Expert: Everett Peacock - 7/9/2010

Question
I have a 97 Bayliner Capri with a 5.7 EFI, took it out last weekend and it was extremely slow and at WOT it was not even able to get onto plane. Also i am not sure this is part of the same issue or not it takes about 2 or 3 times to get the boat to start up and continue running. It starts and runs but quickly <3 seconds trails off and the engine stops. Once the engine is running it doesn't stall out.

My initial guess was that it could be the gas but Last summer i added addatives to the gas (i think sea foam or something like that) in order for the gas to not go bad and i also added octane booster to the gas this summer before going out. To top it all off i put in another 14 gallons of gas minutes before we got out on the lake.

While out i verified that the transom was all the way down. I left it at WOT for about 10 minutes (still couldn't get it on plane)thinking maybe there was something in the fuel line that needed to get out of there but still nothing. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

A sub question. While out trying to get the boat running right the transom found a rock just a foot or so under the water and smacked right into it and the engine stopped. I was able to re-start the engine without issue and limp back to the dock and pull the boat out of the water where i saw the obvious that the prop was bent and contorted pretty badly. I also noticed that the Trim gauge even when the trim was in trailer position didn't register as fully up and registered as down even when it was still being put down.

So
Question 1: Any ideas on why it is so sluggish?
Question 2: what is the likeliness that i can repair prop or is it just better to buy new?
Question 3: What prop if i need to buy one would be a good one to buy for my HP of motor?
Question 4: Did i likely damage anything when i ran aground and engine turned off?
Question 5: How do i fix the gauge issue so it reads correctly again?

Sorry for all of the questions but i am reasonably new with boat engines and i want to get mine running good for the summer!

Answer
1 could be fuel or water problem, it should have a seperator on it..2  your prop can be repaired but it can not have more than 2 fingers damage   3 find the size on the one you have now...4 no damage   5 if the gauge is good then the senfer on the drive is corroded out...you can get a kit to replace the sender and limit switch...