FS17 build getting.... SPLASHED!

[Prarie Dog]

Seems like the 50 TLDI takes about 600 amps to crank. I don't remember the exact number but it's a bunch, when you pull it you have to turn the compressor too. We carry a paddle and a trolling motor.

[whosmatt]

Bizarre indeed. Here's what the manual has to say about "rope" : "Tie the clamp bracket to the outboard with a rope."

Other than listing it as a part of the toolkit, that's it. PDFs are easily searchable.

-M

[whosmatt]

Seems like the 50 TLDI takes about 600 amps to crank. I don't remember the exact number but it's a bunch, when you pull it you have to turn the compressor too. We carry a paddle and a trolling motor.

I do have a paddle, but I have a feeling my best friend in a breakdown is going to be Vessel Assist and perhaps a sea anchor. This boat is just too small for a kicker (but I could be proved wrong).

-M

[whosmatt]

Larry I bought, I received, and I stored mine but I don't think mine came with such device don't even think I can fire those six (or 8?) diablo's with a rope?

You have an E-tec, right? There's a video out there of a 90 being rope started, but you'd probably have to have a team of vikings to turn over a 300. I seriously considered the E-tec for that reason, but the price difference was prohibitive for me, plus the 50 E-tec weighs about 30 or 40lbs more than the Tohatsu, though now that I have the boat in the water I think that wouldn't be as much of a problem as I originally thought.

Anyway I put some thought into my battery, so I feel pretty confident. I have a lifeline GPL-2700T AGM. I bought it last summer from Apex Battery when they had a coupon deal and got it for about $200. I checked the price on the same battery now, and it's over $400 from the same dealer. Yikes. I also got a Genius smart charger, and that thing is great... the lifeline sat in my shop from july until march when I installed it in the boat and never lost its charge; I checked frequently. The Genius never took more than a few seconds to report full charge when I hooked it up.

-M

[whosmatt]

Matt,

WOW! Super job and the numbers you posted sound awesome. Knew you could do it!

Thanks! I've just started reading through your build thread (only been here 2 years and there's so much to catch up on). I like your sig, BTW. I'm a big fan of his work.

[topwater]

Thats one of the nice things about AGM batteries, very low discharge rate when sitting around.
Good for guys that dont use there boat every week

[whosmatt]

Well the Turning Point prop was a smashing success. It has changed the character of the boat, and fixed my ventilation issues.

Regarding the changed character, the boat now has a much different launch. Before, it was really hard to tell when the boat came on plane because it didn't really seem to climb out of a hole, just progressively went faster (as I've heard one other builder of the FS17 remark as well). Now at low speed it has a very nose high attitude and then it comes on plane and the nose drops, like you'd expect. Once on plane I can throttle back a bit and stay there but it seems like it will fall off sooner than with the old prop.

Cruise speed at a given RPM is higher. Bite is great, so good, in fact, that I was able to trim far enough out at WOT to bump the rev limiter and (I suspect) limit the water intake and cause an overheat condition. Unfortunately the wind in my ears kept me from hearing the alarm and the bright sun made the flashing light not so easy to see, so the motor "saved" itself by dropping to idle. With the throttle (and therefore the oil pump) fully advanced, that made it smoke a lot for a minute or two, and was really rather perturbing.

I didn't get a good look at the speedo when I was running it at the edge of the RPM range, but at "normal" WOT can reach the same RPM and speed as I was getting before, though I have to trim out a little farther to get there. Oddly, every time I checked the motor looked like it was peeing ok, so not sure why the overheat; must have happened really quickly.

The factory service manual + the diagnostic mode of this motor is great. I was thinking of buying an hour meter but I can just put it in diagnostic mode and it will tell me by indicating using the tachometer and the lights what range i'm in. It also stored the overheat code

Anyway, the alarm went away instantly once the motor throttled down and I was able to resume normal running and ran the rest of the day without problems, other than that it was BUSY out there. You really gotta keep an eye out. I saw the DHS / CBP boat I posted a pic of down in the bilge, that thing is a beast when it's running. I think they say it can run 55 knots (EDIT: it *cruises* at 55 knots, top speed is 65. That's 75 MPH, y'all), and it's big enough to do it in some pretty rough water.

Oh, and regarding Prairie Dog's comment on the "pos Etec" I heard a radio call (and then saw the tow) of a new 20' Panga Super Skiff with a 90 Etec that stalled and wouldn't restart. They were in the middle of the channel and were frantically trying to direct sailboats around them.

Oh, and the extra glass seems to have fixed the stress cracking.

[chicagoross]

Biggest I've pull started was my 1996 Johnson 115 two stroke. My Merc 40 in the garage is a manual start, as were several commercial manual start 55 mercs down in Mexico, all started about as easy as any 2 stroke, never any problems. Don't want to pull start pull start Peter's 300...

Still mad at ETEC for shutting down out better marine store here on Guam. They sold the ETECs and the Suzukis,, then went broke after spending two years selling Suzukis at cost to all those that had paid normal price for ETECs that failed...

[whosmatt]

Still mad at ETEC for shutting down out better marine store here on Guam. They sold the ETECs and the Suzukis,, then went broke after spending two years selling Suzukis at cost to all those that had paid normal price for ETECs that failed...

I wasn't going to inject this into this thread, and I've not owned an Etec so this is second hand, but there's a blog from a local (to me) guy that repowered his skiff with an Etec, and while he doesn't badmouth it so much, it seems like it was in the shop a LOT. Site hasn't been updated in a while but I found it while looking for advice for folks who take small boats offshore. http://www.oceanskiffjournal.com/index. ... /body/C159