Thread: Any help would be appreciated

Without hearing the motor run, its hard to answer your questions. I seriously doubt you will get on plane with a 6hp motor unless your in a canoe. I had a '1957 Johnson on my 14' Alumcraft and barely got over 6-7mph. The boat was only 4' wide. IF your worried about the engines performance, carb can be tricky, take it into a local shop this winter and let them give it the once over.

Congrats on the little one when the day comes.

Originally Posted by Micropterus salmoides

Been fooling with a small outboard (94 Yamaha 6hp) for months trying to get it perfect for my lil boat (12' weld-craft commercial).
Got it as close as I could. Starts on first pull every time. Wasn't expecting it to be runner, but was highly disapponted on its maiden voyage. Never got on plane <snip>

There are numerous reasons you did not get the boat up on plane. The first thing I would do is check the trim of the motor. There is an adjustment of the angle of the motor to the transom. Usually you have 4 or 5 notches to adjust the angle. Take it out with your normal load and try each position. You will find one that works better than the others. You may have to sacrifice hole-shot for top speed but that is normal with a limited HP engine.

Second - rearrange your gear. Move the weight around so the boat is balanced differently. Like the trim it may take a few tries to get it right.

Third is the boat itself. A deep VEE will need more HP than a flat bottomed jon to get up. If this is the situation you will have to learn to live with it or get a different boat.

Originally Posted by Micropterus salmoides

I did find that when I primed the bulb on the tank, a stream of fuel was shooting from the fuel pump cover.

This may be just over pressuring the fuel pump. If it doesn't leak while running I would not worry about it.

Originally Posted by Micropterus salmoides

Never had any shutdowns or abnormal behavior when we went out but is it possible it was sucking air and not performing at peak?

Possible but not probable. Being your first motor is problematic as you may not know what an outboard sounds like when it is wide open or idling as you have nothing to which you can compare.

And last but certainly not least is paying for a mechanic to go over the motor may be a good investment. He/she may see something that eluded you and preventive maintenance is ALWAYS cheaper than repair maintenance.

Good luck.

You need to repair the fuel pump iregardlis if it causing a power problem. Last thing you need is a fuel leak under the motor cover. Should not leak period even if priming. That boat with 2 average size people is most likely not going to plain very much if any with that motor. The first two things Clint posted are critical in this situation.

Make sure you have the motor mounted properly. The anti-cavitation plate should be even with the bottom of the boat.

All above answers are on point. Just want to add that once the fuel situation is corrected, check the pitch of the prop. Maybe someone has previously changed the prop to meet their use requirements.

Thx for ALL the input guys.
I went through all the tilt positions when I was out, I shldve mentioned that. Also , I had the anti cav plate even with the bottom of the hull on first initial run.
I did a lot of research and work bf I would even attempt to go out.
Going out tomor and will move my tm battery to the back and see if there's a diff.
Silverside, funny you mention that. I was talking with my pops about it and he said it sounded like a spun prop hub.
I pulled it and made my marks for when I take it out tomor.
Pitch is 6 1/2.
The prop is 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 N, original to the motor.
I got 7 mph last time I was out but dunno the rpm it was at. Gotta order a tiny tach.
Thx again fellas
Silverside


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Took a quick video on the water just for fellas asking about sound.



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It sounds like it is running just fine. You may have to just accept that as the top speed. I ran a 6HP Evinrude on a 16'48" flat bottom jon and my top speed on my hand-held GPS was 8 mph by myself and 6 mph with a buddy. I kept telling myself that it was better than rowing until I got enough $ together for a 25HP (and it was scary fast on the flat bottom boat).