What engine would you put in your boat?

[jk13]

Front square water housing is where the fresh water comes in from the pump. So the top hoses always have cold water to the tops of the manifolds.

[ahopkins22LSV]

Old flappers are out, getting ready to install the SS tips. It's going to be 3.5" from the ETX all the way back. I'll probably reuse the stock exhaust and just modify the openings to 3.5".

Edit: reuse the stock silencer. New 3.5" tubes are in the barn.

Nice! Are you going with straight SS tips or the STE?

[Michigan boarder]

Nice! Are you going with straight SS tips or the STE?

STE. But I'm really considering punching out the inside thing.

[ahopkins22LSV]

STE. But I'm really considering punching out the inside thing.

I really like the look of the ste tips on my boat but the do baffle the sound a bit. Our TXi is not as throaty as the lx was with rubber flaps. I would imagine you will notice a difference too although with the higher output engine might sound close to the same. I am very partial to the v8 sound though, I love it. I will probably have straight tips on the TXi at some time.

[Slayer]

I really like the look of the ste tips on my boat but the do baffle the sound a bit. Our TXi is not as throaty as the lx was with rubber flaps. I would imagine you will notice a difference too although with the higher output engine might sound close to the same. I am very partial to the v8 sound though, I love it. I will probably have straight tips on the TXi at some time.

If the boat I buy has flaps, or STE, it will get straight tips. There's no beating that sound!

[Michigan boarder]

So, anybody got some thoughts on the manifold cooling? Run both hoses into a Y and then into the manifold? Does anyone have a 383HH, probably a similar set up. I plan on calling Bakes and/or Inmar next week to see what they think.

[eyekode]

If the boat I buy has flaps, or STE, it will get straight tips. There's no beating that sound!

I like the sound of my boat but the volume gets old fast when cursing any distance. Can't wait to quiet it down!

[Michigan boarder]

If the boat I buy has flaps, or STE, it will get straight tips. There's no beating that sound!

I like the sound of my boat but the volume gets old fast when cursing any distance. Can't wait to quiet it down!

Yeah I can't decide which way to go. I know if I leave them as-is I'll be sacrificing hp by holding back air flow, but I'll also reduce the sound. I dunno. I'll probably install them as is, then if I think I need more power remove the guts.

[Slayer]

So, anybody got some thoughts on the manifold cooling? Run both hoses into a Y and then into the manifold? Does anyone have a 383HH, probably a similar set up. I plan on calling Bakes and/or Inmar next week to see what they think.

I'm of no help here. I'd consider a call Peter at Smoothwater, too. He may have some insight.

[sgt1970-442]

I'm of no help here. I'd consider a call Peter at Smoothwater, too. He may have some insight.

said I was done with this thread but seems someone was banned that was causing the problems. john you will be able to look at my set up when the time comes.

[ahopkins22LSV]

Yeah I can't decide which way to go. I know if I leave them as-is I'll be sacrificing hp by holding back air flow, but I'll also reduce the sound. I dunno. I'll probably install them as is, then if I think I need more power remove the guts.

Drill the baffles out. We did it with a few of the jump boats for the King of Darkness tournaments here. Adds quite a bit more sound. The first jump boat had no mufflers and drilled out tips. It was

[Woodski]

The tips that I installed were a full 4" open, and I then added some rubber baffles via a PVC ring that I added which did an excellent job of adding some silencing. My thought would be to cut out most of the inner ring leaving enough material to install some home made rubber baffles (if you do, don't forget you will also want to anti reversion stops to keep the baffles from going back in which will also serve as the anti water reversion system).

[Michigan boarder]

said I was done with this thread but seems someone was banned that was causing the problems. john you will be able to look at my set up when the time comes.

Allright, sounds great!

Drill the baffles out. We did it with a few of the jump boats for the King of Darkness tournaments here. Adds quite a bit more sound. The first jump boat had no mufflers and drilled out tips. It was

See, what I don't want is more sound. What I do want is plenty of power.

The tips that I installed were a full 4" open, and I then added some rubber baffles via a PVC ring that I added which did an excellent job of adding some silencing. My thought would be to cut out most of the inner ring leaving enough material to install some home made rubber baffles (if you do, don't forget you will also want to anti reversion stops to keep the baffles from going back in which will also serve as the anti water reversion system).

OK, I think I get what you did. With a die grinder I would remove the baffle/anti reversion stuff currently in the STE's. I would then cut a 1/2" long cross section out of a 3.5" outer dia PVC pipe. Slide that inside the now wide open STE. Secure that in place with a couple of fasteners that go thru the PVC piece and the STE (like 2 small stainless screws). Cut a rubber flapper small enough to fit exactly inside the STE. Attach that flapper to the PVC cross section the same way it is attached to the stock flapper housing. Right?

[BlastRlxi]

I like the sound of my boat but the volume gets old fast when cursing any distance. Can't wait to quiet it down!

Probably shouldn't be cursing that loud anyway...

[Woodski]

@ John: correct or you could use part of the outer stainless ring as the flange to attach the rubber baffles (you can use the old ones or get some new rubber from McMaster Carr and use the stainless moon shaped parts as the outer washer for the attachment). You have a couple of options before you grind off the flange. I would get rid of some of it for sure. The noise reduction was quite significant by adding the baffles.

[sgt1970-442]

john, if you are still in doubt of what woodski is describing, I know what he did and can help ya.

[Michigan boarder]

john, if you are still in doubt of what woodski is describing, I know what he did and can help ya.

No, I get what he is describing. I put the old half moons and old rubber inside the STE's and can see how I could use the flange. I'm just not sure I want to monkey around with it too much, I need to focus on prepping the other stuff. I've siphoned most of the gas out, next is to remove, drain and flush the tank and clean the heck out of everything back there and the bilge. I'd like to remove and repaint the tower too, plus some other small stuff that I can't recall.

[Woodski]

@MB: you will be amazed at how much fuel is still in the tank, probably around 4-5 gallons! That combination will weigh ~60# when you go to remove it and can be an Oh s**t moment as it will tip easily. It will need a good cleaning back there but will be super nice when done. While you have the tank out, check the valves on the top of the tank for any corrosion (it will be time well spent as if they stick the boat will cease to run, a buddy had that problem and much easier to prevent now than fix later). To the flapper notes, you can get a PVC flange that is the correct size also, makes it even easier to make up, don't forget to use stainless hardware.

[Michigan boarder]

She's out! This boat has gone from "It's pretty clean" to "Filthy". Yuck. What I should do is replace the carpet, but that's not going to happen this year for a bunch of reasons.

So, does anyone have any suggestions on a good cleaner/degreaser? I need to scrub that carpet as best as I can, plus I'm going to do the bilge and all up and down the sides and underneath the decking. It's amazingly dirty. In the past I've used "Shout" on the carpet, and "Clorox Clean-up" spray in the bilge. I think I need something more aggressive for the carpet and I don't want to use that Clorox stuff cuz it'll probably bleach it.

[Michigan boarder]

@MB: you will be amazed at how much fuel is still in the tank, probably around 4-5 gallons! That combination will weigh ~60# when you go to remove it and can be an Oh s**t moment as it will tip easily. It will need a good cleaning back there but will be super nice when done. While you have the tank out, check the valves on the top of the tank for any corrosion (it will be time well spent as if they stick the boat will cease to run, a buddy had that problem and much easier to prevent now than fix later). To the flapper notes, you can get a PVC flange that is the correct size also, makes it even easier to make up, don't forget to use stainless hardware.

I ended up getting all but 3 gallons out, but even that was tough to manage. The tank probably weighs 35 pounds or so, but the 25 pounds of fuel sloshing from one side to the other made me almost fall out of the boat with it when going over the side!

Next step is the thorough cleaning, hopefully tomorrow. I can't bear to do anything else to it until I get all that grime out of it. Then I'll inspect those valves and take a closer look at the fuel lines.

Edit: another dirty boat pic:

Edited April 29, 2014 by Michigan boarder

[BlastRlxi]

Have you tried a good powerwashing followed by a wetvac to suck up all the water?

[Michigan boarder]

Have you tried a good powerwashing followed by a wetvac to suck up all the water?

No I have not yet. Just finished getting the tank out last night.

In the past, when doing the carpet I would wet it, then lightly spray some Shout on it, scrub with brush and let soak. Then scrub with brush and rinse. Then wetvac the rest, and let dry. I don't think that is going to get everything out from under the tank, but maybe it will.

On the bilge, I'd spray the dry bilge down liberally with Clorox, then scrub with a long handled brush every area I could reach. Then rinse. I'm sure that will clean the bilge up again, but I don't want to use that on anything above the carpet. All the hoses, wiring, everything is covered with a dirty greasy grime.

[Woodski]

@MB: Your comment on using a degreaser is a good one as a lot of the grime is actually engine blow by collected back there over the years of running. The open space under the center of the tank allows the bilge area blow by (even with the PVC directly going to the air filter) to migrate and deposit within the fuel tank area. I used a combination of Brake Clean, Fantastik along with hot soapy water to clean up the mess in that area. Have a lot of paper towels / rags and a trash can handy!

On the carpet, since you might not want to pull the tank when that project comes due, you might think of slicing your carpet right at the front edge of the tank and putting new carpet just under the tank for now. When the next part of the project is being done you won't be forced to pull the tank. Not a visible area so it should not be a big deal.

Check your fuel sensor wiring (the pink wire) connection before you put the tank back in. Don't forget to check all the visible nuts and fasteners before you put it all back together. Most importantly, you will want to install new fuel lines as the originals are not ethanol compatible. Pretty good guess on the tank weight, it is 30#, the fuel slosh is the Oh s**t moment!

[Michigan boarder]

Most importantly, you will want to install new fuel lines as the originals are not ethanol compatible.

Never would have thought of that, thanks! I did a visual and thought "well, no cracking, they feel pliable, I'd say everything is fine". But that doesn't address that part that makes contact with the fuel. Much easier to do that now, plus I won't have to clean them that way.

Thank you for the explanation on the blow by, that makes good sense now. I was under there thinking "What kind of slob owned this boat before - how the heck does it get like this????"

Thanks for the reminder on the fasteners too.

I thought of that too on the carpet, but for now it is just going to get scrubbed. If/when I eventually replace it will be a winter project in which the entire interior will be removed, and the tank really only takes another hour or less to pull.

[MalibuNation]

John,

I could use 3' of gently used fuel hose if you have a piece that long. Thanks!!