New Saltare Owner with Questions

[Salty87]

the guest post showed up 'cause you weren't logged in, would be nice if this message board told you at the time. anyway...glad you came back...

blower- mine is under the port side rear seat. the blower should be in the back of the boat, the vents in the front get air to the engine. the blower goes in the back to pull air through the engine box and blow it out the vents on the stern....hence the name. there's a small hole under that seat that the intake hose from the blower drops into. that allows it to pull air from the lower portion of the bilge....gas fumes are heavier than air and settle down there, given the chance. there's a hole for the output hose in the seat base, it goes to the vents on the stern. if your hoses are all rotten, none of this will work too well but its better than nothing.

perko switch and batteries- i'd guess something in the stereo eats up juice while it's off, maybe the clock but also could be amps that aren't powering all the way down. be careful with the perko switch. when left in the ALL position, all the batteries will only be as strong as the weakest battery.

the in-line fuel cannister is an old fuel filter or something. if you have a new water separator, you can toss the old one....i did.

prop shaft- do you know if you have a dripless packing or the traditional? here's a pick of the dripless (http://www.skidim.com/prodinfo.asp?n...=3&mitem=4). either way, they can be adjusted unless the fiberglass is messed up and you would have noticed a hole in the bottom of your boat.


edit: forgot about the steering cable. most cables can't be greased, they are sealed but some have grease zerks. otherwise, you can grease the tiller arm where the steering cable attaches and also the rudder. i have to remove the middle section of flooring immediately behind the engine box. of course, that means the rear seats have to come out. there's a trick to the seats...the small middle seat has to come out first. it might be screwed to the floor, check under the cushion. once the middle section is out, there's enough room to get the outer seats. the outer seats have 1 screw each on the gunnel side of the seat. it's not screwed into anything, it just holds the seats in place by sticking through a hole in the inner-gunnel. once you see it, it'll make sense.

ok, i'm done. whew.

[wotan2525]

Originally posted by Salty87

lots of stufffffff

Wow... thanks for the great reply. With you and everyone elses here heads together it sounds like there is nary an inch of this boat that isn't known. I appreciate it! I just typed up a huge reply only to have firefox crash on me... I'll try my best to redo it.....!!

Luckily when my rear seats were rebuilt the owner raised them slightly off the ground and made it very easy to access the floorboard behind the engine box. I can take out 2 screws and have access from the engine all the way back to the prop. I'm pretty sure I have the sealed prop but I'm not sure where its leaking from. Next time I'm out I'll try and take a picture of it. The fiberglass is certainly not damaged -- there is also a water line that goes into a jacket around the prop (for cooling?), so I'm wondering if maybe its that seal that is leaking.

Next spring I might take the time to remove the backseats and reduct the blower. I will probably mount it in the tunnel opposite the fuel lines and duct it up through the stern vents. At the same time I will reduct the intakes as well.

If the checkbook allows I'm also going to try and replace the steering cable. I'm sure its pretty stiff and if there is no way to grease it then it should be replaced I think. It certainly takes 2 hands to turn at this point.

My other question is about the electronic ignition -- my mechanic said he thought I already had some kind of electronic ignition. It seems like most other people with a PCM 454 have points -- was there an electronic version or did the previous owner upgrade mine? I've already been able to tell that this engine drinks like a fish -- I'm very much wishing I could afford an EFI.

I don't know if you saw my other post about the windshield.... but is there any way to tighten the rivets that hold the entire thing together? In big water mine shakes and the center window can come unlatched and swing back into the aisle way. This so far has bent up the hinge and been a huge pain to get back to its right place.

Thanks again.

Rob

[skiman_61]

My 87 has two blowers on separate switches. One in the bilge itself and one under the rear seat. Right side.

Condenserless ignition will improve your fuel economy. It did in my case anyhow. THere should be a grease fitting on your steering cable.

[87 Blue Saltare]

I have only one blower and it is exactly like Salty describes.

I replaced steering cable last spring. It's not hard at all. Buy the new helm that goes with it from skidim...it's worth it. Also while you're back there, re-pack the rudder seal. While you've got the rudder out, check and make sure it's not bent. If you have a zerk on your steering cable it's way at the back by the rudder.

I have points on my distributor. Whatever.

Good luck.

[87 Blue Saltare]

What do you think our boats are worth?
86-89?

[wotan2525]

Well I'll tell you right now I paid just under $10k for mine. 315 hours but the motor was rebuilt in 2003. Reupolstered and carpeted in 2002. Came with a tower, board racks, and a huge stereo system. Pretty much everything was in good condition and it included a dual axle trailer and a bunch of other misc stuff. I'm feeling good about the price that i paid and would hope its worth a little over that if it was cleaned up and sold in the summer instead of right before MN winter.

Rob

[Saltareowner]

Just sold my 89 for 13500.00 it was in really good shape and the guy felt he got a bargin!!!

[Salty87]

right on wotan, was that the one with the subs under the rear seat? if so, i saw that ad and was curious about the boat. sounds like you made out pretty well.

[wotan2525]

Yep... thats the one that I purchased. Now I'm running into an electrical problem. It has 3 batteries on a perko switch. Even if I turn the switch to off after running it, when I go back to the boat all 3 batteries are dead. I suspect that the alternator is bad or not strong enough for the 3 batteries. Looks like yet another project for the spring....

Rob

[Salty87]

it would take a while and a pretty big draw to drain 3 fully charged batteries. not to mention, the perko should be saving some of them depending on how it's wired.

what setting do you leave the perko on while you're away? are you sure the batteries are good?...no bad cells or water level getting extremely low?

i'd get a digital voltmeter and check the output of the alternator and what kind of charge the batteries have after running. you can do this on the hose if you have access to the boat.

do you know if the alternator is stock? if so, you need to upgrade. the stock 35 amp would take all weekend to recharge 3 batteries with the stereo playing.

this is a good time to make sure the stereo was installed properly, correct size wires and fuses. also, do you need 3 batteries? all the extra batteries do is let you listen to the tunes longer while the boat is off. when they get drained, they have to be charged up and you'll need a big alternator to do that.