Said goodbye to Skeeter and the 05 AR 230 and went with the 212X

[Nate Fallow]

Ok...so for those of you that have been following along I nearly bought an 05 AR 230 out of Florida. Everything was coming along fine until on the water test the starboard motor was smoking a little and after they pulled the boat out and gave the motor a compression test it was low. The mechanic (who I dubbed as Skeeter) had looked at it, changed the oil, and then ran the "piss out of it" (his words) and then gave it the "all clear". I wasn't as confident in that so I passed. I ended up buying a 2013 212x as you should be able to see from the picture attached to this post. We took her out for her maiden voyage and had a blast! Now for the questions.....It was quite hot (92 degrees) and we ran the boat for about 6 hours total. I was curious about heat soak and if it affected the boat starting back up.... e.g. periodically I'd shut the engines off to switch tubes or skis etc. and the motors would sometimes not want to start back up. Now I noticed it seemed to do it when I didn't have the blower running (I think). Could this have been a result of vaporized fuel?? Or something else maybe?? Other than that the boat had 0 issues on the water yesterday....I just thought I'd get some opinions from some veterans on the topic...Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jcyamaharider]

View attachment 75410

Ok...so for those of you that have been following along I nearly bought an 05 AR 230 out of Florida. Everything was coming along fine until on the water test the starboard motor was smoking a little and after they pulled the boat out and gave the motor a compression test it was low. The mechanic (who I dubbed as Skeeter) had looked at it, changed the oil, and then ran the "piss out of it" (his words) and then gave it the "all clear". I wasn't as confident in that so I passed. I ended up buying a 2013 212x as you should be able to see from the picture attached to this post. We took her out for her maiden voyage and had a blast! Now for the questions.....It was quite hot (92 degrees) and we ran the boat for about 6 hours total. I was curious about heat soak and if it affected the boat starting back up.... e.g. periodically I'd shut the engines off to switch tubes or skis etc. and the motors would sometimes not want to start back up. Now I noticed it seemed to do it when I didn't have the blower running (I think). Could this have been a result of vaporized fuel?? Or something else maybe?? Other than that the boat had 0 issues on the water yesterday....I just thought I'd get some opinions from some veterans on the topic...Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is very common with 1.8 motors, run the blower and it should be better.

 

[buckbuck]

Congratulations @Nate Fallow Your family is going to have a fun summer. Better change your boat description under your name. That ain't no Skeeter boat you now have.

 

[spatty99]

This is very common with 1.8 motors, run the blower and it should be better.

That seems strange, what would be causing that?

 

[Nate Fallow]

Congratulations @Nate Fallow Your family is going to have a fun summer. Better change your boat description under your name. That ain't no Skeeter boat you now have.

Thanks! and good call!! Profile page updated....had to blow out the rest of the Skeeter remnants from the profile lol!

 

[GoVols01]

My houseboat’s 12.5KW Westerbeke generator had the copper fuel line tightly coiled around the cold water intake (a heat exchanger) in order to cool the fuel to prevent fuel line vaporization. I’ve noticed this issue before on my ‘17 212X with the 1.8s in the same conditions you’ve described above. I generally run the bilge blowers whenever the engines are running, which helps a little, but don’t think it resolves the issue altogether. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of having guests board the boat at times while the engines are running. Typically only do this with my own kids, as they’re accustomed to how the ship runs and governing rules.
FWIW, my last 2 Regal day boats with the venerable 4.3L V6 engine had the very same issue, but I also had issues with those engines “dieseling” when I’d turn them off - running 93 octane normally resolves that issue.

 

[spatty99]

I thought vapor lock was a thing of the past, is this just a function of (poor) design?... There are engines living in drastically hotter engine bays than the 1.8 with no issues.

 

[Jameson Clark]

My old Monterey with the 5.0mpi had a bad problem with vapor locking. In the right conditions (cruise for an hour+ then shut off and sit for 30-60min) it would almost always at least try to vapor lock. My solution was when I stopped, I opened the engine cover for about 5-10 minutes to let a bunch of heat out and if that wasn't an option, I ran the blower instead. Once I learned how to manage it, it wasn't too bad. Also, from my understanding, this problem is worse when running E10 fuel as the ethanol has a lower boiling point. If I ran no ethanol fuel, it did not seem to act up.

Ironic someone asked this though as I THOUGHT I had one try to vapor lock on me this weekend and I thought in my head (surely not another boat with this issue) but it pushed through it much quicker than my Monterey used to. If that one got bad, it would leave you sitting for 15 minutes.

 

[Evil Sports]

I notice that on my 2013 SS usually when Im tubing, but it always starts just not instantly like were used to. No one has really explained why it happens. I second the blower especially when doing heavy loading on the hot days.

 

[GoVols01]

It occurs when the fuel lines close to the engines gets really hot and the fuel vaporizes inside the fuel line. This causes the engine to act like an old flooded carborated engine when trying to restart. Until the engine can pass the vaporized fuel through the lines and out of the engine altogether, it’s difficult to start. Often times the engine gets flooded when trying to start and you simply have to wait 5-10 minutes to retry.

 

[spatty99]

It occurs when the fuel lines close to the engines gets really hot and the fuel vaporizes inside the fuel line. This causes the engine to act like an old flooded carborated engine when trying to restart. Until the engine can pass the vaporized fuel through the lines and out of the engine altogether, it’s difficult to start. Often times the engine gets flooded when trying to start and you simply have to wait 5-10 minutes to retry.

But why is a 1.8 liter in a huge engine bay vapor locking when a 6.2 liter crammed in a tiny sportscar engine bay has no issues?

 

[Mustangswan]

My 16 212X does the same thing after we are surfing. And with 2000lbs of water plus passengers, they are working. There was a thread about this somewhere. The best thing I can say is that we let the motors run for a few minutes and let them cool a bit after a surf run before shutting them off. We live in the pacific NW and is not really ever that hot out. But since running the motors for a 2 minutes or so we haven’t had the problem again. I also run my blower any time the motors are running.
PS We love our 212X, hope you enjoy yours.

 

[Eric Ballard]

My 16 212X does the same thing after we are surfing. And with 2000lbs of water plus passengers, they are working. There was a thread about this somewhere. The best thing I can say is that we let the motors run for a few minutes and let them cool a bit after a surf run before shutting them off. We live in the pacific NW and is not really ever that hot out. But since running the motors for a 2 minutes or so we haven’t had the problem again. I also run my blower any time the motors are running.
PS We love our 212X, hope you enjoy yours.

I couldn't agree more. After towing a tube for a while if I cut the engine immediately after stopping the boat. I sometime have had issues starting the boat. If I come to a stop after towing I let the engine run for a couple minutes all is good.

 

[WetWillie]

+1^ if we stop I either idle the engines for a short bit in neutral before anyone approaches the rear of the boat and they are fine afterwards or if I cut them right away I run the blower and I’m ready to crank the engines back in 90-120 seconds...

PS beautiful 212x always loved the look of that year/color combo

 

[GoVols01]

Those big engines in small car engine compartments still have air flowing all around them. Boat engines only breath through the small vent holes.

 

[spatty99]

True, but boats have an infinite supply of water for cooling, which is much more efficient. Plus vapor lock isn't an issue on the MR1, which makes it seem like a design flaw in the newer engines.

 

[GoVols01]

Cooling water is only supplied to the engine when the engine is running. When turned off, the hot engine sits in a practically sealed compartment and roasts itself. Again, car engines constantly have ventilation whether they’re parked or running.