Unhappy customer...Love the boat, BUT unhappy about the problems

[mondo80]

I purchased my 170CC toward the end of April of 2007. I have thus far put 12hrs. on the water. The first 4hrs. were great, BUT……

-I noticed that my live well did not work. It failed to fill with water. I took it back to the dealer and he informed me that the valve on the pump itself was turned to tight. So, he loosened it and it worked.


-Then I found that when I would restart my engine after drift fishing it would inevitably suck the battery and cause my fish finder/GPS to turn off. I had to fix this by adding a second battery and running all electronics to it. This of course was a problem that caused a good outcome; I now have a second battery as a deep cycle and a back up starter battery (more safety).

ALL THAT FOLLOW ARE PRESENT ISSUES WAITING TO BE ADDRESSED..........

-At the 9th hour of my break in period I noticed when driving the boat the engine at times at full throttle will malfunction and not pass 3,100-3,300 RPM, this equivalent to 11-13.5 miles per hour. This will persist anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours. The engine sounds fine and does not make any odd sounds when malfunctioning. Then instantaneously the engine will work perfectly fine and at full throttle reach up to 5,200 RPM and around 34-38.5 miles per hour. This is a transient problem and is unpredictable.

-At the 11th hour the speedometer worked fine until the ninth hour of usage and now does not work. It fails to read any speed. The needle stays below 10 miles per hour.

-I also noticed that when steering to the right or left an audible clicking noise seems to be coming from the steering helm.

To say the least I am heart broken & now I find that the dealer is backed up and can only promise a 3-5 week turn around. This means my boats gone at least until July...

In all truth when the boat was problem free it was the smoothest & quite ride I had ever had on a 17ft. boat. I love the boat....NOT the problems. I just hope that the dealer can diagnose and fix these issues completely. Also, I hope that all the work is covered by my warrantee.

[Fishahn]

bummer, what kind of engine is on your boat? most likely is a simple thing. for starters make sure your battery connection is super tight. crank the wing nuts (or whatever is holding down your cables) tight with a wrench, I use an adjustable as it seems to be the easiest to maneuver. if these are at all loose it will cause issues, possibly as you mention. I assume you have an inline fuel filter installed, if not this could also be a problem. not positive exactly what the motor is doing from your description, but it sounds like it may be fuel related.
maybe give a bit more detailed description, there are many smart, experienced captains that monitor this site who possibly have had similar issues.
no idea about the steering, I have hydraulic on mine and never an issue.

good luck,
Rich

[mondo80]

I have a 60hp. yamaha on the 170CC. battery connectors seem to be tight. I am not sure what else to describe. Thanks

[190dave]

Your lack of rpm at full throttle sounds like it may be a fuel flow problem. Is the primer bulb compressed? If so, check the fuel hoses for a kink. On some setups these hoses just lay loosely and can bounce around and kink up. When this happens the fuel flow is restricted and will cause the problem you described. The solution is to neatly wire tye them so that they can not kink. I had the same problem when I first got my boat. Hope this helps.

[CRIMAR30]

As far as the speedometer goes, I've had several boats, the last two I bought new, the speedometers NEVER work, all it takes is to blow the water out of the tube, and whenever you bring the boat in to be serviced,just tell them, and they will do that. I don't even bother with it anymore, just go by the GPS. I assume you have the Faria gauges, right? That's what's on this, and my last boat, and it was the same on both.

Mark

[MolarBoater]

You can disconnect the tube behind the speedo and blow it out. The other end of the hole is in the front of the foot of your motor...just a little hole but sand/dirt/grass and bugs could climb in there and clog it.

Really check the fuel hose as indicated, in my Bay190, the fuel line goes thru the transome box where my batteries are stored. A battery once shifted and pinched the fuel line and acted similarly. Also, these motors have alot of safequards built in and can go into "safe mode" keeping you from exceeding a certain level of rpms.....any other lights coming on or buzzers.....overheating?

Batteries can be hit or miss. I have had brand new bad batteries. Make sure the ones you buy have a return warranty.

Plan on buying a Service Manual for you motor as it will come in handy. Sounds like you have had enough challenges so far.....good learning experiences I mean!

[Jan from Humboldt]

Check the electrolite level in your battery, mine did the same thing.

[saltydawg]

also the fuel tank if not vented will cause problems with the rpm...

[CRIMAR30]

For sure, you don't need an extra battery to run a GPS and a fishfinder, something else is wrong!!

[Triumphant]

I also have a very audible clicking noise when turning my steering wheel. Haven't yet determined what it is. Doesn't do it when the motor isn't running at home on the trailer, only on the water. Anyone have any ideas what's going on?