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'91 Senator

S

senator91

New member
Hi. I'm new here, but not new to boating. I've liked and admired Checkmates for quite a while. Anyway, I recently picked up a '91, 20ft. Checkmate "Senator" model. It has a 454 Mercruiser with a Bravo 1 outdrive and Stainless Marine through-hull exhaust. Can anyone tell me if this is stock. I'm sure the exhaust manifolds were added later, but as far as the engine and outdrive I'm not certain. My insurance agent says it's not stock and overpowered, thus increased my rate. I can live with that, but now I'm curious. Thanks.
 
Welcome to the board senator.
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The Senator was available with both 350 mag and 454. I wonder why he says it's overpowered. Check with State Farm, they typically have good rates for Checkmates.
 
Thanks for the welcome and the replies guys. So, it did come with a 454. I still wonder if this originally came with a 350 and an Alpha outdrive. There is a Trim\Tilt gauge but it's not connected and the hour meter is disconnected, just doesn't look stock to me
I found that it had a square bore Weber on a spread bore intake with an adapter plate. I was fortunate to find a nice Rochester Quadrajet at Bullet Engines and put it on and man it runs smooth. I love this thing. Too bad there isn't more height available in the engine compartment. I was thinking of upgrading the flame arrestor, but I don't think there's room.
I'm paying $470.00 a year. This is quite an increase from my previuos boat, which was a 17.5Ft. Glastron with a 4.3L.
 
I replaced my flame arrestor with one from Eddie Marine , it's a K&N filter , 9" in diameter and 3" high . Does your sundeck have a round hole on the underside ? Mine does .Otherwise , find something soft ( silly putty ) and put it on top of the flame arrestor and close the lid . That will tell you how much room you have . Sure made mine breath better !
Redboat
 
Redboat, yeah my boat does have a cutout on the underside of the sundeck. Actually that was another reason I thought it was altered. I honestly didn't think it would come like that from the factory.
Good idea about the putty. I would imagine if you could change yours, I shouldn't have any problem changing mine. Thanks for the tip.
Do you have a Bravo 1 outdrive? If so, are there provisions for the trim\tilt indicator.
 
A bravo drive was stock on your boat.I believe in 1988 they started with the Bravo one's.I had an 87 with an 454 Alpha.Yes mine had the cut out in the sun deck too.Fun boats
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Yes , tilt/trim is on mine , although it never works right . Never reads the same twice . I've replaced the guage and sending unit on the drive , gone through all the wiring , cleaned all the connections , still no luck . There are some pictures of mine under " Picture This", "Redboat's 89 Senator" .
Redboat
 
The stock factory Mercury trim/tilt electronic gauges are never accurate. Most racers install a non-electric setup for percise trim monitoring on outboards. I don't know what the best setup is for I/O's.
 
Doesn't need to be too accurate , just close . The guage needle is either pegged to the top or bottom . Seems to be too much play in the connection between the sending unit and the drive .
Redboat
 
If your trim guage is pegged up or down the sensor may be out of sinc.. On each side of the gimble pivot you have 2 switches. One should be marked TL (TRIM LIMIT) and TP (TRIM POSITION). If the trim position switch is 180 out of sinc it won't read. Take the switch off and slowly turn the hex while watching the guage. When it's right you will see the guage move progressivly. Set it so it reads on the bottom line of the guage, put your drive all the way down and then put the switch back on. The switch has slots in the mount holes for fine adjustment.
 
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Been there , done that . Works ok for a couple of ups and downs , but then it's back to pegged up or down. Can turn the sending unit ( on the drive ) a long way before the guage moves . Too much play ?
Redboat
 
Check the resistance on the sensor from inside the boat. Put an ohm meter on the leads(unplug them first)and run the drive up and down to test the sensor. If the resistance jumps you likely have a bad sensor, if the resistance stays progressive its connections or the guage.
 
If I have the sensor in hand and rotate the adjuster , the guage works fine . The problem is when it's all together and I trim the drive , the drive moves a long way up before the guage moves at all . Going down with the drive is the same . After 2 or 3 up and downs , who knows what the guage will read . Usually pegged up or down .
Redboat
 
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I finally fixed the trim sending unit problem !!! The hinge pins on my Bravo drive were loose , tightened them up and now the trim guage works great !!!
Redboat
 
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