Going for a sea trail, what should I pay attention to?

[peterjaw]

Good day, captains,

The whole story starts from here:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?525735-2-persons-vs-8-persons-aboard

After a bunch of phone calls, the Mercury dealer finally agree to go for a sea trial with me in next weekend. From my experience, I feel that my local dealer is either not so
qualified or just tries to bluff me. Therefore, I would like to have your knowledge, experience, and wisdom before hand.

Would you please share any advises to me? Thank you very much.




Ps. My boat has being on the water for 5 months so I will clean my hull tomorrown but may not be so perfect. Eventhough, how much drop on performance do I expect?

 

[julians]

Make sure the Hull, and outboard/prop is completely clear of growth, any kind of slime or other growth will significantly affect speed, but more importantly it will allow your dealer to blame something else other than what they supplied.

 

[jrudge]

+1

The difference even small amounts of fouling on props can make is huge. There is no point trying to deal with any performance issue unless totally totally clean.

Re the rest of the trial I assume it is the dealer trying to diagnose issue. You may want to have people on board to replicate your issue.

Personally once hull clean I would take the boat out and see what happens. You have good odds it will solve the problem if the props have 5 months growth on.

 

[PalmaTarga]

being an outboard I would assume you lift the prop out of water when not in use? This will certainly reduce/eliminate growth on the prop.

 

[peterjaw]

I keep my outboard engine up when not in use, so there is nothing grow on the prop.

I cleaned my hull yesterday. I just want to eliminate all possible impact other than the engine/prop installation or combination, also not let the dealer finds any excuse.