A great day at the lake....

[Trollhole]

Until this.

Went to Jocassee yesterday with the little one, Chuck, Misty and Becca. Great day awesome weather. Found a nice sandy beach to sit out on and have some beers. Packed up to go home. Put it in gear backed out and lo and behold the infamous dreaded temp signal. Never heard it before. Look down and pressure gauge was on 0. Uhh ohh. I knew it was the impeller. Had a knew one on hand. Got the tools out only to find the socket wrench was rusted in the open position and the adjustable wrench was missing. Dohhhh. We were at the other end of the lake from the landing. Got on the radio and called for help. First Mayday I have ever done. Josie was screaming at this point. Got a group in a pontoon boat to haul us for an hr all the way to the landing.

Took it apart today and saw this. The key had been eaten about half away. Never seen this before. Just broke. Usually the ears will wear out or will break off but never this.

Note to self.

Buy kicker motor for backup for crappy Force motor (even though it's a Mercury bottom end)

Carry good quality tools that can actually be used to repair engine.

Always keep the radio on channel 16 and on all the time. Never know when I could help someone.


Get a longer antenna.





Oh and we saw another familiar Land Cruiser at the landing. Pics of that to reunion to follow.

 

[Capt. Jim]

That sux Troll. At least the engine alarm saved your engine from being toasted. Did the impeller split on it's own or during the removal process? I replace mine annually, but I am 100% salt water use, less 4th of July week up at Jocassee.

I don't know if a longer antenna will help any out on Jocassee. Your radio range is dimished by the structure of the surrounding land unique to that lake. BTW, by law you need to always have your VHF monitoring 16 if equiped with such radio.

Glad to see you got back safe and got it fixed. Not fun when your floating at the beach and trying to pull th lower unit. . At least a T-storm didn't sneak up on you.

 

[Trollhole]

Yeah the impeller split. Thats what caused it to fail. I had been meaning to replace it. Usually do it every 2 year. I've only used the boat about 4 times in the past 2 years so I thought it would be okay.

 

[cruiser4life]

Sorry to hear about the failure. Good to hear another boater helped out, especially with the little one involved.

Did you wet a line?

 

[CruisinTiger]

None the less it was a great day to be out on the lake....although Misty forgot to reapply the suntan lotion so she ended up with a bright pink tint.....But it was a good time...drank plenty of beer and the dogs loved it. Thanks Marshall