Lesson learned about boats...

Simoniz

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Messages
236
Took my Bayliner 175 out for a run yesterday with a couple of friends. It had been raining all morning but was forecast to clear up in the afternoon so I insisted that the trip was on and that the weather would get better.

By the time we got to the boat the rain had stopped and once we got out onto the open water part of the lake, the clouds were breaking up and there was blue sky to be seen to the south west.

After a few minutes cruising along nicely on the plane, suddenly there was lots of vibration accompanied by a rise in engine rpm and loss of drive, just as if the prop had been trimmed too far out of the water and was ventilating.

My first two thoughts were, Im gonna look a fool if my boat breaks down and we have to get towed back and the hassle and money of fixing the problem. I thought it was either the drive coupler or the propellor coming adrift.

I experimented for a bit, sometimes it was fine and sometimes little load at all on the engine, which convinced me that the coupler had gone.

Finally I stopped all together, and trimmed the drive all the way up, to see if there was anything to see and when we looked over the back of the boat, we saw a large piece of plastic sacking floating free of the propellor. I fished it out, together with 2 other bits and checked that there was nothing further wrapped around the prop or driveshaft and everything was once again hunky dory.

I guess that the plastic sack was wrapped around the prop and was acting as a shroud round the blades, thus causing them to slip, instead of gripping the water. First time Ive experienced anything like that in 7 years of boating - just glad it was that and not as I first feared, also that the plastic hadn't wrapped itself around the water intake area of the leg, although my water alarm would hopefully have alerted me of that pretty quick!

Happy Boating!
 

Vankaye

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
39
Re: Lesson learned about boats...

Yup, the storms blow a lot of debris into the water. I once picked up a BBQ vinyl cover with my inboard V-drive.(previous boat) It stopped the motor dead.
Took me about an hour of snorkel diving with a pocket knife to cut it all off. My wife was very concerned about the 10ft gator that was watching my efforts from about 50ft away! : )
 

rogerwa

Commander
Joined
Nov 29, 2000
Messages
2,339
Re: Lesson learned about boats...

Weeds will do that too..
 

halfmoa

Ensign
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
955
Re: Lesson learned about boats...

Better wrapped around the prop than covering the water intake!!!!
 

spdracr39

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Messages
1,238
Re: Lesson learned about boats...

I see and retrieve those plastic wal-mart/grocery sacks all the time in the water.
 

jdlough

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 15, 2006
Messages
824
Re: Lesson learned about boats...

Also check the prop area for fishing line. It can get spun around the hub/spindle and destroy lower unit seals, letting lube out and water in.
 
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