Re: [bolger] Couple outboard questions
In a message dated 7/16/05 11:30:27 PM Central Daylight Time,
gbship@...writes:
ethanol, a hypothetically renewable fuel. I have a boat with a mid '80's vintage
40/35 hp. Mercury. Having problems with its performance a couple of years ago,
and being too mechanically challenged to do more than change the spark plugs
(pricey surface gap plugs, which I changed repeatedly), I switched to "premium,"
"non-oxygenated" (i.e. no alcohol) gasoline. The motor has been running like
a dream ever since.
In this regard, somewhere in Jeffrey Rodengen's highly entertaining biography
of (Mercury founder) Karl Kiekhaefer, ("Iron Fist"), I believe that he
relates that the old bastard was opposed to the use of EtOH in boat fuels. I have a
generic non-factory service manual for Mercury motors that relates that use of
EtOH-containing fuels causes the sight glass on the remote fuel tank gauge to
cloud up, as mine is. (and was, when I purchased it.)
I could make up some "just so" stories, a la Rudyard Kipling, to explain why
the change in gas seems to have had such a beneficial effect, but it would all
be after the fact B.S. and I'm not wholly persuaded that the change in fuel
is actually responsible for the increased tractability of the motor. I'm just
happy that it seems to be working and if I thought wearing the same underwear
or socks would keep it that way, I'd do that to!
Anyway, I dunno, but if your gas has EtOH in it, switching gas has to be the
easiest and cheapest possible expedient. If it doesn't work, tant pis!
Ciao for Niao,
Bill in MN
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
gbship@...writes:
> I was trying out a 1985 7.5 hpHere in the land of politicians suborned by ADM, our regular gas is 10%
> Mercury built especially to push sailboats, and rebuilt by a local
> mechanic for me.
ethanol, a hypothetically renewable fuel. I have a boat with a mid '80's vintage
40/35 hp. Mercury. Having problems with its performance a couple of years ago,
and being too mechanically challenged to do more than change the spark plugs
(pricey surface gap plugs, which I changed repeatedly), I switched to "premium,"
"non-oxygenated" (i.e. no alcohol) gasoline. The motor has been running like
a dream ever since.
In this regard, somewhere in Jeffrey Rodengen's highly entertaining biography
of (Mercury founder) Karl Kiekhaefer, ("Iron Fist"), I believe that he
relates that the old bastard was opposed to the use of EtOH in boat fuels. I have a
generic non-factory service manual for Mercury motors that relates that use of
EtOH-containing fuels causes the sight glass on the remote fuel tank gauge to
cloud up, as mine is. (and was, when I purchased it.)
I could make up some "just so" stories, a la Rudyard Kipling, to explain why
the change in gas seems to have had such a beneficial effect, but it would all
be after the fact B.S. and I'm not wholly persuaded that the change in fuel
is actually responsible for the increased tractability of the motor. I'm just
happy that it seems to be working and if I thought wearing the same underwear
or socks would keep it that way, I'd do that to!
Anyway, I dunno, but if your gas has EtOH in it, switching gas has to be the
easiest and cheapest possible expedient. If it doesn't work, tant pis!
Ciao for Niao,
Bill in MN
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Gary,
Question #1: The few times I have had water in the gas, it just
refuses to start, or, if it does start it just sputters to a halt.
Water in the gas seems a possibility, as your running at the dock
would not have stirred up the water enough to reach the inlet tube. It
doesn't take much water!
Question #2: Most (all that I have experience with) electric start
outboards with an alternator have a built in solid-state regulator. As
another poster pointed out, the readings you took are meaningless. I
am curious how you managed a reading for amps without a load? You
might try hooking up the negative lead from the motor to the battery,
then disconnect the present positive lead going to your electronics;
and hooking up the motor positive lead to the battery and give it a try.
Lewis
looking for a shade tree to practice my mechanics
Question #1: The few times I have had water in the gas, it just
refuses to start, or, if it does start it just sputters to a halt.
Water in the gas seems a possibility, as your running at the dock
would not have stirred up the water enough to reach the inlet tube. It
doesn't take much water!
Question #2: Most (all that I have experience with) electric start
outboards with an alternator have a built in solid-state regulator. As
another poster pointed out, the readings you took are meaningless. I
am curious how you managed a reading for amps without a load? You
might try hooking up the negative lead from the motor to the battery,
then disconnect the present positive lead going to your electronics;
and hooking up the motor positive lead to the battery and give it a try.
Lewis
looking for a shade tree to practice my mechanics
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "gbship" <gbship@c...> wrote:
> Need some expertise from those more familiar with outboards than I
> am. What are the symptoms of water in the gas? In more than 25 years
> of using outboards on sailboats, I've never had this problem that I
> know of, until, perhaps. today. I was trying out a 1985 7.5 hp
> Mercury built especially to push sailboats, and rebuilt by a local
> mechanic for me. After running fine at the dock for 30-40 minutes, I
> took it for a test spin. It ran well and low and medium speeds and
> initially at full throttle, although there seemed to be some minor
> variations in RPM, After several minutes at full, it began running
> irregularly, and then cut to about half speed. I backed the throttle
> to about half, which seemed to prevent an imminent stall, but about a
> half minute later, it quit. After several minute's rest, I did
> managed to get it restarted, but it only ran 2-3 minutes before
> quiting again. I periodically tried starting it over the next 30-40
> minutes, and it started another 2-3 times, but only ran a few seconds
> before quitting. I dopped it off at the mechanic's on the way home
> and his wife (he was off fishing) said a common problem they see is
> water in the fuel, which can then cause carberator problems.
> Unfortunately, I had left the tank on the boat, so that couldn't be
> checked (not that I have any idea how to do that). Does this sound
> like a possibility?
>
> Second question. This motor comes with an electric starter and
> battery charger, which I didn't connect to the battery because I
> wasn't sure how the charger worked and if it was regulated. I did
> hook the leads to a voltmeter. It showed at idle, the charger put
> about about 9 volts. At nearly full speed, but not in gear, it leaped
> up to around 32 volts! In gear at nearly full throttle, it showed 18-
> 19 volts. Amperage was measure at around 4.5 for the last two
> readings. The question is if I hook this into the battery, will it
> blow out all the electric lights if their turned on, fry the
> electronics in the autopilot, and boil the water out of the battery?
> Don't need the charger to keep the battery up as there's a solar
> panel on the boat, but it would be nice to use the electric starter
> without endangering the other electronics. Does this need to be run
> through a regulator? If so, how is that done? Is it similar to the
> regulators used for solar panels? I eagerly await the group's expert
> advice. . . .
>
> Gary Blankenship
'measured' not 'ensured' !
Chris Lasdauskas wrote:
Chris Lasdauskas wrote:
>
> Hi Gary,
> It looks like you ensured this without a load.
gbship wrote:
It looks like you ensured this without a load. The readings are
basically meaningless; as soon as you have a load across it you'd see
the voltage drop a lot.
Re regulation, I know nothing about outboards, but if it isn't regulated
I guess an ordinary car regulator would work fine. They cost about A$4
from a spare parts place.
Chris
> Second question. This motor comes with an electric starter andHi Gary,
> battery charger, which I didn't connect to the battery because I
> wasn't sure how the charger worked and if it was regulated. I did
> hook the leads to a voltmeter. It showed at idle, the charger put
> about about 9 volts. At nearly full speed, but not in gear, it leaped
> up to around 32 volts! In gear at nearly full throttle, it showed 18-
> 19 volts. Amperage was measure at around 4.5 for the last two
> readings.
It looks like you ensured this without a load. The readings are
basically meaningless; as soon as you have a load across it you'd see
the voltage drop a lot.
Re regulation, I know nothing about outboards, but if it isn't regulated
I guess an ordinary car regulator would work fine. They cost about A$4
from a spare parts place.
Chris
Need some expertise from those more familiar with outboards than I
am. What are the symptoms of water in the gas? In more than 25 years
of using outboards on sailboats, I've never had this problem that I
know of, until, perhaps. today. I was trying out a 1985 7.5 hp
Mercury built especially to push sailboats, and rebuilt by a local
mechanic for me. After running fine at the dock for 30-40 minutes, I
took it for a test spin. It ran well and low and medium speeds and
initially at full throttle, although there seemed to be some minor
variations in RPM, After several minutes at full, it began running
irregularly, and then cut to about half speed. I backed the throttle
to about half, which seemed to prevent an imminent stall, but about a
half minute later, it quit. After several minute's rest, I did
managed to get it restarted, but it only ran 2-3 minutes before
quiting again. I periodically tried starting it over the next 30-40
minutes, and it started another 2-3 times, but only ran a few seconds
before quitting. I dopped it off at the mechanic's on the way home
and his wife (he was off fishing) said a common problem they see is
water in the fuel, which can then cause carberator problems.
Unfortunately, I had left the tank on the boat, so that couldn't be
checked (not that I have any idea how to do that). Does this sound
like a possibility?
Second question. This motor comes with an electric starter and
battery charger, which I didn't connect to the battery because I
wasn't sure how the charger worked and if it was regulated. I did
hook the leads to a voltmeter. It showed at idle, the charger put
about about 9 volts. At nearly full speed, but not in gear, it leaped
up to around 32 volts! In gear at nearly full throttle, it showed 18-
19 volts. Amperage was measure at around 4.5 for the last two
readings. The question is if I hook this into the battery, will it
blow out all the electric lights if their turned on, fry the
electronics in the autopilot, and boil the water out of the battery?
Don't need the charger to keep the battery up as there's a solar
panel on the boat, but it would be nice to use the electric starter
without endangering the other electronics. Does this need to be run
through a regulator? If so, how is that done? Is it similar to the
regulators used for solar panels? I eagerly await the group's expert
advice. . . .
Gary Blankenship
am. What are the symptoms of water in the gas? In more than 25 years
of using outboards on sailboats, I've never had this problem that I
know of, until, perhaps. today. I was trying out a 1985 7.5 hp
Mercury built especially to push sailboats, and rebuilt by a local
mechanic for me. After running fine at the dock for 30-40 minutes, I
took it for a test spin. It ran well and low and medium speeds and
initially at full throttle, although there seemed to be some minor
variations in RPM, After several minutes at full, it began running
irregularly, and then cut to about half speed. I backed the throttle
to about half, which seemed to prevent an imminent stall, but about a
half minute later, it quit. After several minute's rest, I did
managed to get it restarted, but it only ran 2-3 minutes before
quiting again. I periodically tried starting it over the next 30-40
minutes, and it started another 2-3 times, but only ran a few seconds
before quitting. I dopped it off at the mechanic's on the way home
and his wife (he was off fishing) said a common problem they see is
water in the fuel, which can then cause carberator problems.
Unfortunately, I had left the tank on the boat, so that couldn't be
checked (not that I have any idea how to do that). Does this sound
like a possibility?
Second question. This motor comes with an electric starter and
battery charger, which I didn't connect to the battery because I
wasn't sure how the charger worked and if it was regulated. I did
hook the leads to a voltmeter. It showed at idle, the charger put
about about 9 volts. At nearly full speed, but not in gear, it leaped
up to around 32 volts! In gear at nearly full throttle, it showed 18-
19 volts. Amperage was measure at around 4.5 for the last two
readings. The question is if I hook this into the battery, will it
blow out all the electric lights if their turned on, fry the
electronics in the autopilot, and boil the water out of the battery?
Don't need the charger to keep the battery up as there's a solar
panel on the boat, but it would be nice to use the electric starter
without endangering the other electronics. Does this need to be run
through a regulator? If so, how is that done? Is it similar to the
regulators used for solar panels? I eagerly await the group's expert
advice. . . .
Gary Blankenship