flyguyzz1
New Member
Hey everyone. Hoping I can pick you heads a bit. I apologize in advance that I don't know all the proper engine terms are.
2001 340SD w/ merc 8.1's.
Back story:
Friday-
Picked up the boat from the marina for the summer. They did routine preventative work on her over the winter and was out running pretty easy for 40 minutes or so. Everything ran very normal but I was testing our new autopilot so I was operating below 15 mph the entire trip. Brought the boat back into our slip and tied up.
Sunday Trip One-
Went to take a group on a trip in the morning. inlet lake is 7 miles long so it takes a bit to get out onto Lake MI. About halfway to the big lake running at about 20mph I felt the boat lose power suddenly and get very bogged down. I checked the depth and engine gauges and everything was normal. I brought the power back on both to idle and tested each engine individually. Gauges still were normal but I could tell it was the starboard engine that had the problem. Heard hissing noise and running very rough. I shut down that engine and returned back to the slip on the port. After we tied up I opened the engine hatch and found that the (don't know term here but see picture attached) exhaust hose had split. After closer examination where the hose split there were little bubbles like it had heated up and the rubber in that area was much thinner. I thought maybe it heated up because water wasn't circulating in the hose after the hole developed. Talked to the marina and confirmed they thought that was causing the engine to run rough and we both felt maybe the hose blew because of age. Spent the next few hours replacing the hose.
Sunday Trip Two-
After repairing the hose I went out on a test run and the boat ran great again. Had her out for about an hour and ran at multiple different speeds and power settings. Everything seemed normal so I brought the boat back to pack up and go on our earlier planned trip.
Sunday Trip Three-
Set out on the third trip and again about halfway to the big lake I lost power. This time it was very hard to determine which engine went bad ( I admit I should have done a better job and visually confirmed the problem but I will chalk that up to being a beginner) but I assumed the hose must have split again and the hose was a symptom of a bigger problem. I shut down the starboard engine and returned home at near idle speed. I should have connected the dots but this time backing into the slip was even harder than the first time (which for a newbie, man that was difficult). After we tied up I opened the hatch again and checked the starboard engine and the new hose was fine. By chance I looked at the port engine and sure enough the exhaust hose had split in nearly the same spot.
I have to imagine that this is not a coincidence but I thought each engine system was independent. Any ideas here?
Thanks for the help!
2001 340SD w/ merc 8.1's.
Back story:
Friday-
Picked up the boat from the marina for the summer. They did routine preventative work on her over the winter and was out running pretty easy for 40 minutes or so. Everything ran very normal but I was testing our new autopilot so I was operating below 15 mph the entire trip. Brought the boat back into our slip and tied up.
Sunday Trip One-
Went to take a group on a trip in the morning. inlet lake is 7 miles long so it takes a bit to get out onto Lake MI. About halfway to the big lake running at about 20mph I felt the boat lose power suddenly and get very bogged down. I checked the depth and engine gauges and everything was normal. I brought the power back on both to idle and tested each engine individually. Gauges still were normal but I could tell it was the starboard engine that had the problem. Heard hissing noise and running very rough. I shut down that engine and returned back to the slip on the port. After we tied up I opened the engine hatch and found that the (don't know term here but see picture attached) exhaust hose had split. After closer examination where the hose split there were little bubbles like it had heated up and the rubber in that area was much thinner. I thought maybe it heated up because water wasn't circulating in the hose after the hole developed. Talked to the marina and confirmed they thought that was causing the engine to run rough and we both felt maybe the hose blew because of age. Spent the next few hours replacing the hose.
Sunday Trip Two-
After repairing the hose I went out on a test run and the boat ran great again. Had her out for about an hour and ran at multiple different speeds and power settings. Everything seemed normal so I brought the boat back to pack up and go on our earlier planned trip.
Sunday Trip Three-
Set out on the third trip and again about halfway to the big lake I lost power. This time it was very hard to determine which engine went bad ( I admit I should have done a better job and visually confirmed the problem but I will chalk that up to being a beginner) but I assumed the hose must have split again and the hose was a symptom of a bigger problem. I shut down the starboard engine and returned home at near idle speed. I should have connected the dots but this time backing into the slip was even harder than the first time (which for a newbie, man that was difficult). After we tied up I opened the hatch again and checked the starboard engine and the new hose was fine. By chance I looked at the port engine and sure enough the exhaust hose had split in nearly the same spot.
I have to imagine that this is not a coincidence but I thought each engine system was independent. Any ideas here?
Thanks for the help!
