Splash Day. Ended badly for us.

todwod

todwod

New Member
Dec 8, 2013
67
Lake Erie
Boat Info
1987 Sea Ray Sundancer300
Engines
twin 260s
Well we got her in the water. She floated. That was good. Got her in our dock. That was good. Decided to take her out on Lake Erie for our maiden voyage Sunday morning. Couldn't have asked for a better day! The lake was like glass not even rollers. The sunrise was beautiful. We got her up on plane running about 3500 which is what it took to get her to a plane. We made it about a mile when we smelled something bad and the engines started smoking. They actually shut themselves down. It was like we were running fine and then it just lost RPMs both engines and quit. Opened the engine covers and we have fliud all over down there, It was dark fluid. I don't think its oil because the oil on the engines was still clean.Tried to turn over just to see if they would turn and neither of them would. Lucky we bought the tow insurance. Got towed back in to my dock where I fear we have an expensive raft. My wife and I worked so hard to get her looking good. It was a depressing Mothers Day for us.
 
Oh that sounds like a good memory you will look back at and laugh. Just got to make sure it doesn't happen twice.
 
Yes hope you get her fixed easily. Sunday was beautiful. ..
 
Well your summer certainly didn't start out well, did it? Sorry to hear about that, and like the others, I hope it's not a horrible fix.

Please keep us posted.
 
BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand!!!



That is the definition of a bad day for a boater... makes you glad you had the tow insurance anyway. I never leave the dock without it.

Hope things work out and you get back to boating soon!
 
Both engines died? Weird.
When you say "turn over," did the spin and not start, or did they not spin at all?
 
Just clicked no turn. Do these boats have high heat sensors that would shut them down if the water or oil temp got to hot? I am hoping this is the case. It's odd it affected both engines at the exact same time. We have a mechanic at the marina but trying to pin him down is tough. He is busier than crap with everyone. Good career for a young entreprenauer to get involved in. Just our marina alone would keep them busy.
 
There is a mechanism that will shut them down with overheating. Not sure about oil pressure but there should be an alarm that would shriek if that got too low. Not sure how to explain the fluid in a case of overheating.

Outdrives or inboards?
 
I/Os

Sillcocks open? Not sure. That's what happens when virgins buy a first boat. Hard lessons I guess. The mechanic changed the impellars last Friday. He ran the engines or at least told me he did. I told him we were putting in on Saturday. He said we were ready to go. Hope he gets over to check it out soon. The not knowing is driving us crazy! Hoping it's not a total bust, can afford some damage but not a total replacement.
 
Outdrives have seacocks??
 
todwod said:
I/Os

Sillcocks open? Not sure. That's what happens when virgins buy a first boat. Hard lessons I guess. The mechanic changed the impellars last Friday. He ran the engines or at least told me he did. I told him we were putting in on Saturday. He said we were ready to go. Hope he gets over to check it out soon. The not knowing is driving us crazy! Hoping it's not a total bust, can afford some damage but not a total replacement.
Click to expand...

No seacocks on I/O's

Do you know if its Bravo or Alpha outdrives?
 
I can imagine he made out of the marina, let alone a mile at 3500 rpm without some sort of cooling water.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
rondds said:
Outdrives have seacocks??
Click to expand...

Not normally unless a previous owner went with an aftermarket through hull for cooling reasons. Ive seen it done w/ slightly hopped up engines and alpha drives.

It appears he does not know. We've all been there.

To the OP. If you have I/O's the odds on having seacocks are slim. Both engines going down at the same time seems really odd.

To review..... Start fine and runs at desired speed. Smell coming from bilges. Both engines go south within a short time of one another. No power to restart. Dark fluid in bilge and clean oil in engines.

I'm stumpped on the fluid thing. Was the smell electrical or mechanical (i.e. burnt rubber from a fanbelt has a distinctly differerent smell than burning wires.)

Maybe a short or bad ground?
 
Raw-cooled engines can go a mile without cooling water, especially this time of year. My neighbor proved that a few years ago with closed seacocks. His engines didn't shut down until the exhaust tubes melted and the suppression system went off.
 
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