my boat is sluggish; it responds with slow speed increase (poor acceleration) when i move the throttle forward. what can cause this poor response?
If your boat was very responsive to the throttle when you acquired it, then some changes have occurred. Possibly your hull bottom and/or propellers have become fouled and a good cleaning along with application of anti-fouling coating will restore performance. It is also worth surveying the contents of your boat to see if it has become a "storage shed," adding unnecessary weight and/or a forward shift of the boat's longitudinal center of gravity (LCG). On shore storage of unnecessary stuff could be the solution to agile performance.
Should this poor acceleration occur when sea trialing a new boat prior to purchase, there is most likely a mismatch of the propeller dimensions and gear ratio with the low RPM torque characteristics of the propulsive engine. This problem will most likely require new propellers , a change of gear ratio or both. It is also remotely possible that the boat is underpowered for its displacement necessitates weight removable or that higher horsepower engines are installed.
