What you adding to your gas

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What you adding to your gas

Post by cobalter »

Are most of you using a fuel additive when refueling such as Star Brite, Stabil, etc? I have a 210 with 320 HP. There is only one place I can get non ethanol gas and rarely near any of the lakes I got to. Going to Lake Powell in July and they have 87 octane only I think. I have not checked with my dealer yet but will give them a call.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by jhnmdahl »

I put in Sta-bil late in the season when I know I'm going to be storing the boat with gas in it, but don't during the course of the summer when I know I'll be refilling within a few weeks/months.

320 HP in the 210 has to scream - what kind of top speed do you get?

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Re: What you adding to your gas

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With 120 hrs on it I'm barely getting 53-55. I hoping it will loosen up some more. I'm looking into re-propping it since my wife and I don't do water sports we don't need as powerful a hole shot. But that may be too expensive for what we might gain. Would like to get 60 mph. Our 226 back in 2002 would do 60 mph with 300 HP/5.7

As far as fuel additive my dealer said unless I'm running 91 non ethanol to use the Volvo Penta gas additive each fill up.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by jhnmdahl »

Looks like Cobalt says 55mph is about right for that setup.
210props.jpg
I have a 210 with the V8-225, and it gets on plane about 3.5 seconds (faster than they say) and its top speed is about the 48mph they predict.

I should also note that I don't put additive in every tank, but do use nonoxygenated gas every time.

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Re: What you adding to your gas

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John, could you somehow enlarge that chart or send its source, I can't read it, Thnks
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Re: What you adding to your gas

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I think I can get the prop info. I mistakenly said my boat had 100+ hrs. but it is only 20 so it will loosen up some more and then I can pursue re-propping or not.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by Big Block Power »

I thought these engines were set on running on 87 octane. They say you can use 91 and you may notice a bit of performance increase. I run 89'ethanol free or 91 ethanol free. It's easy to get here. I noticed no performance change between the two.just a cost.lol. In Missouri by table rock everything had ethanol in it except for the marina. I added mercury ethanol treatment to every fill if it had ethanol. Thank goodness that was only once. I used marina gas due to the boat ramp was like a 90 degree incline and my boat darn near pulled me into the water going down hill. I use stabil at the end of the season for storage.
Props I'm thinking of switch to a 4x4 set up. More efficient.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

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Agree, was just re-reading my owners manual and it recommends Volvo Penta fuel stabilizer at every fill when using an ethanol gasoline. I'm sure the others would work just as well. And I would think it not necessary is you can get ethanol free gas. I did not see anything about the grade of fuel but I'm sure these motors must be capable of running on 87 even if higher might be better.

I'm not certain about your particular boat but for mine they do not recommend a four blade. They do have there uses and I'm sure you have done some research on this.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by Big Block Power »

That 226 you used have was one of the fastest hulls Cobalt made. Not sure why Volvo Doesn't make a four blade for the dps drive. Every prop is designed to do something very specific.just because Volvo doesn't recommend something doesn't mean I wouldn't try it. I tried so many props on my old boat and if I didn't try them I wouldn't have not found the one that worked for me. If you just go up in pitch for speed you will not run the correct wot rpm range and your hole shot will suffer. You could always call b blades and talk to them and they can work your existing props to do what you want and keep the rpm you need to perform correctly. We really don't have many choices with f series if that's what you have.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by jhnmdahl »

cobalter wrote:John, could you somehow enlarge that chart or send its source, I can't read it, Thnks
Cobalter, it's a blurry screen shot someone sent to me to start, but if you right click and select "view image", it should be slightly bigger and easier to read.

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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by cobalter »

No problem John, I get the gist of it. Yesterday had the boat out for the first time this year. At 23 hours it ran 52 mph at 5100 RPM at 1,000 ft. It just seems it should get closer to 55 as you suggest. I know it will loosen up a bit more but 3 mph, I don't know. Not to be fixated on the speed but this boat with 20 more HP is a far cry from the 226 with 300 HP that would go 60. Maybe this boat is just designed for water toys.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by jhnmdahl »

For 3 miles per hour, little things like a clean hull and using synthetic oil can make a slight difference, but the biggest difference I've noticed is that top RPM seems to vary a little bit from boat to boat. If I can go 5000rpm and you can go 5100, I'm at a significant disadvantage.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by cobalter »

Cobalt/Volvo Penta says use mineral oil/dino on my engine until 100 hrs. As to the hull, since my boat is new I'm going to just use a liquid boat soap and a wax/sealer on the hull. No need for anything stronger I don't think.
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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by jhnmdahl »

I think you're exactly right on the hull - keep it clean, but be reasonably gentle to it.

I've seen conflicting information from Volvo Penta about break-in hours, ranging from 20 hours to 100 hours on mineral/dino oil (my engine manual from Volvo says 50 hours). What does remain consistent is their advice regarding max RPM, varying RPM, and other stuff during the first hours on the water. I hit a little over 50 hours last summer on a new boat, and decided to change to synthetic oil (Mobil 1 15w-50) before winter storage.

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Re: What you adding to your gas

Post by Big Block Power »

Yes on the soap. Good wax or polish works great.
What oil do they use from the factory and recommended weight? I thought the oil they were using was a synthetic oil. I know mine is older but I use there 5w40 I think it is. Being in warranty I'm sure it says to use there oil.not sure if it says this weight or blend or better.If it does I would switch over. When I was reading on what the Volvo owners were using the Mobil oil was very popular. I'm a manufacturer guy so I went with Volvo.It's so tuff to compare your 210 to the 226 hull. Thats like when comparing it to my 220. I have 8.1 and just pushing 57. Sucks but that boat rides so much better than a 226. Have to give up something. I had a 5.7 gxi 320 hp in my last 220 it ran 54 no problem.props make a big diff.the props on that boat were like new. My boats props now have been rebuilt and I think I lost some performance because of that.
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