2]

Glad you were able to get the new boat out and check it out, too bad the main motor isn't working right, is it the origional motor? Just wondering if the thottle cable is out of adjustment, not allowing the full travel. Have you tried removing the engine cover and manuelly moving the thottle or at least seeing if it travels to the end of the stop? When I got the new motor for my boat it did the same thing, it turned out it was the prop, after replacing the prop, it was able to do better but I ended up having to take it to a prop shop to get custom fitted for my boat. It envolved shaving off even more of the prop, so it would be a better fit for my boat size. I could have bought a smaller prop but then there was the danger of over reving the motor at WOT.

[Gone Forever]

Thanks for the advice WH. It is the origional motor, 1984 Mercury Classic 50. 4cyl 2 stroke. Clean looking motor.
I will get it figured out and if not I'll take it to someone over the winter to get it running strong.

I have had the covers off, replaced a couple of linkage parts...looks like it is mechanically doing everything it should, but I will continue to look at linkage and such to see if I can figure it out. I know that when this motor gets running right it will be a very nice motor for this boat.

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the advice WH.  It is the origional motor, 1984 Mercury Classic 50.  4cyl 2 stroke.  Clean looking motor.
I will get it figured out and if not I'll take it to someone over the winter to get it running strong.

I have had the covers off, replaced a couple of linkage parts...looks like it is mechanically doing everything it should, but I will continue to look at linkage and such to see if I can figure it out.  I know that when this motor gets running right it will be a very nice motor for this boat.

Not sure if it is mechanical advance on the timing or electronic advance but that could be the issue as well. Was the boat from this area or from a lower elevation, like Idaho or Cal? The only other thing I can think about is how much weight you have in your boat, were you by yourself when you took the boat out, if there was two of you in the boat or more, then you should try taking it out by yourself or try it a lower elevation.

[Gone Forever]

I can see that the spark advance is moving and that the trigger on the stator is good. It does appear that the spark advance stops before the throttle bottoms out.
The PO told me that when he rebuilt the carbs he jetted it for altitude, which Mercury says is 4,000 or above. He used the .041 jet. >043 and .045 are available. (I have them already).

As far as weight, this is a 16' aluminum. Pretty light weight overall. I go 250 and my buddy is about 180, so load should not be a problem for a 45hp on that boat. Prop is a 9x14. PO said 30mph at the Berry.

[wiperhunter2]

I can see that the spark advance is moving and that the trigger on the stator is good.  It does appear that the spark advance stops before the throttle bottoms out.
The PO told me that when he rebuilt the carbs he jetted it for altitude, which Mercury says is 4,000 or above.  He used the .041 jet.  >043 and .045 are available. (I have them already).

As far as weight, this is a 16' aluminum.  Pretty light weight overall.  I go 250 and my buddy is about 180, so load should not be a problem for a 45hp on that boat.  Prop is a 9x14.  PO said 30mph at the Berry.

Well that is likely the problem right there, the PO rebuilt it. On my last boat I took it in to a shop to have the carb rebuilt, it did just what yours is doing after it was rebuilt. The shop could not get it back in, so I brought it up on BFT and a member said he would take a look at it. We went out to Willard and after we took it out, he said the float was not adjusted correctly, we brought it back in, he adjusted it and it ran fine after that. You should ask the PO if he had ever rebuilt a carb like that one before or if there was a possibility that he adjusted it wrong. If it ran fine before he rebuilt it, then that has to be the problem or at least something else he did wrong when he rebuilt it.

[BURLEY]

It may possible that the fuel pickup line has a clogged strainer not letting it pick up enough fuel.