2355 - Sea trial and boat test

[StevensMan]

So I've got this boat without propper sea trial. Do not ask me how, it is long story.
Tomorrow I'm going to Lake Stevens to try boat for the first time with help from SomeSailor. There is not much wrong with this boat but risers weep some water (there are rust stains, check this picture http://www.iboatnw.com/gallery/data/media/26/IMG_1258.jpg) There are traces of water in the motor either from leaking risers or from condensation or from some other source. Before doing any maintanence on this boat I'll want to see how it runs before I start fixing it, temperature, WOT, speed, oil pressure, etc.

I'll keep posting my progress here.

Anton

Edit: forgot to add, if anyone else is interested to come there please do. It is the way to learn new things for all of us. PM me for contact phone number if you want.

[Tedster]

Let us know if we can help! Ted :D

I'd remove the risers/spacers, clean the mating surfaces, and check for thinning, general condition, etc. If the surfaces are good, replace the gaskets and reinstall. Otherwise, replace the manifolds, spacers, risers, and gaskets. Remember, they can leak inside (exhaust passage) as well as outside, so its a good idea to check them.

Good luck.

Raul

It'll be fun to ride on a 2355 again :)

[3788sam]

Great lake to do a on the water boat test, and with SS (the jack of all trades) with you I'm sure it will be fun and informative!
Have fun and good luck with your new Boat!

[StevensMan]

clean the mating surfaces ... If the surfaces are good, replace the gaskets and reinstall.

I'm just afraid to think what would happen if I suggest or ask about re-using old risers on BOC board. :shock: So I'm pretty much set on buying new set. However I'll inspect old one first, it should not be to difficult to see if they are in very bad condition or still could be used. They are bad most likely - it is 10 years old parts.

Judging by the weeping you're getting... and know they are saltwater risers... and you know they're 10 years old... and you know you're ingesting water...

Manifolds and risers are not unreasonable. That's what you got the $3,000.00 discount in price. Spend half of that... document your work, and you'll increase the value of the baot by $5,000 easily.

[StevensMan]

So you can imagine: great Seattle day, light drizzle that changes to heavy rain. When we arrived SomeSailor noted that one of the bolts on the trailer came loose and front post (where winch is attached) moved forward quite a bit. We desided to fix it later and went to the water.
Motor did not start on the first turn but eventually started and run fine. It run at about 1500-2000 RPM and we waited to check the temperature, listen to noses and just stared at the motor. All looks fine, there are some noses here and there but nothing major really, temperature is fine (around 170) and risers are not hot.
So Mike took the helm and we took off. It was great :D. It was my first time on this type of boat. She is very fast, not that noisy as I thought it would be and just fun to ride. When it rains you can not see much through the windshield and canvas. Boat runs fine and easy. Lake is smooth and ride is very pleasant. I do not remember exact numbers but I believe it we vere going at about 30mph for some time - all good. Then I took a helm. I wanted to go a little faster to see how fast it goes and see what happens to the temperature at WOT. It went to about 37mph (3 adults and child on board) and probably could go faster but visibility is not that good and WOT RPM are quite high. I believe they climbed to about 5500 which is a lot for the boat by nothing compare to my motorcycle :lol: It has 15 inch prop (I did not figure out exact spec for the prop yet) Temperature and oil pressure is quite good, actually temperature never went above 175.
So we opened the engine compartmen to see how hot the risers are. And crap, there is quite a lot of oil everywhere :shock: Maybe a half quart or so sprayed mostly around front part of the engine and engine compartment. It looks like it was thrown around by spinning belts. So we started to look for the leak - found nothing :roll: Oil is everywhere but does not leak any more. And it was not leaking before and there was no even minor leaks there. Prior to this trial I run this engine quite a lot at idle speed.
Then Mike suggested that oil could be thrown up the dipstick tube by carter gas pressure. We tried to repro the problem buy increasing RPM - no repro. No more leak.
So we came back to the dock. Tried some figure 8 to check u-joints - sounds very normal. I thing Mike was kind of surprized that boat runs that good and quite (except for oil in the engine, it was a big surprize too but it was unpleasant one). We docked and then spent like 2 hours under the rain fixing the trailer post and trying to ajust it. It looks like it was not installed in correct position to begin with, we made it OK but I'll re-ajust it later.

So results of the trial: boat runs fine and it is a lot of fun to ride and drive. My family and I love it. There is oil all over the bilge now - need to get some cleaners to clean it. I will get bigger prop. Will need new risers and manifolds (more on this in another post). And I really appreciate Mike's help with the trial, he showed me a lot of different things about this boat and now I'm more or less comfortable to drive it myself.

Thanks,
Anton

Anton;

You REALLY got a sweet deal on that boat. A little bit of elbow grease and the parts she's probably needed a few seasons ago and you'll be well ahead of the price. You're about $15,000.00 under what I just sold mine for and less than $1,000.00 in parts and upkeep items and she'll be ready for the San Juans.

Here are a couple things.

- Change the mainfolds and risers. It's just time. You'll be glad you did later.

- Get more pitch on that prop. It really wrapped too tight and even cavitated once as I came on plane. That boat had a 5.0 initially and is geared for less power. I'd try a 16x16 prop and get the WOT to below 4800. I really do think that oil coming out of the dipstick tube was odd. All I can figure is crankcase ventilation and those high RPMs.

- Get that impeller changed. The guy's been puting off the risers so long, no sense guessing if he ever pulled the drive. Since the motor has been replaced, I'd check the alignment while its off.

- Water pump busing sounded odd. Cheap to replace item.

- RTV around the tank before any more water gets under there. 2355's are notorious for rotting aluminum tanks out.

- you can probably fix that fresh water tank, but they're pretty inexpensive.

Awesome boat guys. Did 37 MPH on GPS with no hesitation. Brand new canvas, full topper, custom trailer cover, 2 electric downriggers, kicker mount and EZ-Steer, tandem roller trailer in great shape. $10K

He's not hurt at all on this deal. Hope to see ya out there sometime Anton. It was great to see the grin on your face when 40MPH started coming up on the needle. Not your sailboat anymore huh?

Congratulations, and keep us posted. Hopefully you'll make one of the cruises and get to meet some of these folks. They're all real helpful folks.

[Randygh]

Anton--I know how reassuring it is to have some expertise when sea-trialing or on maiden voyage. Gene kindly came along during my boat's sea trial. He gave me a thumbs up and I really felt much better about purchasing the boat. He said I needed to replace the manifolds and risers, which I did shortly after purchasing. Don't be afraid to ask simple questions. I appreciate all the help I have received from the folks on this board. Thanks to good advice, I've saved alot of $$$ and completed projects properly.