Did a clown build my boat or am I the clown?

Finally got my boat the 700 miles to my house. Shopped did a compression check and such and motor seems good. Doesn't start every time but it does start ok. But I just took it to lake mendo and found a few big issues and don't know if I should scrap it or not. 1974 ski barge (Boston whaler knock off)



First off, launched it. By the time I got back from parking trailer the back was flooded. It has the two "self bailing" scupper holes. Water flooded in way beyond what has to be normal. With me in it almost up to the stern rail. This picture was after bailing.



Someone suggested two one way plugs or regular plugs. But that doesn't fix why the ass end is so low in the water. Maybe the motor is way too heavy??

Second problem.... Bailed quick then took off to try and see if the water left once at speed. Well it goes like 5-10mph.... Idk if controller is on upside down/backwards but the throttle goes about 2" forward but can go like 6" back.



Look closely forward and reverse label on it are upside down. Plus side is the water did bail out while driving. But from shore someone said they thought I was sinking as the back looked pretty much under water.

Here are the scuppers. Why the sit below water line I have no idea. I took the normal plug out and it did drain a tiny bit of water but the inside of the hull by no means was flooded.


Advice? Scrap it? I'm lost.

At least it has an awesome beer holder.

Those are NOT self draining scupper holes.  They are just normal drain holes.  Put a plug in them.

-Allen

Plugs just like the bottom......

And that is a sweet ass Beer holder 

Whaler knockoff but not the flotation and the rear  area by motor is very low. Used to run one on  Clear Lake and on windy days 5 to 6 ft seas. it worked but not comfortably.

Those are NOT self draining scupper holes.  They are just normal drain holes.  Put a plug in them.

-Allen

I would do what allen says then add a bilge pump.  and you need to figure out the max hp recommended for the boat to see if that outboard is too heavy.  you don't really have anything else back there so the weight is all outboard.  as for getting up on plane, you could do the expensive way and get trim tabs, or try cheaper and go with etiehr a doel fin or something like smarttabs.  It does seem like that controller is reversed, but can't be sure. your mechanic didn't say anything about it?

as for the controller, you should pop the engine cowl and see if you can figure out why it's not going all the way forward. could be some sort of obstruction or nut on the throttle cable as well and just needs adjustment.  you can do all that on land.

So basically I'm just a clown who launched his boat with a bunch of holes without required plugs LOL. Can try again with plugs.

As for the controller- No the mechanic said nothing. Tried imagining it upside down. Maybe for left hand? Then there would be 6" of throttle 2" of reverse. BUT that would make the cables run out of the top? That can't be right either. I'm lost trying to figure it out.

Funny you mentioned the beer holder. When we pulled it in I mentioned that's what I was saddest about losing haha

as for the controller, you should pop the engine cowl and see if you can figure out why it's not going all the way forward. could be some sort of obstruction or nut on the throttle cable as well and just needs adjustment.  you can do all that on land.

It's the controller itself. It's max push of the throttle gets physically blocked. If I'm not mistaken it should have a lot more space to push for throttle and a little for reverse. Seems to be backwards. I can gas it up on the motor without using the throttle.

At a glance, I'd think that thing would ride low in the back.

Weight distribution looks very back heavy: seems there's nearly no weight in the front until you get people in it.

It also looks like that may be a good deal more motor than the boat should take  I'd agree with bmb and check the engine rating if it's still legible on the boat manufacturer's tag.

This said, I'd lean towards keeping it. If you get the flooding sorted via new plugs (also check that the plug holes aren't leaking from the sides), this looks like it'd be a fun ride. If you didn't have plugs in the drain holes, the amount of water you took in looks about right.

I did the same thing a few years back. Almost sunk right at the launch. Embarrassing 

another thing that could be causing a greater stern weight is a waterlogged transom.  I would test your transom to see if its still solid.  these boats are actually designed to have those two stern plugs open as a "self-bailing" hull like you stated - this is usually to keep the boat from sinking when anchored or docked and it rains.  But that is very finicky due to the small boats and their sensitivity to weight.  a lot of whaler owners don't plug those.

I think your primary problem is you're too stern heavy. 

Like i kinda stated, this could be because:
1. Outboard larger/heavier than boat designed for. Unfortunately it appears your manufacturer is out of business now so its hard to find any documentation on what it needs.
2. Transom is waterlogged
3. battery larger than needed or in a bad position, but this seems unlikely.  you could try to move that battery forward some, but will require an extra run of cables.

i think some one way venturi styles scupper plugs will help you until you fix the weight distribution issue. but that won't help you with getting up on plane.  as for the controller, take it off and check behind it, there could be some sort of limiter that you can adjust also so you have more forward range of motion.  but if you're that stern heavy even that controller adjustment might not help you get up on plane, which is where smarttabs could help. 

I think you should look into consulting some guys on whaler or mako forums, they know these style skiffs really well.

Thanks will try copying this to those places.

I'm lost. Some say yes open self bailing holes some say no plug them. I have tried hard but can't find what mfg says or how it came.

Waterlogged transom- gotta say no way. It's been dry, and in the desert for months. It did this immediately.

Already knew the motor was 10hp over rating. But I'm thinking a little bit heavier shouldn't make this happen regardless. Same with battery. Think about this, an average 180 pound male stepping towards the back. I doubt there's that much more weight from battery and little bigger motor- should a person walking to the back do that? Man I hope not.

The design seems odd. Yeah the bow looks feather light, all the weight on the back. And if I did plug it, then got swamped I'm guessing it sinks for sure. Even when the water DID self bail when I got it going, the top of the stern looked like it was about to go under any second.


Bummed because man it does look like a fun ride. I can put a recliner up front if I wanted haha.

Already knew the motor was 10hp over rating. But I'm thinking a little bit heavier shouldn't make this happen regardless. Same with battery. Think about this, an average 180 pound male stepping towards the back. I doubt there's that much more weight from battery and little bigger motor- should a person walking to the back do that? Man I hope not.

10hp could actually be a huge difference, depending on the engine.  often engines are built to a certain HP and then tuned up to gain extra horsepower.  so a 70hp outboard could be 50lbs less than a 80hp if the 80 is say 4 cylinders and the 70hp is only 3.  only way to know that is to find out how heavy your current outboard is.  how long is the boat? it looks to be about 16'. 

these types of boats are made such that the scuppers are supposed to sit about 2-3" above the water line when factoring in engine weight and expected stern weight by the manufacturer.  even a 50lb increase could result in the stern going below the scuppers. 

i think if you're 10hp over the max, that's a bad thing.  it's pretty important to keep within the manufacturer specifications from a weight standpoint, less from a torque/HP standpoint.  is it rated for max 75hp?  you can search for the lightest older 75hp outboard on craigslist or whatever if you don't want to do a full repower.

here's a decent link i found showing some of the weights of older Evinrudes
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/011042.html

you can see from here that the 70hp outboards are 3 cylinders and around 250ish lbs, while the 85hp is over 300lbs. that really is a significant difference and would affect your boat's performance even if not sinking it.  the extra weight could porpoise your boat when added to the extra torque.