Can't keep reeds in my mercury?

[tyst67]

My motor is a 30hp mercury twin 640cc and I have broken 3 sets of carbon reeds in the past week! I only get around 1 or 2 minutes out of them! My motor loses 5 mph top speed and all my hole shot as soon as they break but what is causing them to break?

[omcstratos]

Are all 3 sets identical from the same manufacturer? I might try a different brand.

[tyst67]

Yes they are all from the same company

[RogerH]

Another possibility would be that you are getting some water spray from somewhere that fractures the reeds due to the temperature differential. Getting another brand also has merit. Are the reeds breaking right at the tips - little "bites"????

My motor is a 30hp mercury twin 640cc and I have broken 3 sets of carbon reeds in the past week! I only get around 1 or 2 minutes out of them! My motor loses 5 mph top speed and all my hole shot as soon as they break but what is causing them to break?

[Mike Schmidt]

Carbon Fiber reeds don't work on metal reed cages. The reed cage needs to be rubber coated or made out of plastic. (V-Force) There are shops out there that say they can rubber coat a stock metal cage. Check Scream and Fly.

Michael D-1

[tyst67]

Thank you! My reed cage is rubber!

[Fastjeff57]

How much slower are the stock reeds? Curious.

Jeff

[tyst67]

To be honest, when I bought the motor it had boyesen reeds! The reason I went to the other reeds was because I broke a boyesen! But I think it was broken since I bought the motor! So when I put in the new reeds I gained 5 mph! But now I can't stop breaking reeds so I don't want to put stock reeds back in cause they may damage my motor

[fs5]

hi mate,how far do your reeds lap over the reed block?boysen reeds are usualy pretty good,maybe the person that owned it before you ground to much out of the reed block and the reeds don't over lap enough.
theres blokes on here that buzz the 59ci mercs to 6800 with metal reeds no probs at all.