Just dont understand

[AZBoatDreamer]

Went to the lake yesterday. It was the most I have seen with people having engine problems and taking up ramp space. I don't understand how people dont run their boats on Muffs the night before or just before leaving for the lake.

Also if you are having problems starting your motor and you actually get it started, would you trust it on the open water? I wouldn't!

I felt bad for these people having motor problems with wife and kids waiting on the docks.

I seen a few just couldn't get their boat started and had to go home without any fun.

Does anyone feel the same way I do. Make sure you boat is water ready before taking up ramp space trying to get the motor started.

I know this is nothing new.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: Just dont understand

The differance of being prepaired and just testing your luck! My rig is run on muffs and up to operating temp before leaving the house that day as well as all my moring lines and bouiesready and in their place just unhook transom straps and we're off. I look forward to a day of boating with the family and will not allow it to be ruined by a mechanical issue @ the ramp.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Just dont understand

I start my stuff up the night before. I leave way too early to start them in the morning.

 

[1fast6]

Re: Just dont understand

The differance of being prepaired and just testing your luck! My rig is run on muffs and up to operating temp before leaving the house that day as well as all my moring lines and bouiesready and in their place just unhook transom straps and we're off. I look forward to a day of boating with the family and will not allow it to be ruined by a mechanical issue @ the ramp.

X2. I watched a guy last week unload his boat, park his truck, then try to start boat... had a dead battery. Then he goes back and takes battery out of truck, returns to boat and uses jumper cables to start boat. but before he starts it he tells the people to hold on becuase boat is stuck in gear. Sure enough, he starts it and it takes off. Wow is all I could say. My son was laughing about it...

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Just dont understand

I understand starting on muffs at the beginning of the season, but if your motor is a big enough POS that you feel the need to test start it before every trip to the lake then it is time for some serious repairs. Do you cross your fingers when you start your car every day on the way to work?

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Just dont understand

I understand starting on muffs at the beginning of the season, but if your motor is a big enough POS that you feel the need to test start it before every trip to the lake then it is time for some serious repairs. Do you cross your fingers when you start your car every day on the way to work?

No, but my car doesn't sit for months at a time, have the fuel lines, tank and battery taken out of it, and have to be towed 3 hours down the road before I use it.

 

[1fast6]

Re: Just dont understand

I understand starting on muffs at the beginning of the season, but if your motor is a big enough POS that you feel the need to test start it before every trip to the lake then it is time for some serious repairs. Do you cross your fingers when you start your car every day on the way to work?

It's not that it's a pos it's just easier to have the fuel system primed and running before you get to the ramp. Think of it as a preflight ops check...

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Just dont understand

I agree

I understand starting on muffs at the beginning of the season, but if your motor is a big enough POS that you feel the need to test start it before every trip to the lake then it is time for some serious repairs. Do you cross your fingers when you start your car every day on the way to work?

 

[sschefer]

Re: Just dont understand

Happens every year and it'll be the same next year.

 

[h20skiluvr]

Re: Just dont understand

Early in the season it never fails, luckily our harbor has a ramp that is big enough that one guy having problems doesn't slow things down too badly, IF he's off to one side and not right in the center blocking everyone else from launching, in those cases, he's sure to get some looks and possibly a few comments if he holds others up for too long. Spending more than 10 minutes, pull it out and go back to the house to make some adjustments.

 

[wifisher]

Re: Just dont understand

I understand starting on muffs at the beginning of the season, but if your motor is a big enough POS that you feel the need to test start it before every trip to the lake then it is time for some serious repairs. Do you cross your fingers when you start your car every day on the way to work?

I agree 100% If you get to the ramp and realize that the motor won't start, just put it back on the trailer and go fix it. Or if there is nobody waiting on you, go ahead and try to fix it at the ramp. Just do not make everybody else wait because you are broke down.

 

[Sixmark]

Re: Just dont understand

and.........did anyone offer to help any of these people?

How many might be new to boating and it's their first time launching?

How many may have actually test ran their motor on the muffs only to find it has a problem actually in the lake, LIKE SO MANY OTHERS on the forum have done.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Just dont understand

these threads are always funny to me.... just starting it in the driveway does not guarantee it will run the next day in the water... I see this a LOT "I just don't understand why it keeps dying because it started fine last night at home"
These engines run different with back pressure on the exhaust.... Impellers can be bad and the engine still get plenty of water when it is force fed from a garden hose.... engaging forward gear doesn't mean much with the prop in the air.... And my all time favorite "I was responsible and started it at home but I left the xxxxx turned on and now the batt is dead"..... The real solution is to properly maintain your equipment.... My pre trip checklist is: hitch trailer, check tires, check winch, chain, and straps, recheck hitch and GO.... Then I head for the gas station toss in some junkfood and gas up. In 20 years I have never felt the need to run the engine before each (or any) trip and while I have had trouble on a ramp and on the water it was never anything that I would have found by starting the engine on land. Had a trim pump burn die out in the lake...... An alternator belt broke on me once... Fuel pump gave up the ghost 5 miles out..... Even had an engine coupler go out on me on the river in 10 mph current... (managed to idle out of the channel and not get plowed by the tow boats)


My thought to all the probs on the ramp are more to the lost art of understanding and maintaining equipment.... Back in the day people generally knew how to take care of the equipment they owned and now I bet less than 50% of drivers could (or even would) check the oil in their car let alone properly winterize a boat or be able to tell something was wrong by looking at the gauges, noticing odd smells, or hearing the wrong sound... Heck I doubt it would be hard to find a boater who didn't know it would be dumb to head out on the lake (electric start engine) with the volt gauge on the dash reading 12 volts or even 10 volts while the engine was running.

Just a little FYI... while you are shaking your head at that stupid guy on the ramp..... There are LOTS of folks who live in apartments and don't have a garden hose in their parking lot... There are also plenty of people who keep their boat at a storage facility near the ramp and again have no access to a hose.

 

[kcfromohio]

Re: Just dont understand

One of my favorite things to do is watch the people at the launch ramp. I launch my boat then sit in the water about 200 feet away from the ramp. It can get quite interesting at times. I see a lot of jumper cables! Funny when a newbie forgets to unhook the boat from the trailer and can't figure out why it wont slide off! Best one I ever saw is when one guy backed his trailer to the water, started launching his boat and another person backed his boat down the ramp in front of him. The guy yelled "Hey what are you doing? The other guy said im waiting for you to put your boat in the water so I can get mine in!

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Just dont understand

Smoke, I agree with you! Last year I had an experience were I had been running my boat for a few weeks at the beginning of the year, Then one morning the wife and I were going fishing. Had just used the boat the day before. Got it in the water, pushed off from shore and the thing wouldn't start. Loaded it back up, took it home to find that the needle valve in the carb was stuck closed. Why? Don't know! Ran just fine the rest of the summer and so far this year. Never another problem!

Sometimes things just happen for on reason.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Just dont understand

Failure to get it started is in most cases lack of understanding on how to start it. Many of the boaters today have grown up driving fuel injected cars so they have little to no experience starting a carbureted engine. To complicate matters, many of those same folks don't have the budget to properly maintain the rig so they attempt to service it themselves and do a poor job of it. Combine the two and you have an automatic ramp delay. Yes -- all of had to learn, but it seems that some just never quite figure it out -- even after being shown how.

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: Just dont understand

This will be my 2nd year as a boater & from the first time out until now I've been very efficient at the ramp due to all the reading I did here. Sure I've made a few newbi mistakes, but overall not bad at all. As far as warming up the motor at the house, I've done this once or twice, but not every time. I just make damn sure the battery is fully charged before I head out on the road. My outboard is an oldie, 1985 Force 85hp & has never given me any problems (knock on wood), & hope it never does. If I see anyone having problems at the dock I always offer any help I can because it could be me next time. Karma is funny like that you know. Just my .02

 

[produceguy]

Re: Just dont understand

I always run it on muffs the night before or right before we leave the house.

I have been to the ramp and tryed to fire her up and she won't fire, not a good feeling.
I will never leave the house again before checking for any problems.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Just dont understand

While running on the muffs may not totally simulate running on the water, at the very least it can point out obvious things like a dead battery. Eliminating those nussiance "oopsie" moments would help the public launch mess quite a bit.

 

[GregMcQ]

Re: Just dont understand

I, literally, grew up on the lake in the summer. My dad instilled in me a golden rule that I still follow to this day..... the rule? You have 60 seconds from when its your turn to back in to clear the ramp, if it takes you longer than that, you and/or your boat arent ready and go get back in line.

Its amazing to me the level of "idiocy" shown by people in this area. you have been sitting in line for the ramp for 20 minutes. So you wait until you are ready to back in to now get the coolers in the boat, the skies, tubes, towels, to try to start the boat, put the plug in, take off the transom straps, to get people loaded (when there is a perfectly good dock 50 feet away). None of that could have been done while you were waiting your turn I guess, some zoning law I wasnt aware of for sure!

And the best one..... thinking you are the only person that can back the boat in, drive the boat off the tailor.... and then pull the truck off the ramp and park! Look, alot dont know how to back up a trailor, I get that. So how about you get the tailors wheels in the water, then get in the boat, and let ANYONE back up 10 feet! Just dont turn the wheel and your are off!

end of vent, had a fun time this week on the ramp, omg! lol