What’s the point of having a boat if you don’t take her out now and again? She might feel lonely and neglected.
We had talked about taking the boat out as a family a week or so prior to the events of May 30th. The original plan was to take a week off and visit the beach, but unfortunately Covid took that from us. It was going to end up a staycation and we might as well spend a day of it on a lake.
I was getting a little stir crazy after a week and a half of sitting around resting and recovering. Overall, I was finally settling into my new normal life and I felt better than I had in months. I asked my wife if she thought it would be ok if we went out on the lake for a couple of hours. Just go out and cruise around and have some lunch. We would leave the fishing poles at home this trip.
She agreed, provided I didn’t push myself too hard. Ok cool. Let’s do it!
I was very happy to get her approval. So much so, that I went out that same day and charged the starting battery. It wouldn’t hurt to make sure we had a good charge on it. I should have charged the trolling battery also, but figured I wouldn’t use it much. I also checked the tire pressures. Good to go.
The next day started with a safety briefing. My daughter had already heard it a couple of times, but she paid rapt attention. My son, who is a couple of years younger, just kind of listened. I had to get him to talk to me one-on-one to make sure he knew the rules. Nobody moves on the boat while we are in motion. If you fall in, yell. We will swing back to get you. When I ask you to do something, I need it done right away. This is especially true if we are around the dock or other boats. The fire extinguishers are in the side boxes, as are the flares and whistle. The horn is next to me, and a spare is in the box.
With the flush “ears” on, I fired up the motor to make sure were were good. It started right up and water peed out of the tell-tale. I let it run for a couple of minutes to make sure. It seemed like it was good to go.
The cooler went in the truck, along with some snacks, bug spray, and sunscreen. I hooked up to the boat trailer and off we went to the lake. It was a nice easy drive. The kids were excited. Quite frankly, I was both excited and a little anxious. It was about nine months since the boat last saw water, and I had just fixed the motor. Hopefully it would be ok.
It took about 40 minutes to get to the lake. When I got there, I had to pay the ramp fee. Due to Covid, they had me go over to a window. I guess they figured it would be reduced contact that way. That was fine with me. I was of course asked if I needed bait or snacks. Nope, we were good.
I had the kids stay in the truck as my wife and I moved things to the boat, and I got the boat prepped. I undid the straps that hold the boat to the trailer and took of the transom saver. I verified the drain plugs were in. A quick double check of everything revealed only one thing I missed. I had not disconnected the trailer lights.
With my family to the side as onlookers, I backed down into the water. The boat floated as it should. I let out a little on the trailer’s boat winch and climbed into the boat. The motor took a couple of cranks to start, but it started and ran. Whoohoo! I went back to the bow and unhooked the boat. In no time, I was over at the load/unload dock and the family was climbing aboard.
My wife said to me, “Ok, we are fine here, right? All tied up?” I replied that yes, it was good. Then I realized, my rig was still on the ramp. Duh, I had to get out of the boat and park the truck and trailer. No problem.
When I got back to the boat, I noticed the motor wasn’t running. Hmmm, did my wife turn it off because somebody was messing with it? I got close and she mentioned that it had quit. Ok, that happens. Let’s see what’s up.
I got in the boat and it took quite a few cranks to get the motor started. I had to throttle it up pretty high. It just didn’t want to idle. I let it run at about 1000 RPM for about 30 seconds and tried again. This time it idled.
I put it in gear and it kept idling. Ok. Whatever it was was gone. I put it in neutral and untied the boat from the dock. I was able to back it out and get us pointed out of the marina.
It died again. I asked my wife to squeeze the fuel bulb and she said it took some fuel. I gave it another go and it started again, but had a hard time idling. Then it idled again. Then I was able to get us under-weigh.
The marina is a no-wake zone, so we puttered along for quite a bit to get out of it. Once we got to the buoy, I gave the boat some throttle. It started to rev up, then died.
More cranking. More running it at high throttle. It idled again and allowed me to go into gear. I pointed us toward a shaded cove so we could have lunch and do a little planning. It died again on the way and I used the trolling motor to get us there. The trolling motor that was using a battery that I had not charged. It was slow, but we made it.
Lunch was had. We watched some people fishing further into the cove. My son spotted some splashes in the water and exclaimed, “What was that!”. I told him that a fish was jumping a little in the water, maybe going after a bug or something. He thought that was pretty cool.
My daughter asked why we were not fishing this trip, and I explained to her that it would be too much chaos to have new people on the boat and one of them having never fished before. I didn’t want to get a hook into somebody. It made sense to just enjoy a little cruise time.
I told everybody that if we kept having these issues with the motor, that it would be best if we just put the boat back on the trailer and go home. We don’t want to be stranded out a ways and have to paddle back. I got some begrudging agreements on that.
After lunch, I used the trolling motor to get us out in the main channel. I started up the motor and it idled right away. I was able to put it into gear and we started moving. With gradual increases in throttle, I was able to get us going about 10 mph. Not quite up on a plane, but still moving pretty well. I mentioned to everyone that if we can keep doing this, I won’t take us to the marina.
There was a portion of the main channel that was somewhat near the marina. I was able to run for several minutes at that throttle setting and it kept going pretty well. I gradually increased throttle until we got up on plane, about 20 mph. When we got to the end of that channel, I slowed down to turn around. As soon as I reduced throttle, the motor died.
What’s going on with this thing?!?
I was able to get it started again with a little throttle. Then higher throttle to burn out whatever was causing the issue. Then low idle and in gear. Back under-weigh at 10 MPH. I tried to throttle up, but it sputtered.
So, I started thinking. What is causing this? My first thought was water in the fuel. The boat sat uncovered over much of winter and spring. The gas tank’s vent hole is missing it’s cover. Rain could have made its way in there. Plus water could condense out of the air in the tank with high/low/high/low temperatures. It was last year’s fuel, which did have 10% ethanol, but also fuel stabilizer.
First probable guess was bad gas in the tank. That means my options are to put good gas over the top of the bad stuff, and hope the mix cleans it up, or use up as much of this bad gas as I could, then empty the rest when I got home. I had about a half tank of fuel. I opted to burn off as much gas as I could. I kind of want to pull the fuel tank out anyway so I have room to fix the rear fishing seat mount.
If the boat would run at idle or 1000 RPM, then I was good with cruising for a while to burn fuel. When we got near the marina, I turned us around for another lap at 10 MPH on the eastern channel. It just kept running. Ok. We are running at least.
I asked everyone on the boat if they wanted to go see the dam. It was down the southern channel, right past were we had lunch. I got a resounding yes!
Ok, down that channel we went. Since it was a longer ride, I slowly cracked open the throttle. Eventually we were up on plane and at full throttle. It just wasn’t running as fast as before. Then again, I didn’t have people sitting in the bow before. Ok, that made sense.
The boat died as I reduced throttle. I was able to use my high idle trick to get us going again. We cruised back to near the marina at 10 MPH. I wanted to burn fuel, so going slow was the answer. Plus the kids seemed to like it.
At the marina, I asked if we wanted to see the northern part of the lake, to which I got a YES! Ok, it was several minutes through the marina no wake zone, then up to 10 MPH. We ventured up for another half hour or so. We were the only people in that part of the lake.
When we got to the end, I turned us around and started to give a little more throttle. Then a little more, and some more, and some more. Pretty soon we were planing again and headed back to the marina. I had to slow down because another boat showed up, and it was a narrow channel. I wanted to be courteous, especially since they were fishing. The boat died on me when the throttle went down.
Grrr. Ok, high throttle trick and got it started again. Back into gear and off we went at 10 MPH toward the marina. I looked at the gas gauge, and it showed under 1/4 tank left. Since I don’t know how accurate it is, I said it was time to call it a day and put the boat on the trailer.
We cruised on back to the marina. I let each of the kids steer and they thought that was just the best thing ever. I got it up on the trailer and off home we went.
The following weekend I drained the remaining 7 gallons out of the fuel tank. If we get some nice weather on a weekend, I’ll put some fresh fuel in it and see what happens on the lake.
It occurs to me as I write this up, that perhaps the fuel pump is having problems. Perhaps the fuel filter? I’ll check it out.