Post by popeye on Jun 11, 2019 7:57:03 GMT -5
After a year of ownership and a major rewire project, I finally got the 266 out for a decent off-shore shakedown run. She handled very well and I was impressed with how she handled the 2 foot swells and the fuel economy with 800+hour motors. I had the engines trimmed just a touch and the trim tabs down also just a touch. It was just enough to keep from going airborne on the occasional 3 footers and still land softly. I was also surprised how much softer it was than my friends 23' Sea Pro in a similar sea state. Not to mention, all of my wiring work survived!
20190611_072942_366382144886926.mp4 (5.25 MB)
The fishing was not that great, however we did manage to get our limit of 6 mediocre Red Snapper. The area was thick with Kingfish last week, and they were all but gone on this trip. I talked to a few guys back at the docks and no one came back with a King.
The trip was not perfect. About halfway out, I started getting a low oil alert on the port motor. I recalled noticing one of the wires on the port oil tank seemed a bit loose. Sure enough, the pin on one of the wires had come out of the connector. Sometimes it's nice to bring along a skinny friend, and he was able to get both arms in there to disconnect the connector and reset the pin and put it back together. I was still having problems getting it out of limp mode, so I killed the battery switch and waited a few minutes. Started her back up and we were fine with the oil the rest of the trip.
Later in the day, we encountered another issue with the port motor. We were on a drift and it suddenly died. It was acting like it had low voltage at the battery when I tried to restart... It would not turn over and the gauge would go blank. I checked voltage at the battery, and sure enough it was down to 7 volts. This is a brand new Sam's Club Duracell. I put the starting batteries in parallel and got her started. Kept it running that way for the rest of the trip and we were OK. Look for a second post from me asking a bunch of stupid questions about the charging system.....
Overall, I would say it was a successful trip. We got back safe and never felt insecure. I went about 82 miles round trip and burned about 32 gallons according to the Yamaha Fuel Management gauge. That's an average of about 2.6 MPG. Not terrible for 15 year old, 850 hour 2 strokes and I got a boost of confidence to push it out a little further next time.
20190611_072942_366382144886926.mp4 (5.25 MB)
The fishing was not that great, however we did manage to get our limit of 6 mediocre Red Snapper. The area was thick with Kingfish last week, and they were all but gone on this trip. I talked to a few guys back at the docks and no one came back with a King.
The trip was not perfect. About halfway out, I started getting a low oil alert on the port motor. I recalled noticing one of the wires on the port oil tank seemed a bit loose. Sure enough, the pin on one of the wires had come out of the connector. Sometimes it's nice to bring along a skinny friend, and he was able to get both arms in there to disconnect the connector and reset the pin and put it back together. I was still having problems getting it out of limp mode, so I killed the battery switch and waited a few minutes. Started her back up and we were fine with the oil the rest of the trip.
Later in the day, we encountered another issue with the port motor. We were on a drift and it suddenly died. It was acting like it had low voltage at the battery when I tried to restart... It would not turn over and the gauge would go blank. I checked voltage at the battery, and sure enough it was down to 7 volts. This is a brand new Sam's Club Duracell. I put the starting batteries in parallel and got her started. Kept it running that way for the rest of the trip and we were OK. Look for a second post from me asking a bunch of stupid questions about the charging system.....
Overall, I would say it was a successful trip. We got back safe and never felt insecure. I went about 82 miles round trip and burned about 32 gallons according to the Yamaha Fuel Management gauge. That's an average of about 2.6 MPG. Not terrible for 15 year old, 850 hour 2 strokes and I got a boost of confidence to push it out a little further next time.