New boat owner

[Alupinski]

Hello all. First time boat owner of a 2005 1800sr3. Got to say took it out on the water and had loads of fun but at the same time found a few things that need fixing.
1. Having a radio issue and think it might just be the radio. It lights up and hear sound out of speakers but nothing else works. Of course checked the connections and fuses.
2. Has issue with tachs. Speed not working but blew out the hole and had sediment come out so hope that fixed it. Volt meter not working and checked all the wiring but all is good. Rpm not working either but hour meter works. Also all the tachs light up.
3. I can not for the life find parts for the boat. Made a rookie mistake and put the back seats up to make sundeck for kids and of course I left them up and somewhere along the water I lost one. I cannot find replacements anywhere.
4. Need a new propellar as mine has a good chip in it but no idea what pitch the boat requires. Mercury 4.3l engine.

Hope this is not all too much first time and looking for some help.

[Overboard]

As the long timers on the forum say....welcome aboard!!!

I am new to maxum & boat ownership as well but I’ve been around them all my life so I’ll give it a go and I’m sure someone will correct my errors...

Maxum was owned by Brunswick but was discontinued so new factory replacements are tough to find but you will likely find a good upholstery shop isn’t overly expensive to make you a new seat/sun-pad

You should be able to test the volt gauge with a multimeter or just replace it and see, the gauges are made by faria and so far my opinion of them is like most boats and the gauges are junk. I found several times it is just corrosion on the grounding side of the gauge connection, does not take much and they quit.

The radio, if it has a faceplate, could just need the contacts cleaned between the head unit and faceplate.

I wouldn’t run the boat with a chip or any dings in the prop as it creates vibration and cavitation. The prop should be stamped with the size & pitch somewhere on the main body usually at the base of one of the blades, otherwise use the quicksilver prop calculator, just give it a google and it’ll have a recommendation.

Did you have the boat surveyed? If not I would recommend changing the raw water impeller in the outdrive (every 2 years)and having the u-joint, shift cable and exhaust bellows replaced (I plan on doing mine every 3-4 in freshwater) also I would recommend at least inspecting the exhaust manifolds, risers and elbows especially if run in salt water as they can leak and can cause the motor to ingest water and hydro lock. I am doing all of this to my boat and it’s not cheap but good insurance and peace of mind, ours is 18 years old but only had 100hrs on it so none of this had ever been done.

And enjoy the heck out of it of course!!!!




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[mmwjr]

Welcome aboard

What overboard said.

[Alupinski]

Thank you for all that info. I did notice if I put the faceplate in wrong I get everything to light up at once on the faceplate so maybe the connections are bad. I found a place last night close to me that does seats so waiting for a quote from them right now. I found a serial number on the prop but nothing about the pitch. I tried quicksilver but it is asking for info on gear ratio and that I have no clue. I did some research and found that I should use 3 blade 19 pitch.
The boat was never used in salt water only on lake one owner. Everything with the motor and outboard is sound. I chipped the prop last weekend when I hit shallow water in seconds as the lake was down 4 feet.
Not trying to go crazy with the boat as it’s my first one and trying it out this year and next year looking to trade in sell to something a little newer.

[Overboard]

The prop pitch will and size will likely be in the serial number (eg: 14X19 or 19X14) indicating a 19 pitch prop, what you have found is likely close to correct as I am running a 5.7 in a 21’ boat and it is a 3 blade 21 pitch (more power would allow for more pitch = bigger bite in the water), you would have to calculate wide open throttle and pitch it to land around 45-4800rpm but once you’ve paid the price for a new prop it’s hard to buy another one, I am going to go from a 21P 3 blade to a 20P 4 blade to achieve proper WOT but loose some top end speed for a better hole shot.

I would recommend putting a few dollars into the maxum as they appear to be the best value (sport boat) that I have seen, good fit and finish for a boat and good quality construction for what you’ll pay for them, I couldn’t justify the asking price of a new or even newer used boat. Saying that, boat prices fluctuate massively depending on where you are located unlike vehicles so you may be in an area that gives you more freedom to shop. If you are even marginally mechanically inclined you can perform the work I have described quite cheap as compare to having it done. I will be all in for around $3000 Canadian dollars (and I did more than described above) in US dollars you can chop that number in half easy especially if you are in a large market.


Whew....I’m sweating from all that typing🤪, sorry if it seems over the top, just want to be as much help as I can l.


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