Offshoreonly.com - This weekend's slicknick report

Ok, this is going to sound alot like nicks past problems. But I figure that he could pass the torch on. :D

After procrastinating all week as to which power steering reservior I should order, I decided on Thursday that I'd order one from CP Performance. Paid dearly to have it overnighted so I could install it on Friday. Never got it. CP shipped it out, but it just fell of the face of the earth. Gone. Ok, guess we'll have to run without the reservior and just have to clean the bilge. :rolleyes:

Sunday morning we got the boat out. It was great. Definetly a wet ride in quartering waves, but once you get own top, it really smoothed out. Mrs is very approving. :D We ran about 5 miles at half throttle and I saw the oil pressure start to drop. Still had enough, but it was going down. I was starting to get nervous, when I heard what sounded like a valve tick. It was getting louder and louder. The pressure was still showing more than enough, but there was the ever increasing tick. Then we started smelling burning rubber. Because I didn't have the hatch on I gave the wheel to the mrs and went back to look for the problem. Turns out the water wasn't getting introduced into the header (engine cooling water gets dumped overboard) so I had burned out the rubber that connects the header to the tip. I adjusted the valve that introduces the water and was greated with a nice spray of water into the bilge. :rolleyes: I pulled the throttle back to a slower cruise and the motor really laid down. I guessed that I was reverting water and quickly adjust the valve and the motor picked back up.

We nursed the boat to our destination harbor which was very rough. As I was pulling up to the dock the engine died and I took a digger into the piling. No time to cry over spilled milk as we quickly got the boat tied and bumpered. Time to stand back and survey the damages. I remember thinking to myself that I don't recall the engine dieing with a back fire, but the air cleaner seems to be smoking. Oh, well, proably a little carb fire. A moment later the air cleaner seems to be smoking more. There is now way too much smoke coming from this thing. I pull the lid off and see nothing in the throat. It's at this time that the lady on the dock starts yelling that I'm on fire! She's yelling to get a fire extinguisher! I'm like where's the fire? Another guy yell out that "You're definetly on fire!" I'm like "WHERE!" He points at the air cleaner (which is still smoking like a leaf fire) and yells "Fire!" I look closer at it and the entire air cleaner is glowing like the end of a cigarette butt. Not wanting to mess around with the burning air cleaner, I quickly grabbed it and threw it over board. I then turned to the lady and said "What fire?" :D I still have absolutly no idea as to what started the air cleaner on fire. It was a K&N model and although it wasn't totally clean, it wasn't filthy either. I wonder if it somehow got saturated with gas. I wonder if fire is covered under K&N's "million mile warantee" ?

Well, I decided that I had had enough excitement for one day and declaired the boat DOA. We managed to bum a ride from a very generous club member and really had a good time. He was kind enough to tow us across the lake to a harbor with a suitable ramp then run us back over to pickup our truckster. I reality, it was more complex than that, but I'll leave the story to those that were there. :D