New Maxum Boat owner/New boat owner - Maxum Boat Owners Club

Pudzy24 · 07-11-2013, 02:02 PM

Hello club,

Currently just purchased a 1990 Maxum 22ft 120 Force motor. I have yet to go pick the boat up, but from talking to the owner, a trusted guy that I know that also knows him real well, is that I am getting a great boat. I do not know much about boats, never owned a boat, and do not know much about the 120 force engine. The last boat I was really in contact with was my parents 272 Rinker which that was about 10 years ago and have not been much into them since. Nice weather, fiancé, and lake house have bought me back to buying a boat. Starting old, small, and hopefully reliable, I am looking for a lot of insight on these types of boats.

Thanks

mmwjr · 07-11-2013, 05:25 PM

For your other post it's an L drive, google it

Pudzy24 · 07-11-2013, 06:15 PM

Thanks for the reply, helped out quite a bit.

So how reliable/dependable are these motors? I know that it has low hours and has been taken care of quite well. Also for speed wise and torque? Not looking for a fast boat was hoping that it just wasn't too slow I guess. Looking for it to just get around the lake a couple times a day during the week and maybe get up and go a couple times. New to this style of design.

AlwaysSober · 07-11-2013, 07:03 PM

For those of you who never encountered one of these odd arrangements:

[video=youtube_share;xYN0xJbvOiY]http://youtu.be/xYN0xJbvOiY[/video]

mmwjr · 07-12-2013, 12:21 PM

Fore built a lot of outboards in their day but wnt out of business at least a decade ago. Parts are still around but getting harder to find. I never owned one but from what I recall some folks loved them and some hated them, pretty much like most outboards so love merc other swear by honda,...

If it is as clean as you say and running good it should meet your needs. The biggest issue with this boat is there is no way to repower it easly.

Good luck and enjoy

Pudzy24 · 07-16-2013, 05:11 PM

After taking the boat out last weekend, there is some water in the bottom of the boat?...Not sure how it came in, no one left the boat or was swimming. My biggest guess is when I had someone else driving the boat that when they throttled down so water came up and over the swim platform that it got in somewhere? I am not sure but it was probably a good couple inches of water. Maybe a couple gallons? Any suggestions.

mmwjr · 07-16-2013, 05:18 PM

Since I am not that familiar with this set up I can't say exactly but there is some type of seal where the drive shaft from the power head passes throught the hull to the lower unit. I would assume it is leaking to get that much water. You may want to google to see if you can find an aftermarket manual for the L drive.

I can't image that water would come over the transom.

CountryME · 07-16-2013, 10:12 PM

Pudzy, Bilges are funny things in that they actually condense water. With your boat sitting in the water, the hull is a terrible insulator and whe it's humid, water will condense in the bilge and pool there. If it has been as humid there as it has ben here in Maine, the cold water and humid air are a perfect combination to condense water in the bilge and is your most likely culprit. The other potential is bellows (According looking rubber boots), if you L-drive has them. If there are rubber bellows where the L-drive penetrates the hull, look them over real closely for cracking or damage. These are your only barrier between alot of water entering the boat, so they should be in good shape. If the bellows are good, I would chalk it up to condensation and not worry too much about it.

Happy Boating to the new boat owner!
-JP

mmwjr · 07-16-2013, 10:51 PM

Country, Pudzy said the water accumulated while using the boat so condensation doesn't make sense especially gallons in a short period of time.

CountryME · 07-17-2013, 03:30 AM

Mike, I agree I was making some assumptions that the boat was in thee lake for the whole weekend and that he is somewhere humid. Those assumptions are completely out the window if he is in Arizona and had the boat in for a few hours.

-JP

mmwjr · 07-17-2013, 05:46 PM

Pudzy,
you got me curious so I poked around and found the transom interface at this site.

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Me...OKE/parts.html

You may want to inspect the seals shown hear for source of any leaks.

Pudzy24 · 07-23-2013, 08:26 PM

I have currently taken the boat to our local boat repair shop and having him look over a couple things. They are actually quite busy so I hope it gets in sooner than later. I know the guy real well and I know he will dig into the issue and let me know. I have taken the boat in there after this last Saturday out boating majority of Friday and couple times before that very successfully. Well during the day Saturday, the boat had issues starting. Brand new battery so after sitting for awhile with radio on, went to start and would act like battery was dead. The starter on the other hand was "glowing red" meaning it was extremely hot. Not glowing red but you could feel a lot of heat coming off the starter. After calling the guy I bought it from he said its been rebuilt so I am assuming that went bad.

I let the boat sit for 2 days and put it back in the water to attempt to start. Turned it over 2 times, felt the starter and it was getting warm rather fast. Thinking that it went bad.

We will see what the issue is here in a couple weeks. If you guys have any other ideas on what that could be then that would be great. I already told him to check seals and things that could cause water leakage.

Live in West Central Iowa.

mmwjr · 07-23-2013, 11:03 PM

When you tried to start the engine did it attempt to crank? Not sure if starter is bad or getting hot because of an engine issue (locked, ...)

rscotta · 07-24-2013, 03:31 PM

Those starters do heat up quickly. I believe the Maxum owners manual mentions not running the starter for more than 15 sec, and then giving 1 minute for it to cool before trying again. Of course if you have to run the starter for 15 sec before the engine starts, you have something else going on.

Pudzy24 · 07-24-2013, 09:06 PM

It cranked over fine. It would not fire right off the bat. It never locked up, but when that starter was warm, it wouldn't have the power to turn it over, acting like the battery was dead. But when letting it sit and cool it would then once again turn the starter and engine. I am hoping it is a starter issue since it is a rebuilt starter but if its something else that could be in the engine, that would be great to know to maybe have my mechanic take a look at.

mmwjr · 07-24-2013, 11:10 PM

As rscotta said starters will heat up rapidly when cracking for more than a few seconds. Remember it is drawing 100s of amps from the battery when trying to start. Once heated up the resistance in the winding goes up a fair amount so when you try it again there is to much power loss hence what you are experiencing. After letting it cool down the resistance goes back down and cranking is easy again.

The real problem is why the engine is so hard to start? Getting enough fuel, dirty carbs, ...