Project 1975 F30

[hemijosh426]

Hello all, I am new to the form, and I have got to say there is a good wealth of information here that is very helpful.

I just bought a 1975 F30 with twin 225 chrysler 318s and it needs a little TLC. It has been in the water for awhile, but lived aboard by the previous owner for the past 2 years. It smells musty inside the cabin, and I was curious if anyone knew of anything that gets rid of that smell? I heard charcoal, but didnt know if there was something better.

I bought the boat 3 days ago, and just from a general inspection, the stuffing box on the port motor leaked horribly but stbd was fine. The stbd motor had an exhaust leak where the previous owner took off the manifolds to clean them out, but didnt put all the bolts back in... and he wondered why it leaked..lol. He also told me that it leaked water from the manifold on the side where the exhaust leak was. I took the manifold off and scraped his gasket, and regasketed and high temp RTVd the seal so we should be good now, but I am waiting for the RTV to dry before I start it.

After regasketing the stbd motor I pulled the stuffing box apart and was able to pull 2 old packings out, but I heard it was suppose to have 3. after 2 new flax packings, it seals great, but im having trouble getting it adjusted correctly, as to how many drips it should have per minute. Should it drip at all stopped? Right now I made it to where it barely stopped dripping and then tightened it all up.

When we bought the boat, the original owner took us on a ride before the purchase, and it didnt make it far before the port motor overheated. Upon inspection, the raw water pump on the port motor wasnt primed, so we primed it and got the motor to cool after that. It was sitting since march, so he said we had to pour some water down into a hose to prime it, and that worked and it cooled the motor right down. Does that sound right? How hard is it to change those impellers in those pumps? I am in fresh water so im hoping its not all corroded up.

Besides that, he said he the fresh water pump keeps blowing fuses, and he said hes never used the toilet on the boat. Is there anything I can do to maintance the original toilet, or is it just a replace it kind of deal. I am not even sure if it works yet, i gotta get the pump thing figured out.

I purchased a 12v solar battey tender 5w for it to keep the batterys up in good shape, does anyone else use these?

I also noticed that when the port engine is running, the volt gauge does not go up, stays around 11 which tells me theres a gauge or charging issue. Stbd hasnt been running long enough for me to know if it charging. Also the gauges on the flybridge don't work, is there a main problem I can look into or is it a gauge by gauge basis lol

Once I figure out how to post pics, I will, but if you have any good input on fixing a few of the above items I would greatly appreciate it! And does anyone know the size of the gas tank? or the weight of the boat? What do people use to AC the older boats besides the hatch style?

THANKS!!! I appreciate everyones help!

[hemijosh426]

We took the boat out last night, stayed about 170 on the port temp gauge and held good oil pressure. Couldn't get it much above 2200 rpm before it would fall on its face, but we were only running one motor, is that about normal for one motor?

We only ran one motor because the stbd motor wouldn't crank fast enough. Im thinking bad battery cables, as the starter has been rebuilt. We also had to jumper the electrical panel with a pair of alligator clips to turn over the stbd motor as there is an issue with the wiring. We bumpered from the top of the red stbd switch to the top left of the stbd inn switch , where the breaker attaches to the switch. What could be the issue there? Im thinking bad reset breaker?

Thanks for the help!

[Allen Sr]

First welcome to the forum. Your gas capacity is approximately 100 gallons, the weight would be roughly 8100 to 8500 also approximately, your stuffing boxes should have a drip rate of one drop at 6 to 10 second intervals, you will probably have to readjust after a couple hours running time. Electrical issue my thoughts are if its corroded REPLACE it dont try to patch it to many head aches, (that normally show up out away from your slip). I am not sure but it sounds like you may have a master harness unplugged to the bridge, that problem you may have to take the time to trace the harnesses down to see where its disconnected at. The engine should be running a lot faster than 2200 rpm's, not sure but I think you should get 4000 to 4400 out of them. Also are they solid state or points and condensor ignition? I hope this helps a little bit. Good luck!

[hemijosh426]

Thanks for the reply. I am going to replace the battery cables to the solenoid and the starter tonight on the stbd motor by making my own and crimping the ends on. After that im gonna fire it up and see if the manifold still leaks. Yesterday when I was adjusting the packing on the port motor I could hear what sounded like wind coming im and out of the starboard motors right exhaust manifold. As people walked on my boat I was able to feel wind coming from the center risers, and this should not be because I used a brand new gasket and high temp rtv. The wind was from when the boat would list to one side or another and the water in thee exhaust would either suck or push air in thru that hole. Tonight im going to blow into the font hose to be certain where im feeling air exit from. I didn't see any obvious cracks when I changed the gasket two days ago, but the sound I heard sounds like a problem.
After that im going to start tracing wires in the dash with a volt meter, as when I hook that jumper to the switch it cranks. But it cranks slowly so im gonna replace the big wires first.
Thanks for the help!

[g36]

one thing that will keep you from getting the rpms from the engines are the centrifigual advance mechanisms in the distributors. take the cap of and see if the advance can be moved and see if it snaps back when you let go of it. theres a good chance there is rust and the springs are weak or gone. if so you will not get it timed correctly and the advance wont be there when the engine needs it. original chrysler distributors are known for this problem mine was this way. if it seem sluggish then you can try exercising it by hand and see if it will loosen up for you.

electrical problems sounds like you need to get on the multimeter and start checking voltages and grounds. you can verify the alternator output or non output. your breaker you mentioned, water pump etc and other issues on the flybridge

you mentioned the owner lived aboard for the past 2yrs but didnt use the toilet? hard to believe you'd leave and go somewhere else when you have a head on board

did you have a professional survey?

the impellers are not difficult to change and i sure would change them both especially since you say its been sitting like it has. if you ran one without water as you said then you can bet that one for sure has missing pieces, they dont run well without water. change tme both!! you shouldnt have to prime your water hoses to use the boat.

solar battery tender? do you not have power at the dock or anything.? solar will take a long time to bring batterys up and 5w wont really do alot if you have drained them from use being out during the day. whats your intended use for the boat. anchoring out at night. fishing and running the engines all day? that will help determine what might be the best way to recharge your batterys.

ac on the boat
do you have a generator on the boat? if so then a marine air unit that uses surrounding water to run it is the more common way

hatch air can work but theres pros and cons to this and it depends on where you might be up north or florida? just run it while your sleeping or in the middle of the day when its 98 outside.

heres a few things i can think of and welcome to the forum

[hemijosh426]

one thing that will keep you from getting the rpms from the engines are the centrifigual advance mechanisms in the distributors. take the cap of and see if the advance can be moved and see if it snaps back when you let go of it. theres a good chance there is rust and the springs are weak or gone. if so you will not get it timed correctly and the advance wont be there when the engine needs it. original chrysler distributors are known for this problem mine was this way. if it seem sluggish then you can try exercising it by hand and see if it will loosen up for you.

electrical problems sounds like you need to get on the multimeter and start checking voltages and grounds. you can verify the alternator output or non output. your breaker you mentioned, water pump etc and other issues on the flybridge

you mentioned the owner lived aboard for the past 2yrs but didnt use the toilet? hard to believe you'd leave and go somewhere else when you have a head on board

did you have a professional survey?

the impellers are not difficult to change and i sure would change them both especially since you say its been sitting like it has. if you ran one without water as you said then you can bet that one for sure has missing pieces, they dont run well without water. change tme both!! you shouldnt have to prime your water hoses to use the boat.

solar battery tender? do you not have power at the dock or anything.? solar will take a long time to bring batterys up and 5w wont really do alot if you have drained them from use being out during the day. whats your intended use for the boat. anchoring out at night. fishing and running the engines all day? that will help determine what might be the best way to recharge your batterys.

ac on the boat
do you have a generator on the boat? if so then a marine air unit that uses surrounding water to run it is the more common way

hatch air can work but theres pros and cons to this and it depends on where you might be up north or florida? just run it while your sleeping or in the middle of the day when its 98 outside.

heres a few things i can think of and welcome to the forum

Thanks for the insight. I will check the dizzy advance mechanism tonight. I don't think I will get a good reading on engine rpm till I get both running at once. Should it rev up to 4000 on one motor or does it need both to share the load properly? Last night was just a short test run. Im gonna change battery cables to the stbd motor so it will crank fast enough to start. Pretty sure there is corrosion in the cable to the positive side of the solenoid.
The hatch air is probably my best bet, unless I can adapt a water cooled unit into my boat. I have no generator on the boat, but have thought about a Honda portable 2500 watt quiet 4 stroke. Has anyone ever got a used water cooled ac and adapted into an older boat like mine? The previous owner kept the boat at the other side of the marina where there is power and water and bath houses. I also found a portajohn in the bathroom im guessing he used for emergencies.
The boat is on a pier without electric and being this is the first boat I've left in the water I was just worried about the batteries being drained by the bilge pump, so I bought that solar charger.
Didn't have it surveyed, but im pretty mechanically inclined and have rebuilt a few motors and tinkered with other smaller boats so I saw a few things I knew would need go be addressed so me and the previous owner negotiated and went from 4k to$ 1700.
I will be using it for fishing and boat rides and maybe an occasional overnight excursion. I really need to get the impellers changed, they have me worried. Can you get them at west marine? I've never owned anything kept in the water so this is all new to me, I appreciate the help,.

[k9th]

Welcome to the forum.

I am sure that with a little TLC your new purchase will give you many hours of joy on the water.

[prowlersfish]

You won't be able to get anywhere near full rpm on one engine to much load . also a clean bottom and running gear is a must .

[hemijosh426]

Ok so now I got good connections at all of my battery wires, cleaned all of them with a wire brush and used wd40 before I tightened em all down. Starboard motor fired right up after that, but seems as if carberator has an issue, idles fine but falls on its face when the throttle blades open. And I found i still have an exhaust leak, and where I found it is very odd. Underneath the stbd manifold on the stbd side of motor, is a hole, looks drilled and tapped from what i can see. I have no idea why there is no plug or bolt in it. Its in such a crappy spot I have to pull the manifold back off to see why that hole is there. THe hole is in the head, right underneath the #2 cylinder from front to rear. It looks about like a 3/8 bolt would fit in it.
Does anyone else have this hole?? It leaks exhaust from there, didnt see any water come out, but whose to say that my raw water pump is working. I had it running for about 4 minutes and the motor never overheated and seemed like it ran ok. Must be a bad oil pressure sending unit because when the motor idles the gauge doesnt work, but rev it up a little and it reads 50 but bounces like theres a wiring issue.

The port flying bridge motor start control work, but the stbd do not. The motor controls in the regular helm work on port only and I still have to jumper the starboard. Has this issue happend with anyone else?

THANKS AGAIN!! I hope my boat is still there tommorow, we had a nasty storm blow thru tonight for almost an hour, probably had 3 inches of rain in a cup I left outside my house. New to this whole leaving your boat in the water and going home thing.

[g36]

you can get the water pump impellers at west marine or other places probably less cost but you will need to know what pump you have. or take one out that is still intact to take with you. my chryslers have a sherwood pump and the sherwood 10615k impeller but you want to make sure what you have.

did you think to take a look at the distributors?

[hemijosh426]

you can get the water pump impellers at west marine or other places probably less cost but you will need to know what pump you have. or take one out that is still intact to take with you. my chryslers have a sherwood pump and the sherwood 10615k impeller but you want to make sure what you have.

did you think to take a look at the distributors?

Haven't looked at dizzy yet. I am going to buy 2 new caps and rotors and just replace them while they are off. I work 6am to 6pm so it doesn't give me much time during the week to play around with the boat but I try to work on it every evening for 2 or 3 hours. Next step is pull the manifold off and find out why the heck there's a hole drilled in the head under the manifold. I have worked and built many small block dodges, but never seen anything like this. Its a hole straight into the exhaust, and Im pretty sure its not a water jacket. After I get the hole plugged, im gonna tear into the raw water pumps. The previous owner told me that one of my pumps has a keyway and the other is splined.

Do you know the wiring on the back of the toggle start switches? I think somethings related to both my flying bridge ignition switch and helm ignition switch not working on the stbd side till I jumper the helm switch, then the buzzer works as it should and it fires right up.
Thanks for the help!

[Skargo]

I actually just bought this boat, and am new to Trojans and this forum.

[prowlersfish]

I actually just bought this boat, and am new to Trojans and this forum.

Welcome to the forum

But I am a liltle confused . You just bought this boat ? this boat or on just like it ?

[Skargo]

I actually just bought this boat, and am new to Trojans and this forum.

Welcome to the forum

But I am a liltle confused . You just bought this boat ? this boat or on just like it ?

This exact boat. I bought it from hemijosh426

[Big D]

Welcome aboard, and congrats on the purchase. If there are still issues, I suggest starting from scratch with a new thread. Give us as much detail as you can, including what you've done thus far.