l008com
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2007
- Messages
- 755
I wanted to tell all the details of this crazy night I just had, separate from trying to figure out what is actually wrong with the motor, and how to fix it. So I made a separate post for the actual repair. This post is just for the story!
My boat is a 15' Thundercraft bowrider with a Mercury 90HP 3cylinder 2-stroke. The hull is a 1984 and the motor is a 1989. This is the family boat we've had since about 1987. It used to live on a small lake in New Hampshire, but about 15 years ago it moved down to the Boston suburbs and became a city boat. I used to launch at Wellington on the Mystic River, but they took away the parking lot for that boat ramp
so now I often go all the way to Newton to launch on the Charles. Its a hassle driving that car, and a hassle then driving on the water that far just to get to the city. But the ramp has parking (usually) and you can beach the boat while you park, unlike in Charlestown.
So today was the first boat ride of the season. I tried to get the motor started in my driveway off earmuffs, and it kinda started. It would run for a few seconds but then konk out. I figured there probably just wasn't enough gas in the tank (6 gal external) to get a steady feed. It seems to be starting well so I was confident that I'd be able to start it on the water. The gas in the tank was my powertool gas i poured into my boat tank for this test. Then when I was done, I poured it back out. So the boat tank was empty, and on my way to the river I filled it with fresh gas.
I get to the river, put the boat in, park, and shove off. Very little current and today very little wind on the river. So I have no worries about shoving off without the engine running. If I have to row back a few yards, no worries. So I played the "first season startup" game. It would start up, but then die. Over and over but a little better each time. If I gave it some gas in neutral, I could keep it running. But pulling back to put it in gear, it would die. I kept going and eventually I was able to get it into gear without it dying, and I was off.
This little 2 stroke engine is just like your leaf blower. It can be hard to start (although it wasn't always), but once you get it running and let it scream, its a happy boat motor.
So I'm causing down the river. I won't say how fast, but certainly not full throttle. But... not idling either. I get about 2 miles and the engine dies abruptly. Not something it has ever really done before. It started right back up, but then died again. It started up one last time, died, and that was it. No more starting. The battery had a good charge at this point so it was cranking like crazy, but it wouldn't fire. Not even a little. Choke or no choke. Nada. The tank was still full, the primer bulb was full, but it just wouldn't work.
I reseated both ends of the fuel line just to see, but no change. I was stuck. About 2 miles east of the boat ramp. Very close to the fields where the Boston Calling concerts happen. So I break out the oar just to move over to the middle of the water way. If any other boats went by, I would have asked for a tow. Its a pretty short and easy tow distance. But nobody came. I started to turn around and row back. And it very quickly became clear that that wouldn't work. It would have taken me all night to row back. And if the wind happened to pick up, it could have became impossible to get back pretty easily. PLUS I was getting swarmed by mosquitos. I wasn't down in the city yet so they were pretty back and I was a sitting duck.
So I'm considering my options. I check my close friend's location to see if he's home, but hes not. I don't have a lot of options. There is some kind of dock in the water a little further east of where I am, but I can see it. And it's now a yacht club/rowing center, it's something else. So I decide I'd just row to it. Turns out it was a kayak rental place. And did I mention, this was at night? So it was closed. Which is good.
At this point I realize what I have to do. I have to tie my boat to the dock. I then have to order an uber ($9.95) back to the boat ramp, hop in my truck, drive to this spot, and then somehow get my boat out of the water, right here.
If you don't know the area, its kind of a parkway type of situation along the river, with a large grassy area between the road and the river. There are parking lots (and I am very close to one), and theres a paved bike path that goes between the road and river.
LUCKILY, just to the right of the dock, there appears to be a spot where I can get my trailer in and out. It apperas to be a deck, but a deck that is resting directly on the ground, and goes into the water. I'm not sure what the structure was, but its clear that its resting on the ground, but also clear that its trex boards. You can see it a bit in the pictures.
So when I get back to this area with my truck and empty trailer, I pull into the parking lot and just immediatly hop the curb, drive across the grass, across the bike path, turn around and back down between rows of chained up kayaks, down this walking path.
Now I am REALLY not supposed to be doing what I'm doing. And if anyone (state police or DCR) see me, best case is they give me tons of ****, worst case I get a ticket, and they make me stop and make me call a boat tow or something crazy.
So I turn my lights off to be discrete (but to then look even more suspicious to anyone that does see me) and slowly back the trailer right down into the water. This was a terrible boat ramp. I couldn't get the trailer deep at all, and I couldn't back down very far because if the truck breaks through this decking, then I'm really screwed.
So I'm trying to get the boat enough on the trailer that its at least balanced and not see-saw'ing, because once I get back to the parking lot, I can just tap the brakes to slide the boat forward. But first I have to crank it up far enough that I can do that. So I'm cranking and cranking. And cranking. And my winch strap broke!!
Of all the times for that to break! So I **** another brick, then remembered I have a few regular winching straps in the truck. So I pulled one out and got it good and tight. Then stood on the trailer and kind of pulled on the strap to move the boat an inch, then cranked it tight, then pulled to move it another inch, then winched it tight. I kept going this way and eventually I got it far enough on the trailer that it seemed like it would stay there.
I put it in 4 wheel drive and creeped forward and that deck made a lot of not so great sounds, but I was able to ease it out and on to solid land! At that point I figured i should hurry up and get back to the parking lot before anyone sees me. So back across the grass and the bike path and more grass and down the curb and back into the parking lot, with my boat half on half off the trailer.
I tied what was left of the winch line around the U hook on the bow and cranked it tight. Then did a brake tap and re-tightenend. I did that a few times and got it fully snug. I threw the safety chain on and I kept my winch strap on there too, just to be safe.
At this point, I'm sitting in the parking lot, thinking to myself "holy **** I can't believe that happened, AND I can't believe I actually got out of that situation!" I called a friend and told the whole story. I didn't call my lady friend because shes already afraid to go on the boat so I may have to keep this from her at least for a while
So now it's picture time. Here is a google map of the recovery spot, with the path i took. It was probably around 9:30 or so at night. This is in the city on a saturday night so there were plenty of people around, but not the mob scene it would have been during the way.
Here is a google map of the recovery spot. The yellow path is where I drove with the truck and trailer.
Keep in mind this is in the city of Boston, so lawn surfing through parks is VERY frowned upon
Here is a close up view of the actual "boat ramp" I used. This was not ideal but I really had no other choice other than 4 hours of rowing:
It is CRAZY that this worked! I wish I had a happy, relaxing boat ride and not this mess. But it is kind of cool that I was able to get out of this mess pretty much unscathed.
Here's some things I learned today:
- My next boat will have a small gas kicker motor as an emergency backup. I easily could have been in the harbor when this happened and then I'd really be screwed. I've always wanted a small backup motor but these days I boat so little, and also I'm so poor, that its been a very low priority.
- I should buy a fresh set of winch straps for my truck. The ones I have are in rough shape and if they also started breaking, then i'd really have been screwed.
Ok if you want to help me troubleshoot the actual engine problem, use the separate post I made just for that, with minimal storytime.
My boat is a 15' Thundercraft bowrider with a Mercury 90HP 3cylinder 2-stroke. The hull is a 1984 and the motor is a 1989. This is the family boat we've had since about 1987. It used to live on a small lake in New Hampshire, but about 15 years ago it moved down to the Boston suburbs and became a city boat. I used to launch at Wellington on the Mystic River, but they took away the parking lot for that boat ramp
so now I often go all the way to Newton to launch on the Charles. Its a hassle driving that car, and a hassle then driving on the water that far just to get to the city. But the ramp has parking (usually) and you can beach the boat while you park, unlike in Charlestown.So today was the first boat ride of the season. I tried to get the motor started in my driveway off earmuffs, and it kinda started. It would run for a few seconds but then konk out. I figured there probably just wasn't enough gas in the tank (6 gal external) to get a steady feed. It seems to be starting well so I was confident that I'd be able to start it on the water. The gas in the tank was my powertool gas i poured into my boat tank for this test. Then when I was done, I poured it back out. So the boat tank was empty, and on my way to the river I filled it with fresh gas.
I get to the river, put the boat in, park, and shove off. Very little current and today very little wind on the river. So I have no worries about shoving off without the engine running. If I have to row back a few yards, no worries. So I played the "first season startup" game. It would start up, but then die. Over and over but a little better each time. If I gave it some gas in neutral, I could keep it running. But pulling back to put it in gear, it would die. I kept going and eventually I was able to get it into gear without it dying, and I was off.
This little 2 stroke engine is just like your leaf blower. It can be hard to start (although it wasn't always), but once you get it running and let it scream, its a happy boat motor.
So I'm causing down the river. I won't say how fast, but certainly not full throttle. But... not idling either. I get about 2 miles and the engine dies abruptly. Not something it has ever really done before. It started right back up, but then died again. It started up one last time, died, and that was it. No more starting. The battery had a good charge at this point so it was cranking like crazy, but it wouldn't fire. Not even a little. Choke or no choke. Nada. The tank was still full, the primer bulb was full, but it just wouldn't work.
I reseated both ends of the fuel line just to see, but no change. I was stuck. About 2 miles east of the boat ramp. Very close to the fields where the Boston Calling concerts happen. So I break out the oar just to move over to the middle of the water way. If any other boats went by, I would have asked for a tow. Its a pretty short and easy tow distance. But nobody came. I started to turn around and row back. And it very quickly became clear that that wouldn't work. It would have taken me all night to row back. And if the wind happened to pick up, it could have became impossible to get back pretty easily. PLUS I was getting swarmed by mosquitos. I wasn't down in the city yet so they were pretty back and I was a sitting duck.
So I'm considering my options. I check my close friend's location to see if he's home, but hes not. I don't have a lot of options. There is some kind of dock in the water a little further east of where I am, but I can see it. And it's now a yacht club/rowing center, it's something else. So I decide I'd just row to it. Turns out it was a kayak rental place. And did I mention, this was at night? So it was closed. Which is good.
At this point I realize what I have to do. I have to tie my boat to the dock. I then have to order an uber ($9.95) back to the boat ramp, hop in my truck, drive to this spot, and then somehow get my boat out of the water, right here.
If you don't know the area, its kind of a parkway type of situation along the river, with a large grassy area between the road and the river. There are parking lots (and I am very close to one), and theres a paved bike path that goes between the road and river.
LUCKILY, just to the right of the dock, there appears to be a spot where I can get my trailer in and out. It apperas to be a deck, but a deck that is resting directly on the ground, and goes into the water. I'm not sure what the structure was, but its clear that its resting on the ground, but also clear that its trex boards. You can see it a bit in the pictures.
So when I get back to this area with my truck and empty trailer, I pull into the parking lot and just immediatly hop the curb, drive across the grass, across the bike path, turn around and back down between rows of chained up kayaks, down this walking path.
Now I am REALLY not supposed to be doing what I'm doing. And if anyone (state police or DCR) see me, best case is they give me tons of ****, worst case I get a ticket, and they make me stop and make me call a boat tow or something crazy.
So I turn my lights off to be discrete (but to then look even more suspicious to anyone that does see me) and slowly back the trailer right down into the water. This was a terrible boat ramp. I couldn't get the trailer deep at all, and I couldn't back down very far because if the truck breaks through this decking, then I'm really screwed.
So I'm trying to get the boat enough on the trailer that its at least balanced and not see-saw'ing, because once I get back to the parking lot, I can just tap the brakes to slide the boat forward. But first I have to crank it up far enough that I can do that. So I'm cranking and cranking. And cranking. And my winch strap broke!!
Of all the times for that to break! So I **** another brick, then remembered I have a few regular winching straps in the truck. So I pulled one out and got it good and tight. Then stood on the trailer and kind of pulled on the strap to move the boat an inch, then cranked it tight, then pulled to move it another inch, then winched it tight. I kept going this way and eventually I got it far enough on the trailer that it seemed like it would stay there.
I put it in 4 wheel drive and creeped forward and that deck made a lot of not so great sounds, but I was able to ease it out and on to solid land! At that point I figured i should hurry up and get back to the parking lot before anyone sees me. So back across the grass and the bike path and more grass and down the curb and back into the parking lot, with my boat half on half off the trailer.
I tied what was left of the winch line around the U hook on the bow and cranked it tight. Then did a brake tap and re-tightenend. I did that a few times and got it fully snug. I threw the safety chain on and I kept my winch strap on there too, just to be safe.
At this point, I'm sitting in the parking lot, thinking to myself "holy **** I can't believe that happened, AND I can't believe I actually got out of that situation!" I called a friend and told the whole story. I didn't call my lady friend because shes already afraid to go on the boat so I may have to keep this from her at least for a while
So now it's picture time. Here is a google map of the recovery spot, with the path i took. It was probably around 9:30 or so at night. This is in the city on a saturday night so there were plenty of people around, but not the mob scene it would have been during the way.
Here is a google map of the recovery spot. The yellow path is where I drove with the truck and trailer.
Keep in mind this is in the city of Boston, so lawn surfing through parks is VERY frowned upon
Here is a close up view of the actual "boat ramp" I used. This was not ideal but I really had no other choice other than 4 hours of rowing:
It is CRAZY that this worked! I wish I had a happy, relaxing boat ride and not this mess. But it is kind of cool that I was able to get out of this mess pretty much unscathed.
Here's some things I learned today:
- My next boat will have a small gas kicker motor as an emergency backup. I easily could have been in the harbor when this happened and then I'd really be screwed. I've always wanted a small backup motor but these days I boat so little, and also I'm so poor, that its been a very low priority.
- I should buy a fresh set of winch straps for my truck. The ones I have are in rough shape and if they also started breaking, then i'd really have been screwed.
Ok if you want to help me troubleshoot the actual engine problem, use the separate post I made just for that, with minimal storytime.
