Edit: Switched ISPs...pics deleted...
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Wife and I cruised to Annapolis today to see some sailboats
from the Volvo Ocean Race.

Then cruised to the West River and parked for lunch.

I went to start to the engine and the motor barely cranked. Seemed like weak batteries. Called a buddy of mine (real friends help when you boat breaks down) and he brought down a fresh battery. Didn't have anything heavy to bang on the starter so I called the tow boat. Connections seemed OK to starter and bell housing but with no tools or testers what can you do?

Cost to Boat/US was $240 to be towed 5 miles But it was a nice day and was actually nice to have someone else do the driving.


Tonight I did some searches on the OSO tech board and I have a number of things to check when I get the boat on the rack.

Of course if I had twins I could have limped home. Hmmm.

Yeah, but look at the gas you saved.
Sorry to hear, maybe now is the time to shoot for 65mph???

Well 65mph would be great....though at moment my goal is simply "combustion."



Other than not starting the boat ran great today.

It must be a 242 thing

Dam, I hope I have better luck when my 242 hits the water but it will be a few weeks

Chuck, hope it`s a simple fix.

Chuck,
Tow insurance is great! For $120/year, it 's a steal. Even if you only use it once.

Man, your boat is just like the boat I sold-1989 242SS with the Palm Beach colors/stripes. I love that design!

Is your engine the original one or has it been repowered at some point?

It is the original engine....broker claimed the engine was rebuilt in 2001 but I don't have documentation. Total hours: 736.

Yesterday I attempted to remove and replace the starter. There is one bolt that is right up against the bellhousing. Couldn't get a socket on it...and couldn't get it to budge.

But while I was in there I noticed that to bottom half of my manifolds are rusty. Yikes. I'm thinking that the starter was fine afterall and that the motor "hydrolocked." I cranked the motor quite a bit before calling for the tow. Hopefully I didn't toast anything doing this but at this point who knows. After hanging upside down for a couple of hours yesterday trying to pull the starter I just wasn't in the mood for pulling the plugs only to see water drip out so I left it alone and asked the mechanic at my marina to take a look.

Certainly the manifolds are toast, but what else? Heads? intake manifold? Block rotting from within? Might just be time to look for a complete motor rather than messing with this one as the needs may never end. But I don't know. The boat ran very well when it was running.

The boat is in nice shape other wise. The outdrive was replaced in 2002. I fixed a scratch on the side of the boat and had all of the chips in the gel coat on the bottom touched up. The vinyl interior has a couple of small tears that I'd like to address at some point. I had a line on an upholstery shop to do the bench seat and the sunpad but the guy is too busy and isn't interested in calling me back. Which is probably a good thing since those funds will be diverted to fixing the motor.

Chuck, sorry to hear about the boat, I think we saw you tied up to th Galesville pier when we were at Thursdays on Saturday afternoon.

Yeah, that was us. We spent some time at that pier.

And I heard you revving up the motors to impress the ladies at the dock bar.

Before you panic...pull the spark plugs and try cranking it over to see if the engine is full of water. The manifolds could be just fine. The rust on the outer doesn't mean the inner is shot.
Have you tried bypassing the starter solenoids?? I though my starter was going till I found there was a primary solenoid on the front of the engine. Replaced it and all was fine.