Knowledge Sharing IP: 68.13.219.172 Posted on June 6, 2016 at 03:24:08 PM by John H.
Had an interesting day to say the least. Blasted off 11th for the Cancer Classic and started my run south. Boat was loaded with fuel and gear with the hopes of putting some fish in the wells. Big Red seemed a bit sluggish getting up on the water and was running about 5mph slower than the usual 67ish. As we made the turn around Troublesome Point it was a bit bumpy and it seemed like I was losing power. As we motored along my thoughts started being flooded with possible causes. "Is my newly rebuilt motor blowing up again?" or "am I dragging one of them wretched crab pots?". Finally I could no longer keep on plane and had to set her down. I could not hear anything banging or popping. Motor sounded like it was running smooth. Temps were good and she was pumping water like a champ. Decided to fish a bit and we were able to put a couple of keepers in the well before I could not take not knowing any more. Called Kevin Love who was fishing just around the bend from us and he came to our aide with some tools. I pulled a few plugs to see if maybe I had fouled one and to check if there was any indication to the source of the power loss. Could not identify any real issues. Fuel filter looked good with no signs of water, motor was clean and could not see any loose or disconnected wires. Made the decision to start back at a whopping 6mph. We left the pond around 830 or so and headed up the river. I called my wife to go get the truck and meet us at Munden Point for an emergency pickup. Made the point around 930ish and as I tried to line up I had to back up as the wind was pushing us a little off line and too fast. Went for reverse and got nothing. She dropped into neutral and that is all she was gonna give me. Wind blew me up on the ramp and had to use the T/M to get back out to line up again. Second attempt was going well until the keel decided to jump the bunk on the trailer. Had to get wet and push it back off the trailer. Finally got loaded up and headed back to West Landing to drop off Bruce and call it a day. Decided to look over the motor again, this time from a better viewing angle on dry land. Remembering all my mental mechanical troubleshooting checklists, I started looking over the motor. Again I could not see anything glaring. As a last step I tried again to put the transmission through its settings and got no forward travel after it engaged in Fwd. It just stopped. I went to looking at the linkage and after a couple of different angles and moving of wire bundles I could see the two cables were not in the holder properly. I jockeyed the cables around and got them back into their slots and locked them down with the flimsy plastic keeper that was tucked way down under the wire bundles. Bruce had already packed in his gear but he agreed to help me launch and go for a quick ride to check it out. Made a couple of quick runs and all seemed right again. Dropped Bruce back at the ramp and went looking for a couple more fish to finish my limit. Everywhere I went I found more than one boat was already on top of my spots. Decided to just pack it up and try again for our event this Saturday. Thanks to Kevin Love for his help and to the Vitovich family for putting on a worthy event. My apologies to Bruce Taylor for letting down the team and thanks for keeping me from totally losing my shit by staying the positive one. Will try and make it up down the road. Replies: