92 Ski Brindella - Advice please

[immikerowley]

Hi All

 

I'm new to the forum and writing to you from South Africa...

 

After looking around for an old school in board i cam across a 92 Ski Brindella, in what I think is pretty good condition with only 200 hours on the clock and all original.

 

I took her for a first spin on the weekend ( its Summer here) and had some gremlins I'm hoping you may have advice for me on.

 

One of the things i noticed is there was a fair amount of water in the bilge after running, I'm new to inboards of this type so a bit lost, could it possibly be from the stuffing pipe?

 

the other was under high revs and cruising , the boat purred along. at low revs/ idle it would sputter and eventually die.

 

I did put new plugs, refurb the carb and replace the impeller.

 

what could I do to troubleshoot?

 

thanks in advance for any help or advice

 

Mike

 

[6balls]

Old-school classy! Sorry I'm not a mechnanic...but that looks cool.

[Horton]

great looking old boat.

 

@RichardDoane @Jody_Seal you guys have any advice?

[BMG73]

Shaft packing. Easy cheap fix. That boat looks like a great find.

[fu_man]

1st things I would check- stuffing on the drive shaft for leak and oxidation on the distributor cap points for sputter. Could be lots of things though.

[BraceMaker]

For the water ingress you really should just take the time to pull out the engine hatch, rear seat and rear floor. This will let you visually inspect the shaft/stuffing box and also you need to get in there to grease the rudder port and the steering cable anyhow. Probably need to tighten the packing but it really helps to lay an eye on these things to make sure.

 

 

The boat idle issue can from from several places I usually start by taking a can of carb spray and tooting it around the base of the carb and any other areas that could have bad vacuum leaks. Boat will rev up if you do, if that test is negative I go right to the ignition. I would bet Ski Brendella used a points/breaker ignition if so then I go straight to replacing and setting the points/condenser/cap/rotor - and then I hook up the dwell meter and timing light and get everything fine tuned.

 

If it still won't idle after that I would then look at the carb. People like going backwards and rebuild the carb then they swear up and down the carb rebuild was no good before bothering to get the ignition going.

[markn]

That boat looks fantastic..congrats! If the shaft packing is ok, also look for water around the exhaust manifolds. Some of these old boats had fiberglass "mufflers" and they have been known to crack. Again, pretty cheap fix with epoxy.

[immikerowley]

Hi All,

 

Thank you for the input and advice , it is very helpful.

 

I'm pretty stoked with it so far , and chuffed at the find.

 

I will work through and provide feedback.

 

Thank you again, really appreciate it

[ReallyGottaSki]

Cool boat!

 

After running, If the bilge water is noticeably warmer than the lake, then it is coming from the exhaust system. If not, likely rudder or shaft packing.

 

IF the carb and spacer come off , use nice thick fel-pro 1901 when replacing, the ones in the carb kit are notoriously thin, and leak.

Check the throttle plate for flatness, if has been overtorqued, it will easily warp then always leak air.

 

See if the idle mix screws are effective. Should find then about 1.5 turned out to start.

 

At idle, remove the spark arrestor and describe what you see going on.

If the boosters are dripping, causing bumbling idle, its a leaking needle or more commonly, if you can also rotate open the secondaries about 1/8" before they hit the stops, then the idle has been increased to make it run because the idle fuel orifices are clogged. It won't run right again until the metering block is unclogged, because its now idling on the transition slots, getting its idle fuel from the mains and main air bleeds instead, and thus peculating fuel up into the boosters. It will run, but not as it should

 

 

[Orlando76]

Yes focus on ignition and truthfully keep the points. Don’t go electronic unless whole dizzy is trashed which just be your description and pics I’ll bet dizzy isn’t worn. Shaft packing should be about one drip every 15 seconds when in gear and no drips when shaft isn’t turning is acceptable. A dry/bad/too tight packing tends to squeal or groan. You should really pull access panel up and inspect the mufflers and exhaust hoses. A bad exhaust tube is essentially a 3” hole in the bottom of your boat and no bulge pump will keep up with that.

[Wish]

Check where pitot tubes enters the boat. One or both may be leaking as the caulk used to adhere/seal the pickup to hull gets old, cracks and can allow water into bilge.

[ReallyGottaSki]

they like it too

 

 

[Jody_Seal]

 

Wood stringer ski boats = land fill fodder..

 

[BraceMaker]

@Jody_Seal eventually everything is. Know plenty of people who have redone stringers in ski boats - and if he's in South Africa ski boats may be worth keeping.

[Rednucleus]

Beauty! You did plugs; I would also replace cap, rotor, points/condenser if present, & plug wires. If gas was old get some fuel treatment on board; change fuel filter if not done yet.

[immikerowley]

Thanks Guys, much appreciated.

 

Feedback to follow, @Orlando you preempted my question regards ignition.

 

Ill keep you posted after this weekend.

[ALPJr]

Nice boat. Enjoy!

[rawly]

My kids have that identical boat with 1000 more hours on it. Yours looks awesome ! That slalom wake is one of the best of its era , and from what Horton says , it has a nice trick wake which also translates to a nice wakeboard wake. Not sure if that boat has a water separating fuel filter ? It looks like an oil filter and is on the fuel supply hose. If it has one , remove it and dump it out. Once the filter fills with water ( from the gas ) it starts allowing water to flow to the carb. My old boat did what yours is doing because of that. Enjoy that beauty.

[powbmps]

Daaang. That boat is in great shape!

[MDB1056]

VERY cool boat! And only 200 hours? wow..... Your water issue could be from a number of sources or more than one. Easiest is to take the engine cover off and as someone else noted the rear floor panel and look at everything while running. Circulation hoses, exhaust hoses, shaft packing (stuffing box), water pump, trans cooler connections, any of which could be leaking, Most boats that vintage still use the traditional wax rope for the shaft packing which if not changed over time will let a good bit of water in while running. But again just open everything up and run the boat and you'll easily find your water source. One other thing to note, if the ignition is still an old system using points, I would not replace the points but immediately convert to electronic ignition. Much better, no maintenance, wont burn out, no worries. Super simple conversion uses existing distributor. Contact the good folks at Pertronix for guidance. As to idle issues, if the carb has not been rebuilt on that boat it's very likely that's the main culprit. Even with low hours it's simply the age that requires them to be done to get things clean and fresh seals. It's a simple process you can do yourself in a few hours. I rebuilt the carb on my 92 for the first time 2 years ago. Runs great. I'd also replace the cap and wires for good measure if they look original, even if appear in good shape. I don't know if Brendella still had wood in them in 92 or not, but don't let that be a concern. As @BraceMaker noted plenty of folks have redone stringers if needed. I did and my boat is far better today than when it left the factory. There are thousands of much older boats out there that are still rock solid. Just keep the water out and keep the boat dry when not in use. What's great about older boats is they are SO easy to work on and keep running, extremely reliable, no computers or sensors to go haywire, and they perform very well. Keep that boat forever. You'll love it!

[BraceMaker]

@MDB1056 - I've been on both sides of that equation - I've never had points fail so spectacularly that I couldn't get the boat up and running - where as I have had different in distributor and replacement distributor options go bad. Add in depending on where you are some parts are readily available.

[Orlando76]

@MDB1056 I I agree with @BraceMaker. Points might corrode, some sand paper or a few dollars will get you going and save a weekend. An electronic module can go bad you’re likely SOL for a week. Plus side to electronic is it’s mostly maintenance free. Guess it’s the same argument as carb vs. EFI

[MDB1056]

@immikerowley - Love your boat! So glad it’s found a good home with you. We all love to see these retro beauties continuing to thrive.