joined the lanyard club yesterday

[MH Hawker]

Thought I would go out and do some cleaning on the toon yesterday and being as it was a nice 75 degree day I thought I would ask the daughter in law and grand son along. Got out to the marina, and while doing the prep work the 3 year old climbed up in the captains chair and started driving lol as he often dose. Put the cover away opened up the Bimini, hooked up the gas tank, primed it, turned on the battery and has a seat and hit the key and cranked it, and it didn't start, cranked it a bit more and nothing, This motor has been ultra dependable about starting a 3 second prime and first key bump and it starts. reprimed the fuel bulb and still nothing. grumbled a bit and thought OK maybe I have drowned out the plugs so pulled out the tools and spair plugs and changed them. And while hanging over the back of the motor pod it hit me. I didn't check the lanyard :facepalm: , put the cowling back on climbed back on and sat down and looked. Sure enough it was gone. Looked over at the 3 year old to see him draging one of his trucks around the front deck by the lanyard . lolol I broke up laughing. Put away the tools and just sat watching him play for awhile making motor noises.

 

[ArkieBoater]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

Over Memorial Day my wife and I were anchored in a very crowded cove on Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma. The wind was blowing like crazy out in the main part of the lake, and people were dragging anchor like crazy, even in the cove. I had a couple of friends with 20 something foot Crownlines come up and raft up with us on my pontoon. Finally we decide to go in around 5 pm, one of the Crownlines won't start. My friend says, " My boat is out of gas", his other friend in other Crownline says he will go get some gas and be back. I ask if I can be of any more assistance, they say no, so off I go and pull my boat out. Later that evening I see the guy with the dead boat and he says boat still won't start, even after adding fuel. They had towed it back in , across a really windy lake, and got it on the trailer , and it was back in the campground. Normally, I am not that bright, but it just pops into my head, " Is the lanyard connected and the switch flipped to the on position?" He checked it and it wasn't, all that work, just for the lanyard.
Mind you , I would never do something like that, but in my day, I have been known to crank on a dirt bike for a long time , trying to
get it to start, when all it was, was the kill switch in the off position. That stuff just waits to sneak up on you when you are least expecting it. Glad it all turned out okay for you.
I would maybe have thought about asking him if this was the problem out on the lake, but he was adamant about being out of gas, so I gave it no further thought.

 

[BonairII]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

Last week, I started my motor at the dock and then stalled the motor. A couple mins later I went to start it when we were ready to shove off.....and got silence. Figured I blew a fuse or something.

I pulled the cowling and checked the fuse.....then it dawned on me. I must have neglected to put the controls completely in neutral.:facepalm:

Moved the control lever a 1/4" forward(to neutral) and she fired right up. :redface:

 

[msaunoras]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

Last year I was having intermittant stop switch problems. I'd occassionally have to pull a plug wire to get the engine to shut off. So I'm having problems after I keyed off, so I pull a wire, put the engine cover back on and get to fishing. A hour or so later I want to jump to another spot so I fired up and took off. I forgot I pulled the lanyard in an effort to get the engine to shut off an hour before.

So sure enough the engine decides to kill out in the middle of the lake. I spent a half hour screwing around before I finally realized what was going on.

 

[choppywaters]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

Did the kill switch thing last year on my bike. I installed a programmable tuner for it and air intake. Its fuel injected and computer on board, pretty much more things to go wrong. Any ways, got everything put on and went to fire it up while hooked to a lap top and nothing! I thought I screwed up everything because of maybe doing something with the computer.....no, while we were installing everything I must have pushed in the kill switch. I was sick to my stomach for about 10 minutes thinking this is going to be an expensive repair.

 

[cribber]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

I've killed my motor more time than I can count because I forgot I was tethered to the kill switch. Did this once at idle speed and tried to restart the engine to no avail. Check the engine everything looks good.. My doh moment :facepalm: is when I get back to the helm and realize the drive is still engaged.

 

[Colorado_Boater]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

ha, ha, I become part of the club last year too.
Was sitting at the do dock trying to start the dam thing, It normally starts on the first turn, checked everything, sat there for a good 5 minutes, then dad comes along, " check the kill switch" , lol,

 

[NewfieDan]

Re: joined the lanyard club yesterday

I've been a member for a few years now. My dad was visiting from BC when I used to live in Alberta. Took th eboat one fine day. He helped me take the cover off, stow the supplies for the day.

We get to the lake and drop the boat in the water. I get back to the boat after parking the truck. Dad shoves off while I try to start the boat. Turns over great but wouldn't catch. I try tore-prime but nothing, still won't catch. Dock was crowded with people watching me wondering what this doofus is doing floating just off the ramp in the way of others whose baots actually work. After a couple of minutes of troubleshooting I figure it out. Put the lanyard back in to reset the kill switch and she starts right up.

Ejoyed the rest of the day. Now its part of my routine to check that its in place before I try to start.