Tylenator
Active Member
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 42
- Points
- 27
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2020
- Boat Model
- FSH Sport
- Boat Length
- 21
We took our 2020 210 FSH Sport out for the first time yesterday. Air temp was 50° but we couldn't wait - it was finally a weekend without wind. We were too excited to wait for a warmer weekend. Despite the cold, the family (me, wife, 2 young kids) absolutely loved it! I did though, encounter several things along the way that now have me scratching my head. Questions are red, mixed-in with my explanations below:
1. Trailer wheels cambering in/out during sharp turns ✔ ANSWERED ✔
The trailer is dual-axle. It passed inspection last week. When performing sharp turns (like backing into driveway, navigating a parking lot, boat ramp, etc.) the trailer wheels appear to be leaning in/out. When I say "leaning", the angle that's changing is like camber adjustment on a car. I understand that 4 wheels on a trailer will operate similar to 4WD on a truck, meaning, something is going to slide/skid on pavement when turning. It's just looks crazy to me. I've not driven a dual-axle trailer before so I don't know if this is normal. As always, Googling it brings back conflicting answers. The wheels straighten out fine when I start driving straight forward. They don't stay wonky and don't seem to change while driving straight. Is this normal?
2. Live well plug not fitting ✔ NON-ISSUE ✔
The live well was one of the things we forgot to test during our test ride at the dealer, which I'm now regretting. I could not get the plug into the drain hole for the life of me. The plug seems too big! Can someone post a photo of their live well plug? I'll do the same. Again, I'm not trusting Google here.
Update: The brass drain plug from my old jon boat fits, I'll just use that.
3. Live well filling extremely slow - PARTIALLY ANSWERED -
Even though I couldn't get the live well plug in I wanted to test filling it, since like I said, we forgot to do that during our test ride. After turning it on water indeed was entering the well, but very, very slowly. When I say slow I'm talking "water trickling out of a straw" slow. Is a slow fill like this normal? I saw a YouTube video of someone explaining how to use the Yamaha live wells and when theirs was filling it was pretty fast. My Google searches for this one came back saying that the fill port is adjustable, and you can spin it to allow it to fill faster? Not sure if that's true, but I can't test it until I'm back out on the water. Another post I read said there could be debris in the line but I'm unsure of how to check for that. It's worth mentioning that the pump is new. The dealer replaced it last season because the original one stopped working. I have paperwork stating that. The dealer also told me in-person before we bought the boat that the live well worked. It's also worth mentioning that when I was filling the live well the TR-1 motors were off (not sure if fill-rate would be faster with motors on, or if live well fill it completely separate from the motors/pumps). I didn't think to try that in the moment.
Update: I've confirmed the valves are open on both the intake area and live well fill spout. I've back-flushed that line with the garden hose as well, so it shouldn't be clogged. There are no visible leaks. Not sure what else to check except the pump itself, which is supposed to be new.
4. Bilge pump ran ~4-5 times during our 2 trip ✔ ANSWERED ✔
From what I've read on this forum about leaks (clean out tray, scuppers, anchor locker, etc.) I realize bilge water could be from a number of places, so I'm not necessarily asking for a diagnosis. Let me first say that water was coming into the front floor locker during our test ride with the dealer. He said, "I don't know where that would be coming from. Maybe the cup holders," which I naively believed. I now know better. After getting the boat home I sealed the drain on the inside of the anchor locker and now no water is entering the front floor locker.
But... after we launched the boat we cruised about 12 miles to get out into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay to explore some artificial reefs. We fished for a little bit and then headed back in. On the way back in, I noticed the light on the bilge pump's switch came on. This happened 4-5 times on the 12 mile journey back in. At one point I did peek over the edge and visually confirmed, yes, water was being pumped out when the light was on. Is this something I should worry about or is that "normal" boat behavior? Again, I'm getting conflicting answers when Googling. I'm reading that it's "normal" to have some water coming in from somewhere, but I'm also reading that having a bone dry bilge is what should be considered normal.
I can't say for certain that the bilge pump only ran during the end of our trip, when we were on our way back in. But that's when I started noticing it.
5. Fishing finder reading 900ft depth on the way back ✔ ANSWERED ✔
The boat has a Lowrance Elite FS 9. Depth reading was working throughout the whole trip until we were on our way back in, a few miles from the ramp. I looked down and the depth said 900ft lol. Again, reading conflicting Google info about this. Some say with jet boats at high speeds transducers can lose the bottom. Others say it means something is broken. This is another one that I can't test until I'm back on the water. Has this happened to anyone?
6. No water coming out of cooling spouts/tell tales during flushing ✔ ANSWERED ✔
First let me say that yes, water was coming out of the spouts when we were out on the water boating. But when we got home and I went to flush the engines, no water was coming out of the spouts for either motor. With the first motor, after the motor and water were on, water was coming out by the motors/under the boat but nothing from the tell tales. I stood there and waited 10-15 seconds, but let it keep going, thinking maybe it was just taking a while. I let the motor run for 2 minutes hoping water would work its way through to the tell tale but nothing came out. I hope I didn't mess anything up. For the second motor, again, no water came out of the tell sale but this time I killed it after 10-15 seconds because when looking underneath the boat I noticed steam/smoke coming out by the motor. It was about 40-45° outside so I'm not sure if this was just exhaust, steam, if it's normal, etc. My house is on well water so we don't have as much pressure as people on city water. Like everything else I'm encountering, I'm getting conflicting Google results. Some things I find say it's OK if water doesn't come out of the tell tales during flushing - just make sure you're putting water into the engines. Other things I read say NO, water MUST be coming out of the tell tales or you're risking damage to the motors. Which is it?! If water HAS to come out of the tell tales during flushing and my issue ends up being water pressure versus a clog/boat issue, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It's not realistic to have this boat but not be able to flush it at home.
7. Clear'ish rubber gasket looking piece partially sticking out of black plastic fitting ✔ ANSWERED ✔
When I had my head up under the boat during flushing, I noticed a clear'ish rubber gasket looking piece partially sticking out of black plastic port. I've circle the "fitting" I'm referring to in the below photo. The photo after shows the clear rubber gasket partially hanging out of it. What the heck could be going on?
1. Trailer wheels cambering in/out during sharp turns ✔ ANSWERED ✔
The trailer is dual-axle. It passed inspection last week. When performing sharp turns (like backing into driveway, navigating a parking lot, boat ramp, etc.) the trailer wheels appear to be leaning in/out. When I say "leaning", the angle that's changing is like camber adjustment on a car. I understand that 4 wheels on a trailer will operate similar to 4WD on a truck, meaning, something is going to slide/skid on pavement when turning. It's just looks crazy to me. I've not driven a dual-axle trailer before so I don't know if this is normal. As always, Googling it brings back conflicting answers. The wheels straighten out fine when I start driving straight forward. They don't stay wonky and don't seem to change while driving straight. Is this normal?
2. Live well plug not fitting ✔ NON-ISSUE ✔
The live well was one of the things we forgot to test during our test ride at the dealer, which I'm now regretting. I could not get the plug into the drain hole for the life of me. The plug seems too big! Can someone post a photo of their live well plug? I'll do the same. Again, I'm not trusting Google here.
Update: The brass drain plug from my old jon boat fits, I'll just use that.
3. Live well filling extremely slow - PARTIALLY ANSWERED -
Even though I couldn't get the live well plug in I wanted to test filling it, since like I said, we forgot to do that during our test ride. After turning it on water indeed was entering the well, but very, very slowly. When I say slow I'm talking "water trickling out of a straw" slow. Is a slow fill like this normal? I saw a YouTube video of someone explaining how to use the Yamaha live wells and when theirs was filling it was pretty fast. My Google searches for this one came back saying that the fill port is adjustable, and you can spin it to allow it to fill faster? Not sure if that's true, but I can't test it until I'm back out on the water. Another post I read said there could be debris in the line but I'm unsure of how to check for that. It's worth mentioning that the pump is new. The dealer replaced it last season because the original one stopped working. I have paperwork stating that. The dealer also told me in-person before we bought the boat that the live well worked. It's also worth mentioning that when I was filling the live well the TR-1 motors were off (not sure if fill-rate would be faster with motors on, or if live well fill it completely separate from the motors/pumps). I didn't think to try that in the moment.
Update: I've confirmed the valves are open on both the intake area and live well fill spout. I've back-flushed that line with the garden hose as well, so it shouldn't be clogged. There are no visible leaks. Not sure what else to check except the pump itself, which is supposed to be new.
4. Bilge pump ran ~4-5 times during our 2 trip ✔ ANSWERED ✔
From what I've read on this forum about leaks (clean out tray, scuppers, anchor locker, etc.) I realize bilge water could be from a number of places, so I'm not necessarily asking for a diagnosis. Let me first say that water was coming into the front floor locker during our test ride with the dealer. He said, "I don't know where that would be coming from. Maybe the cup holders," which I naively believed. I now know better. After getting the boat home I sealed the drain on the inside of the anchor locker and now no water is entering the front floor locker.
But... after we launched the boat we cruised about 12 miles to get out into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay to explore some artificial reefs. We fished for a little bit and then headed back in. On the way back in, I noticed the light on the bilge pump's switch came on. This happened 4-5 times on the 12 mile journey back in. At one point I did peek over the edge and visually confirmed, yes, water was being pumped out when the light was on. Is this something I should worry about or is that "normal" boat behavior? Again, I'm getting conflicting answers when Googling. I'm reading that it's "normal" to have some water coming in from somewhere, but I'm also reading that having a bone dry bilge is what should be considered normal.
I can't say for certain that the bilge pump only ran during the end of our trip, when we were on our way back in. But that's when I started noticing it.
5. Fishing finder reading 900ft depth on the way back ✔ ANSWERED ✔
The boat has a Lowrance Elite FS 9. Depth reading was working throughout the whole trip until we were on our way back in, a few miles from the ramp. I looked down and the depth said 900ft lol. Again, reading conflicting Google info about this. Some say with jet boats at high speeds transducers can lose the bottom. Others say it means something is broken. This is another one that I can't test until I'm back on the water. Has this happened to anyone?
6. No water coming out of cooling spouts/tell tales during flushing ✔ ANSWERED ✔
First let me say that yes, water was coming out of the spouts when we were out on the water boating. But when we got home and I went to flush the engines, no water was coming out of the spouts for either motor. With the first motor, after the motor and water were on, water was coming out by the motors/under the boat but nothing from the tell tales. I stood there and waited 10-15 seconds, but let it keep going, thinking maybe it was just taking a while. I let the motor run for 2 minutes hoping water would work its way through to the tell tale but nothing came out. I hope I didn't mess anything up. For the second motor, again, no water came out of the tell sale but this time I killed it after 10-15 seconds because when looking underneath the boat I noticed steam/smoke coming out by the motor. It was about 40-45° outside so I'm not sure if this was just exhaust, steam, if it's normal, etc. My house is on well water so we don't have as much pressure as people on city water. Like everything else I'm encountering, I'm getting conflicting Google results. Some things I find say it's OK if water doesn't come out of the tell tales during flushing - just make sure you're putting water into the engines. Other things I read say NO, water MUST be coming out of the tell tales or you're risking damage to the motors. Which is it?! If water HAS to come out of the tell tales during flushing and my issue ends up being water pressure versus a clog/boat issue, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It's not realistic to have this boat but not be able to flush it at home.
7. Clear'ish rubber gasket looking piece partially sticking out of black plastic fitting ✔ ANSWERED ✔
When I had my head up under the boat during flushing, I noticed a clear'ish rubber gasket looking piece partially sticking out of black plastic port. I've circle the "fitting" I'm referring to in the below photo. The photo after shows the clear rubber gasket partially hanging out of it. What the heck could be going on?
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