Weather looked iffy but went out anyway. Glad we did, calm water and no rain but was a bit chilly.
I swapped out my 26-pitch 3x3 props for 26-pitch 4x3. Mid-range is excellent but my max-RPM needs to be higher. I am going to drop down to a 24-pitch 4x3 sometime in the future. One of the caps is missing on one of the trim rams and the nut is extremely rusted. I was going to replace both but the nut began to disintegrate - looks like that will be a project for another day.
My in-laws sold their 1993 38' Carver this spring so we invited them out today. We had Brown's (a bar & grill on Harson's Island) for lunch since they had never been. Then we spent a few hours on Club Island (the new club we joined last week).
Boat was running great the entire time cruising along. However, when we made it back into the marina the boat stalled while I was backing up at idle. It restarted and did the same thing a couple times in a row. Luckily, we were right there at the dock so we were able to get it in. Pulled the boat out and put it on a maintenance rack. After a few minutes, I found that the crankcase vent hose going to the flame arrestor had popped off. Seems the plastic elbow cracked and no longer has a strong hold. We put the boat in the water and it ran great with the hose reconnected but ran rough when we disconnected it. Problem has been troubleshooted.
Now time to find the part. looked everywhere one line for the elbow. All of the schematics show the elbow but no part number is associated with it. When I search for the merc elbow, none of them have the same notch on top. I tried online everywhere but I just cannot find it. If anyone is bored and wants to look, it is a plastic elbow for the crankcase ventilation hose on a 2000 Mercruiser 454 Mag MPI. See pics below. I know, I need to clean the flame arrestor. The elbow is on the side of part 41 in the diagram here:
http://images.jamestowndistributors.com ... /35348.pngAlso, noticed the trim motor bracket was completely rusted to the point that only half of it is still attached to the boat. Ordered another one of those. I guess this is a common issue because stainless steel models are now produced.

