Under-performing Rinker Fiesta Vee 250

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Dylboy

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Hi all,

I've recently had a sea trial on this 1992 Rinker with a view to buying it if the pre-purchase survey goes OK.

I am concerned however that the boat is under-performing as it would only get up to 17knts on a very calm sea (it should cruise at 24 with a maximum speed of 30knts apparently). I am also concerned that the pre-purchase survey won't cover this problem.

The engine is a V8 petrol Mercruiser (260hp) that has recently been reconditioned and fitted. I noticed during the sea trial that the oil pressure was fine, the temperature was fine and it ran very smoothly. The hull has just been scrubbed so that shouldn't be a problem either.

Has anyone got any ideas why it might be under-performing like this?

Any suggestions gratefully received!
 
Depends where you got your facts and figures from.

From the Brochure? Forget it those are probably derived from an empty, hand finished and polished hull, waiting for a day with perfect chop on the sea, 2 gallons of fuel, one skinny tester and a blueprinted motor.

When a boat has a few years on her, collected some antifoul, a few little dings below water, some scatter cushions n kettles and stuff in the cabin, You won't see anywhere near brochure figures.

My boat is supposed to do 40 knots WOT, yet it struggles to get to 34 and I know the engine is healthy.
 
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I have just been informed that one of the trim tabs isn't functioning properly. Would that considerably affect the performance?
 
I dont think your figures of 24kts and 30kts are far off, even a little conservative.

Was the engine pulling full revs ? How many were on board? How much fuel/water, How much cruising kit ?Is there any damage to the prop etc etc


Boats like this can struggle to get on the plane if incorrectly or over loaded, the none functioning trim tab will not have helped.
 
No, the engine wasn't pulling full revs even though it was on full throttle. I'm not sure how many revs but the needle was just half way round the dial.

There were three of us on board (3 medium-built adult men), one third of a tank of fuel but don't know how much water.

I'm not aware of any damage to the prop. There was a fair amount of kit on board but nothing exceptional.
 
You're right to be concerned. The boat is under-performing. Was it still very bow up, labouring and trying to get onto the plane?

Can you be sure the bottom has been well scrubbed? Any chance it was a cosmetic "quick scrub around the sides" rather than a haul out and pressure clean? Were the props and legs squeaky clean?

This configuration will be very susceptible to drag - it still sounds like the most likely problem. Maybe the guy has a short memory and the weeds re-grown!

Otherwise there is something mechanically not right - could be anything from a seized distributor advance (if its got one) to problems in the leg. Maybe if the engine is recently installed the throttle levers are not giving full throttle at the carb....? there are others on here far better qualified to comment. Good luck!
 
It seemed to me that it should have been revving higher, but I'm not experienced in these things!

It's quite possible that it had an inadequate scrub, for whatever reason, it wasn't getting onto the plane that's for sure. Whether it was struggling as such is difficult to say. It was certainly running smoothly but never really let rip, if you know what I mean!
 
save yourself grief and walk away - it aint right!!
had several of these types of boats and you should be getting near to 40mph
 
It's still a tempting buy at the price. If they can put it right I'll still have it. If not I'll take your advice and walk away.
 
Does it rev freeley when not under load?(in throttle only mode) if so it could be any of the following
fuel filter needs changing
check fuel pressure/pump
check spark plugs
check rotor/distributor
leg may need servicing

ash
 
Forget all the "doom and gloom walk away" brigade. Before you do anything else, make sure the prop' is matched to the engine. It may still have the old prop' from before the new engine was fitted. This is the most likely and most obvious cause of this type of problem. What ever it is it will be simple to rectify with a little thought.
 
PCUK said:
Forget all the "doom and gloom walk away" brigade. Before you do anything else, make sure the prop' is matched to the engine. It may still have the old prop' from before the new engine was fitted. This is the most likely and most obvious cause of this type of problem. What ever it is it will be simple to rectify with a little thought.
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Peter, didn't you used to have a Rinker Fiesta Vee 250 in your profile a few weeks back? lol ;-)

My two penneth is don't speculate what it is when doing the deal, act dumb (I do that bit really well) and state politely yet firmly that they need to sort the speed issue before sale with a second sea trial at the existing asking price to show you it's sorted or they significantly reduce their price to mitigate the risk of taking on an underperforming boat that you may have to spend £'s to fix.. if it is truely simple to fix, they should have the contacts to find root cause quickly and sort it cheaply so they should be cool with that option... if they resist the first option, that'd give me a strong indication that they already know it's an expensive lemon and I'd walk away.
 
Oy Gary, What are you insinuating! Seriously though, you're right that the vendors need to sort it out. They must be pretty dumb to go out on a sea trial without first making sure it was all running as it should.
 
I had a Rinker 260V with a Mercruiser 5.7 V8 220HP Carb engine and bravo 2 leg.

When completely clean bottom, lightly loaded and all good she did 41mph (GPS logged) don't know what that is in knots...

17mph is totally wrong - and take it from a man who did it, don't buy a boat with an underperforming engine - I cost me £2000 to eventually sort out a really really simple problem because we didn't know where to start so had to start with the obvious and work all the way through.

My problem was that the cambelt had been put back on 3 teeth out - i was amazed it hadn't bent a valve, but that's by the by....

If you are going to buy the boat and then sort out the engine - budget for a whole new engine, and in my case I wish I'd done that! If you can get a new diesel for example for £10k, and you get the boat 5k cheaper because they can't fix the engine, well hello you've just re-powered with a new diesel for 5k - that's not a bad thing!
 
I have a similar sized boat in Italy, 24 ft with 2 cabins ,toilet and kitchenette and running a 1990 230hp Volvo V8.

With 100l of fuel and 3 people on board with all our stuff, I have to use the trim tabs and get people sitting as far forward as pos to get it to plane.

Once up on the plane ...it flies.

seems to me the problem is It wont plane.The trim tabs wernt doing their job ,everybody was aft and too much weight at the back perhaps.

1. move all weight forward into V berth area.
2. get everybody to sit as far forward as possible.
3. Put boat on a diet,ie less fuel, water,people and junk.
4. get trim tabs working properly.
5. put in less fuel.
6. hull may be a bit fouled.
7. Prop may????? be wrong.
8. may be 20 years of antifoul adding to the weight problem.
9. maybe the antifoul is very rough and creating resistance.
10. remove all the fresh water bar what is needed.

I recon that with a bit of tweaking it will plane.Time to reduce price further.
 
ontheplane said:
I had a Rinker 260V with a Mercruiser 5.7 V8 220HP Carb engine and bravo 2 leg.


My problem was that the cambelt had been put back on 3 teeth out - i was amazed it hadn't bent a valve, but that's by the by....
Click to expand...

Is that the chevy V8 derived engine?
 
That engine should pull 4600rpm WOT, I have the same motor in a 2 ton boat and I get 31knts GPS, my previous 26ft Bayliner only had 230hp and it did 36knts so the Rinker should easily match that, if its clean underneath then check the prop is correct it should be 19" or poss a 21" at most. If this is correct then its got a defect in the motor, I've seen several with the camshaft timed up wrong after overhaul which gives the same symptons it runs as sweet as a nut but there is no top end power .
 
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