Ok folks- so somewhat of a calamity post i know- but this comes from personal experiance from yesterday........
Took a weeks vacation on lake michigan, st josephs to be precise, booked a condo with a 40 ft dock etc etc. got here sat, all good, launched and dock on sat no problems, sunday, went out on Lake Michigan for the day, found a great beach south and spent the day pretty much on out own- awesome right, well headed out at about 4 pm cruising at 37 knots, lake is smooth, all of a sudden, alarms go off, chimes buzzing engine over heating, panic ensues, wtf is going on with my brand new boat.........kids panicing are we sinking- call the costguard give them a situ, i jump into the water with kids swim googles to see if we hit something, meanwhile wife is getting lifejackets on the kids. Nothing wrong with underside or out drive, lift engine cover, steam etc. billowing out- wait for engine to cool a bit start up again, then see the water spilling out into the bilge, yes i was a victim of the composite powersteering cooler that was recalled last year. Well i managed to bypass the ps cooling by cutting off one of the ends with a leatherman tool (thank god i brought it) managed to limp back, 3 miles and boiled the ps fluid out- long story short, becuase bass pro had not registered my boat with mercruiser i did not get the recall notice to replace the composite part with the steel part- yes they were actually notified by mercruiser before but did not replace the part. Basspro were and are totally liable for this, so i am posting this for all new boat owners to go andcheck the rear end of the engine to check whether you have a plastic part or a steel part- if you have plastic do not use your boat until its replaced- it failed and believe me- when it does its not pretty. I have a part being overnighted and will be here by 10am tomorrow, and BP have said they will cover all expenses- we were lucky it was calm, had we lost power with a 3 ft swell- that would be a different story- i also joined usboat as the tow fee would be $400.00.
Took a weeks vacation on lake michigan, st josephs to be precise, booked a condo with a 40 ft dock etc etc. got here sat, all good, launched and dock on sat no problems, sunday, went out on Lake Michigan for the day, found a great beach south and spent the day pretty much on out own- awesome right, well headed out at about 4 pm cruising at 37 knots, lake is smooth, all of a sudden, alarms go off, chimes buzzing engine over heating, panic ensues, wtf is going on with my brand new boat.........kids panicing are we sinking- call the costguard give them a situ, i jump into the water with kids swim googles to see if we hit something, meanwhile wife is getting lifejackets on the kids. Nothing wrong with underside or out drive, lift engine cover, steam etc. billowing out- wait for engine to cool a bit start up again, then see the water spilling out into the bilge, yes i was a victim of the composite powersteering cooler that was recalled last year. Well i managed to bypass the ps cooling by cutting off one of the ends with a leatherman tool (thank god i brought it) managed to limp back, 3 miles and boiled the ps fluid out- long story short, becuase bass pro had not registered my boat with mercruiser i did not get the recall notice to replace the composite part with the steel part- yes they were actually notified by mercruiser before but did not replace the part. Basspro were and are totally liable for this, so i am posting this for all new boat owners to go andcheck the rear end of the engine to check whether you have a plastic part or a steel part- if you have plastic do not use your boat until its replaced- it failed and believe me- when it does its not pretty. I have a part being overnighted and will be here by 10am tomorrow, and BP have said they will cover all expenses- we were lucky it was calm, had we lost power with a 3 ft swell- that would be a different story- i also joined usboat as the tow fee would be $400.00.