Boat start up before I leave home

[Grub54891]

I simply touch the key, if it gets half a crank, not start though And sounds strong, I hookup and go. I also carry a small jump box stashed onboard when out. If everything is in proper working order, there should be no problem, unless the unexpected happens. And it does.

 

[tlombard]

The other difference with a car at the start of the day is that if you go outside and it doesn't start then you're still at home where it is easier to try and figure out what's wrong than if you are two hours away and possibly have to just turn around and drive two hours back after trying to fix it and not being able to and still never getting on the water which is the entire point of a boat.

 

[tlombard]

All that being said, I don't start my boat until I am at the ramp because I store it at the lake and have no way to try. I make sure it cranks before hauling it out of the storage lot but that's all I can do. I'm still not sure I'd hook up the hose at home and run it before leaving BUT I completely understand why others do and won't knock them for it. The reason I'm not sure that I'd do it is because of the effort it would take me to do that at home. It would be a complete hassle at my place. Then again, I can't even store the boat at my place because of a lack of space!

 

[JimS123]

I make sure the gas tank is full and check the battery voltage. Most "problems" happen at the time they are destined to happen. What are the chances that that one time would be in the driveway?

In 48 years of owning a boat I have never started one in the driveway before the trip. In those 48 years never one time did it fail at the ramp.

The ONLY time I had a motor fail to start was at the dealer's yard on the day I was dropping it off as a trade on a new boat. Boy, call that embarrasing. It ran the day before. Turned out it was a power pack and the service manager had it running in 10 minutes.

PM is the key...

 

[thumpar]

There have been times that my stereo was left on and that leaves the amp on. It is a slow drain on the battery but enough that it can't sit for a month with it not drained to the point I can't start it. I would rather find out at home than at the ramp after launching. The ramps around here are usually packed so it was a big hassle the one time it happened.

 

[Grub54891]

There have been times that my stereo was left on and that leaves the amp on. It is a slow drain on the battery but enough that it can't sit for a month with it not drained to the point I can't start it. I would rather find out at home than at the ramp after launching. The ramps around here are usually packed so it was a big hassle the one time it happened.

That is why you don't unhook the boat from the trailer till its running. Then ya unhook, get it out of the way for the next guy.

 

[thumpar]

That is why you don't unhook the boat from the trailer till its running. Then ya unhook, get it out of the way for the next guy.

That would make the launch process even longer. When there are 8-10 boats lined up behind you you don't want to be "that" guy.

 

[oldjeep]

That would make the launch process even longer. When there are 8-10 boats lined up behind you you don't want to be "that" guy.

Guess if you are boating solo. I back the truck in, wife in the boat - she fires it up and then I unhook the hook. We are in and out in seconds. The guys who clog the launch are the ones dragging boats around with ropes while leaving their truck and trailer in the lane. Typically while trying to not get their toes wet.

As for the stereo killing the battery, I guess it depends on the boat. I'd have to have screwed up in multiple ways for the radio to be able to draw power. Battery switch would have to be on and the master power would have to be on, which would mean the entire dash would be lit up with the stereo.

 

[thumpar]

I don't boat solo but want the boat to be in deep water before I lower the drive so launch it and have the other person take it down the ramp a ways. We have really shallow ramps. It is really hard just to get the boat off the trailer. I extended the tongue 3' to help a little and for sure have to get wet. We get out of the way as fast as possible. The parking is terrible in the heart of the season so there is usually many boats at the ramp docks. I make sure mine is not in the way when I am finding a spot to park. Then I hurry back to get completely out of the way.

I wired the stereo separate from everything for 2 reasons, 1 so that the hour meter doesn't run when I just want to play music and 2 because I have a large amp that needs larger wire than factory.

 

[oldjeep]

I make sure the gas tank is full and check the battery voltage. Most "problems" happen at the time they are destined to happen. What are the chances that that one time would be in the driveway?

In 48 years of owning a boat I have never started one in the driveway before the trip. In those 48 years never one time did it fail at the ramp.

The ONLY time I had a motor fail to start was at the dealer's yard on the day I was dropping it off as a trade on a new boat. Boy, call that embarrasing. It ran the day before. Turned out it was a power pack and the service manager had it running in 10 minutes.

PM is the key...

That is about it. PM. And when it comes out of garage, tower up, battery switch on, master power on to check the fuel, master power off and to the ramp.

 

[oldjeep]

I don't boat solo but want the boat to be in deep water before I lower the drive so launch it and have the other person take it down the ramp a ways. We have really shallow ramps. It is really hard just to get the boat off the trailer. I extended the tongue 3' to help a little and for sure have to get wet. We get out of the way as fast as possible. The parking is terrible in the heart of the season so there is usually many boats at the ramp docks. I make sure mine is not in the way when I am finding a spot to park. Then I hurry back to get completely out of the way.

I wired the stereo separate from everything for 2 reasons, 1 so that the hour meter doesn't run when I just want to play music and 2 because I have a large amp that needs larger wire than factory.

Your hour meter is wired wrong. Should be running through an oil pressure switch. Standard makes a dual output switch specifically for this use in boats.

As for the amp - the signal wire from the stereo should be completely killing the power draw from the amp regardless of if it is connected direct to the battery. If it does not then I'd either get an amp that works correctly or install a relay on the signal wire that hard kills the amp power line.

This stuff kind of points out a reason other than improper maintenance why people are worried about their boat starting - wiring in accessories incorrectly.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

If I'm trailering it I will turn the key on and give it 1 crank to make sure the battery isn't dead at the ramp, that happened once and hopefully never again as I held everyone up to get the trailer. If that happened again I would have pulled it out of the way by hand to keep the ramp open. Rookie move. All it was is a loose battery nut. Simple stuff usually. Missed a day of fishing for a loose nut. If I'm heading out of town I will put a trickle charge on the batteries overnight but once it starts in the spring that's it. It's called confidence in my equipment. Now watch, I've kyboshed myself. There's nothing wrong with what you are doing until you are confident she'll start every time. I never start any marine engines dry out of water, never, turn it over once yes, but never fire her dry.

 

[thumpar]

Your hour meter is wired wrong. Should be running through an oil pressure switch. Standard makes a dual output switch specifically for this use in boats.

As for the amp - the signal wire from the stereo should be completely killing the power draw from the amp regardless of if it is connected direct to the battery. If it does not then I'd either get an amp that works correctly or install a relay on the signal wire that hard kills the amp power line.

This stuff kind of points out a reason other than improper maintenance why people are worried about their boat starting - wiring in accessories incorrectly.

The amp and stereo are on there own circuit from the battery. If the stereo is on the amp is on. Since it doesn't work off the ignition switch it has to be turned off manually. This is by design. I took college electronics so understand wiring.

 

[Grub54891]

That would make the launch process even longer. When there are 8-10 boats lined up behind you you don't want to be "that" guy.

Hhmm... I'm out of the ramp area pretty darn quick. I back it in, trim down, start, and unhook the bow from onboard. The wife pulls away and parks the trailer while I go to the courtesy dock. If something would happen, she would just pull out and out of the way while I diagnose the issue.boat still on trailer and clear of others. But haven't had an issue as of yet myself.

 

[thumpar]

Hhmm... I'm out of the ramp area pretty darn quick. I back it in, trim down, start, and unhook the bow from onboard. The wife pulls away and parks the trailer while I go to the courtesy dock. If something would happen, she would just pull out and out of the way while I diagnose the issue.boat still on trailer and clear of others. But haven't had an issue as of yet myself.

I am the driver of the tow vehicle and the boat. My son will start it before I get to it but I still need to be there to drive the boat away from the dock. It is just easier to start it at home than to find out at the ramp there is a problem. I like to hear the sound anyway.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

If I'm trailering it I will turn the key on and give it 1 crank to make sure the battery isn't dead at the ramp, that happened once and hopefully never again as I held everyone up to get the trailer. If that happened again I would have pulled it out of the way by hand to keep the ramp open. All it was is a loose battery nut. Simple stuff usually. If I'm heading out of town I will put a trickle charge on the batteries overnight but once it starts in the spring that's it. It's called confidence in my equipment. Now watch, I've kyboshed myself. There's nothing wrong with what you are doing until you are confident she'll start every time. I never start any marine engines dry out of water, never, turn it over once yes, but never fire her dry.

 

[David Young]

I check the battery with my meter before i leave, I don't crank or prestart. My boat is small and the ramp is just 4 miles away from my house. I have total faith in the repairs and maintenance I've done to my 39 year old boat and motor

 

[jkust]

Having moved from a Carbed but newer I/O to now an MPI boat, the starting and in particualr the ability to instantly back off of the boat lift has made the boating experience better. With a carb, even when my previous carbed boat was new, you had to wait a couple minutes to back off the trailer or it would kill. As it got some years of use under it, it got slowly more difficult and took longer to back away. I always felt like 'that guy' waiting just to be able to back off the trailer back when I used to trailer a boat. My point is I can see how carbed boats can be a bit troublesome but of course cleaning the carb mitigates it somewhat.

 

[oldjeep]

Having moved from a Carbed but newer I/O to now an MPI boat, the starting and in particualr the ability to instantly back off of the boat lift has made the boating experience better. With a carb, even when my previous carbed boat was new, you had to wait a couple minutes to back off the trailer or it would kill. As it got some years of use under it, it got slowly more difficult and took longer to back away. I always felt like 'that guy' waiting just to be able to back off the trailer back when I used to trailer a boat. My point is I can see how carbed boats can be a bit troublesome but of course cleaning the carb mitigates it somewhat.

Sounds like a carb that needed an adjustment to either the choke or the idle mixture. The problem that most folks up here have with newer carbureted boats is that they were set to run super lean from the factory for emissions and running on E10 made that even leaner. First week I had my 2005 Bayliner 3.0L I had to do an idle mixture adjustment to get rid of the problem you are describing, started up strong every time after that for the 9 years I owned it.

 

[spoilsofwar]

Having moved from a Carbed but newer I/O to now an MPI boat, the starting and in particualr the ability to instantly back off of the boat lift has made the boating experience better. With a carb, even when my previous carbed boat was new, you had to wait a couple minutes to back off the trailer or it would kill. As it got some years of use under it, it got slowly more difficult and took longer to back away. I always felt like 'that guy' waiting just to be able to back off the trailer back when I used to trailer a boat. My point is I can see how carbed boats can be a bit troublesome but of course cleaning the carb mitigates it somewhat.

Your carbed boat was not running right if it would stall without warming up for minutes.

I pump my throttle twice to set choke and squirt some fuel, leave throttle about 1/4 up, turn key to start, and once it starts I return it to idle and immediately select reverse and back off the trailer. My boat is carbed.

Most people who have issues with their carbed boats either are using the wrong procedure or have carb issues. Injection is no doubt more efficient and easier starting on the average, but whenever I see people post about having to let their engines warm up for minutes before selecting gears, I cringe.