It was not a good begining to the 2011 boating year for us.
I rented a truck to get the boat out of winter storage, it was raining but the marina let me pull it inside to wax, so that went ok. The weather cleared but I couldn't get to the boat ramp because of the "Tulip Time" festival had the streets to the close ramp blocked off. More rain was coming and I had to return the truck before too late so I called it quits and payed the marina to put it in the water. No big deal execpt for the extra money spent.
Memorial Day weekend had rain on Saturday and Sunday so no boat ride. Monday came with beautiful weather. Boat started and ran great, we have about 3/4 of a mile no wake zone that our marina is in. The engine ran without a hiccup at now wake speed. Pushed the throttle forward to get up on plane and the engine died. I didn't think too much of it, first time this year it's been under load. Re-start and it died after 30 seconds. Uh-oh. Re-started and it ran for 15 seconds. Then it would crank and not start. Time to think about getting a tow back. Flagged down some very nice people in a trawler who gave us tow back to the dock. By that time we have to get things closed up to drive back home (kids still have school the next morning and we live 2.5 hours away). I didn't have time to do any diagnosing but figured it had to be fuel.
After two weeks (where we had obligations at home and I couldn't make it over to work on it myself) they found a bad low pressure fuel pump. $219 plus labor later and the boat is running. We had a great weekend this past weekend and the boat never missed a lick.
The incident did make me think about having troubles and needing a tow in the future. We have Boat US tow insurance but I'm sure we'd have to wait hours for them to arrive. I realized we have a spare anchor with a long line suitable to use for towing (the people who helped us used theirs) so I bought some shackles so I can easily remove the line from the anchor if needed. I guess it is a good learning experience but a little scary for a relativley new boater. It is one thing to understand the need to be prepared but to have your boat quit in the middle of the lake and the wind and the waves rocking the boat pretty good and the kids start to freak out is to face reality. Oh well, now it is just one more thing we've made it through.
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Terry
Current: 07 Crownline 255 CCR cuddy - 350 Mag MPI/B3 "Casi Cielo"
Previous:97 245 Sundowner 5.7GI/SX
Tow vehicle: 1986 GMC 2500 Camper Special 454/TH400
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