First trip out in the boat

[HtxConbrio]

So yesterday I took my 90 Conbrio with a PCM 351 out on our maiden voyage together. All in all the day was a success with no major problems. The motor and transmission operated flawlessly. However I noticed a few things that seemed a little off but not quite sure if they are trully problems. Any help with the questions below would be greatly appreciated.

1. The boat was a little difficult to turn to the right under power. Could this be a loose rudder bushing?

2. Under full throttle she seemed to drop a little power. But when you back off the throttle a couple of degrees it picked back up. Could this be a jetting issue?

3. Last but not least the starboard side exhaust hose was leaking a bit under full power. At idle it was only dripping. The leak was at the connection of the boat and not the riser. Do I need to replace the hose?

[riveredge]

Turning a little harder to the right under power is normal due to the prop rotation, just like pulling to port in reverse. If it's really hard it could be a handful of things, from the rudder port to the helm to the cable... Is it easy to turn both ways at idle? Like, with one finger?

Have you checked base timing? Just a thought on the high speed issue, and a place to start that's free and fairly easy to check if you have a timing light.

Is the hose leaking from the sidewall or down the pipe that it connects to? Could you tighten up the hose clamps or add one where it leaks? If it's coming out the side of the hose, yeah it should be replaced at some point.

[HtxConbrio]

Thank you for the resonse.

I have not had a chance to check the base timing yet. The reason I was thinking it was a jet issue is that it does it no matter what the RPM is. What should the base timing be set at?

At idle the rudder is fairly easy to turn. Maybe a little tougher than one finger. On the trailer it is definitely a one finger operation. Under power it's turnable but requires a little more muscle. I had an 04 Launch that I don't remember being difficult at all. I had to sell it when my wife got pregnant with our little girl.

As far as the exhaust hose I think I found the problem. The previous owner had double clamped it with one of the clamps being on the motor side of the flared pipe that goes toward the stern. Now the problem is that when the boat was recarpeted the adjustment screws for the clamps are stuck between the carpet and the hose. So now I am going to have to cut the clamps off just to be able to fix it correctly. I am going to now replace both exhaust hoses.

I assume that I can get the hose from skidim.com. What size is the hose that goes from the thermostat housing to the exhaust manifolds. When I replaced the thermostat and impeller today I noticed that they are a little crunchy and want to replace them before catastrophic failure.

[HtxConbrio]

Thank you for the resonse.

I have not had a chance to check the base timing yet. The reason I was thinking it was a jet issue is that it does it no matter what the RPM is. What should the base timing be set at?

At idle the rudder is fairly easy to turn. Maybe a little tougher than one finger. On the trailer it is definitely a one finger operation. Under power it's turnable but requires a little more muscle. I had an 04 Launch that I don't remember being difficult at all. I had to sell it when my wife got pregnant with our little girl.

As far as the exhaust hose I think I found the problem. The previous owner had double clamped it with one of the clamps being on the motor side of the flared pipe that goes toward the stern. Now the problem is that when the boat was recarpeted the adjustment screws for the clamps are stuck between the carpet and the hose. So now I am going to have to cut the clamps off just to be able to fix it correctly. I am going to now replace both exhaust hoses.

I assume that I can get the hose from skidim.com. What size is the hose that goes from the thermostat housing to the exhaust manifolds. When I replaced the thermostat and impeller today I noticed that they are a little crunchy and want to replace them before catastrophic failure.

[EDGE]

Question No. 2. check you float levels in the bowls of of your carb. My Holley did the same thing after I rebuilt it last year. I had to set where the bowl would fill more.

[mapleleaf]

I can't offer much in the way of your mechanicals, but I'd be willing to bet after 22 yrs your rudder's shaft is bent some... Since replacing my rudder and steering cable my Conbrio feels like a new boat! The steering cable is a good place to start, its relatively easy to swap and not hard on the pocket book, the rudder on the other hand, well you get the picture, however it yielded the best results in terms of steering performance.....
Lets see some pic's of that beauty!!!

[riveredge]

The hose from the t-stat to the manifolds is usually 1" I.D. Skidim is a great place to get exhaust hose because you can get just the length you need, to the nearest foot.

I believe base timing on that engine should be set to about 10 degrees BTC.