Most of you probably do this however, I made an oversight yesterday that almost cost me.
My Sunsation is brand new and I just had 20 hour service done (this was my first weekend out since). As part of this service, they replace all fluids and charge all systems however, it seems one of my resevoirs was overlooked.
I went out Sat morn for speed run - there was a light chop and the lake was mine. I got her up to about 82, and she started chine walking worse than anything I have ever experienced. While this boat will do this ever so slightly if you overtrim (this is easily rectified) this was a almost a side to side thrashing. I immediately backed off the throttles and as soon as the torque let off, the boat instantly turned hard right. At this point, I was waiting for the spinout and to be thrown. Of course, I had on my lifeline and lanyards however, my heart was pounding and every thought was going thru my head.
Once I gained control, I immediately went to the dock and raised the hatch. Sure enough, my starboard side power steering resevoir was empty (my IMCO hydraulic steering runs from the pumps and resevoirs on my 496HO's). The sad part is that I had very little warning (if any) that I had an issue as it seemed to steer ok when idling out. Since I just had the service done, I immediately pulled the boat out as I will take it to the mechanic that did the service and have him review the system and tell me what the hell happened (I fear this particular resevoir was not filled back OR the system wasn't charged correctly under power) . When I pulled her out of the water, I could move the drives in both directions with my hands almost effortlessly - this is when reality sunk in.
I have a 4 yr old and my wife is 7 months pregnant and every time I think about what might have happened, I feel sick. I realize I was very lucky however, there is a moral to this story - CHECK YOUR FLUIDS EVERY TIME BEFORE YOU GO OUT! As I stated above, most of you probably do this however, for those of you that don't, I hope my story brings a sense of urgency to your boating habits. I know that I will never leave the dock again without looking under the hatch....
Last edited by Ca$hed Out; 07-08-2007 at 10:13 PM.
I do all the service on mine myself but if anybody else works on my boat i always check behind them. You just can't trust most mechanics working on your boat. Glad you didn't get hurt Shawn. You we're lucky Got your PM call me this week
Thanks Mark. Funny thing is, I talked to James earlier today about this and he made the same point. In fact, I agree with you 100% and I feel stupid for 'assuming' everything was tight.
Traditionally, I am not mechanically inclined however, I am going to change this....need to start learning and take control.
James can verify I've learned alot in the last 2 years (although he probably won't admit it!!!) I lift the hatch the first start of the day EVERYDAY I'm out on the water.....just look around, start each engine, look around again. Takes a minute or 2 but I would have seen that empty resevoir.
Check it again so you don't throw all those burly guys out this weekend!!!
I do all my own work as well. If not, my mechanic friend does it and I still check his work. To my benefit, I've never found fault with his work, but it's always nice to take a peak and make sure.
Traditionally, I am not mechanically inclined however, I am going to change this....need to start learning and take control.
Alot of truth to the old saying if you want something done right do it yourself. Next time you need to change oil tow it over to my house and i'll help you with it. I just put new manifolds on my neighbors 502 in his Baja for him a few weeks ago and i only charged him 1 bottle of Grey Goose per manifold Oil changes are a case of Bud Light per motor
Why would anyone in any part of sevice empty your powersteering res.? Since when do you change powersteering fluid? Maybe you have leak that just happened to have the same timing as the service.
Has anybody ever had their power steering res. fluid changed?????
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