Outboard running out of the water

[Makita]

I saw a guy in a hire potoon yesterday on the noosa river start the outboard with it completely out of the water then proceed to put it in gear and put the hammer down ! The little yammie screamed its tits off and old mate couldn't figure out why the boat wasn't moving. He did this 4 times then figured out that he needed to put the motor in the water . Just out of curiosity what damage would he have done to the outboard ? I figure the impeller would be shot ? What else ? I guess that's also why hire boat prices are what they are , cause of idiots like this fella.

[wayno60]

Once or twice a year we hire a house boat and have gotten to know the manager pretty well over the years. Some of the stories that they have told us about what happens to their boats is scary. They just dont have NFI of what weight their pushing along and you just cant put on the brakes.... and running onto sand bars is another fav of the weekend warriors, like whats all these white sticks in the water for????

and the damage, well the impeller could be cooked but more so once the heat builds up from no water running thru the block could be very close to seizure.

[LittleSkipper]

No water running through the outboard would be like no water in your car's cooling system. If he did the full throttle 4 times before realising the leg of the outboard was out of the water only god knows what damage has been done if any?

Whilst you mentioned idiots I was at my local ramp last Sunday and watched a bloke in what appeared to be a reasonably new open tinnie with 5 young children onboard (All wearing PFD's thank goodness) & 2 male adults.

The skipper then took off at full throttle and nearly smashed bow on into the end of the boat ramps pontoon, if it wasn't for his mate who leaned over toward the oncoming pylon to use himself as a shock absorber the day would of surely been ruined.