Sandy

I can't imagine someone using 1" warp on their crab pot line . Are you sure that wasn't an emergency marker over a stuck anchor someone had planned to return to retrieve?

I always check to see that the pump turns on automatically briefly as water runs to the stern just before 1st planing (I can see the flow from the tower), then turn the pumps on manually to confirm that sw works as well and remove the most bilge water they can get out.

Hire a swan- they can be vicious. Setting up a perimeter of monfoliment will generally keep birds off boats or docks. That may be a PIA but probably less so than the ugly cleanup.

Try new plugs and what is your starting technique? If there is a primer/choke solenoid have you confirmed that is operational? Have you charged and load tested your starting battery, and made sure all battery cable connections at both ends and engine grounds are clean & tight for strongest cranking? Is this in FL?

Tired old gas? Long overdue for a complete tuneup not just plugs & filters? Did you gap the plugs to proper spec? Cables back tight on proper plugs? Air intrusion (from leaky filter gasket , loose hose clamp or unsealed threaded connector?)or fuel restriction causing lean mix? Any smoke or steam in the exhaust under load? Check dist.cap , check the new plugs( wet,carboned, condition of each compared to a sp. plug chart?), timing and perhaps try running on a portable tank of brand new fresh fuel. If it still has points, do they look new and have correct dwell angle set? Choke opening all the way when warm? Anything abnormal showing on the gauges? Fuel pump pressure correct? What condition is that "original prop"? Just because it's the original prop doesn't mean it still has the original pitch, or even diameter, + boats can gain a lot of weight over the years. Reving in neutral takes a fraction of the fuel flow compared to under load, and you can do it w/ 1 cylinder not firing.

Since you just replaced your tank sender , I wonder if you either have a shorted circuit to neg. ground (bypassing the sender)if it is a USA/"std" gauge sender combo, or open sender to ground circuit if Euro type , or perhaps you paired one type of sender ( USA /"std" OR Euro/ metric ohms range ) with the opposite type gauge- that's a common error. . Both USA & Euro types are used in boats over here, but must be matched since the USA ohms range is approx 240 empty to 33 full, and Euro goes the opposite direction at approx. 10 ohms empty to 180 full. (To complicate things a little further, gauges at dual stations employ a sender w/ approx 1/2 the ohms. Also, there are at least 2 senders (both no-moving-parts, capacitance-tube type,.. Centroid Products tank sender is one of them) that can sense water in the tank and will indicate that by having the gauge read overfull & stay that way until the water is removed no matter what the fluid level. ) No mater what make yours are, Faria has some good gauge/sender trouble-shooting info that should help: http://faria-instruments.com/site_manuals/IS0085E.pdf http://faria-instruments.com/site_manuals/IS0100_ApxVII.pdf http://faria-instruments.com/site_manuals/IS0100_MiscGauges.pdf You can check yours with a multimeter. Try removing the hose from the bulb on the engine side, then see if you can pump a solid stream of fuel into a safe container. If so, you can probably rule out anything upstream toward the tank and concentrate on fuel pump and float valve possibilities. Sometimes bulbs need to be in reverse attitude, with outlet down , to pull fuel up to it. If the bulb is old, suggest just replace it with a new good one. But 1st I'd make really sure the primer/choke lever was in the correct position and that the plugs were not wet from all this pumping and cranking. You might also carefully set the end of a wooden block against the side of carbs and whack it to see if a stuck open float valve will fall into place and let you pump up without flowing out the throats. No pro here, just making suggestions. Another consideration is that after all this pumping it's possible there is a lot of liquid gas in the bottom of your engine, so with charged battery & sp.plugs out and and plug cables carefully grounded you might crank the engine to see if anything in there will flush. Don't crank very long at one time without letting the starter cool down even with no compression.

I believe the red lever is the optional manual override primer valve on the primer solenoid. One way it either primes when you push the ign key (?) in or maybe automatically at start position . The other way allows you to manually choke at the engine .(or prime with bulb?) So that could be your problem with attempting to manually prime or keep it running. It would be in your owner's manual if you have one, otherwise maybe someone else here can tell you which way is which , or just try it the other way . After starting in the manual position if desired, that lever has to be returned to the normal run position for proper running. If you figure it out make sure you clearly label it for run or manual choke position. If that doesn't work here are some other suggestions: If you pump and pump the bulb and it never firms up with engine off (and fuel is not running out of the throttle body) , the usual problems are Bad bulb with missing or not closing valve flap, or cracked bulb Air getting into the fuel line before the bulb, from bad external filter/separator seal, loose hose or tank connection, cracked or dropped off tank pickup tube. Air getting into the tank from the sender gasket deformation would not cause this since the tank has to be vented anyway, but it's obviously a dangerous situation since if air could get in there, gas and fumes can get out in the boat. Fix it. While air or bad bulb is more likely, it could be an a fuel restriction upstream of the bulb but that would usually cause the bulb to stay squished. If fuel was running out the air intakes I'd think either stuck open float. Higher running rpms while pumping sound more like bad fuel pump. Edit: I just checked an old manual for a '87 225 Johnson that had the manaul override valve on the primer solenoid. FWIW, it shows manual start position os counter clockwise and run position is clockwise on that lever. Also I forgot to mention that valve lever and schraeder valve you released fuel from are used when injecting engine tuner(cleaner) and possibly when fogging with pressurized cannisters and a hose with connector for the schraeder.

As others have mentioned, are you holding it near a window on the S side of the plane toward most of the satellites? If airliners had csnvas tops reception would better though other comforts might suffer just a bit.

I certainly understand. Just replacing carbed blue 5.7's with 5.7 MPI's & new higher hp rated transmissions requiring slightly shorter length shafts, new shaft seals & different pitch props on a 27'er ran me just shy of $40k in 2003, more than the boat is worth but I enjoy the new MPI engines a lot more just the same. I have to of course. If I had known it was going to cost that much more than the yard's estimate I might not have done it, but in retrospect I'm really glad I did when using the boat 3-400 hrs a yr in the NE. Certainly not saying this would necessarily be the best choice for you or trying to bend your arm, just throwing out another perspective to factor in (or out). FWIW, even with same trans ratio and 2" LESS pitch (to reach the proper spec'd higher WOT,) the boat with now 120 total add'l hp, has the same NMPG or slightly better at about 400 higher easy cruise RPM and 2-5kts better cruise speed .(That's still less than Crusader's recommended 75% WOT cruise.) With MEFI-4 , I can access loads of ECM data with Diacom, Tech Mate and the B& G Net-Engine display, even how many hours& tenths total the engines have ever been run at each successively higher 100rpm increment, and calculated present fuel flow. I also like the idea that the MPI engines are more likely to best adapt to any gasahol quality irregularities with least risk to the engine because of their sensors which the ECM uses to decide to instantly adjust ignition, fuel and rpm. Wish I had the new ones with MEFI-5 & Sync & Cruz, though I have installed very nice Accusync on mine. Whatever you end up with, get back out there soon and enjoy the water!

Re; new 8.1's. If you plan to keep the boat for a good while, the reliability , increased power and cruise speed with better economy, and satisfaction of being able to continually access engine data & diagnostics on the new MPI engines can be worth a lot more than resale value concerns to some owners.The new Crusaders have MEFI 5 ignitions with increased data output and can have electronic Sync&Cruz with engine sync, 1 lever throttle to control both engines,and throttle incremental cruise or troll)control. Rebuilds, especially for more power, can be iffy propositions according to so many reports on forums like this. That rebuild warranty certainly sounds better than for new ones, but what does it really cover and how many have had true satisfaction with multiple claims under rebuild warranties? Maybe you'll be lucky. Down side of the new engines is I think they may have catalytic converters and who knows whether they add any restriction or excess heat or how long they will typically last before need for expensive replacement in marine application. . (Not sure about 8.1's having the converters yet. The 2009 lineup showed the 6.0's with all in 1 ex manifold, cat converter & and riser 7 it looked like a pricey part, but no converter shown on the 2009 8.1's. 2010's not shown yet.)

Here's the yes/no airline list from 2009. Note that there may be exceptions made by pilots/crews on both sides of the list. http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm It certainly is interesting to see info on altitude and speed, what you are flying over and what estimated time of arrival could be.

I was under the impression it just was made available so there may not be many using it as yet. I looked at it at the NE Boatshow and neither I nor the electronics tech could figure out any way to pick out any individual AIS transponding vessel icon on that little screen and access it's relevant data. The manual had nothing about that in it. It appeared to the tech & me that the benefit of the Matrix AIS radio is the fact that VHF & (receive-only) AIS system would only require total 1 VHF antenna, whereas apparently most add-on AIS systems require their own separate VHF antenna .It's possible that only applies to 2way transponding systems though, not sure. Since most brand new better-quality chartplotters can display AIS (when interfaced with proper AIS equipment, presumably the input from the Matrix AIS radio would allow full access to the data to be displayed on the chartplotter. Older chartplotters would not work if they can't accept the necessary AIS NMEA sentence(s). That radio does have fog horn and PA/intercom output features also, I believe.

Tough to generate great confidence in a company called Fulemedic.

Whiteowl - I do remember tuning in that big old Loran A with it's CRT scope-screen and cranky tuning systems. My 1st Loran C was a huge improvement- it was a single line ~1977 Texas Instrument TI9000 product that would sequentually display the GRI 9960 master and each W,X,Y & Z -secondaries if it received them, so if I worked fast I could copy those numbers and plot them on the paper chart and correct my course accordingly - amazing magic! http://jproc.ca/hyperbolic/loran_c_rcvr.html With the advent of GPS and subsequent elimination of Selective Availability and addition of Differential and WAAS corrections and excellent multifunction, overlaying, wx-displaying chartplotters , I don't miss LORAN a bit. Don't look back, you'll turn to salt!!

Mike- Since they are unused, perhaps FloScan might give you partial credit in trade for a spare set of the newer #20B alcohol-compatible sensors?