no confidence in boat

[Portofino]

A good way to get around the filling the fuel bowl issue is fit an electric fuel pump .
Like one of these. £40 or so ?
As others have said it cuts out hard cranking when cold to fill the bowls from the mech pump .
Also you can hear the tone , the clicking noise alter when it’s primed up .Turn on the ignition for a few secs , up to 30 with big carb set ups .
One or two strokes of the peddle , or in the case of a boat openings of the throttle to as others have said fill the cylinder(s) with fuel enrich it and it should fire up almost instantly .


Having said all this left standing with todays ethanol enriched fuel carbs have tendency to gum up .A mild gum up of the jets can be blown out with a Italian tune up .If you still have probs then buy a carb rebuild kit and spend a rainy day on the kitchen table changing all the gaskets and cleaning out the jets , lubing the linkage etc .

A lot of trad mech pumps have a diaphragm and this either hardens or splits slightly confusing the diagnostics further .= inconsistent fuel pressure , slow prime when cold .
So get rid of it ASAP .
Additionally a tiny tear can result in chronic fuel ingestion / dilution of the crank case contents = the oil in your sump .
Your big end shell bearings won’t like that = £££ bill over the horizon on it way soon .

 

[ChromeDome]

Just make sure the electric pump capaticy exceeds the highest need by the engine, defined as "how many horses do I have to feed when putting all of them to work"

If memory servers the output of your engine is from 260 hp (194 kW) to 310 hp (231 kW) depending on version.
The formular is: It takes 340 grams of fuel per kW per hour.

To produce 194 kW you need 65.28 kg petrol. As petrol has a weight of 0.79 it equals 82.63 liters per hour
To produce 310 kW you need 105.4 kg petrol which equals 133.41liters per hour

This would be pump capacities I'd look to exceed.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I was advised last year to only use premium petrol - E5 and to use the Honda fuel additive. Now all my petrol engines, albeit much smaller than yours, always start almost immediately. 2 stroke strimmer & small generator; 4 stroke outboard and lawn mower. Obviously cleaned carbs & fuel tanks.

 

[Thalassa76]

ok so I have a 93 fourwinns 235 vista
3 times last year I took it out ,,, 3 times it had issues
first time engine died , second time I turned it off out on the water and would not re start . 3rd time it was stuck in drive
to be honest I really love the idea of spending time on the water but im super worried now

this winter , the boat has had brand new carb , fuel pump , fuel filter , fuel tank and all new fuel lines .
its had a new high output alternator , new starter motor , new battery and cables . new ignition coil

new water pump and impeller

so decided to fire up the boat today from cold , it still spun over at least 10 times before it fired up

its a ford 351 Windsor engine . ive had American cars before and always fired up straight away
what am I missing ?
it scares me that ill take it out again with more issues ? thanks

Had similar issues with a '97 Glastron. Turned out to be small "balls" of fibre in the tank blocking the pickup. Seastart became our best friends. Problem sorted, boat sold, new boat bought & haven't looked back!