Scalem
26-10-2015, 09:50 AM
I had an SOS phone call from a friend who is the camp director for the annual "Kids Weekender" at Moogerah Dam event which happened over Saturday and Sunday. One of the boat owners suddenly became unavailable to help give 100 kids around 12 year old an afternoon of watersports. I was asked to drag a biscuit around which is designed for up to 3 people. It was awesome fun for them, as their driver nothing matches seeing their smiles from ear to ear as I sent them off into mild whips and figure 8 tracks. Some of these kids have NEVER had the experience in their life, and it was good to get back behind the controls where the last time I drove my boat for this camp was 20 or so years ago. There were no injuries of any kind, not to any of the kids anyway.....
The last lap of the circuit for the day, the boat suddenly lost power and dropped off the plane like a stone, I have never heard the overheating alarm before, but it was unmistakable, so I checked for the cooling telltale ( all fine), leaving it idle for a while once off the plane. The motor idled perfectly, but I turned it off for about a minute while the kids climbed back onto the biscuit. The motor started again perfectly, I dragged them back to shore, then immediately over to the ramp to pull the boat in for the day.
Once out of the water I could see what was going on, I didnt imagine that Moogerah Dam weed could be so tough to choke up the water intakes on the leg of the motor, I think only partially, but enough to trigger higher running temperature and subsequent overheating alarm. Fingers crossed I have not done any damage to the engine, you feel like an idiot not to have checked the intakes occasionally to make sure that weed has not blocked the intakes - another one chalked up to experience and won't happen to me again, I hope others can learn from my mistake and always check the intakes when fishing or skiing sweetwater with an outboard.
Removed all debris at home, runs perfectly on the earmuffs, oil looks totally clean ( no water in it) so I may have been spared the bad news that I cooked the motor.
Scalem
The last lap of the circuit for the day, the boat suddenly lost power and dropped off the plane like a stone, I have never heard the overheating alarm before, but it was unmistakable, so I checked for the cooling telltale ( all fine), leaving it idle for a while once off the plane. The motor idled perfectly, but I turned it off for about a minute while the kids climbed back onto the biscuit. The motor started again perfectly, I dragged them back to shore, then immediately over to the ramp to pull the boat in for the day.
Once out of the water I could see what was going on, I didnt imagine that Moogerah Dam weed could be so tough to choke up the water intakes on the leg of the motor, I think only partially, but enough to trigger higher running temperature and subsequent overheating alarm. Fingers crossed I have not done any damage to the engine, you feel like an idiot not to have checked the intakes occasionally to make sure that weed has not blocked the intakes - another one chalked up to experience and won't happen to me again, I hope others can learn from my mistake and always check the intakes when fishing or skiing sweetwater with an outboard.
Removed all debris at home, runs perfectly on the earmuffs, oil looks totally clean ( no water in it) so I may have been spared the bad news that I cooked the motor.
Scalem