I was cruising along today at around 6-7 knots in my '78 Pearson 30, and the motor suddenly lowered its RPM significantly. I tried throttling up, and the RPM dipped a little and then just stayed steady at the new lower RPM. I could throttle down to idle and back up, but not as high as usual.
I put it in nuetral, and could rev the engine up no problem. So, something is suddenly limiting it's RPM, but only under load.
I parked on the mooring, and found a ton of seaweed on the prop and shaft. I cast off and buzzed around a little, but it still doesn't seem to be going as fast as usual. The boat is very new to me, so it's hard to guage.
I'll take the
GPS out next time and see if I'm getting up to hull speed or not.
Any thoughts on this?
Some additional info:
1. I fouled the prop with the
dinghy rode last week. Everything seemed fine afterwards. Motored an hour or two since then. Prop looks fine, shaft isn't wobbling, etc.
2. I changed the cap and rotor a couple days ago when I couldn't get it started. Turned out to be a crap battery.
Thanks!
Eric