I’m a new here but I’ve been lurking for a few days and reading through this rich site and it is very informative. There are a lot of things noted here that I may need to do on my boat. I’m not a fiberglass boat guy, I have a 42-foot 1972 Chris Craft Constellation (wood), but I have the same motors many Commander owners have, and I thought maybe someone here would be kind enough to give me some help.
This is what my boat looks like, hope the photo link works, this is my first post here.
I’m having problems when I have to back way down and come in through the no wake zone in our marina, and get to the docks. My port engine is stalling out on me and it does not want to idle down. When I put it in gear at low rpm it wants to stall out on me and I have to use a higher rpm than the starboard engine. Engines both have just a little over 800 hours, never really gave me any problems before.
I’ve looked at the points and swapped the coil from one motor to another, and this doesn’t seem to help. I’ve tried loosening the distributor and turning it just a hair one way and then another, and I have not been able to make any improvement. I’m wondering about the carbs now, but would appreciate it if anyone could take a moment and give me some pointers. I’d like to avoid calling a mechanic this time if possible.
Thank you,
John Harding
1972 42’ Constellation