New to me 1998 Aquasport 175

[gran398]

Lionfish are great eating! Lionfish and hogfish meat are my favorite meats .

I'll be damned. I spotted two when I was diving off Lignumvitae Key for Lobster last year and reported them. They acted as dumb as hogs too. Great shooting confidence builder I would think.

Go for it.

Nice to know they are great eating. They're up here too.

[CTsalt12]

Mike,

What did you use to clean the inside?  Looks pretty good considering where it started.

[Mikerodrig27]

Bleach  

It was just mold so the bleach did the job. There was about 3-4 hours of scrubbing in that mess... I was surprised with how well it came out!!

[floridamisser52]

Great job on the rewire. Looks great and I bet functions great too. I've got the same boat as your . A 98 175 with a 98 90 hp crossflow spl. Kind of a bare bones thirsty v-4. But I've got one electrical issue ( maybe more) . My float switch does not trigger. The same bilge works fine from the manual switch on the console. I'm not getting power back to the float switch. How about if I brought a good ground back to one of those wires(assuming its just the ground) and then lifted the switch to see if it would engage? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your advice!

[floridamisser52]

Wow..great job on the re-build. I've been following this post from the beginning. You've got a great "patch reef explorer" and with fish in the cooler. Great pics through the whole post too .

[Mikerodrig27]

Great job on the rewire. Looks great and I bet functions great too. I've got the same boat as your . A 98 175 with a 98 90 hp crossflow spl. Kind of a bare bones thirsty v-4. But I've got one electrical issue ( maybe more) . My float switch does not trigger. The same bilge works fine from the manual switch on the console. I'm not getting power back to the float switch. How about if I brought a good ground back to one of those wires(assuming its just the ground) and then lifted the switch to see if it would engage? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your advice!

Thanks for the compliment!

You should have one ground and two positive leads for the bilge pump/float switch wiring. You have two switches, the float switch, and the manual switch on your dash. When these switches are switched on, they supply power to the positive side on the pump. One wire in the bilge pump circuit should go straight to the pump and be controlled by the manual switch. The other wire is supposed to be wired directly to the battery or the battery side of the battery switch, to the float switch (Which may be on your pump if the pump is a combo unit). Since your pump runs when you manually turn it on, we know your negative  connection is good, so the problem is either the power supply going to the float switch, or it is the float switch itself. You can check for power with a multimeter set to DC volts  and tapping into the positive line going to the float switch and the ground on the bilge pump. If that checks out, you can set the multimeter to ohms and check for a good electrical path when the switch is switched on by putting the probes into the line going into the switch and the line going from the switch to the bilge pump. Flip the switch on and off for good measure while you are checking just to make sure it's still working okay. If the switch is good and you got power, it could be a bad wiring connection.

Is the pump a combo unit with the float switch built into it or is the float switch wired separately?

[floridamisser52]

I think the float switch is wired separately. There's like two brownish colored wires going back to center console. Thanks again.

[kchaudha]

Thanks Dburr!

Seabob, I've noticed a lot of quirky things with this boat. There are boxed in areas in the back of the boat inside the hatches (I assume they are filled with foam) and they are made out of wood. they were not fiberglassed at all... Just straight wood with bilge paint on it. The connectors that were used on the switch panel are those insulated, non shrinkwrap, connectors, the bilge pump didn't even have shrinkwrap insulated connectors in the bilge. There is a piece of wood that is completely waterlogged and laying on the gas tank inside the hull and I have no idea where it came from... There is no 5200 or sealant in most of the holes that are drilled in the boat. on the livewell, there is a cut on the outside where someone almost put a holesaw through when they cut out the insulation. I may end up pulling the cap off someday way down the road to check up on everything and make sure everything was done right.

outside of the things that Aquasport cheaped out on when they built the boat, the boat rides through the chop great and I am still unbelievably happy with it.  

The more things that I notice, the more things get added to my list. So far I am going to drill out 90% of the holes on the boat, fill them with cabosil/resin, and throughbolt whatever I can.

Can anyone else confirm that the boxed in areas under the back hatches just hold foam?  Is there anything structural about the wood that is boxing them in?  I noticed recently on my 175 that the fiberglass coating on the wood is cracking and the wood underneath is slightly wet.  Wondering if this is a structural issue or just something to fix when I get a chance.

[louiefl]

I wanted to add a pair of rod holders facing out at 30 degrees about halfway between the two hinges on the top of the gunwale (not hatch cover) and wondered the same thing. I drilled a 3/16 hole horizontally from inside the storage area only got wood chips, not foam. I used a wire hanger and poked around but did not feel any obstructions or foam. My rod holders woul definitely encroach in this area, so I would want to glass it over, maybe using a split piece of PVC pipe for a form.

I thought it may have been an air chamber to assist flotation, but the info I read about the test for boats under 20' is that all chambers need to be flooded.

If I decide to install them I will post pictures.

[kchaudha]

So I wonder what the purpose of that area is then.  Does that wood provide any structural support?

[louiefl]

Here is a picture of the starboard storage area with the insert removed. If you look carefully to the right you can see the factory rod holder - the upper gray plywood box does not go all the way to the transom. This is the same area where the bilge pump hose comes up and loops before going through the hull.

The shot is before I drilled a hole, but it was in the middle of the upper box. Initially, I thought it might help stiffen the transom, but it doesn't connect. The lower gray box probably does. I'm thinking it might stiffen the gunwale and help support people standing on the cover.

Please ignore the rat's nest - the white molex connector is for the bilge pump and was lying at the botom of the bilge. I just pulled it higher for the moment.

[RickK]

Mikerodrig27 you must have been reorganizing your images on Flickr - now the links are broken here.

[Mikerodrig27]

Hey Rick. Sorry about the pictures. I have limited space on my flickr account and had to make some space for other pictures. The boat recently found a new home and is in terrific hands.

[jsunstar]

yep, good hands indeed.
although im having an idle issue.  after about 6 or 7 trips, the boat started stalling when going slow or in no wake zones, gotta keep the rpm's up or it stalls. I replaced the gas line (crappy gray line fell apart) and cleaned fuel filter but to no avail. it goes good at speed but just wont idle.
other than that (really annoying)  its been a good boat so far... my first.
i mounted scuba tank holders, a new radio and CB and im gonna replace the dash (found one at marine connection). i just dont want it down while working on it, id rather be out in it...
fun boat!

[Georgie]

Common possibilities for the crummy idle include:  1) vacuum leak somewhere in the fuel lines between the tank and the carbs, 2) low speed jet clog in the carbs, or a bit more unlikely 3) fuel pump diaphragm issue.  Tank venting issues, anti siphon problems, and filter clogs usually show up worse when you try to speed up, not the reverse which is what you seem to be experiencing.  If the "crappy gas line fell apart" then a chunk of stuff in a low speed jet might be the culprit.  

Few follow up questions:

Do you have a secondary in-line filter on the port side of the engine under the starter?
Do the porcelein insulators and electrodes on your plugs all look the same after a trip of extended idle, or do you have one or two that look different?