motor vibrations
 

Hey guys,took my wife for a boat ride today,and noticed some vibrations in my motor Ive never really felt before. I have a 22' pathfinder with 200 hpdi. It is a 2002 model. As I would turn some sharper corners in the marsh the motor would kinda vibrate almost like it was dragging bottom a little. I was in 8-12 ft of water so I know it wasnt that,but that was the feel. Does this sound like a prop issue? Anyone have anything like that before?

hydraulic steering?

oh and i bet your wife liked that

Was it just while turning or could you also feel the vibration going straight.

wife didn even notice it. Like I said it wasnt bad but i dont ever remember feeling it before. It was just in the hard turns,nothing in the straits. There was the normal slight cavitation like normal,but the best way to describe it is like the skeg was dragging in the mud,but we were too deep to be hitting bottom.

was it hydaulic steering? thats how mine was when i had a seal leaking and no fluid left

yes it is hydraulic steering

id check the fluid level before you do anything else

also make sure that the pivots work, mine had corroded and made everything get in a bind

what are you talking about when you say pivots?

where the steering linkage connects to the motor lift.

let me find a picture

http://ww2.seastarsteering.com/OUTBO...UNT/fm_cyl.jpg

the place where the front bar connects to the back on the 2 ends

I think that part is fine, In fact I was just looking at that part yesterday as I was shoulder deep in the my boats belly. hah.

haha, we had to nearly cut mine off

even though there are bushings it was bending the shaft wehn i trimmed up

thats just a little bit o corrosion hugh?

a little lol. we used the grinder

get your prop checked...

ordered a new powertech today,been wanting to upgrade,needed a spare for the boat anyway.

Heck yea....That's what I'm talkin' about....and I would be saying "but baby I need a spare prop anyway, you wouldn't want me to get stranded out their with the kids"...:smokin:

Well, she was with me yesterday,I kept informing her of that vibration when we would round those corners. lol

trim the motor up a little... i got the same issue when i take hard corners...

you mean I ordered a new prop for nothin? lol.

naaa, keep it... just try it first and see if you can turn easier... mine vibrated bad then i started trying new things to see what would cure it (I.E. taking the corner faster, slower, trimming down etc..) then i trimmed up a pretty good bit and it was smooth sailing around a tight corner.. it don't vibrate anymore.. im not sure if u got trim tabs on your boat.... might need to adjust them in the turn ?? Im not sure because i aint got them !!!!

yeah, I got trim tabs, I only use them when its rough or Im trying to jump up fast in shallow water. I usually cavitate a little going into tight bends,but thats always been since I had the boat. Marcus over at powertech told me I had too much pitch on my prop,so Im going down a size. He told me this will take care of my cavitation. Now that you mention about the trim,I think I was a little more in the water than normal when it was vibrating.

try different things... maybe trim up left or right on the tabs to help u bank more ??? Can be the tabs "fluttering" in the water ???? Can be a whole lot of different things... im no boat mechanic by no means... but i do investigate my own problems and use common sense to try to fix them..

I think it might have been more with the trim. Never felt that before. should have my new prop by next weekend for our tournament. Hope our t-shirts come in by then too.

yeah... but give it a try....i'll PM u my info if u need help, holla at me..