It’s usually something simple

Pirate Lady

Pirate Lady

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2020
7,533
Chesapeake Bay, Middle River
Boat Info
Sundancer 250 ‘91
Engines
7.4 Bravo 1
Ok I’ll be the fool example. Yesterday we take the zodiac to the tiki bar. On way back, motor (no reason I can tell) starts running rough, dies, won’t start, row back(keep them oars on zodiac not on the main boat). Up all night pissed, worried was going to cost big bucks. Today I take new plug to boat expecting the worst. New plug in and I see the fuel Petcock closed which I never do til it’s on the rack. Open fuel. Fires right up. Purrs like a kitten. Must have shut it off when at tiki. LESSON- look at all the simple stuff before you assume the worst.
 
I wil tell one on myself as well. I work with pressure washers almost every day. I own four Dewalt machines of verging psi’s. Three of them went down last week so I replaced one pump. Went and installed the new unit. Started her up, no pressure. Put another rebuilt on again no pressure, messed with this damn unit for two hours, no luck.

sat back mad as a wet hornet, poured a bourbon and then remembered....I forgot to put the key in the keyway. New pump runs like a cat with its tail on fire.
 
I had a similar issue with my dinghy earlier this summer. I was running around the harbor, engine quit, and the rope wouldnt pull to get it started. I'm a pretty big guy and I felt like I was going to break it if I kept trying to pull. so I gave up and started paddling. After about 10 minutes of paddling I realized that I hadn't put the throttle back into neutral before trying to start it again. Duh.
 
Similar dinghy story. This summer I took the dinghy (10ft with 8hp outboard) out to do some fishing. It was a pretty windy choppy day and I was going quite a distance so I had all the safety gear, VHF, inflatable jacket on. Fished for a while but it got windier and started to rain so I decided to head back to the marina. Before I left I decided I should clip the kill switch tether to the back side of my life jacket strap closet to the motor. I never do that.

So after about 10 minutes of really bouncing around the rain really picked up and I am getting soaked, so I bump it up to WOT and really bounce around. Then about 400yds from the marina, the motor just dies. Crap. I try to start it for about 5 minutes, getting soaked. I finally give up and start rowing the dinghy back in the pouring rain. It was only when I got in the main fairway at the marina that I remembered the kill tether. Damn it! Because it was clipped at my back. when it pulled out, the coil tether pulled it around my back so it was not obvious dangling in front of me and I totally forgot I had used it. Plugged it back in and motored the last 50 yds to my slip.
 
yobub said:
I had a similar issue with my dinghy earlier this summer. I was running around the harbor, engine quit, and the rope wouldnt pull to get it started. I'm a pretty big guy and I felt like I was going to break it if I kept trying to pull. so I gave up and started paddling. After about 10 minutes of paddling I realized that I hadn't put the throttle back into neutral before trying to start it again. Duh.
Click to expand...

Not in neutral. Done that too.
 
On my 420, the engine hatch is the entire back portion of the cockpit. In fact, there is an interlock with the boarding door, which must me open for the hatch to lift. We were preparing to leave, and I had completed my engine room checks. My son was last on board and I asked him to close the boarding door. He shut it and it popped back open. I could see him playing with it so I asked what's up? He said it won't latch. I said that's impossible, it latched this morning, what did you do? After a few minutes of monkeying with it, I decided to try the engine hatch switch. Lo and behold, it went down ever so slightly, thereby realigning the latch with the catch. Sorry son!
 
dwna1a said:
sat back mad as a wet hornet, poured a bourbon and then remembered....I forgot to put the key in the keyway. New pump runs like a cat with its tail on fire.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the key is "poured a bourbon"... lots of things seem simpler after that!
 
Thing is the plug was fine. It was while putting a new one in I noticed the petcock closed. But I will say, with new plug it jumps on plane faster, runs smoother. Gonna change it every 3 months next summer. For $5, oh ya.
 
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My goodness, y’all made me laugh. Thx.
Misery loves company especially when on the water. If it weren’t for the bad/stupid stuff what stories would we tell the next 5 months.
 
True confessions: Launched the dinghy with a fresh tank of fuel, 10 min. out the engine coughs to a stop. What happened!! Took a while, but then looked in the tank.

Had filled the 3 gal fuel tank at a place where the attendant handled the nozzle. Somehow the nozzle ended up knocking the tank's fuel pickup tube off. Doh!
 
LOL.. all great stories and can relate to many of them myself. Paddling is dingy life...LOL
 
I watched a dad and his family pile into a dinghy. They got about 100 yards from the boat and it died. I could see they were struggling trying to row and sent my son out. I told him, I bet it was the tank vent on their outboard. He motored out, looked at the engine, reached over and opened the air vent and drove off. Didn't say a word. The dad started it, did a facepalm and motored off. He stopped by later and thanked us with a six pack. I told him he needed the six pack worse than we did. It was his first trip out that season and it ran great in the tank. He admitted only running it for 30 seconds or so. He wasn't sure if my son was going to steal the outboard or fix it. I think I've done a similar thing on a Honda generator, forgetting to vent the cap.
 
Ever clean the strainers on the main and forget to close the lid before starting the motors? Good thing I didn't try to leave before noticing the high pitch high water alarm. That was fun. Funny thing it was still pumping water just fine and never passed 154* oh wait that's because the strainer was under water:cool:
 
Xplicitlnck said:
Ever clean the strainers on the main and forget to close the lid before starting the motors? Good thing I didn't try to leave before noticing the high pitch high water alarm. That was fun. Funny thing it was still pumping water just fine and never passed 154* oh wait that's because the strainer was under water:cool:
Click to expand...
No, but on my first trip away with a new boat I cleaned the main strainer and forgot to reopen the seacock. Burned out the impeller and got stranded. Had to call Sea Tow and get a tow with 20 people aboard. Really fun.

Then I got the learned how to change an impeller so we could get home. And later, how to clean impeller bits out of the aftercooler.
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