Babylon

Measured the boat with the tongue folded in. To transom 24' 8" To platform 27' 6"

No length numbers though I can get those when I get home. I'll try to remember to measure my trailer when I get home this evening.

Here are some dealer-provided measurements for my 2015 FS44. I assume that the 2016 numbers are pretty similar. Trailer Width: 102 - 106 inches. Height with tower folded down (from the pavement): 102" Height with tower up (from pavement): 11' 3" I have not personally verified these numbers.

I would do the following: - open the bleed valve at one caliper and make sure fluid pumps out when the tongue is pressed (I usually do this while hooked to the truck so it is easy to press by putting the truck in reverse). Of course, chalk the trailer, etc. - if no brake fluid comes out when pressing the tongue, could be the reverse solenoid but I haven't had one of those go bad. - also check all of the calipers (get under the trailer and make sure that all of the banjo fittings are properly attached. I have had those fall off.

If you have any blue drain plugs on the sea-water pump, make sure they were wrapped with teflon tape and tightened securely. You don't need to overdo it if you have the teflon tape wrapped on the threads. On my 2007 Enzo, hoses were tight, drain plugs were installed and the thing would not suck properly. Wrapped the drain plugs with teflon tape and it worked fine.

Just one thought. I don't have any experience with flushing kits so I can't speak to those. However, in all of my boats, as long as there is no air leak on the intake side of the sea-water pump, the cooling system creates a lot of vacuum and will pull the water through with no problem. If you have even small air leaks on the intake side, you have to prime the system with water to effectively close the air leak. In any case, you don't want to have any air leaks at all on the intake side of the sea water pump so it is good to look for those. On my previous Enzo (2007 240) I had to apply lots of teflon tape to the little blue plugs that were on the intake side or the boat wouldn't always pump water properly, even when on the lake. This can lead to overheating. On my boat I could detect this problem when using a fake-a-lake. If the boat didn't pull all of the water out of the fake-a-lake when the engine was running, there was an air leak. Literally, when the cooling system was working properly, only a few drips of water would drop out of the fake-a-lake once the engine was running. Those rubber impellers can be fragile but they generate a lot of vacuum when the motor is running.

FWIW, the oil drain-hose on my boat (ZR450) is laying near the top of the engine on the starboard side. I use a vacuum-based oil-extractor and instead of inserting the hose down the dip-stick pipe, I just unscrew the cap on the drain-hose and shove the hose from my vacuum-based oil extractor down through the oil-drain hose until it enters the bottom of the oil pan. That works well for me and less worry about getting the hose stuck in the dip-stick pipe.

Well, buying used starts to make a lot of sense.

I'm confused. How do you enforce this? As a dealer, you don't sell a boat to someone unless they give you a home address with the right zip-code?

Yes, if you did this for a car, you would quote a different torque number for every gear.

Replacement of the sea-water pump is not difficult though it usually requires some uncomfortable positioning, as with most boats. I can't remember off-hand, but there are about 4-5 bolts that attach the pump to the block. I used to pull mine every year to replace the impeller. It usually took me about 30 minutes to pull the pump (2007 Enzo 244). I always thought that installing the really stiff Merc impeller into the pump was a bigger hassle than removal/install of the pump. I would replace the sea-water pump if it was me. Insufficient water-cooling is the main thing that kills boat engines. Also, I replace my impeller every season so I was pretty good at pulling the sea-water pump. Do you have a lot of hours on your boat? I have had two boats with similar pump setups and each had around 700 hours with no failure.

FWIW, here is what I would do (perhaps you have already done this): 1. Leave the fuel-pressure gauge attached when you do the lake test. Watch the fuel pressure while the boat is running (or while you try to start it). That should tell you a lot. Also, I was poking around the internet for some pointers on your engine and found this link: http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-repair-and-maintenance/mercruiser-i-o-inboard-engines-outdrives/516372-what-should-fuel-pressure-be-at-idle-mercruiser-2002-350-mag-mpi Maybe you have already seen this. I thought that the discussion vacuum was pretty interesting. Not sure if it applies to your situation but probably worth checking. Also, some boats from this era have a check-valve located where the fuel hose attaches to the fuel tank. My uncle's boat (2001 Centurion) had one of these and it would starve his engine. I had to go and pick him up with my house-boat once because of the problem. It was also intermittent and sometimes his boat would work fine. Other times it had problems similar to yours. If you have one of these check-valves, I would replace it with a fitting to see if it fixes the problem and then replace the the check-valve.

When you say that it would not crank at all, do you mean: (1) that the starter-motor didn't crank when you turned the key, or (2) that the starter-motor cranked but the motor would not start? Also, what is the year and model of your engine?

No, you want something like this: http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Sherwood-Sea-Water-Strainer-1-1/4-Port-Size&i=83168&r=view&from=grid I installed one of these on my boat. You insert it right after the strainer that is located on the bottom of the boat.

That's great (if belated) news! I wonder what Murphy changed. It almost sounds like the firmware may try to open/close the gates multiple times if it detects the condition that used to result in "Ram circuit fault". For example, perhaps if the firmware detects that the gate did not open after the gate-motor had been cycled, maybe it cycles it again? Any ideas what was changed?