Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

FINALLY.
Fuel leaks are fixed. Idle is fairly solid (still in driveway). Still gonna be rough out on lake in mid/upper revs. I just gotta tough it out until the ECU learns


I have a new rear mooring cover ala Red Green. I like it. I'm using tarp clips mostly everywhere so that I can just go grab another 8X10 off the shelf and slap it in! It self stows quite neatly up under the rear eve. Black on black when stowed and it hardly shows.


About thirty seconds and it is on with NO SNAPS and NO ZIPPERS. I hate em. Not only does it shed water nicely, it will guard my new sun lounge (still in progress) from sun damage.


Finally finished that fancy box that I worked on all spring. It covers my new exhaust. I'm using Jeep hood bungees in a couple of places to hold it tight and still pull apart with no tools. I'll get a close up after I fix a couple of hacks



And there you have it. Ready to launch either today or tomorrow...depending.

Looks like you're going to beat me

BTW disregard that PM I sent you...I figured it all out.

Man Todd that thing is sick looking!

Looking good Al hope you make it to the water this weekend.

Todd, have you ever done a compression check on your engine?

Does trolling back to my dock count as a successful launch? I think it just might

Still fighting the leakies. Had a fitting on my remote oil filter line dripping onto exhaust manifold. A little smoky . Didn't have the right tools to snug it up. I did manage to get to the mid rpms and the ecu ran it a little rich at first, then tuned itself and pretty good on low/mid rpms now. That's when the leak made itself known, so I didn't try to go to high end.

So I have a better tool kit put together and will go hit it tomorrow again. At least its on the water now, because I love Northern MN mosquitos

JT, I did do a compression check when I bought it. I can't remember exactly where it ended up, but all cylinders were about equal, it was recently rebuilt.

It's been in the water - a huge step forward and only a week behind me.

I win!

A little off topic Todd, but I had to have the complete furnace and a/c unit replaced at the house this year $6800. thats the main reason the toon is sitting right now. BUT!! I am in a diet contest at work that ends July 1st, $2000 to win. right now I am winning. So far I lost 47 lbs. So Ill call it a late start, but my toon catches up quick! JT

Long frustrating spring. Still slowly making progress, but sheeeesh

All fuel leaks are fixed. ECU tuning continues. Finally got to the upper end of revs and set a new speed record. 37mph with full tanks! I think I'll be able to squeeze a little more out yet. Motor running pretty nice at all rpms now.
A slight hesitation between 1 and 2 thousand rpm when I hit the throttle. I can probably tune it out. It is possible that I have a small vacuum leak causing this. Did a thorough search with a listening probe and also a can of carb cleaner and could find nothing.
On the positive side, I finished up my exhaust cutouts. When I first hit the switch, I just about pee'd my pants it sounded so nice. Low, loud and throaty. I won't be using it much out on the lake because I need to be nice to the neighbors. It certainly will sound nice trolling up to the bar dock tho

Now the bad news. The oil leaks that I have been chasing have certainly been persistent, but I am a stubborn SOB. After fixing a fitting drip, I still was getting a little from around my oil filter (remotely mounted, thank god). You can see my 'bandaid' that sort of was keeping it at bay here.


At first I thought maybe I had a bad filter seal, so I made a mess and replaced the filter. And it STILL leaked at higher revs. After making another mess, I ran a finger around the sealing surface that the filter screwed on to. Felt rough, so I pulled the whole fitting off. This is what I found.



On close inspection, it almost looks like grinder marks. Some idiot before me really did a number on it. Why it didn't show up last year I have no idea. Consulting with my local machinist, he said it would be hard to mill it and make sure the surface was perfectly flat because of the screw thread fitting sticking out. I said screw that, and found a new one on eBay. So another 75 bucks and a few days of down time.
Oh well, the big lake temp is still in the 50s.

JT, ain't it fun to own shiny, pretty things that need constant attention and financial input?

I. Feel. Your. Pain...

ToonGuy wrote:I. Feel. Your. Pain...

Likewise. It sounds to me like we BOTH have been making a greasy hellamess.

Todd, I'm really excited to hear what your final speed numbers are gonna be. But I'm already impressed with what you have gotten so far to. I'd love to have a boat with a climate controlled cabin, it's so hot here during the summer, I'd be nice to go inside and cool off!

Mrtoler wrote:Todd, I'm really excited to hear what your final speed numbers are gonna be. But I'm already impressed with what you have gotten so far to. I'd love to have a boat with a climate controlled cabin, it's so hot here during the summer, I'd be nice to go inside and cool off!

Thanks Ryan. I think I'll hit my goal of 40 yet! Fastest houseboat on the lake! With the black roof, I'm glad that I put some insulation under it. The shack stays nice and cool out of the sun. I just got my oil filter fitting and installed it, cleaned up most of the mess, and took another test run. YAY! No more leaks. Ready to do some final tuning and propping aaaannd heavy drinking aaaaaaannnnnndddd SHIT. The flood hits (posted separately) and I am stuck on the trailer likely for at least a week or two.
I STILL haven't gotten in a single pleasure cruise yet. So maybe I still qualify for 'latest launch' after all. Oooohhhh, I'm gonna make up for all this eventually

Hope this isnt hyjacking Todd, I won the bet at work $1800. So I called tge welder, he said to call him back end of august or september. So good news is I lost 51 lbs, and won $1800, bad news is boat will probably wait till next year. JT


Hope you get out soon!