The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Since its "True Confession's" time....Once, long ago when the world was young, I was interrupted just as I was about to change the headgasket on a Chrysler 105 hp. I put the head on with a couple of bolts so that the cylinders wouldn't get anything in them. Came back to the engine a few hours later and put the rest of the bolts in and torqued it down. Slipped the engine into the test tank and started it up and.....watched water shoot out from around the head like a lawn sprinkler. I had forgotten to put on the headgasket. It haunts me to this very day...I think I need a drink to wash away the pain.

 

[2cycle]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Several years ago I decided to rebuild my 76 70 HP Evinrude. When setting the crank in place there is/are one or two nibs or guides that kind of "lock" it into place. For whatever reason, one of them was worn down enough that it was hard to tell whether or not the crank had clicked into place when assembling. After putting it all back together and onto the base of the engine, a couple of hand turns indicated a clicking sound or small "catch." Needless to say, I had to take it all back apart again and make sure that the crank had set right before reassembling. Very deflating and irritating at the time to say the least. But the motor runs well to this day which eases the pain somewhat.

 

[Solittle]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Many years ago, a friend got a new job and three of us went out one night on Biscayne Bay to celebrate. After many lies and many beers the weather started picking up so we moved a couple of miles to calmer water and I tossed the anchor overboard. We were on the side of the channel going through some shallow banks on the Inland Waterway. More lies and many more beers. When it was time to go I went to pull the anchor and make the five mile run back to the marina. - - - You guess it - - I had failed to tie the anchor to a cleat when I heaved it overboard. By this time it was at least 2 am & no way were we going to find it or dive for it even if we knew where to look.<br /><br />And now the rest of the story - - A week later I decided to revisit the area on a lark - - yes and stone sober and in daylight. Shortly after reaching the area and coming off of plane I happened to glance out in the water and saw a line that was tangled in weeds and had been pulled to the surface by the tidal current. And you guessed it right again - . My anchor was at the end of the line.

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

well, i GAVE away my first "big" outboard, for free, to a local shop, cause it wouldnt turn over via the key switch. it was a 1970(ish) 55hp evinrude with electric shift, the kind with the safety so it wont start in gear.... see where im going with this?<br /><br />as far as working on outboards, nothing major, but once when i had my 1970 impala with 350 small block V8, i had rebuilt the motor, and when i replaced teh intake maniflold, i left my ratchet and rags in the motor, under the manifold, and left em there. went like that for a week, looking everywhere. luckily i never tried starting it yet, but god, could you imagine what those lifters woulda done to a 3/8 socket, a 10 inch extension and some rags.....sheesh

 

[Scaaty]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Dumbest was not paying attention after just getting my 1974 XS150 Merc back together after holing a piston......hooked the battery cables reversed (outside and getting dark and way in the back of the wetwell) and as soon as I saw the spark my heart about stopped. Tried it anyway, and found out (then) powerpacks run about a $135..stupid, stupid, stupid..

 

[fireship1]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Hello all, When I was a newbie to boating I took a moment to make my heart stop when playing around with my Sea Ray Seville bowrider. She was in the driveway on her trailer. The drive was trimmed up. The trailer was jacked up in the front to allow water to drain out the back. That's when I learned that most if not all of the weight resides in the STERN of a boat the size of mine. I climbed in to work on the motor and upon climbing in she tipped hard in the rear. Even though she was strapped to the trailer I found out trailers will pivot well if given the chance! Luckily I was parked up against the wall of the house. That was enough to keep the boat from going anywhere and causing any damage. Now I keep the drive trimmed DOWN when I'm standing in her and keep the bow weighted down!

 

[rschnack]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Either the dumbest or smartest thing I did was let my wife see my old 16' runabout when I was ~1/2 done removing rotten transom and stringers. She did not believe me that the boat would be better when I was done with it. Got the o.k. to buy a new boat out of it though!<br />RCS

 

[jim dozier]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

I sure there's something dumber but I have to have some secrets. I had just finished replacing the powerhead gasket of my Suzuki and in doing the finishing touches I couldn't find my shiny 10mm socket. Had to use the old rusty one to put the control cables back on. Oh well it'll turn up eventually. Take the boat out for a test drive, she runs beautifully. Getting confident I take her out to Shell Key to ogle the bikinis on the first warm day of spring. Everybody is there, very crowded, as I pull up to look for a parking place, did I mention it was very crowded? What the #@%$#, no reverse The shift lever is jammed and won't go into reverse. Much yelling and hollering later, I slink off to have a beer. I have to have help to get out because of no reverse. When I eventually get home and have a good look I found my shiny 10mm socket jammed in the shift shaft cam.

 

[Lou C]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Fireship if your climbing on the stern caused your trailer to tip like that (even with the drive up) then your tongue weight is way too light! I found out about this when adding roller to my trailer, added 8 rollers at the rear to support the boat better, but that moved the boat back about 5", reducing the tongue wt from about 200 to 100 lbs, and it would tip when I climbed up on the swim platform. Moved the axle back 5" to compensate and it is fine now.

 

[DJ]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

I was rebuilding the carb on an older 460 Ford.<br /><br />As I was getting ready to reinstall it, I had one of the attachment nuts in one hand, why I don't know.<br /><br />I bumped that hand on something sharp and guess what? That nut bounced around on the intake and right into the plenum. <br /><br />Do you thing I could find it with a magnet? Nope!<br /><br />Had to pull the intake. Even then, it was sitting on top of an intake valve, which was closed-thank God!

 

[phillnjack]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

dumb try this then .take boat to beach 70 miles away,line up trailer on ramp, reverse it in, push boat in to water thats deep enough to drive off in , jump in boat, looking very cool,everyone watching, wife is shaking her head and laughing to friends. i cant understand why shes laughing, still i will show her, start engine, rev it up plenty of water from tell tale, sit down ready for blast off, slam throttle forward at same time holding on for dear life. NOTHING HAPPENS, wife laughs even lauder. switch off engine ask why shes laughing and whats the bloody joke.she tells me the prop is still in the kitchen after i sharpened and painted it. did i feel a dipstick or what ?

 

[jndsilverbullet]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

well I don't know if this is dumb or just nieve...<br />I am new to boats and motors and picked up this old Glasspar Avalon from a hurricane damaged area for free. I start rebuilding the transom and built a new splash well. I'm trying to get off cheap ya know. Anyway I get a call from a friend that knows I'd do anything for a deal on a motor, and he found me two "I thought" I then go buy these two old 196? Merc and Johnson motors with a delapidated trihull boat. I then proceed to take them to the shop and that's where I found out how dumb I am. I didn't even really look at these motors, but the shop guy did, and he just laughed. Turns out that salt water has eaten up the inside like cancer on both motors, and I gave $600.00 for the whole mess. Duuuhh. Or just plain "dumb" So now I'm out $600.00 and have two boats now in need of motors. And I guess my wife knew best on this one when she said to wait and goto the dealer for a used motor.Stupid me.

 

[artherm]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Is there a difference between an inch pound torgue wrench and a foot pound wrench? The rod bolts snapped like twigs....<br /><br />My wife and I was out fishing on a quiet Missouri calm lake. I was on the front casting and running the trolling motor. My wife is a casual fisherwoman. She takes a book with her pole. One or the other will excite her. It was a pleasant day. We were both fishing along, when from the rear of the boat I heard a SPLASH! When I looked aroung she had the funniest look on her face. The ripples were still running across the water. When she casted her Zebco, everything went. She told me she would buy me another. The lake was calm, water warm, my depth finder said we were in approx. 7 ft of water, with a flat bottom. I considered going in. I always hate to lose a rod. I had this big deep diving plug, with huge treble hooks. I attached it to my casting rod and made a cast in the general direction of the last sighting. I never in a million years would have guessed. I snagged the rod on the first cast, hooked in on of the rod's eyes.

 

[steelespike]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

With 50+ years boating Ive got plenty of stories.This is my 2nd posting.After running all kinds of motors at 50:1 I decided for some brain fogged reason that my almost new 88 50 Evinrude that I had allready run one season at 16 ozs. used 8 ozs to a 6 gallon tank.??? It ran almost 3/4 of the summer until my son decided to spend the weekend skiing with his buddies.Ouch!! $800 later it was good as new.I put the bill on the wall where I keep my oil.

 

[Triton II]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Pulled the cover off my FT60 Yam to do a 100 hourly. It has sparkplugs which need an 18mm plug spanner to undo. I didn’t have one.<br /><br />Went to the local tool store to buy one and $19.95 later it didn’t fit in the very narrow hole Yamaha have machined into the cylinder head. Went back to tool store (a 9km drive) and exchanged the plug spanner for a long reach 18 mm socket for $14.50.<br /><br />It didn’t fit either! Took it back. Guy behind counter suggested a box spanner… $8.99. Took it home… presto! Out came the top three plugs… but… the box spanner was too long to fit into the limited room of the cowl cover lower and I couldn’t get at the lowest plug. Went back to the tool store. It was shut! <br /><br />Got home… hacksawed the box spanner in half and took out the bottom plug.<br /><br />Result: 54kms travelled… over two hours to change four plugs. Dumb!

 

[walleyehed]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Sold a '97 115 jonny...my first true complete top to bottom O/H, with 70 hrs on it...Warranty on the engine was 1 year with understanding he use only ficht-ram oil. 4 cylinders with melted pistons in about an hour due to the fact he thought 16oz. of oil would treat 32 gallons of gas....His response was, "I used the ficht-ram just like you said". A very, very nice dealer in his area explained to him it wasn't my craftsmanship that caused the problem.......The one break in my life....

 

[jsfinn]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Dumbest thing? I bought a boat. <br />2nd dumbest? Bought a bigger motor. <br />3rd dumbest? Got a bigger boat.<br />4th dumbest? I'll tell you in the spring how big my new motor is..

 

[Triton II]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

And the cycle continues!

 

[ZmOz]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

'74 150hp Inline 6 + no oil + 6,000 RPMs for 10 minutes = OOPS!

 

[tvpear12]

Re: The DUMBEST thing you've ever done to a boat or motor??

Ok guys, here ya go. I was once givin a 1964 or so 10 horse johnson outboard by my boss. It had been setting for a long time. he told me it used to run perfect, so i took it home it fired up after 2 or 3 pulls and i was impressed. decided to take it out for a test run so i rented a john boat, mounted that puppy on and off i went. It ran so well that i decided to take a near round the world trip. found my self drift fishing for catfish about 8 miles away from the landing. boy was i in heaven. caught lots of large cat and decided it was time to head back. pulled on rope untill my fingers were webbed with blisters. got so mad at that engine i unbolted that sucker and overboard it went. that made me feel so much better untill i realized how far i was away from home. I told myself well with out the weight of the engine it wont be hard to paddle back, when i realized that i had no paddle.what else could go wrong? NO BOATS IN SIGHT.those webbed fingers went to work paddling the boat at top speed.4 hors into my voyage back lake patrol finally came and ask me what was wrong. I replied tiredly if i told you i would have to kill you. was pulled in and after telling lake patrol what happened, i was laghed at then ticketed for poluting the waterways. If that wasent dumb nothing was.