Carver Owners Forum

Check timing at both ends-idle and at full advance. Crusaders have centrifugal advance and the weights could be stuck

Still planning to work through this eventually. Right now we're just having too much fun enjoying the lake to work on engines. I'm OK with that.

But here's my follow-up question before I tackle the above... How do I know what "normal" is? I don't know how many RPMs I should expect at WOT at idle or under way, or how many kts to expect for cruising or WOT. I found some original Carver brochures which claim cruising at 16kts and top 22kts, but that's with twin gas 230's. I have a single gas 270. Not sure what this should do for a 7600lb boat with a modified-V.

Any guesses from experience and/or common sense?

Hmmm...can't help with the speed specs at all. The RPM's though...after looking at many performance charts, and 3 boats of my own, it appears that your cruising RPM's should be between 3200 and 3800. Typically I see 3500 for the Cruising but it is based on the weight of your boat, how it feels and also your trim tabs. Try to bring it on plane and then back off the tootle but keep it on plane.
Max RPM's are anywheres from 4000 to maybe 4600 at an average. With your boat being old like mine, I'd just keep it cruising.
There is also the prop that can really change the RPM's too but I am assuming that your previous owner did not play around with that (that I could be totally wrong).

I too am having a few issues with my engines. My port side would not go above 3200 last year. I rebuilt the carbs and retimed the engine. I just blew a freeze plug and spent all day fixing it because it was under the engine mount. Now I am hoping to get the boat in the water next week to see how my improvements work. Who knows?

Good luck with yours and let us know what you did.

Thanks,

Steve