Status and Questions...

[CnV & Family]

Well... pulled her out of the garage yesterday. Hooked up the hose and turned the key... Such a SWEET sound to hear after 10 months of being parked. Got the clamps on the dash, waiting for the adhesive to cure. Should have the dash completed by this weekend. Only got to run once last summer with the new gauges in, and with the new addition, we may only get to run once or twice this summer. Maybe I'll have the time to attend to the smaller details.

So, this leads to a few questions.

1) Tach - is still not reading correctly. Both the original Faria and now the Gaffrig II are steady up to 2500 RPM... then they bounce between 2500-3500. Since the action is identical for both gauges, what should I check next?

2) Is it worth the cost and trouble of getting new risers to drop the weight on the V6? Also, I do not have thru-hull exhaust.

3) I noticed that when I engaged the drive that there is an ever so slight 'sching'. Is it possible that the prop is misaligned? What steps should I follow to correct this?

Any suggestions appreciated! :D

Thanks,
-C

PS. Should have some photos in a week or so!

[MOP]

Both gauges bouncing in unison sounds like a dash harness plug, builders bench build the dash then Y jack the two engines harnesses to the dash.

I don't think you will get much or any performance from the risers if you stay with out of the prop.

Noises can't be typed :D

[CnV & Family]

MOP,

Thanks for responding. Concerning the dash, I had replaced all the gauges last year at the same time. I thought I went over all the connections and made sure they were snug. I'll double check the harness plug... Any other thoughts past the harness?

I'd love to make the 16 really fast and all that, but now that our family has grown I'm holding out on most all the mods and trying to polish it up into tip top shape so she'll bring as much as possible when we eventually get the chance to upgrade... I'm dying for a 22 :D Anyway, I just thought that dropping some weight might be a easy way to gain a few MPH...

Well... trying to describe them or sounding them out can be just as daunting as spelling them wink

Thanks again,
-C

[MOP]

Once you are on the engine side of the Y connection everything should be completely separate. The positive and grounds are common only at the dash, that is unless some thing is tied together in the engine compartment. I have run into that on a few boats in the past. There was one popular make that tied the positive and grounds together with battery cabling. I think they thought it would add redundancy, what it did was if one battery got real low it would fry one alternator due to what is called bucking (one working against the other). We put two alternators on brand new boat before we noticed the nice neat cables running high across the transom. We at that point installed a switch so the plus circuit so it could be used as a jumper only when needed for extra start power. Grounds being common don't cause any problems but positive will. I would go back over the terminals on the dash, one of the + or - may have lost good contact and make and break with the bouncing of the boat or vibration. If you run in salt one or more may have gone green. Any real gains in performance takes $$$$.

[avanti]

I have a 2000 Donzi 18 Classic with a 350 Mag and the Gaffrig tach was doing the same thing that yours does. So I called the factory and they sent me a kit that had some sort of filter in it and once I installed it, the tach was steady right through the whole operating range.

[GEOO]

When is the last time you changed your rotor and cap?

[MOP]

Boy I should read these posts when awake, thanks for thanking me for nothing. I blitz read your post thought you had two tachs. I think Geoo hit a good thing to check. Some times a filter like mentioned above will knock it out, they make several for inline off the alternator. They will claean the whole system of spikes and static.

[CnV & Family]

Pardon for the lack of clarity...

It's not simply a middle range in which they are bouncing... it's anything over 2500RPM

Each tach was / is smooth up until 2500. After that they bounce between 2500-3500 intermittently, never dropping below 2500.

Avanti - Thanks for the input. One never can have too much good info...

GEOO - Can I plead the 5th? :o No, I have not changed the rotor and cap since I have owned the boat. Come to think of it, the original gauge began bouncing in the middle of our 1st boating season in 2001. Thank you for the suggestion. I will add that to my list. I still need to have maintenance preformed before we splash her.

I got the 2nd set of gauges for a faster speedo and also because I thought the 1st tach was 'bad'. It DID drastically improved the 'speedy' visual factor. I mush have gained 10-15MPH changing the gauges alone! :D

MOP - Thanks for following up. This weekend did not turn out as I had expected so the 16 is still sitting with nothing done to the dash and will most likely have to wait a weekend or two.

Rootsy - Thanks, I'll dbl check the grounds as well.

Thanks...
-C

[Rootsy]

I had the same issue when i swapped gauges in my 16.. turned out to be a loose ground. tack would just sit there and jump erratically at mid to high rpm.