What tools do I need/How should I prep for cleaning / fixing the carb this weekend

[BadaBing]

Originally Posted by hanleyclifford

If you are tempted to remove brass jets from the housings take the time to modify a screwdriver to be specific for each jet. They can be very tight in the castings and you need the most perfect tool fit for successful removal.

YES and unless you really must, DO NOT remove the idle jet. Just be sjre you can.shoot.carb clewner through it. EYE PROTECTION IS A MUST!

[BadaBing]

Originally Posted by sastanley

Yes...it looks like it. You also have the "extra" drain plug in yours in the bottom of the fuel bowl. The plug in the "back" that you can't quite see is the main jet plug I referenced earlier..it uses a washer..the plug you can see in your pic is a tapered thread plug with no washer.

If I remember correctly, you said you had a Moyer in-line polishing filter?? Some of us with mech pumps have removed the hard line (the hoop) between the fuel pump outlet and the carb inlet and gone to soft fuel hose and put the filter in between. I also have a pressure gauge.

Man that is a pretty carb. Al.ost tempts me to buy a new carb just to loom that good, almost.

[sastanley]

Bill..that is in fact a recent (2014) Moyer carb. As it turns out, my issue was NOT the carb, but I was starting to throw parts at the motor and a new carb was one of them while I searched around for answers. So, I have a nice freshy one now, and my old one is the backup.

[LemonShark2]

Originally Posted by sastanley

Not too major. I did mine a couple years ago and Ajax did his this winter. The manifold is held to the block with three studs..it is possible the aft stud is leaking, which is what may be happening in that picture.

In terms of replacing the manifold if needed, would It be best to just purchase a new hot Exhaust? (conveniently the perfect match to my Catalina 27...) Is this what you did? Its listed under the exhaust section in the store.

That whole section looks pretty corroded on mine.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Originally Posted by LemonShark2

In terms of replacing the manifold if needed, would It be best to just purchase a new hot Exhaust? (conveniently the perfect match to my Catalina 27...) Is this what you did? Its listed under the exhaust section in the store.
That whole section looks pretty corroded on mine.

LS2
The manifold is part of the engine. It came with the engine from universal. What is after the manifold was added by the manufacturer. The first thing to do is determine the source of the leak. Maybe you can use a mirror and a flashlight to see where the water is coming from. If the water is coming from the manifold you could try torqueing the 3 nuts. If this doesn't work or is ambiguous a pressure test of the manifold will tell the story real quick. The reason I say all this is if the manifold needs to come off you can hold on the new hot section until the manifold is on the bench. It will be a lot easier if the manifold is on the bench. If water has been running over the bolts that hold the flange to the manifold ( I couldn't see from the picture) it is going to take some SWAT team tactics to get them loose. Much harder to do on the boat.

In terms of the hot section itself, from your description, it's due for replacement soon. It's easy to buy the sections of pipe that you need at a hardware store and build it yourself. I've rebuilt the hot section on my Cat 27 twice and will be glad to give you some specific pointers when the time comes.

TRUE GRIT

[sastanley]

LS2 - John is spot on. The hot section is usually cobbled iron pipe (most of ours is 1-1/4"). So, when I did mine, I bought the Moyer exhaust flange, and then added locally sourced 1-1/4" pipe behind it, and then the Moyer injector piece to the 1-5/8" exhaust hose.

If you want some history on my manifold work, that is here...www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6976

Here is Ajax's thread on hot sections and some manifold work too...http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9430

As usual around here, there is thread drift while we explore the issues, but we eventually get back to the task at hand!!

[LemonShark2]

So mission Carb Clean was a success, I took it off, and the main jet was visibly clogged - cleaned everything I could without splitting it in half, popped it back on, and also installed the inline fuel filter and flexible fuel hose. Thanks all for your help! (now to start looking into the potential manifold leak...)

[JOHN COOKSON]

LS2
How long have you owned this boat? Do you know how clean the fuel is? The goop in the main jet came from somewhere other then the carb. Here's what could happen if the fuel is scuzzy. The polishing filter you installed just before the carb will work for awhile then become so jammed up with crud that it will no longer pass fuel.
If there is any question catch some fuel in a clear glass jar and hold it up to the sun and check for KRAP in the fuel.

TRUE GRIT

[LemonShark2]

Originally Posted by JOHN COOKSON

LS2
How long have you owned this boat? Do you know how clean the fuel is? The goop in the main jet came from somewhere other then the carb. Here's what could happen if the fuel is scuzzy. The polishing filter you installed just before the carb will work for awhile then become so jammed up with crud that it will no longer pass fuel.
If there is any question catch some fuel in a clear glass jar and hold it up to the sun and check for KRAP in the fuel.

TRUE GRIT

The fuel totally does have KRAP in it. Ill also be looking to empty tank of all fuel, and clean the tank. Per another Catalina 27 owners suggestion - I will can clean the tank, over buying a new tank. New tank would require sawing out large section of the starboard birth.

[sastanley]

LS2, if you know the fuel is bad..get it out ASAP, or run the motor with an aux tank during testing..no sense in burning thru filters with known bad fuel. We have lots of posts on here about emptying tanks. I use the plastic orange/black hand pump from Wally World/AutoZone. it works fine, but takes a while (about one beer per 5 gal can. ). I put the pump's hose inside a piece of PVC pipe that's ID is just larger than the OD of the pump hose, so I have a rigid piece to control the location in the tank and suck out as much fuel as I can from the bottom. Usually, you can get a large enough access hole thru the gauge sender if your fuel fill has a 90° on it like mine.

[ndutton]

Have you tried running the engine with the clean carb?

[LemonShark2]

Originally Posted by ndutton

Have you tried running the engine with the clean carb?

I let it run on idle for about 30 minutes, it sounded great, and the heat was well regulated. I think changing the flex impeller did help. I also imagine that the inline filter is helping with the KRUD in the meantime, but Ill go ahead and drain out the bad fuel as soon as I get a chance.

[ndutton]

Glad to hear it's running well. Once the bad fuel is removed and the tank mucked out I recommend another carb cleaning and filter replacement. Running filtered krap through a clean carb risks it not being clean anymore.

[LemonShark2]

Hi All,

Just wanted to extend my thanks for all the help over the past few weeks.

Last weekend, after adjusting my reversing gear, I was able to get out on the water, including over an hour of motoring, without a hitch.

I cant describe how great it is to be able to trust your engine! No problems with over heating, no problems with the fuel, started up first try every time.

As a final question for all, I was cruising at about 3 knots on a Catalina 27, with 7 people aboard. Does that sound like a reasonable speed under full power?

Thanks!

[JOHN COOKSON]

Originally Posted by LemonShark2

Hi All,
As a final question for all, I was cruising at about 3 knots on a Catalina 27, with 7 people aboard. Does that sound like a reasonable speed under full power?
Thanks!

A "30 Hp" engine should be able to push a small boat like a Cat 27 at hull speed. Do you know what size prop you have? How cleans the boat bottom and prop?

TRUE GRIT

[marthur]

To confirm, my Catalina 27 is able to cruise at 6 knots with a two blade 12 x 7 Michigan Sailor prop. It will do better than that at full power.

[LemonShark2]

Originally Posted by JOHN COOKSON

A "30 Hp" engine should be able to push a small boat like a Cat 27 at hull speed. Do you know what size prop you have? How cleans the boat bottom and prop?

TRUE GRIT

When I think a bit harder - maybe my speed meter Isn't reading properly... Ill try measuring MPH with my phone to confirm.

My bottom is covered in a bit of algae, but nothing too serious. Would algae create a significant reduction in speed? Its got a 3 bladed indigo prop, I'm not sure of the size.

On another note, is it possible Algae could be covering my depth sounder transducer? It reads a permanent 2'...

[LemonShark2]

Originally Posted by LemonShark2

When I think a bit harder - maybe my speed meter Isn't reading properly... Ill try measuring MPH with my phone to confirm.

My bottom is covered in a bit of algae, but nothing too serious. Would algae create a significant reduction in speed? Its got a 3 bladed indigo prop, I'm not sure of the size.

On another note, is it possible Algae could be covering my depth sounder transducer? It reads a permanent 2'...

Here's a picture of the prop the last time it got bottom paint back in 2014. It hasn't left fresh water since.

[romantic comedy]

I got a little fouling on my Indigo.

[Mo]

RC....Amercoat ABC # 4 bottom paint is what I put on mine. It's commercial, you may have to order it in. I've never had growth on the boat except one year I missed a spot. FWIW. Paint the shaft, leave then anodes paint free, paint the prop. No growth on prop at all either.

The pic is her coming out of the water after 7 months. Hardly even a slim on her and we've been getting some pretty good growth on the unprotected docks etc. Those that use interlux XXX etc are coated here after 6 months ( I generally go in a month earlier). Micron works just as well but is more expensive here. I pay about $170 a gallon and it lasts me 2-3 years....ablative and touch up where it wears through.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Originally Posted by LemonShark2

On another note, is it possible Algae could be covering my depth sounder transducer? It reads a permanent 2'...

If there is any way to calibrate the depth meter read out try twisting the set screw and see if the depth reading changes.

TRUE GRIT

[Mo]

Originally Posted by LemonShark2

When I think a bit harder - maybe my speed meter Isn't reading properly... Ill try measuring MPH with my phone to confirm.

My bottom is covered in a bit of algae, but nothing too serious. Would algae create a significant reduction in speed? Its got a 3 bladed indigo prop, I'm not sure of the size.

On another note, is it possible Algae could be covering my depth sounder transducer? It reads a permanent 2'...

Growth will reduce speed big time...just a layer of growth can cut your sailing hull speed in half. Prop growth...same thing or worse. C&C photoalbum has a hull speed calculator. Expect your boat to reach hull speed when first put in and in calm weather. On a calm day and you notice hull speed drop, even by a point or two of a knot, with no obvious engine issue...time to check the bottom.

EDIT: If you have run your batteries low expect some loss of hull speed until they charge....other than that...check the bottom.

[Mo]

Originally Posted by JOHN COOKSON

If there is any way to calibrate the depth meter read out try twisting the set screw and see if the depth reading changes.

TRUE GRIT

Possible especially if the boat has been sitting for period of time. Transducer can be shot as well. Keep in mind that if its an old transducer you might be able to buy a newer one and look up the wiring for both the old one and new one on-line. Most work although the wire colors won't match. I've put a couple of new transducers on older units and had to match different color wires...worked perfect. Just have to do the research on both.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Originally Posted by Mo

Possible especially if the boat has been sitting for period of time. Transducer can be shot as well. Keep in mind that if its an old transducer you might be able to buy a newer one and look up the wiring for both the old one and new one on-line. Most work although the wire colors won't match. I've put a couple of new transducers on older units and had to match different color wires...worked perfect. Just have to do the research on both.

Yes.
I've had a couple of different depth sounders on the same transducer after one of them died.
The reason to try to adjust the depth at the read out is to determine if the transducer or the electronics have a problem. If you can't vary the depth with the calibration setting the electronics are toast.

TRUE GRIT

[hanleyclifford]

I used to have transducer/sounder problems such as stuck readings, fluttering, and no reading. When I put a 1 ohm 10 watt resistor in front of the power terminal the problem disappeared. The theory is that the sounder does not like full alternator voltage.