Brand new boat and problems already...please help

[Douglas4315]

So we took delivery of our 2014 Sweetwater Premium about a month ago. This past weekend we went out and the gas gauge was showing 1/4 of a tank well sure enough out on the lake, after hours and a sunday and bingo the boat starts to bog. I am thinking it's out of gas, but then how could it because it was still showing 1/4 tank.

Friendly couple tows us into our marina. Call the marina (our dealer) and the pull it out of the water and tell us "you were out of gas and your meter in the tank was defective so we replaced it. We filled the tank up and all is good". Ok so tonight we went out for the first time since the "fix", sure enough start it up and the gas gauge read 3/4 of a tank, not full. I run it for 10 minutes and it goes all the way down past the 1/2 way mark.

Too make matters worse the boat is running rough and ran the entire 10 minutes at 7000 rpm and I was going maybe 10-12 mph. Even in the marina no wake zone the rpm's were over 4,000.

What the heck????

[BoatCop]

If you've got high RPMs and no speed, the problem is more than likely the prop. Might be spinning on the hub, is under sized, ventilating (some call it cavitating) or the engine is mounted too high.

The engine mount is easiest to check. The cavitation plate (flat area above the prop) should be at the same level as the bottom of the engine pod (or center toon, if a tri-toon)

What engine do you have?

[Bamaman]

Sounds as if your tachometer also may be off. Most modern 4 stroke engines will have a rev limiter kick in around 6300 rpm's to keep them from hurting themselves. 2 stroke motors most often turn less engines (redline) than a 4 stroke.

Sometimes fixing a malfunction gas gauge is just as simple as bending the rod in the fuel tank that the float is attached to. I had a truck with a gas gauge that once showed almost a quarter tank, and it stranded me--towed in.

[Douglas4315]

We have a 150 hp Yamaha engine. What's strange is the RPM's were literally pinned past 7000 but the engine did not sound like it was higher than around 3500 rpm's.

[VacationLand]

You could have a defective tach and fuel sender. I would look for proper grounding first. All the gauges are usually tied to the same ground somewhere under the helm. Also check the battery connections and engine connectors to make sure they are tight.

There may be a switch on the back of the tach to set for different engines. If it does, make sure it's set to 4 cylinder mode.

MOST fuel gauges I've come across range from 10 ohms full-73 ohms empty. If you have a multimeter and a known quantity of fuel, it's easy to check the sender in the tank. Pull the connection from the gauge and put a lead in each wire. if it's bad, it will read outside this range.

For the rough running, if all the battery and engine connectors are tight and it still runs rough, I would definitely take it back to the dealer and tell them to make it right. Being a new boat, it is definitely under warranty.

I have a 2013 Sweetwater Premium and so far we haven't had any problems with except the dealer hanging the engine too low. The Admiral loves it so once you get this stuff taken care of you will love the boat!

[Douglas4315]

We definitely love it it's just ironic that the day we ran out of gas now the RPM's are off. We never had that issue before

[Liberty MO]

You would think dropping tens of thousands on a new boat would guarantee hassle free enjoyment for a while, but sadly it's not always the case. The first day we dropped our new boat in the water, we found there was a hole in the toon, then we ended up having to wait about 6 weeks before we could get it replaced and use it. No problems since, but it's extremely frustrating.

[NonHyphenAmerican]

Basically the old rule of "If it's got tits, tires or toons, it'll give you trouble" still applies.





I agree with "It's under warranty, take it back to the dealer."

[greghvac]

I feel your pain. I have a new toon got in april. have had cavitation.(waiting for new prop) then started to over heat took 3 time into shop to find a bad seal. waiting to get it back to take it out and see if it works. I know how it is a pain and down time. Just think its not coating you any cash to fix. hope your dealer is as good as mine and they are taking care of you.

[sgpwayne]

After 37 years behind the wheel of a 18 wheeler, the one thing that was burned into my brain was "DON'T TRUST YOUR FUEL GUAGE.' You have to visually check your tank if you want to be sure. The guage is only a reference.

I still carry a wooden dowel in my boat. It is notched at intervals and all I have to do is dip it in the tank to tell how much gas is in it. it is a bit time consuming to notch the dowel but after it is done checking fuel levels is a cinch.

I have never run out of gas in the boat,wish I could say the same thing for the truck.

GOOD LUCK WITH THE BOAT. Like any new item things will go wrong and I don't care how much money you paid for it.

[teecro]

Having a dip stick to make sure and learn to compare gauge to stick is an absolutely great idea... While underway my gauge shows that I have more gas than I expect... But like Wayne I only use the gauge for reference and would not leave the dock with only 1/4 showing on the gauge unless I had an extra can onboard.

Did your motor SOUND like it was turning 7th rpm? I'd be looking for a loose wire that is causing your tach and gauge to read incorrectly now.

[rsmith]

I learned through a friends bad experience, never trust the gas gauge. I regularly do a visual check on my tank since I can see the gas level in it and I usually fill up when I get just under a half tank. I also managed to not hook up a wire (oops) one spring and went a whole season thinking my gauge was bad, that help set me in my visual check ways.

As for my friends bad experience, we were putting around the lake and his gauge read just over a quarter tank, boat sputtered and died. It was then that we noticed the gauge actually said its not more accurate than by a quarter tank. Yeap, they where spot on there!

And yeah, it was my friends bad experience, not mine. I had plenty of beer and a fishing pole. I had no problem waiting for a tow back to the marina.