RickSE
06-06-2005, 05:26 PM
This must be the week to update first trips.
We went up to Powell on a 5-day trip the weekend before Memorial Day. Several boats and families went along, all centering around an 80' houseboat. This was one of the best trips we've had, weather and water was absolutely incredible. Our 22 managed to drink down over $300 worth of gas which isn't bad considering gas is $3.00 to $3.50/gallon on the water. You can really put on a lot miles at Powell, it just keeps going and going.
I did have one problem with the boat though but actually managed to fix it on the water. The boat would run fine until it got over 4500 RPM's then it would start cutting out as if it was vapor locking. I thought the booster pump filter may have been clogged so we drove back into town looking for a new filter. Never did found one; guess they don't see many 500EFI's at Powell. One of the Merc. Techs we talked to said he'd seen it before and told me that I probably had air in my fuel system since I didn't fill the fuel filter/water separator when I replaced it during the winter. He said the air makes its way to the booster pump when you really work the motor and aerates the pump, vapor locking the fuel system. He suggested I pull my separator and top it off with fuel. Turns out though that when I removed the booster pump filter the air in the system must have escaped and the boat ran like a rocket ship from then on. :rlol: Live and learn. I did manage to bump my top speed up a little to 73-74 MPH (speedo). :eek: Pretty good considering Powell is at 3,600 ft. elevation and there's probably still a little more left in the drive trim. This is enough for now though. Tabs were finally all the way up :bighug:
You know the high speed WOT runs are fun but I have more fun running at a good speed through the nasty stuff. We passed the houseboat coming back in running 60+ in some pretty nasty washing machine water. It was so rough that some guy behind us knocked himself unconscious when he hit a wave and his head hit the dash of his boat. He slumped over on the floor but the boat kept going heading head-on towards a 100' rock wall. Our friends and family on the houseboat saw all this happen and were prepared to watch this guy perish. At the last second he woke up, reached up & turned the wheel forcing the boat to skip along the side of the wall. He then stopped but refused any assistance from the houseboat.
We went up to Powell on a 5-day trip the weekend before Memorial Day. Several boats and families went along, all centering around an 80' houseboat. This was one of the best trips we've had, weather and water was absolutely incredible. Our 22 managed to drink down over $300 worth of gas which isn't bad considering gas is $3.00 to $3.50/gallon on the water. You can really put on a lot miles at Powell, it just keeps going and going.
I did have one problem with the boat though but actually managed to fix it on the water. The boat would run fine until it got over 4500 RPM's then it would start cutting out as if it was vapor locking. I thought the booster pump filter may have been clogged so we drove back into town looking for a new filter. Never did found one; guess they don't see many 500EFI's at Powell. One of the Merc. Techs we talked to said he'd seen it before and told me that I probably had air in my fuel system since I didn't fill the fuel filter/water separator when I replaced it during the winter. He said the air makes its way to the booster pump when you really work the motor and aerates the pump, vapor locking the fuel system. He suggested I pull my separator and top it off with fuel. Turns out though that when I removed the booster pump filter the air in the system must have escaped and the boat ran like a rocket ship from then on. :rlol: Live and learn. I did manage to bump my top speed up a little to 73-74 MPH (speedo). :eek: Pretty good considering Powell is at 3,600 ft. elevation and there's probably still a little more left in the drive trim. This is enough for now though. Tabs were finally all the way up :bighug:
You know the high speed WOT runs are fun but I have more fun running at a good speed through the nasty stuff. We passed the houseboat coming back in running 60+ in some pretty nasty washing machine water. It was so rough that some guy behind us knocked himself unconscious when he hit a wave and his head hit the dash of his boat. He slumped over on the floor but the boat kept going heading head-on towards a 100' rock wall. Our friends and family on the houseboat saw all this happen and were prepared to watch this guy perish. At the last second he woke up, reached up & turned the wheel forcing the boat to skip along the side of the wall. He then stopped but refused any assistance from the houseboat.