I may be done boating for the season.
 

Was out yesterday prop testing. Something went wrong. Not sure what yet. But I have no money or patience left for this boat.

If and when I know more, I'll let y'all know. Until then I'm just going to remain pissed off and dissapointed in my boating season.

'Foul

oh crap! sorry to hear that, mike. what happened? did you hit something, did you hear a noise, did you lose oil pressure??? what??

jbk

That SUCKS!!! I hereby pledge to drink at least 12 beers today to aid you in your sorrow:D :D Hang in there, It might not be anything serious:) :)

Craig

I figured it was because IT HASN"T STOPPED RAINING:mad:
I guess you should be so lucky now. Keep us posted:(

mike, sorry to hear about your trouble. i know how frustrating these toys can be. best of luck in resolving th headache.

Mike I'm real sorry to hear that, just breath in and out bro and things will get better.

Not the news I was hoping to hear. Hope it's nothing major.

Man that sucks!! Sorry Dude!!

I think you and that boat don't get along...get to fixed and send it down the road!!! Maybe the next person will have better luck, and then try your luck on a different boat!!

:( :mad:

Buck

Nor mine but I have a very different excuse.Otto

Mike, This is not good news. Iwas in your shoes last year and just got my formula and thought the engine was good to go, but I was wrong. My wife was not to happy. But I still got my engine, just fix it and get back on the water. Better days are coming.


Best of luck, stay positive!

Mark

I just spent the day ripping up the lake with Traviss on "Problem Child" so I feel a little better than this morning. Thanks Traviss!!!

Last night I went out to test a prop on Lake Michigan. all was going well. Motor ran right up to WOT no problem (the prop was no faster than the one I currently run). Was running about 3700 rpm to see where cruising speed was with this prop. The motor suddenly seemed to be running on less than all 8 cylinders and just quit. No metal on metal noises, no bangs or knocks. Just quit. I'm now a mile from the Holland pier head. Got a guy to tow me to the ramp though (there is an embarrassing story to go along with the tow, but we won't go into that now). Motor will not start, but will turn over (or did till the batteries went pretty much dead). I am thinking ignition or something electrical because my voltage gauge never went above 12.5 volts the entire time I was out and I just put one BRAND NEW battery in the day before. All other gauges read normal. The 75 amp alternator was new this spring. I knew I had one bad battery but turns out I took out the wrong one. I may have cooked the alternator trying to charge that bad battery. When I put the hatch up the alternator was smoking hot (litteraly). Way too hot to touch. When I turned the key I only got 10.5 volts from the GOOD battery with the motor not running (remember, brand new battery). This seems wrong to me. Indicator light on the Crane box still turns on with the key on. Crane boxes will flash the light if they sense an issue. No blinking.

This morning, after Wette Vette woke me up at 7:15 (I was out till 1:00 that night, thanks a LOT Craig :drool: ) I took the bad battery out and put a meter on it. 8.5 volts. Definitely BAD. The good battery showed 12 volts. I put my other battery back in (it also showed 12 vlots after about 45 minutes on the charger). The motor turns right over and did start....but something is making a BAD noise. I'm hoping it's just the alternator bearings. Tomorrow I might (depends on whether I feel like messing with the POS) take the belt off and turn the motor over to see if the noise goes away. Spin the alternator by hand, and possibly take it to Autozone and have it tested.

Question: If an alternator simply fries and supplies NO juice to the motor, will the motor quit? Or will the motor run till it runs the batteries down?? As I understand it, Crane boxes will run down to 10.5 volts and then simply shut off. True??

Any other suggestions??

'Foul

The motor will run until the voltage drops to a point the spark won't jump the gap. I think most engines run on around 7 to 8 volts. They run like that because when turning the starter, the voltage will drop. A fully charged battery will run a long time with no electric accesories running. I'm not sure, but I think there is a way that the alt can actually discharge a battery.

cuda, the motor may run on that little voltage, but as I understand it, the Crane box won't, thus no spark.

sorry to hear that foul best of luck robbie

You are most likely correct. I don't know anything about those. I was thinking standard ignition. The Crane system must make some sort of adjustment for the starting voltage drop.

Foul take out the alternator and bring it back to the rebuilder WITH OUT A WORD of anything but that the thing just died. Tell him you have two BRAND NEW batteries in the boat and can he check it out. I can almost guarantee to you that your alternator went into high charge mode and fried itself. Then the voltage dropped down to low for you to run on. You will be ok. If you still are broke let me know I am sure I can find a alternator that works for you to use for the rest of the summer. Just make sure you have two new batteries or test the ones you have. Good luck bro.

Jon

get a new alternator. i had the same thing happen a couple years ago. swapped in a new altnerator and BINGO.

i have a 100 amp 1 wire i could send up to you. it not marine, but you'd find out if it's an alternator. let me know.

mike, the is best part is that this is one of the easiest/cheapest repairs in boatiing.

Mike, you're always welcome to come with us. Just bring Miller Lite for barb and a couple Cokes for me.

The good news is that the motor started back up. It sounds like the alternator. Damn, always something isn't it.

How was Hardy? I wanted to go but, my wife is out of town this weekend and I knew my youngest son would rather do something else. I redid the brakes on my trailer and then we went to a Whitecaps game instead. Going out today, though. Get that boat running man. Summer is just getting started. Lots of good weather still to come.

See ya, Doug :cool:

hey foul we do not want no quitters here. fix it so you can break it again. thats boating.

cya lucy.............

Well Mike I wish my problem was that easy! sounds like you got it narrowed down, now get wrenching. My leaker is sitting on the garage floor as we speek. I'm down but I'm not out yet!
Good Luck!
Don

sounds like the last belt change could have been too tight and put to much of a load on the pully and fried it.
Hope that is all.
At least your boat has seen water. All mine has seen is rain :(

Not to sound like a novice question... Did you check the kill switch? The wires soldered to the back of the kill switch? Happened to me, then I fixed a boat full of hot college chicks last summer it happened to!! :D

Tommy, it will start now. But something is not right.

Have not looked into it today. Just don't feel like it.

Just remember, that is better than yesterday when you thought you were done for the year. Good luck with the problem, hopefully it will be fixed in the next few days.

Tommy

That was my thought to. Doesnt sound terminal. Get new batteries and see if the rebuilder will spot you a new alt and your off again !!!!

Good luck Mike !!!!!!

Foul,
Good to see you, Travis, Whitey, Tinker, and your buddies at Hardy yesterday. We stayed today until 2:30 and had a great time. We will be making another trip up there sometimme in July so maybe we can do it again. Anyway, hopefully your boat is a simple problem and you will be back on the water soon. Take it easy!!
Craig

definately not a engine guru... i know enough to get in trouble... but seems like i've read somewhere that most of todays ignitions... just quit working at 9.5 volts..... no matter what... starter still works but no fire...

Don

Craig, thanks for the blast across the lake!! But it's just wrong that Ryan got to go faster than I did!!!! LOL!!!

Maybe at some point this week I'll feel like messing with my boat. I'm soooooo burnt out on fixing it.

Foul, when reading the thread title, I though "Oh no, he's used up the whole world's supply of PS belts!!!!!!!:D Glad it is not anything as serious as that!


MNFastBoater: Great to see you are still with us. Missed you at LOTO over Memorial Day.

It was nice seeing everyone again. Foul it does not sould like anything real serious but, I know how a person can get burned out on a boat. Just take a break and look at it later in the week.
Dwight

If the alternator does not do the trick, I'd look into the ign box. Sounds like a typical puking of an ign box or a coil. Expecially if it fired back up after a short while. Eventually it will just crap out totally.

The motor will run on just a battery (think of a drag car) but eventually drain itself to the point where it cannot make enough spark.

Good luck, don't get frustreted, we've all been there.

:)

come on ol' buddy, pick that chin up now. wipe the tears........
you can do it.

i wanna hear those famous words from you

now what are they???? come on... you can say it.......

come on, say it .....:)

Rob, I can't say it until I do it. And right now, I just don't feel like it.

Nice seeing you boys on saturday :cool:

Whitey.. Nice looking boat, maybe next time we get together you'll have to take me for a spin :D

Mr vette :D :D Nice meeting ya and seeing your boat, sweet setup and it runs like a raped ape :cool:



Foul... thanks for the towel soaked with beer :D it smelled great this morning LOL! It was a pleasure having you ride with me. My back sure hurt this morning.. :eek:



Travis

If the batteries were hooked up in parallel without an isolator or battery switch was set to both/2, the bad battery will load down the good battery AND the alternator. This means that you may have only had 9 or 10 volts while running, with the alternator working very hard to charge up the batteries.

If the combined pair was at 10 volts, for example, and you try to start the engine, you would probably be lucky to have 6 or seven volts while cranking. A solid state ignition probably has a minimum voltage, and if you go below that it will not make sparks. I would have BOTH good batteries checked on a load tester AND check the alternator. Yes, you should be able to run for a while with just batteries.

Bulldog aka Ronnie

Although it proably gave a scare, it sounds like you're going to get off pretty easy. Install that new alternator and go boating! :cool: