Launch Day

[44Ydnar88]

Got her in about 2 weeks ago. Rolled into Fox Harbor in 3 feet of water. Very nerve wrecking 2 hours.

[prowlersfish]

Looks good

[Big D]

Sweet. Is the transducer a new install this winter or has it been there for a while? A little worried that it's so close to the outside edge and whether the water rushing by the side of the hull would hit it on plane. That would be a lot of stress on the unit.

[44Ydnar88]

Thanks, i appreciate that. Everything went pretty good, with the exception of the the fuel tank. I dont know what i knocked loose in the bottom of the tank, but im clogging up the fuel water seperators pretty good, and the pick up in the tank as well. the asv had been previously removed. So im fighting that. this being my first inboard, should there be any engine, drive vibration? an acceptable amount? Prop looks fine, shaft turned easy, out of the water. I wish i would have put a dial indicator on the shaft before hand, im going to loosen the coupler next time out and check the alignment. i dont recall the vibration when i sea trialed the boat. How smooth do these run? Thanks again for the kind words,

[44Ydnar88]

The transducer is new, I did take a peek over when i opened her up. i thought the tab wash would cause problems seemed ok. No rooster tail,

[Big D]

Shouldn't be any vibration. Is there any chance the shaft may have been hit when she was put on the trailer? Did you check the condition of the strut bearing prior to launch?

[gitchisum]

I had vibration in my F26 last year at 3500 rpm and up. when I puled for the year, cutlass bearing in strut was pretty worn, that is now replaced and I expect vibration to go away.

It looked fine to me, but my mechanic new right away. +1 for the strut bearing

[44Ydnar88]

The way the trailer is set up, it wouldn't have hit the strut. I did the grap and wiggle test on the shaft at the strut when I turned the shaft out of the water. Looked centered in the bearing Now when I launched I noticed the vibration, but I had been on the trailer for 6 months. Since then I have been just idiling around the marina backing into every slip, back and fills, just practicing with the single screw maneuvers. Im actually surprised with how easy it is to maneuver. I'm hoping maybe now that is back in the water, it will settle into alignment. Is that a reasonable expectation?

[Happy Ours]

On my F26 i had a bit of vibration when i first bought the boat that was in august 2012, never had an inboard before so thought a little was fine, well i was wrong, when we hauled out fall 2012 check strut bearing that was fine, shaft is fine, thought maybe shaft and engine were not aligned properly. So when we dropped her in the water in spring of 2013 mechanic was on board for the 800 ft drive to the dock, when we pulled into the dock mechanic opened the hatch and right away he said shaft is bent, boat was in the water for only 15 minutes, well after launch these boats should sit for 24 to 48 hours toget there alignment and hull to settle back to there natural position, I told mechanic this and he said no your shaft needs to be pulled and straightened, anyhow after 4 days went back to the boat started engine and no wobble in shaft, went for a drive but still vibration, back at the dock i changed all filters an relaced all spark plugs, when changing plugs i found one spark plug wire right off of the end that connects to the plug and one almost off fixed these wires and checked the rest of them. Went for a nice cruise and no vibration at all, so check all spark plug wires closely. previous owner must off pulled these wires off last time he changed plugs.

Craig

[K4282]

I have some input, on my Silverton 26 flybridge I hit a piling in the middle of the bay, tweaked the shaft and dinged the prop while planed off and probabaly 2800rpm. I cut it in half!!! I had a brass shaft original from 79. With the boat back on the trailer nothing looked all that off, just some dings in the prop, it wasnt till I pulled the shaft and brought it to the machine shop did I see how bad it was. I did not use any sort of alignment tools, i replaced the cutlass bearing, had a new stainless shaft made and prop reconditioned, and had to buy/custom fit a new couplar (V Drive = stupid design for BTW) So in my opinion if you had no vibration before and the boat sat dry over the off season im going to guess cutlass bearing dried out or prop got dinged and im leaning toward cutlass, I wouldnt worry about alignment after a winter lay up unless you stringers rotted what would have changed? Remember the leg bone is connected to the ..... vibrations will travel and potentionally cause further damage

[44Ydnar88]

Thanks for all the input on the vibration. I had a good day on the water checking everything out, I think I just had to find a good cruising sweet spot. Tabs set good and rpm about 2100, cruising 12 mph. I think the switch from a 5.7 19 ft Baja, 0- 40 on plane in about 4 secs had me spoiled. To me, this boat at 3200 rpms running 24mph had me uncomfortable. And loud. Lot of engine noise resonating into the deck, the boat does run within spec and its good to know its does. I think I was nervous and confused the engine noise with vibration. And a little over excited about the 5 months of never ending work comin to the glorious finish line. The boat runs out good , looks good and my marina neighbors didn't believe me when I told them it was a 76. Two guys actually got on the platform to look. Thanks for the input guys.

[dfg4240]

I have the F36 and took her over 100 mile trip through the canal system part way and then about 60 miles down lake ontario.
engines never missed a beat but if I pushed her I felt some vibration and found out when they pullered her out one of my props needed a little work.
The vibration showed up going over 3000 rpm but at 2800 they were fine. I hope that takes care of it-I had both props reworked. The fellow who sold me the boat last year had the prop puller onboard and it sure came in handy and made life easier for me.
They are both back on and nice and shiny.
dfg4240