Last Saturday I had absolutely nothing to do so I drove over to a local lake that gets lots of weekend traffic. (And I mean LOTS.) It's only a 2,500 acre lake and it gets killed on the weekends. The ramps can be quite interesting to watch.
Found a shady spot and plopped my chair down to watch. Pontoon boats make up the large majority of the traffic on this lake and the boaters are typically families and older persons. Watched several husband/wife teams dunk their boats, some with more issues than others. The one that caught my eye was the 24 footer that wouldn't come off the trailer. Woman is in the boat, man is pushing it off. Ramp is slippery and he goes down several times. Finally the boat floats off and the woman floats around with no control, revving the engine to the moon numerous times. Husband comes back from parking truck and yells at wife to pick him up. She is not able to get the engine in gear and winds up beaching on the rocks. Husband yells at wife, wife yells at husband, yada, yada, yada.
After and hour and help from several others they get the pontoon back on the trailer. They pull up on the ramp and block a lane while they stare at the engine and scratch their heads. As I listen to the pair argue I hear that they've just put a new prop on and can't figure out why it won't work. They pull the prop, (still on the ramp) and look at it like they can't figure out what is wrong. It goes back on with no changes and boat goes back in water. Same result- no thrust. Husband, now really mad pulls, boat back out and proceeds to again pull the prop. Finally feeling sorry for them I walk over and offer to look. 1 year old Merc 50hp engine, brand new aluminum prop. I look at the prop and instantly tell him that the delrin sleeve that goes in the prop is not there. (Flo-torq hub) He looks at me and says " oh, I saw that piece in the old prop but didn't think the new one needed that". LOL
He left the ramp and an hour later shows back up, launches successfully and off he goes. Gave me $10 for my assistance which I gladly accepted. I guess when the engineers design something you need to stay with the program.
Found a shady spot and plopped my chair down to watch. Pontoon boats make up the large majority of the traffic on this lake and the boaters are typically families and older persons. Watched several husband/wife teams dunk their boats, some with more issues than others. The one that caught my eye was the 24 footer that wouldn't come off the trailer. Woman is in the boat, man is pushing it off. Ramp is slippery and he goes down several times. Finally the boat floats off and the woman floats around with no control, revving the engine to the moon numerous times. Husband comes back from parking truck and yells at wife to pick him up. She is not able to get the engine in gear and winds up beaching on the rocks. Husband yells at wife, wife yells at husband, yada, yada, yada.
After and hour and help from several others they get the pontoon back on the trailer. They pull up on the ramp and block a lane while they stare at the engine and scratch their heads. As I listen to the pair argue I hear that they've just put a new prop on and can't figure out why it won't work. They pull the prop, (still on the ramp) and look at it like they can't figure out what is wrong. It goes back on with no changes and boat goes back in water. Same result- no thrust. Husband, now really mad pulls, boat back out and proceeds to again pull the prop. Finally feeling sorry for them I walk over and offer to look. 1 year old Merc 50hp engine, brand new aluminum prop. I look at the prop and instantly tell him that the delrin sleeve that goes in the prop is not there. (Flo-torq hub) He looks at me and says " oh, I saw that piece in the old prop but didn't think the new one needed that". LOL
He left the ramp and an hour later shows back up, launches successfully and off he goes. Gave me $10 for my assistance which I gladly accepted. I guess when the engineers design something you need to stay with the program.