The Mariah is going under the knife...
 

Well, I'm about as nervous as my own child needing surgery... Next Tuesday, I'm taking the boat in for service. I've had quite a bit of experience on boats, and have a good idea what performance to expect, and mine's not living up to it's end of the bargain. The advertised weight is 3000 lbs., so figure 3500. With a 300HP engine, I figured mid 50's would be easy. I'm having troubles hitting mid 40's!!! After browsing the boards all over the internet, and talking with some experts, I'm thinking there is a problem with the throttle cable and/or gimbal bearing.

I have a problem where it stays in gear unless I move slightly past neutral - makes for difficult docking! So I asked the marina to tighten/replace it and check the gimbal bearing. I also pointed out that the speed isn't what I expected, so he said they'll check over everything.

The engine starts and runs perfect. No odd noises, no smoke, no missing. I replaced the plugs and wires just to see... nothing different. I decided to give up and take it to the experts.

Wish me luck. The cost alone is going to give me a heart attack, but I'm nervous about them not finding a problem, or worse, finding a severe problem!!!

Good luck with it, and let us know what they find out!

Yeah keep us posted on the status of what they find out. Possibly if somone else exhibits a similar condition it may help them in narrowing down what might be their problem. :)

I can tell you from experience Ryan that pacing outside the boatshop waiting for them to finish doesn't seem to hurry them at all!!:o

Well, I'll try making this short. The shop I planned to take my boat to is also the marina that manages my slip. They are still stuck in the 50's and 60's with no firm scheduling, etc. just a hand shake. While I like that mentality at times, I didn't this time.

After about a week of calling and harrassing them about when it will be done, I was stuck with "next week" comment. I took the in-laws out for a drive looking at all the multi-million dollar houses when "clunk, clunk, clunk". Yes, hit the same row of rocks/submerged object as I did the month before. This time I was 20-30 feet further out, and this time I damaged the prop. So, I told the marina I was taking it out of the water to replace the prop and put Smart Tabs on. I would then drop it off with them on Monday.

I installed the prop and Tabs, took it to them, and what do you know... they worked on it immediately!!! Here's the story:

I was a little upset with myself for not testing the prop and tabs by themselves, but it made things much easier just delivering to the shop. The technician was a great guy, and informed me the shift cable had a kink. Also, the gimbal bearing was shot. Oh yeah, the lower unit lube is low, has a small leak. Okay, just fix it!!! He did, took it for a test run. Called me back asking what I felt was wrong with it before. I told him it was slow to plane and definitely not fast at 42-44 MPH max. Not the 300hp I was thinking it would be. He said without playing around much, he had the thing pop right out of the water (thank you Smart Tabs) and topped out at 55 (thank you gimbal bearing). I'm wondering what I'll see after tuning the tabs and trim just right... high 50's??? THAT's what I was thinking it should do!!!!

So, yes, I'm happy. No, I don't know how much this is going to cost me. Yes, I'm taking the rest of the day off to enjoy my "new" toy. Too bad it's the wife's birthday today. She would have liked dinner/movie/ice cream, but I have more important things to enjoy!!!! Just kidding... I'll report my findings later this week!

Indykoch, thanks for the update. I cant wait to hear your opinion on the smart tabs. I have been kicking around the idea for a while. Enjoy your "new" toy.

I left work a bit early to "check" if the marina slipped my boat properly and tied everything up ;)... okay... I took it on a test run :p !!!!

First thing I noticed, I started the engine and could hear a pin drop! The boat was new to me this year, so I didn't realize how quiet it was supposed to be. I didn't know it at the time, but that gimbal bearing was "growling" quite loud at all RPM's. I get out of the idle zone and go about 3/4 throttle, it felt like dropping the hammer in a car - almost no bow rise thanks to the Smart Tabs. Again, it was sooooo much quieter than before. With all the new stuff I put on it, I forgot to check the shift cable. So I slowed down (yet again, so much quieter and smoother than before), put it in reverse, then neutral. Fixed!!! New cable worked. This time, I gave it full throttle to see what would happen. OMG!!! It jumped out of the water, hit 40 in what felt like 3 seconds, hit 50 soon after. All the while I'm trimming it up to see when it'll blow out. Nope... stayed hooked up and went straight to 55 MPH :). Almost felt like it had some drag still, I'm guessing the Smart Tabs need to be adjusted slightly and I may see a little more speed. The prop may be a tad too big in diameter, as I saw 4500 RPM and the max should be 4600-5000. But I feel the pitch is right at 21. Who knows what that bottom paint and green slime is doing as well?

Morale of the story, if you hear any clunking, moaning, roaring while at idle or WOT, ESPECIALLY while turning (at a decent clip), check your gimbal bearing!!! That thing made my boat loud, slow to plane, and slow top end. Now that it's replaced, I'm having a hard time staying here to "work".