so you had a bad day

[mr elevman]

ahh the joys of owenning a boat so the day started out good pull out of ower slip behind a friend and head out the lagoon we go 20 minn 800 rpms and hit the sticks raise the rss to 1500 10 minn to the 40 bouy 2200 rpms 5 minn s.side cuts out and wont restart raido my friend i just loost a moter im headding back in one one moter see you latter back at the dock i turn around and limp back with a 15-20 mph wind from the south crosswind the last ste of sticks befor i can get into the cover of the lagoon a gust carches me and blows me outside of the sticks now im in the mud i fight and fight allmost out and 3 36' pluss boats are on thair way out so i stop and wait boat isent even rocking ok thay pass i start the port side and try the s.side she fires up yaahooo rock back and forth a few times and just hammer it cool im out bolth moters running port running hot 200-220 mack it back to the marina im lighing her up with the slip s.side now wont go in forward so i let the wind blow me into the pilling and boat polles and a little mussel get her tyed up and shut down pluged in its miller time !!!! ahhh what a day flussed out bolth moters and strainers s. side has a bad fule pump cant supply enough fule past 2000 rpms time to order an eletric the mach pump dosent even have any # left on it its so old the boat is a 72

[Don Lumber]

But it was still better than a good day at work no?

[mr elevman]

any day not working is a good day

[David Kane]

Well, I'll add my tale to the thread. Finally got to take my boat out yesterday evening after putting new heads on my starboard engine (ref. Rust in #7 cylinder exhaust port). Took my wife, Dianne, and son, Ryan, out. Headed out across Sandusky Bay, stepping up the engines a few hundered revs at a time. By the time we passed Cedar Point and were in Lake Erie, had them up to 3200 rpm. All was gooder 'n good! The starboard engine ran and sounded great. OK guys, where do you want to go? Ryan wanted to go around Kelley's Island, so we headed out to round her in clockwise fashion. After a bit, I had Ryan take over the helm so I could go down and do a visual on the engines. All the hose connections were holding fast. Then I saw it; mist around the side of the starboard block near an inboard side water drain plug! I'm thinking I have a hose leak and am feeling around-nope, nothing coming from any hoses. Holding my light closer and shining it from different angles; yup, I've got 2 pinhole leaks through the casting itself. There is a straight, horizontal rust line extending out on either side of that drain plug, and along that line is where the leaks are, one on each side of the plug. Dang, all that hard work and now we have to look at replacing the lower part of the engine too!!! But wait, the story gets better! I decided to take time to just chill out, so I go forward, come out through the vee berth hatch, sit on the bow seat, and just contemplate on the meaning of life! It was a lovely evening, very light wind, calm water, gorgeous views of the north shore of Kelley's; heck, you could even see Canada. I'd never riden up front before, and what a fantastically smooth ride; and you could just feel the confident power of those engines!!! Dianne joined me and we round the northeast corner of Kelley's. I decided not to tell her about the starboard engine, just enjoy the moment. Well, we're now headed south along the east side and nugging in closer to shore. I yell back to Ryan to take her out more and he shouts back he can't-the wheel is all the way over to port, but we're angling slightly to starboard! I have him back off to idle and we discover that something in the steering train has been slipping. The turnbuckle is all the way up to the helm wheel gear. I try lossening up the turnbuckle so we can take it off the gears and try resetting it to give us some ability to steer to port. Used WD 40 to try to loosen the nuts on the threaded shaft. Got the lower nut backed off, but sheared the threaded shaft on the uppoer side. Great! Set the anchor and called for a tow. It was absolutely beautiful out there and we all took time to enjoy. We were about 3-4 tenths of a mile east of the airport runway on Kelley's, and even enjoyed watching a plane come in. The tow boat showed up in about a half hour, their smaller one, a large zodiac type hull with a center console and no cabin. Hey, it was a calm evening and smooth sailing, right? Once the tow line was secured and the anchor retrieved, we set off back towards Sandusky. We got about a mile off Kelley's when the wind picked up, and picked up, and picked up. Waves kept building, rolling past us from astern, until finally we were in witecaps at the mouth of the bay, where, if there is going to be turbid waters, that's where they'll be! What a ride with us bouncing one way and the little tow boat bouncing the other!!! Rounding Cedar Point, the wind and waves calmed down some. Yet they were strong enough that although we short lined up just outside the marina and I powered up to use my motors to assist in maneuvering to my berth, we just couldn't do it, so we had to tie up at the gas dock last night. Will get the turnbuckle replaced ASAP and have decided to limp along the rest of this boating season 'till we get the 'Di Anne Marie' stored inside for the winter and take on the daunting project of replacing both enginesd. There was a moment this morning if I had a gun, I'd a put the ol' gal out of her/my misery, but that moment has passed and I'm much calmer now!

[wowzer52]

I know the phraze B O A T stands for Brake Out Another Thousand but when I pulled the boat out to put in another transducer for the flybridge I saw half of the brand new $3000. bottom paint that I had done 3 months ago was gone. Came off in big flakes. It had a two year warranty so I tried to call the yacht service right away but it's probably a good thing there was no answer which has given me time to cool off. So with the cost of fuel, $400 to get there and back, and the time my boat would be on the hard, the last time they had it for three weeks, I decided to scratch it down and touch up the worst parts until next february or march when I can regroup. I will be calling the yacht service back. AND THEN, after getting it back in the water I asked my wife to hit the starter on the port engine while I check the battery draw because it seemed that the port starter was dragging. As she did I realized both starters were turning, port and starboard. The starboard ignition and starter work fine by thereself but the port has a problem, what, I don't have a clue, but I guess it's time to dig in. And if anyone has any ideas, jump right in, I would appreciate the help..... Kinda reminds me of when I took up golf before I quit drinking(booze made me do strange things). It took three sets of golf clubs before I got the hang of it, two of which went swimming one stick at a time. So like David I go out on the bow and contemplate the meaning of life and I'm much better now.

[thelast322]

It has almost been three full seasons on the beautiful "Liberty Call" and the only bad day is when I have to leave her behind and go home. The only raw occurance we encountered was a blown trim tab line and a strong Nothern wind that created 3-5 swells. So fortunately I cannot complain. On highsight we all know boats are a lot of fun in many different avenues of great enjoyment. On the other hand there are many small, fast moving parts that require a lot of attention. Eventually they will fail but sometimes with proper maintenace we can catch the small problems before they multiply into a true Quadmire. So, with that in mind I will not complain. For example, when I am navigating down the C&D Canal and pass the fishing piers. What are those people thinking? They might be saying I wish I could own a boat. Saying that, I trying to convey that we are fortuanate, blessed people who can share and enjoy the great boating adventure. We are very lucky!!!!! But not to kill the thread stories are also part of the adventure. A bit%$# sailor is a happy Sailor.

[mr elevman]

try and think whare we would be with out ower boats its sort of like a marrage the ups and downs the hard times the good times and so on but in the end if your still happy its all worth it all good relashionships require work i think in the end thats why we love ower boats (i still dont know who has the larger allowence my wife or my boat lol)

[LandVF36]

I've bought and brought back to life a few old boats, each with stories of its own. The first twin engine boat we puchased about 15mi south of Milwaukee. It was not a Trojan. A Trojan would not mis-behave the way this boat did on its first voyage with new owners. The previous owner was on board with us to the Milwaukee Harbor where it was place on a flatbed and trucked to LaCrosse WI on the Mississippi wihout incident.

The helm was mostly dead except for fuel guage and the port tach but the owner claimed it had been that way for 2-3 years and he just had not got around to getting it fixed. I knew it had issues, but we paid next to nothing for the 25 year old boat and we could build some equity by fixing it up.

On the big Miss, we had a 95mi trip upstream to RedWing, MN. There are 7 locks to clear and at 12-20 mph, with locks, it should be 1 long or two decent days on the water.

Splash in, fire up, and off we went. 2mi out of Lacross, our youngest son, about 9 at the time asked if it was OK to use the head. He did, and then flushed. The starboard engine quit with the flush and an electrical fire started burning off the + lead to the starter and other wires around it! Smoke poored from the hatches and blower ports, the family prepared to jump as I opened the hatch, extinguisher in hand. The smoke cleared, it didn't seem that we were going down. I started up the port engine with the Mrs at the wheel and we headed north again.

I spent the next 4 hrs in the bilge removing wires and replacing enough to get the starter and ignition back together. The big problem was about 10 + leads sneaking through the bulkhead wall to the + terminal on the starter with no fuses! A little corrosion and the flush was just too much and you can't put the majic smoke back in burnt wires.

Back in the capt' chair, I fired up the startboard and got back on plane, for about 100 yds, and the port engine lost power. With the Mrs at the wheel again, I was back down below. Not getting fuel. So, up to a sandbar (I'm crazy enough to rewire one while underway, but I shut everything down when working on gas issues). Clogged up filter in the base of the Rochester carb. #*@#$% ethonal fuel! New filter in, varoom! Back off the sand-bar and we are on our way.

Made it nearly an hour this time. Crossing the wake of a cruiser going southbound, we took a rock side to side with gusto. A moment later, the majic smoke was coming out from down below.... Wife at the helm and down I went again. Wires off the alternator of the starboard engine burnt black for an inch off the back, but still had voltage and the engine was running. All the cabin 12v was dead. Seems that the old house battery let loose a few plates and shorted out. Thank God the fuse did its job. Next Marina, tank of gas and a new battery. A little electrical tape and off we went for an hour and then sunset, drop anchor, day 1

Day 2. Port engine starts. Starboard just grunts, won't turn over. Hatches up, check wiring on starter. Touching starter case causes first injury, a blister off the sizzling starter case. Its Sunday. No parts available. OK, not so bad. We have one left to run on. Lets go. We can do about 6-7 mph on one. With the Mrs at the helm, I wired up the head again so we could flush. (I've found over the years that the crew will put up with a lot if the head works ). Plotted out the rest of the trip, figured, we'll be home in a day if we don't get held up at the locks.

Mid afternoon, the port engine starts to surge. A little more RPMs it smooths out. 10-20 minutes later, more surging. A little more RPMs. 10 minutes more surge, surge sputter, ran on a couple cylinders for a bit then backfired and quits! Try to start it. Dead. Won't turn over. As we drifted out of the channel, we dropped anchor. Hatches up, down I go. The battery is dead. Swap batteries and she fires up. Huh. Check for volts, not charging. The alternator must not work on that side (no guages, how would I know). So, with fingers crossed, we idled to the next marina on what was in the battery for ignition power and got a transient slip for the night (with power) and charged up the batteries.

Next day, got a starter for the starboard engine and an alternator for the port. It was bout 4PM before the repairs were done. Eager to get home, we headed north again. Two engines purring. 18 MPH and on plane again!

With the Mrs at the wheel, I decide to go sit on the bow deck and enjoy the moment. That's about all I got. We slowly fell off plane. I kept telling my first mate to speed it up but eventually, we settled back into the water. As I got up off the deck to walk back, I noticed how LOW the transom was in the water. I also notice that both bilge pumps were sending out steady stream.

Just idling now, hatches up, and crap, there was about a foot of water in the bilge and the starboard engine was making an awful racket with water splashing everywhere from the spining engine couplers and the smell of exhaust was thick. I had the Mrs shut down the starboard. Water was still pouring in. There was hole the size of a golfball in the outboard exhaust tube at the manifold. The exhaust had gotten two hot, starved for water, and burn right through! With the boat sitting low, water was flowing in through the exhaust and out the hole. 20 yards of duct tape and some bailing and the bilge pumps finally caught up. Dirty and wet, we all took a little swim, had dinner, and called it a day. (figured out a week later that the exhaust manifold had cracked).

Day 4, we travled the last 20 mi without incident, learned to dock on 1 engine (offset which at the time was new trick for a guy that only had single screw experience).

Back in the truck for the ride home, everone was quiet. The Mrs broke the silence after after about a 1/2 hour with "well...." I hung my head and asked if she wanted me to get rid of it. She said "no, we all had a great adventure. Besides, in next 10 years, nothing else can go wrong with that boat, its already happened ". I asked if we were still planning to go back to the river next weekend. "I'm going if you are" was the simple reply.

Gotta love that girl. In the past 30 years, she's rarely said no to one of my crazy adventures....

FYI, that project boat took 4 years to finish. It had to go when I found the Trojan sitting on the hard, begging for someone to polish her up and bring her back to life.

[rickalan35]

Guys, those were some really, really, bad "Bad Day Stories!"

I hate it when stuff like that happens. My worst nightmares have revolved around previous boats that I have owned and not this current sweetheart, Trojan Tricabin of mine - things like a broken steering cable one time, coil and ignition points failure and dead batteries. Once during a winter when getting engines rebuilt, the engine shop itself went bankrupt and their bank had first claim on the contents and I lost my engines (and my temper) and subsequently had to repower the boat ....... aughhhhh

Rick

[wowzer52]

Love surpasses all understanding.

[jwrape]

We ALL can relate to ya brother.... I posted up early this season about losing a shaft. Not a good day. All season I have been having generator problems too. We're right in the trenches with ya....