Here's an odd one...

[NautiqueJeff]

This is one of those "that could never happen, but it did" moments.

We were having a fuel interruption issue on a 2005 Excalibur 330 in a Ski Nautique at Silver Cove Marine last week, and found an unusual cause. Someone in the past had changed the fuel pickup in the tank, but LEFT THE BROKEN PICKUP TUBE inside the tank! The new pickup's cut-out at the end where the screen is located is JUST the right size for the old tube to fit perfectly and cut off the fuel flow completely when it is sucked up against the opening. This fits perfectly with the running concern -- it would run great for five minutes or so, then sputter. Once turned off (and the suction releases), the boat would start up and run fine for a few minutes, until it all happened again. We pulled the tank, cleaned it out, and removed the old tube, and now it is fine. So, the lesson here is to always remove the broken fuel pickup tube from the tank before installing the new one!!

[NautiqueJeff]

Here's a running video or two showing the improvement!

[Jonny Quest]

Never ceases to amaze me what some folks do during DIY activities...

JQ

[Jonny Quest]

Jeff: It looks like your dash has been upgraded to the new gauges with the Faria gateway conversion kit, yes? I did that to my 2003 SN206. Love it.

JQ

[NautiqueJeff]

This boat is a Signature Edition, so most of those gauges are original. We did replace the speedometer with a new GPS unit (the old one used the paddlewheel).

[SilentSeven]

Heya Jeff...from this work, did you get any insights on how to pull the fuel sender without removing the tank? I'll still have a suspect sender (intermittent) and it looks like a major project to get the sender out.

Top access to the sender is blocked by the fiberglass deck support between the rear seat and the aft locker. To get access it looks like you'd have to undo the fuel tank straps and lift the nose of the tank as to rotate the sender section aft so it will clear the deck support. In my case, I would also have to pull my rear trick tank to rotate the fuel tank. A lot of messing around if my hypothesis is right...hoping someone knows a simpler way.

[NautiqueJeff]

We think that may be why the old fuel pickup tube was left in the tank -- someone trying to remove it without pulling the tank, and it snapped off.

On yours, I would try to pull the tank forward. Remove the rear seat back, seat base, and undo the two hold-down bracket things. Disconnect the two fuel fills, the fuel pickup, and the return, and the wiring for the sending unit, and slide it forward far enough to access the top. That's how we'd do it anyway.

[SilentSeven]

....I would try to pull the tank forward.

Ah-ha....I had never considered that as I expected the seat back supports to be blocking. This is super helpful and makes sense.

You just can't replace hands on experience sometimes.

[NautiqueJeff]

Hopefully that'll work on yours. It did on this 2005.