OK guys, I have an update...
I finally got an afternoon free, so I pulled the electrical system from the parts motor, and put it on this one. Coils, stator, trigger, wires, etc. Once I was done, excited, I turned the key... Still, no spark.
NO, NO, NO... REALLY??? Did I make such a dumb, rookie mistake??!!??
Yes, I did.
I unplugged the control cable, used a remote starter switch, and she fired right up. The kill wire was grounded. DUUUUHHHHH!!!!!! Okay, so I wasted a couple of hours. I call it practicing my skills! Next time I have an electrical problem, I will be really fast at changing it out. The good news here, is that she's running!
I didn't feel like chasing down the ground, so I just swapped controls for another one I have. Took maybe 15 minutes, no sweat. Hooked up fuel and water, and fired her up. She ran terribly, wouldn't idle. Cleaned the carbs, turned the key, and VROOM! She's running nice!
Now for the water test. Took a few days, but I finally got a break, and got her to the ramp. Dropped her in, and she sat pretty! Here, look:
She's idling in the pictures, smooth as silk.
Untied her, and went through the no-wake zone. Gave her some gas and she leaped up, and did some strange stuff....
She leaned very hard to the right and threw water straight up in the air. The nose of the boat was plowing, as if there were 500 lbs up there. I trimmed her up, and the nose lifted a little, and something was very wrong. Water was shooting WAY up in the air, maybe 15' up. I looked back over the transom while running, and the motor was BURIED. It was mounted WAY too low on the transom. Also, the transducer for the hummingbird was set way too low, and that created the taller of the two fountains of water shooting up in the air. Even like that, she ran up to 27 MPH on the GPS.
I brought her back in and took her back home. Called the prev. owner, and he confirmed that the boat shot water in the air anytime you got on plane He said that three guys sitting in the back made the boat run much better than when alone. That was interesting to hear, if I can believe that.
Anyway, I lifted the motor to the top hole on the motor, and re-bolted. Went back to the ramp and launched again. This time was marginally better, The boat was still plowing, but this time, there were no fountains of water. I trimmed her up, and the nose lifted a little higher than before, but she was now leaning to the LEFT pretty hard. That's when I remembered that the trim tab above the prop had been turned hard right. I didn't have a socket with me, so I ran her a little, and called it a night. It was getting dark, and it was cold.
Again, she only reached 27 MPH. Interestingly, if I backed off to about 20 MPH, she leveled out and ran pretty nicely.
That makes me wonder about this boat. Do I only need to adjust the motor & prop setup, or is something else going on? Could it be that this hull simply cannot handle this kind of horsepower? Could it be a hull that's only rated for 15 HP, and someone was trying to make her something she was not designed for? I once over-powered an old hull, and had the same kind of experience. That particular hull liked 18 MPH. Anything much over that, and she would plow and bow steer, and show terrible manners. Back off to 18 or so, and she ran beautifully. That is almost how this one feels.
I plan to straighten out the trim tab and run her in the lake tomorrow morning. Will post the results.
-TH