Trans/Eng Issue
 

This might be difficult to get a clear answer to, but I thought I would post and see your thoughts. Last weekend when using my boat, its a Calabria Cal-Air Direct Drive, with Merc 350 Tow Sports. When hitting the throttle to start boarding or skiing the boat would accelerate as normal but then seemed like it slipped or missed for a moment and then accelerate as normal again. If I hit the throttle a little lighter it would not do this. Any thoughts?

check the trans fluid level, then prop.

Have you checked the points on your distributor cap. My point got corroded one time and cause a lot of bogging and felt like it was missing.

how old is the fuel filter?

I bet its a touch low on transmission fluid .

would be an easy fix.

I'll give a little backstory on why I say Tranny fluid . Back in 2003 or 2004 my buddy went to the boat show and got suckered into buying the hottest new vdrive Supreme at the time . Fast forward a month or so we all went camping and he went out to do some wake boarding and came right back and said if he hits the gas too hard its dogging out and also if he turns while on the gas at all it dogs out so immediately in my mind I'm thinking fuel delivery issue . Thought maybe it was out of gas or the gauge was malfunctioning . I checked the fuel level by trying to add fuel and it only took 2 gallons to top off so we knew it wasn't a low fuel issue . Since it was new I didnt think it was the fuel filters or water separator so I told him to take me for a ride so I could see what it was doing and of course t did it right away . So I had him stop and we chacked the fluid in the velvet drive and sure enough it was almost empty once we topped it off it was fine the rest of the week .

I have had several people mention tranny fluid, and it didnt really feel like a fuel issue at all. Next time Im at my boat im going to check that first!

good to know. never heard of a trans causing an issue like that.

For possible transmission issue. When it "slips" while accelerating the RPMs would shoot up. Start with fluid.Check manual instructions for adding the trans fluid. (Sometimes it's not as simple as just adding to fill line once before it's been run). Do you have trans fluid in the bilge? could be a leak in a hose? Do you notice trans fluid in water around the boat? could be a Bad cooler? Have you hit anything? Anything caught in the prop recently? Be cautious. The more your transmission slips the more damage you can do. if you do have damage you may find the shaft/prop spinning in neutral do to warped "clutch" plates. Hope I'm not getting ahead of the problem. I am not an expert but I just had to replace a transmission last year on my x2 and am currently on a tug boat with a bad transmission that is due to get fixed by experts tomorrow.[/QUOTE]

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Excellent points !!! Hopefully its just a touch low and nothing else is wrong with the boat .

Verify in your manual, but you typically check fluid level when the trans is warmed up. run it for few minutes, shift forward and reverse a few times then check it.