Hello all. My name is Lincoln and I recently purchased my first boat, a 1976 Hydrodyne, 302 Ford IO, Hydraulic steering, and I believe the 'Imperial' interior. Purchased from the original owner who did a great job of taking care of it. Just wanted to share my ride and say I am happy to be here.
Lincoln, Beautiful looking boat!! Did the last owner give you the history of the boat? BTW, the paint looks great in the pictures. Was that the original color? (I'm guessing not, but,, maybe?) Kevin
Thanks for the compliment! I 'think' the paint is original. The previous owner was a competition skier/barefooter. I have the contact info for him and will contact him when I develop enough questions to ask at once, haha. I'm not sure what octane fuel I should start with(first question for him). Any advice? The owners manual said to use 88*.
Stay away from fuels with ethanol in them if you can. You may have to check many gas stations to find one that does not have ethanol in one of their grades of fuel. Several stations around here don't have ethanol in their premium and you pay accordingly for not having it. Also use stabil or a similar product to help keep your gas fresh.
Update: I've been working lots on the new boat. The first time I took it out I hit a top speed of 34 mph on glass. Lots of vibration, too. I found a cylinder that wasn't firing (bad plug) and tuned up the holley 4bbl and the points. Next time out got up to 45 mph on nice water. I then received the electronic ignition conversion (Pertronix) and new plugs (AC-MR43T) and it ran much smoother. After messing with the timing (bumping it up quite a bit) I got the 'dyne up to 53 mph on rough water. Much better! Lots of pick up and power now. It ran so much better when I advanced the timing but I didn't know if I was going too far. It's now set at 16* initial and it seems to max out at 30* when I mapped the timing advance. I am pretty sure it should be advancing more than that but it sure does seem to run well. Anyone else advance their timing this much? Oh yeah, I get compliments on the boat wherever I go
