The thing with old boats, as with women, is you just don’t know much about them until you take them out.
The day after my previous post, I took the boat to a lake about 45 minutes from home. I’ve been meaning to fish this lake for a while, and it was one of the reasons I wanted to get a boat in the first place. The lake is known for a good largemouth bass population, as well as several species of catfish, and a recently introduced fish called a saugeye. That’s a cross between a sauger and a walleye, and supposedly fun to fish and tasty as well. There is also the usual bluegill and sunfish.
Anyway, I pulled up to the marina and paid my launch fee and got some bait for bluegill fishing, just in case I wasn’t doing well with the bass. I took the cover off and moved my fishing poles and other stuff into the boat. I always try to bring boat snacks and plenty of water to drink. I’m not much into alcohol and boating, especially if I’m the captain. A DUI on the water counts as a DUI on land.
Next, I got the rear straps off, safety chain off, made sure the drain plug was in, and backed down the ramp. Just before putting it in the water, I backed off the winch strap a couple of feet to let the boat shift off the trailer, but still be attached. I’m doing this all alone, so I really don’t want the boat to drift off before I get in. I also disconnected the trailer lights, because hot light bulbs and cold water equal broken bulbs.
The moment of truth! I backed down the ramp until the trailer’s fenders were just at the surface. The boat moved around a little, but was floating. I put the truck in park and set the brake. Then jumped out and carefully got on the front of the trailer to climb into the bow of the boat. I got in and moved to the drivers station. Yay, I didn’t fall in!
Step 1 lower the motor into the water.
Step 2 make sure fuel line is attached and prime the line
Step 3 start the motor
It started! More importantly, it continued to run. I had run it a bit at the house on a flush kit, but that’s not quite like being in the water. I waited until I saw water coming out of the “telltale” that indicates water is being circulated through the engine.
I left the engine run as I went up to the bow and unhooked the winch strap. The boat was now free of the trailer. I sat down at the wheel and maneuvered over to the dock next to the boat ramp. Once I got there, I tied the boat to the dock and turned off the motor.
With my boat’s key in hand (like somebody would steal this thing), I went over to the truck and pulled the trailer up and out of the water. The parking area was a short drive away. I parked and left anything out of my pockets I didn’t want to lose in the water. Well, except the cell phone. It was a quick walk back to the boat.
I got back in and got my life vest on. I try to be safe should something happen where I go unconscious in the water, with the vest at least my head would be in the air. The boat started easy, so I untied it and backed out and away from the dock.
There are some things you should know about boating, and one of the things that ticks people off quickly is going fast in a no wake zone. Every marina I’ve seen is no wake, so I kept the boat in gear, but at idle. It was running a little rough, but I figured it was just cold. I was at the no wake buoys in a couple of minutes. Then I opened it up a bit to see how the throttle worked on it. I’ve seen more than one boater throw the boat into full throttle as they cross the line and make a giant hole in the water behind them. I just wanted to not break my boat, or if I did break it, be close to the marina.
This was a shakedown of the boat, and quite frankly, of me. I’m new to this, so I wanted to take my time learning. I cruised it a bit down the main channel, just getting a feel of it. I kept the throttle at about half way or less. The engine seemed to be running pretty well. It was kind of rough, but 2-cycle engines can be. I was also running on the the previous owner’s fuel that had to be at least 8 months old, so I figured it might not run great.
Once I felt pretty comfortable, I opened the throttle fully just to see what would happen. The bow jumped up in the air and I started scooting along. I expected the bow to drop once I got up to speed, but it just stayed up. Oh, right. Trim. I have to trim the engine to get it to run on the plane correctly. A quick press of the thumb button and down the bow went and up out of the water went the boat. It seems strange that you trim the boat for speed by pointing the motor “up”, which to me would force the bow out of the water as the prop thrusts forwards . It turns out, the additional force does bring the bow up, but the water hits the hull further back on the boat. This lifts the boat up better and reduces friction with the water. The boat doesn’t have to push as much water out of the way as it glides over the surface.
Properly trimmed, the boat does 35 mph. I’ll be honest, that’s about as fast as I’d care to go in that thing. Especially on the lake I was on, which is narrow and has quite a few other boaters and fishermen on it. I know from personal experience that the wake can be disruptive to other people, especially people standing up on the boat.
I did make an error while running around. I went up a part of the lake I’d not yet been to. I was cruising along at about mid-throttle and watching the depth finder to make sure I didn’t bottom out. I noticed the depth suddenly read 2 feet, then 1 foot and I put it in neutral. I looked behind me and there was a trail of muddy water. I turned the boat around and headed back the way I came at idle.
A guy on the shore was yelling at me and waving his hands to get my attention. I couldn’t hear him, so I turned off the motor. He was yelling “HEY, NO WAKE!”. I didn’t see the no wake buoy as I went past since I was looking at the depth. Oops. My mistake. I did mention that people get upset when you make a wake in a no wake zone. This guy had the look of somebody who is sick and tired of having to tell boaters “NO WAKE!”. He was just disgusted, like I was just the worst person in the world.
Oh well, I puttered on past the no wake buoy, which I might add was only a couple feet from shore, not in the middle of the channel. The boat seemed to be running ok, so it was time to go fishing and to try out the trolling motor.
Over the previous month, I had done a little research on the lake so I went to the likely spots for largemouth bass. The lake was warm and it was late summer, so not the best time to fish for them. Oh, it was also approaching the afternoon, so fishing is usually not great outside of dawn and dusk. I threw a few lures and got nothing. I trolled the small side channels. Nothing. Well, I’ve not done this in many years, and I don’t know this lake all that well, so I wasn’t surprised.
I fired up the motor and moved to another part of the lake. The motor seemed to be running better than before, so I was pleased. I went up to a spot that many people have caught bluegills and other small fish. I figured it was time to at least get something and panfishing can be a whole lot of fun.
The waxworms did what they usually do, and that is attract fish. I caught about 12 in an hour or so. They were about hand-sized, for the most part. No big hogs to be found. I did get one little guy who had about impaled his brain on the hook. I’m not sure how he fit that hook in his mouth, but there you go. I usually use a number 6 size hook so I don’t catch the little guys. This guy must have been an overachiever.
It was about time to head home, so I fired up the motor again and cruised back to the marina area. I had burned about a half tank of fuel, and wanted to top it all off with fresh fuel. I figured the easiest way to burn some fuel would be to go out and do several fast passes at full throttle. I had the time, so that’s what I did. The motor ran great. I got up and checked the tank and it looked like it was down to 1/4 full of fuel. The gauge agreed with me. Time to fuel up with the good non-ethanol fuel at the marina. It costs $.50 more per gallon, but I think it is worth it.
I sat back down from checking the fuel tank and put it into forward gear. The motor sputtered a bit, but cleared up with a little throttle. I assumed it was from being down a ways on the tank and perhaps some stuff got sucked up into the filter or something. I ran it around a little bit to try to throttle it up and down to see if the issue would clear. It didn’t.
It started to sputter a bit more and wasn’t delivering as much power. Finally, the motor just died. That’s perhaps the worst sound ever. The second place sound is trying to start it again and not getting anything from it. I went back and squeezed the priming bulb a couple of times and it was firm; the motor had fuel. I tried a few more times to get it to start, and finally got the motor lit with a high throttle.
It died again as soon as I put it back to idle throttle. Hmm, this isn’t good. I’ve got no propulsion. But wait, I do have a trolling motor and it should have a decent charge from my high speed runs. I plopped it back into the water and pulled the boat all the way to the marina.
Could it be bad gas? Well, there is a decent chance of that, so I pulled up to the gas dock and tied up. I went in and asked the marina guy to unlock the fuel pump for me, and he handed me the key and told me to go look for “John” out there by the wood shed. Well…that sounds like the intro to a scary movie doesn’t it? Good news is I found “John” out in front and asked him to unlock the pump. He said “Sure!” and headed up to get the keys. I told him “I’ve got the keys right here.” He seemed surprised, but headed on down to the fuel dock.
I put in enough 2-cycle oil in for 10 gallons, spilling some in the process. I was tired and stressed a bit and not paying attention. I pumped in 10 gallons of 87 octane pure gasoline. “John” called off the 10 gallons to me and told me when to stop. I thanked him for his help and asked him how to pay for it. He told me to just go back up to the marina office and tell them 10 gallons and he handed me they keys. “We appreciate ya!”
Fuel paid for, I headed back to the boat. Will it run now? Am I going to have to manhandle this thing on the trailer? The answer is….it kind of ran. It would start with the throttle up about half way, but would die as soon as I put it in idle. I couldn’t put the boat into gear, unless the motor was in idle. Hmm. That’s a problem.
The trolling motor was up to the task of moving me around to the loading/unloading docks. I tied it up again, and got out. It only took two tries to get the trailer back in the water to the the point with the fenders just at the water’s surface. I unspooled some winch strap and put it on the trailer in a place I could grab it when I got the boat close.
Back on the boat, I tried to fire it up again and hoping high idle would use up the bad gas or clear the problem. Nope, just a huge cloud of smoke in the marina. Another boater came up along side to another dock and tied up. I noticed he had also used his trolling motor, but I didn’t think much of it. I was tired, and dehydrated, and more than a little stressed. The other guy got off his boat as I was shutting mine down. He asked me “what’s going on with your boat?” as I was raising my motor in prep for putting it on the trailer. I told him my issue, and he said he had the same problem and he offered to hook my winch strap to the boat when I got it close with the trolling motor.
Awesome. I untied the boat, and maneuvered it out of the dock and towards my trailer. He had unspooled some more winch strap and was ready for me. I got it pointed strait at the trailer and pulled up the trolling motor at the last second. The boat slid up the trailer and he hooked it with the strap and winched it in a bit.
I offered to help him with his boat, but he said he was waiting on his wife to come back with the trailer and it would be a while. I thanked him for the help and he nodded and walked back to his boat.
The trailer was in the water a little too far to get the boat’s bow above the front stop, so I had to pull up the ramp a bit. The boat settled on to the trailer and I got out and finished winching it on. Whew, that was a project. I drove up the ramp and out of the way so the next guy could get in. I pulled off to the side to prep the boat for the drive home.
Step 1 is to secure the rear straps. The Boat Buckles worked like a champ and I had that done in about a minute.
Step 2 is to pull the plugs out of the bottom of the boat to drain the bilge and any live wells. For some states, this is required by law to prevent the spread of invasive species from one lake to another. For were I live in Kentucky it is not the law, but is a good idea.
Step 3 is to connect the trailer light and make sure they work.
I decided I was too tired to move my stuff back into the truck, so I just covered the boat and got ready to head home. The trip home was uneventful, but I spent the time trying to figure out what was going on with that motor. What could it be? Bad carbs? Clogged fuel filter? Fouled plugs? Did I buy somebody else’s problem?
I’d have to address it another weekend.