Let me start off by saying that I have been looking forward to making this trip for years! For a long time now I have been dreaming of putting in a boat on the Santee lakes and traveling through the locks at Pinopolis dam and then down to the Cooper river to Charleston, so this past weekend was chosen. We planned this trip with another couple who also have a pontoon. Ours is a 1991 24' Kayot with a 1991 48hp SPL Evinrude and theirs is a 2007 24' Bentley with a 2008 Merc 90.
We put in at Black's Camp on Lake Moultrie at around 10:00am Friday and started our trip. After locking down to the Cooper river we continued on to Charleston. From the locks it is about 40 miles to the Naval yard in Charleston and this is where the real fun began!
When we got to the Naval yard my engine started to sputter so figured it was time to change fuel tanks (I have two 12 gallon tanks installed). So I turned the helm over to my son while I swapped the fuel line from tank one to tank two. Well about two minutes later the motor started to sputter again only this time it was worse and eventually it would only run at roughly half RPM. My initial thought was "Oh great! There's water in gas" so I checked the fuel level on tank "one" and, lo and behold, it still had about a two gallons in it, so I switched back real quick. We continued on while the motor spit and sputtered us on to Charleston (The primer bulb stayed firm). The rough running engine continued to get worse and worse, eventually only able to run at 3/4 throttle position while only getting 1/4 power output and idling was non-existent. Somehow we made it to the marina where we planned to dock the boats. Docking was a pain with an intermittently running engine!
By this time I'm frazzled but energetic, so I decided I would tear into the carbs and see if I could find that water (I have rebuilt these carbs many times). I tore down parts until I could get to the bowl drain screws and removed them. When I removed them there was nothing but beautiful clear mixed gasoline flowing out, no trash, no water, nothing but what it supposed to look like so I thought maybe a plug had fouled after that long trip (about 55 miles at this point).
After pulling the plugs and finding no obvious signs of fouling I put the spare set of plugs I was carrying in and tried starting the motor, it ran, but just as before it ran very poorly. Dismayed I cut it off and decided it was time to take a break, so I popped the top on another beer and chatted with the couple we were traveling with and relaxed for about an hour. At that point I decided to try starting the motor again, but this time it just turned over and never attempted to fire. I removed the plugs from the head and plugged one in to the lead wire and held it to the block and had my son turn the engine over at the helm. When I did that there was no spark! Well now I'm concerned because I'm stuck in Charleston with ignition problems and the problem seems to be a bad power pack. I have never replaced the power pack but my understanding is that it is under the flywheel and of course I'm not carrying a puller with me, much less trying to replace it while the boat is still in the water.
After considering our options we decided there was not much else we could do, as far as repairing our motor was concerned, so we would just enjoy the rest of the trip utilizing our friend's boat and we could tow the boat back on Sunday. Saturday finally rolled around and we all loaded onto our friend's boat and went out into the Charleston harbor for some sightseeing and at around 4:30pm we were right off rainbow row in Charleston in the middle of the main channel and our friend's 2008 90hp Merc started acting funny (Oh Crap!) 45 seconds later it died! His voltage regulator went kaput. So here we are, four adults, two children stuck in the busiest part of Charleston harbor with no power and adrift. We dropped anchor and sent up a white flag (t-shirt on a paddle) and called TowBoatUS on the VHF and waited. Now this was the scariest part because like I said we were in the busiest part of Charleston harbor and every boat that had been out that day was starting to come in and the boats that were going for an early evening harbor cruise were headed out. We were flanked by drunks in 30' to 60' power boats buzzing by less than 25' away and leaving horrendous wakes. Let me just say that we did feel safe at all (understatement).
TowBoatUS finally arrived after about 25 minutes and we got underway with the tow. Now at this point we were trying to figure out how we were going to get home while my wife was on the phone with her parents and found out that her sister was in Charleston on vacation. So my wife called her sister and asked to borrow her car so we could get our trucks and trailers. We had the tow boat driver tow us to a local ramp and drop off our friends boat there. I found a guy at the ramp that was willing to take me to my boat at the marina where we left it (about a mile away) and tow it back for me. I offered to pay him for his effort but he refused to take the money so I left $40(all the cash I had on hand, wife had the rest, lol) in his glove box while he wasn't looking.
Finally back at the boat ramp with both boats, and using my sister in-law's car, five of us set out to get the trucks (my friend stayed with the boats). When we finally made it back to the ramp it was 12:07am and we got the boats loaded and secured in about an hour and were on the road home at 1:15am and thats when my 12 year old daughter decided it was time get sick and had to vomit, luckily we were able to pull over in time. After stopping and tending to her for about an hour we were able to get back on the road and arrived home at 4:20am, needless to say I fell asleep with no problem.
All in all I had a great time and I'm sure I'll remember that trip for a long time!
I'm sorry it took so long to get to my questions but here they are:
Do you guys think I'm on the right track thinking it might be the PowerPack?
If so, should I go with the CDI conversion kit that is offered on iboats or stick with the OEM style?
What are the chances the causes are something other than the PowerPack?
And finally, what are the odds that two boats would have ignition problems at essentially the same time?
Thanks!
We put in at Black's Camp on Lake Moultrie at around 10:00am Friday and started our trip. After locking down to the Cooper river we continued on to Charleston. From the locks it is about 40 miles to the Naval yard in Charleston and this is where the real fun began!
When we got to the Naval yard my engine started to sputter so figured it was time to change fuel tanks (I have two 12 gallon tanks installed). So I turned the helm over to my son while I swapped the fuel line from tank one to tank two. Well about two minutes later the motor started to sputter again only this time it was worse and eventually it would only run at roughly half RPM. My initial thought was "Oh great! There's water in gas" so I checked the fuel level on tank "one" and, lo and behold, it still had about a two gallons in it, so I switched back real quick. We continued on while the motor spit and sputtered us on to Charleston (The primer bulb stayed firm). The rough running engine continued to get worse and worse, eventually only able to run at 3/4 throttle position while only getting 1/4 power output and idling was non-existent. Somehow we made it to the marina where we planned to dock the boats. Docking was a pain with an intermittently running engine!
By this time I'm frazzled but energetic, so I decided I would tear into the carbs and see if I could find that water (I have rebuilt these carbs many times). I tore down parts until I could get to the bowl drain screws and removed them. When I removed them there was nothing but beautiful clear mixed gasoline flowing out, no trash, no water, nothing but what it supposed to look like so I thought maybe a plug had fouled after that long trip (about 55 miles at this point).
After pulling the plugs and finding no obvious signs of fouling I put the spare set of plugs I was carrying in and tried starting the motor, it ran, but just as before it ran very poorly. Dismayed I cut it off and decided it was time to take a break, so I popped the top on another beer and chatted with the couple we were traveling with and relaxed for about an hour. At that point I decided to try starting the motor again, but this time it just turned over and never attempted to fire. I removed the plugs from the head and plugged one in to the lead wire and held it to the block and had my son turn the engine over at the helm. When I did that there was no spark! Well now I'm concerned because I'm stuck in Charleston with ignition problems and the problem seems to be a bad power pack. I have never replaced the power pack but my understanding is that it is under the flywheel and of course I'm not carrying a puller with me, much less trying to replace it while the boat is still in the water.
After considering our options we decided there was not much else we could do, as far as repairing our motor was concerned, so we would just enjoy the rest of the trip utilizing our friend's boat and we could tow the boat back on Sunday. Saturday finally rolled around and we all loaded onto our friend's boat and went out into the Charleston harbor for some sightseeing and at around 4:30pm we were right off rainbow row in Charleston in the middle of the main channel and our friend's 2008 90hp Merc started acting funny (Oh Crap!) 45 seconds later it died! His voltage regulator went kaput. So here we are, four adults, two children stuck in the busiest part of Charleston harbor with no power and adrift. We dropped anchor and sent up a white flag (t-shirt on a paddle) and called TowBoatUS on the VHF and waited. Now this was the scariest part because like I said we were in the busiest part of Charleston harbor and every boat that had been out that day was starting to come in and the boats that were going for an early evening harbor cruise were headed out. We were flanked by drunks in 30' to 60' power boats buzzing by less than 25' away and leaving horrendous wakes. Let me just say that we did feel safe at all (understatement).
TowBoatUS finally arrived after about 25 minutes and we got underway with the tow. Now at this point we were trying to figure out how we were going to get home while my wife was on the phone with her parents and found out that her sister was in Charleston on vacation. So my wife called her sister and asked to borrow her car so we could get our trucks and trailers. We had the tow boat driver tow us to a local ramp and drop off our friends boat there. I found a guy at the ramp that was willing to take me to my boat at the marina where we left it (about a mile away) and tow it back for me. I offered to pay him for his effort but he refused to take the money so I left $40(all the cash I had on hand, wife had the rest, lol) in his glove box while he wasn't looking.
Finally back at the boat ramp with both boats, and using my sister in-law's car, five of us set out to get the trucks (my friend stayed with the boats). When we finally made it back to the ramp it was 12:07am and we got the boats loaded and secured in about an hour and were on the road home at 1:15am and thats when my 12 year old daughter decided it was time get sick and had to vomit, luckily we were able to pull over in time. After stopping and tending to her for about an hour we were able to get back on the road and arrived home at 4:20am, needless to say I fell asleep with no problem.
All in all I had a great time and I'm sure I'll remember that trip for a long time!
I'm sorry it took so long to get to my questions but here they are:
Do you guys think I'm on the right track thinking it might be the PowerPack?
If so, should I go with the CDI conversion kit that is offered on iboats or stick with the OEM style?
What are the chances the causes are something other than the PowerPack?
And finally, what are the odds that two boats would have ignition problems at essentially the same time?
Thanks!
