Motor sucked in mud and sand while trying to take off

[Frisbeguy4]

While trying to plane my boat, Bayliner with a 3.1 Liter motor, I encounter sand and mud. The motor sucked in the sand and mud and bogged down. I was able to drive the boat away from the area and continue. We had the boat winterized and stored outside for two winters as we did not use the boat last year. This year we attempted to use the boat but when we started the motor up, the water pump did not discharge water out of the proper two locations on the back of the motor, at first. After approximately 20 seconds, water did discharge out of one side but not both sides. Then water entered the engine compartment in the boat. The motor was stopped and the boat taken in for repairs. Now we have a cracked block on the engine and it does not run right. How can I prevent this from happening again? The boat repair man, states that the motor does not have a large water pump to flush the motor out. Please comment! thank you!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Welcome aboard.

Let me understand this.

You run the boat aground, make it back to shore, winterize the motor and 2 years later you have a cracked block?

If the waterpump was plugged, you would have overheated very quickly.

When winterizing, were the drain plug holes probed to clear everything? I'm guessing not.

I'm leaning toward improper winterization ( not cleaning out the drain plugs)

 

[Frisbeguy4]

Thank you for the fast reply. We ran the boat several different times after we ran aground. The motor seemed to be running fine, before it was winterized. I do not know if all the freeze plugs were removed. I also think improper winterizing took place. An insurance company is now involved, watching it be taken apart.

 

[Watermann]

Did the same shop winterize that is now taking the motor apart?

The problem wasn't your LU sucking up muck that caused the block to be cracked, it was whoever didn't properly winterize the motor.

Let us know how it turns out for you.

 

[Scott Danforth]

There are drain plugs that get removed for winterizing. There is no such thing as freeze plugs. They are core plugs used by the foundry to remove core sand during the casting process.

If you boat ran find after running aground, then the two incidents are not related. Improper winterization is the cause of your cracked block

 

[smokeonthewater]

Yep just as everyone else said... Mud and muck played no role whatsoever.... The block is cracked because water was allowed to freeze in it.

As for how to prevent ingesting mud in the future... Get a depth finder and or charts and stay out of shallow water.

 

[thumpar]

Who winterized it and how did they do it? Sounds like it may have been a try to run antifreeze through it. That doesn't work.