How dumb is this.

[sailaway78]

Was out working on the boat this morning. Neighbor is getting ready to take his power boat out for a spin. 20' runabout, 200hp Evinrude. He cranks it up, and I notice there is nothing coming out the weep hole, no sign of cooling water at all. I realize that he can't see the back of the engine from his vantage point, so I walk over and tell him it doesn't look like it's pumping water. He climbs in the boat, walks back and looks at it. Then comes back up front and says "your right". But sometimes the little weep hole gets stopped up. Then he loads up his wife and off they go. Would you not at least poke around a little, check something, do something. Or would you assume that the weep hole is just stopped up, and your 10,000 dollar motor will be fine. The other choice is that I am just anal, and don't believe in abusing machinery of any kind, and believe the old ounce of prevention saying.

 

[Ross]

Did he make it back ?

Has he ordered a new engine? Don't leave us swinging in the wind, finish the tale.

 

[Timo42]

Shhhh,

This is a win, win, one less stinkpot for a while, employment for a marine mechanic, and you get to kick back and listen to the fun on channel 16 *666 A little Schadenfreude moment. But seriously, you did the right thing, but you can't fix stupid. I have refused to roadtest customer's cars because the tires were so bad, documented it on the repair order, and a month later he comes back in with the same tires, and this is a lawyer with his 06 Cadillac *o Tim

 

[CalebD]

Is there a possible Darwin Award in this story?

As Ross asked, did he make it back?

 

[Manny]

I'm with you

It's dumb to leave the dock knowing there is a problem that could lead to a potentially catastrophic failure. First thing I check when I start either my outboard or inboard is if water is pumping out. Last year I had to convince my friend to not take his sailboat out because his diesel was not pumping out water. Turns out a screw had stripped on the pump and it was sucking air. He was waiting for his wife and kids and was really looking forward to taking them out for a sail. I offered to take them out on mine which fortunately he agreed to, and we were quite a distance down the river when some really ugly clouds started heading our way. I fired up the outboard and headed back as fast as we could. It took us about a 1/2 hour of motoring to get back. It turned real nasty as we got to the marina - it was the most difficult docking of my life. If he had taken his boat out in those conditions there is no doubt in my mind that his diesel would have overheated, been seriously damaged, and they would have been stuck on the river in a terrible storm (it probably would have been the last time his wife and kids set foot on the boat also).Manny

 

[Paul Akers]

Nice 'n Easy?...

...you are right. You are trying to be a good samaritan and helping somebody out. But the person is too macho to accept advice from anybody . I am the same way. Now, you can wait for him to be towed back in and you can say, "I told you so". Or something like, "What Happened?" But don't offer to help him, anymore!

 

[Ed Schenck]

Paul is too macho!?

Not sure how to read that Paul. Are you the good samaritan or the "too macho"? But "weep hole"? I never heard it called that since a 200hp engine pumps some pretty serious water, no weeping there. It has been some time since I messed about with outboards. Is it possible the cooling water is mixed with the exhaust and exits underwater? Or maybe they now use a thermostat and there is no water until the engine reaches temp? Either way the guy acted like a jerk and should have pursued it further. But there was his wife so he had to play the expert.

 

[Rich (P303)]

That is a lot...

of engine for a 20' boat. 200hp would probably blow anything out of that hole.You did your good deed!

 

[Steve O.]

I would check it, but then...

I don't have $10,000 to burn. The only reason for that small spray coming out of the back of the engine is to tell you whether the impeller is working. I would listen to it if it were mine.

 

[sailaway78]

Finish the story

Yeah, he made it back last night. So apparently it was a sometimes the weep hole stops up. But I did notice the engine was smoking like a mosquito fogger, so there is something wrong with that motor. The newer oil injected motors basically don't smoke, or at least are not supposed to.

 

[Brian D]

My outboard smoked...

like a mosquito fogger when my cooling system wasn't working. And that was just a 9.9 Yamaha. So I can imagine what his engine was doing.

 

[sailaway78]

200 HP not a lot around here

Rich, thats not a lot of motor for around here. Neighbor across the canal has a 26 footer. Little ski ?? boat. Has a really bad a&$ 502 in it. And there is a 28' cat around the corner with a pair of 502's. These guys around here like to go fast. At least they generally don't use the same parts of the lake that I do.

 

[Timo42]

Maybe he was

feeling inadequate and wanted to get a bigger motor and his wife said "You have a perfectly good motor already" and figured if he blew it up... Tim

 

[Tom Monroe]

not me ....

When my boat was delivered, it had to launch because I didn't own a cradle. Wind was honking 30-35 and they had to put me in on the public side cause the lake was too low to launch inside the marina. That meant a 1 mile power (mast still down) around the point. Didn't want to do it but the guy says in you go or pay a five hundred dollar sling fee to wait for tomorrow. So I go in, the OB (on a C27) starts OK, and is pumping water OK, so I set off, thinking that if there's any sign of trouble (boat can't handle it, motor problems, etc) I'll wheel around and stay at the public dock and block the ramp whether anyone likes it or not. Powering into 4 ft waves and 30 mph winds, but the boat's handling it fine. Almost up to the point, I look down and NO WATER IS PUMPING OUT THE OB! %^&*$ Do I turn and run, or try for the marina?Made the point, turned for home. Now I have 4 ft waves almost on the stern, pushing me all over. Throttled back to just enough power to ride the back of the waves as much as I could, and made it in. Scared the snot out of me. If it had quit, I'd have washed up on the rocks of a very narrow channel (not enough room to anchor). Not life threatening but definately boat threatening.Turned out the impellor was embrittled and started spinning off little pieces.The guy in Nice and Easy's story was a fool. Enough bad stuff happens without inviting trouble.Tom

 

[SamLust]

Maybe I'M anal or a bit obsessive

On my recently purchased Hunter 260 I ran the Honda 9.9 the first time to warm up the oil so I could change it. Noticed that I couldn't see the tell tale from the helm. The lower cowling had to come off for the oil filter, (yes, a factory filter this first time around) and the tell tale hose had to be disconnected from that. I found a piece of 5/32" hose, ran it around to the other side and through a new hole in the lower cowling and I now have a tell tale I can see. I feel so much better.

 

[sailaway78]

Horsepower

Couple years ago I ended up in a spoil bank, after finding a crab trap, in narrow channel. Long story. I had been out and about for three weeks, the bridge was broken, and I couldn't get home. Didn't have enough fuel to make the run into New Orleans to go around the bridge, and I was almost out of food and water. And less than an hour from home. It was forecast to be 25 that night, with winds 30 to 40 from the north. When we have a north wind, it blows a lot of water out. Didn't really want to spend the night anchored in the open and was trying to get into a place I shouldn't have been anyway. So, I end up on a spoil bank. Called the local sheriffs office, who in this area will tow you for free, and know their stuff. When the sheriff boat got there, depth finder was showing a foot and a half of water. He wouldn't pull me off, afraid of damaging the boat. So I spent the night. Fortunately there was enough wind blowing to keep the wind gen. spinning, and I had an inverter and an electric blanket. Next morning I called and got a fishing guide to pick me up off the boat. Had to wait for the wind to shift around and a high tide to feel like I could get the boat off. He shows up in a 23' Champion, center console, with a 300 Yammie on it. Fastest boat ride I have ever taken. We came across the Rigoles channel at 70 mph, GPS, and he was just cruising. And although I have been known to embelish the truth a tiny bit from time to time, I swear every word of this is 100% honest to goodness true.

 

[Fred Ficarra7897]

We believe you Easy.

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

"If anything's gonna happen"

As I believe the quote goes from 'Captain Ron' "if anything's gonna happen it'll happen out there". I've found it to be true all the time. In my family, we claim that Murphy originally had our last name and changed it hoping for a little better luck! I HAVE had, however outboards that worked perfectly well in a tank or at the dock and wouldn't when I really needed them; Rigging that was fine when I looked it over before setting out and broke an hour later; and leaks that cropped up from nohwere. I can't imagine leaving the dock already knowing there was something wrong already.

 

[bffatcat]

The power boat guy

Hey Nice N Easy why bother with this guy. Obviously he`s a fool.