Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Can Anybody help me Help a freind?
apdriver.
I know this aint a Basscat question… But Im gonna throw it out there. A good Freind of mine has seen my passion for fishing and decided to jump into the fishing scene. Being a business owner and money not as much of a object as myself, he went out and bought what appeared to me, a show piece Gambler. I dont know if Ive ever seen a more Flashy bassboat in my life. Its bright Yellow with red and white trim. Im not into yellow, but, it does look mean. It has a Mercury XB 250 Limited Edition motor on it. I dont know or have ever heard much about the motor, but to my understanding, its a racing motor. ? My Freind is not much of a mechanical person, and wanted me to help him learn to load and unload and drive the boat, get it on plane etc. Problem is… This thing is a dog!! Its like it is flooding with fuel or something. It hesitates so bad, its hard to get it up. You floor it and it just sits there spitting and sputtering and wont go. I know enough about engines to feather the throttle till it gets enough RPMs to get it up, and once you get it up on plane and moving, its a Rocket ship… It will fly!!!!! It dont have a GPS, so Im not sure how fast its going, but Ive never been in a boat so fast. But, Im the only one hes found to be able to get it up without having it plow with the nose in the clouds forever trying to get it to that RPM range, where it will actually have enough power to take off. I worked in NASCAR myself, years ago, and its like trying to drive a NASCAR on water. It loads up BAD!!!!! Unless it gets a lot of RPMs.Hes at the point of selling it and getting totally out of the effort of trying to learn fishing, and ask me to take it out “one more time” to check it out. I did, and its a looker for sure, but is worthless without low to midrange power. The guy (out of state) he bought it from, was not a fishermen, but some kind of boat racer, and this was just one of his toys, and it appears to me, the previous owner set it up for Top End Speed, with some type of diamond shaped Prop (Ballistic), and some sort of plate fin thing on the cavitation plate (which I removed), but obviously didnt fish out of it. Does Anybody have a clue why its so hard to run at low to mid-range RPMs???
i would check fuel flow, make sure fuel primer bulb not collapsing, check spark plug conditions, maybe to cold of a plug.. im just guessing on that one, make sure its in time. check fuel conditions as well, could be water in the fuel. try running cleaner through it,
The fin was probably an Allison fin and there because the hole shot suffered. The stagger in the bottom end could be fuel supply as this has old hoses and they degrade with todays fuel additives and ethanol. Thus new hoses are a good thing. They have a fuel rail issue on some that requires the fuel rails to be reseated and new O-rings. The next step is the TPI needs adjusting, and then try a Fury wheel. That Ballistic can be a good wheel, though we are not fans. The other option is a Trophy with a vent ring and adjusting the PVS plugs. This is a work in progress and no matter how clean this is not a BCB, thus we are only trying to help as best we can. The hole shot will not be that of a BCB and can be improved. These are a different platform than you are used to. BCB
Theres a few 250XB guys over in the Merc. 3 liter forum over on Bassboatcentral, Id check in over there.
Preacher, I wold have that engine checked out thoroughly by a good mechanic, particularly in view of the fact that your friend is not mechanically inclined. Why not just suggest that he take it your mechanic that helped you with your head gasket issue? After getting the engine to run right, then he can play with props and set up. It is a strong engine, but hard on fuel. My buddy had one on a Cougar some time ago. Just out of curiosity, did he water test the rig before buying it?
Thanks Guys, and yes BCB.. I know its not a Cat and Im also partial to mine. I feel like Im laying in a corvette and have to crawl up and out of the seat everytime we stop to fish. Way too much work for me, and Im not even overweight, or not huge anyway lol. But this has more to do with the XB than being a Gambler, I believe. From what Ive gathered, these Engines are supposed to be a beast, but instead, its a Dog… On hole shot anyway.Im not a Marine mechanic by No means, but I wasnt sure if there were Reeds or something, that could have been changed by previous owner to make all the Power on the Top End. I thought it was real strange that the previous owner had vinyl (color matched to the boat) bags with lead shot custom made and stacked in the front compartments obviously to keep the front end down???Also, when we get to the lake, it fires right up…. But Smokes like a locomotive!!!! Way more than my XRI, and I always like to see mine smoke a little, but this XB is rediculous. It smokes out the whole landing!!!
The reed petals on an XB are fiber reeds.
Cat, he didnt test it. Get this…. He had never even been in a boat!!! I know…. So rediculous, and that aint half the story, but Id be too embarrassed to tell the rest. But anyway, my mechanic DID fix the gasket, BUT, he sure ticked me off when he left it out in a 3 day monsoon and the a couple of boxes filled up with water… And some wiring issues to the alarm was made worse that was supposed to be cured. But, I gave him 1700.00 and paid the bill, and left nicely!! But thats another story!! My freind has took it to a Authorised Mercury mech. And it was put on a computer and told he done good in the purchase. Hes taking it back next week to have the mech. put it in the water, and experience the mess its doing, so hopefully….
Good luck to your buddy. I hopoe he gets it all sorted out. Hate too see someone miss out on a chance to become a fisherman because of one bad experience. Theres too much fun to be had out there.
i saw a 300 XB on a Bullet and it was a mosquito fogger too. Smoked like a barbecue grill but sounded like a funny car. So, you want to try another prop? Ive got a 26 tempest plus spare Id send you to try. Especially with a name like preacher. You guys pay for freight both ways, though 🙂
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