View Full Version : Frustration
BriEOD
04-23-2005, 05:56 PM
Well, had some work to do this morning and it was rainy. I got home around 1230 pm and the sky was beautiful. I loaded up the family and gear and started the boat in the driveway--good to go! We drove 30 minutes to the river and I backed the boat down. My wife started the boat and the starter would not stop turning over even though she pulled the key out, etc. :eek: I quickly climbed up on the trailer and into the boat, tore up the observer seat and turned my Perko switch to off to kill the power. I tried doing some troubleshooting at the ramp to no avail. It wasn't the switch, etc. I traced it back to the solenoid. I had one at the house but it's 30 minutes away. So, by now I'm a little frustrated the baby is crying and my daughter is trying to go swimming in 67 degree water in front of the boat ramp. Well, I call it off and we come back to the house. I swapped out the solenoid and it fired right up without any problems. I guess there is always tomorrow, but man is it frustrating when things don't work correctly!!
bradamerry
04-23-2005, 06:03 PM
Sorry to hear of your problem, but glad it was something simple.
JEREMY79
04-23-2005, 06:05 PM
yeah, I hear you. Its even worse when you are at the ramp!
Sorry about your problems. Glad you got it fixed
ski_king
04-23-2005, 06:16 PM
.............. My wife started the boat and the starter would not stop turning over even though she pulled the key out, etc. :eek: I quickly climbed up on the trailer and into the boat, tore up the observer seat and turned my Perko switch to off to kill the power. I tried doing some troubleshooting at the ramp to no avail. It wasn't the switch, etc. I traced it back to the solenoid...............
I had the same problem once...... I had a boat load of people and darn near had to throw them overboard to get to the battery under my seat to pull the battery cable.........
SteveO
04-23-2005, 06:16 PM
Bummer, After all that winter work, not what you had planned. Could have been worse, the boat could have decided to do that on the water. Glad to hear it was a quick fix.
Mag_Red
04-23-2005, 06:31 PM
That sucks! Good thing is you're only 30 minutes from the lake. Me.....it would have killed a week-end, not just the day.
scott88prostar
04-23-2005, 07:34 PM
I have to get one of those switches
scott88prostar
04-23-2005, 07:36 PM
That happened to me too....wish I had the battery switch....took a plyers and ripped out a wire!...ok I panicked...thought she was gonna blow!
Not trying to rub any salt into the wound but this is why I always harp on lubing the Bendix every year. If it's not a stuck solenoid, it can happen because of the Bendix sticking.
Glad to hear that you fixed it without much more damage than aggravation and time wasted.
BriEOD
04-23-2005, 08:14 PM
Not trying to rub any salt into the wound but this is why I always harp on lubing the Bendix every year. If it's not a stuck solenoid, it can happen because of the Bendix sticking.
Glad to hear that you fixed it without much more damage than aggravation and time wasted.
JimN as I normally do in regards to your engine advice, I did lube the Bendix this past year. However, this was the solenoid. I was glad I put in that battery switch, it really saved me time and ripping out battery cables. Some quick thinking and familiarity with the engine/electrical system really helped.
aprgriggs
04-23-2005, 08:19 PM
Glad to hear there was not major damage....i wish I could fix my boat like that. If I had a problem I would have to miss the whole weekend to take it to the MC dealer on Monday.
How does the baby do in the boat? I have a 10 mth old and she loves it.
erkoehler
04-23-2005, 08:24 PM
Kids love boats!
Mag_Red
04-23-2005, 08:40 PM
Just wondering if pulling the kill switch would have done the trick :confused: I'm thinking NOT
wiltok
04-23-2005, 08:46 PM
Can someone walk me through lubing the Bendix?
H20skeefreek
04-23-2005, 09:05 PM
Can someone walk me through lubing the Bendix?
ditto......
Leroy
04-23-2005, 09:13 PM
Lubing the bendix, that phrase almost is there with the tranny phrases, and several others.
Mar; I believe this problem doesn't stop until the battery is dead, is just the starter running, regardless of what the motor is doing. Kill switch only kills the spark.
I'm with you Brian, days on the lake are so precious, glad no one was hurt or nothing really bad with the boat.
BriEOD
04-24-2005, 08:28 AM
April,
Cody is 7 months old now. He's been out a few times and seems to like it. I wish we had a little more room, we have PS 190. But, he watches what's going on and usually the engine puts him to sleep.
BriEOD
04-24-2005, 08:33 AM
Mag, I don't think it would have done anything. I wasn't quite to a panic yet but all I could think was "kill the power!!"
As for the Bendix lube, first you have to remove the starter. Take the cable off that runs from the solenoid. Than there are two bolts you remove. One is a real pain it's underneath and you need like 2-12" extensions for your ratchet. Once you have it off you can lube the Bendix. It is the part that engages the flywheel to turn over the motor. I think it is spring loaded so it shoots out to turn the engine over and than retracts when the engine starts running. You can pull it right out.
MarkP
04-24-2005, 09:14 AM
JimN as I normally do in regards to your engine advice, I did lube the Bendix this past year. However, this was the solenoid. I was glad I put in that battery switch, it really saved me time and ripping out battery cables. Some quick thinking and familiarity with the engine/electrical system really helped.
Glad your back up and running. Any chance you could offer a link for a switch like that. If you can offer a link I’ll bet that store has a run on switch sales…
aprgriggs
04-24-2005, 11:43 AM
April,
Cody is 7 months old now. He's been out a few times and seems to like it. I wish we had a little more room, we have PS 190. But, he watches what's going on and usually the engine puts him to sleep.
Taryn loves the boat...she crawls around on the floor and pulls up to see out on everything. The new 05 bimini top has great shade on the middle of the boat so she can stay out of the sun. If you don't have a bimini I would recomend it....allows us to stay out longer.
BriEOD
04-24-2005, 01:27 PM
Glad your back up and running. Any chance you could offer a link for a switch like that. If you can offer a link I’ll bet that store has a run on switch sales…
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=3094&catalogId=10001&classNum=297&subdeptNum=207&storeNum=9
This is the syle but not the exact one I have. Since I have two batteries I bought this one for $29.99, it is the last one listed: off/1/all/2
BriEOD
04-24-2005, 01:30 PM
Taryn loves the boat...she crawls around on the floor and pulls up to see out on everything. The new 05 bimini top has great shade on the middle of the boat so she can stay out of the sun. If you don't have a bimini I would recomend it....allows us to stay out longer.
April,
Oh yeah we have a bimini top. Acutally next to the boat buddy it's the best thing I've put on. We have a custom black Johnson Bimini Top. Cody having fair skin and blondish/reddish hair like his dad from Irish decent doesn't equate to doing well in the sun.
André
04-24-2005, 01:31 PM
Sorry about the bad outing Brian.
Hope it will go better next time!
erkoehler
04-24-2005, 02:52 PM
April,
Oh yeah we have a bimini top. Acutally next to the boat buddy it's the best thing I've put on. We have a custom black Johnson Bimini Top. Cody having fair skin and blondish/reddish hair like his dad from Irish decent doesn't equate to doing well in the sun.
I know all about that, you don't tan, you BURN! :eek:
BriEOD
04-24-2005, 05:05 PM
Sorry about the bad outing Brian.
Hope it will go better next time!
I was going to go out today. Yesterday it was 80 and today it is 50 with a frost warning tonight!! :eek: :mad:
erkoehler
04-25-2005, 07:06 AM
Had flurries here! It was no fun to mow the lawn while it started snowing.
glad to hear it worked out. i had the same problem in my driveway with my supreme. i was getting it ready to sale and hooked up the fake a lake. i cranked the motor and it just kept rolling. i freaked and had to pull the battery. same problem.
6ballsisall
04-25-2005, 09:28 AM
I feel your pain Brian! Seems like I keep going thru similar stuff everytime I get on the water. Look at it this way, your boat will be practically new when you get done going thru everything :D
east tx skier
04-25-2005, 10:46 AM
Glad you got it taken care of quickly. Did I read correctly that you "tore up" your observer seat. Did you mess up the vinyl, or did you just pull it up to get to the battery?
Anyway, I'm lubing my starter when I get the boat back. Always something to do.
SDmc205
04-25-2005, 05:34 PM
Similar thing just happened to me, except that when i went to turn the boat on the key spun in the iginition (two whole revolutions instead of the normal quarter turn) and then the starter locked on. Luckily it was our last day at the lake, so I pulled the battery cables and then pushed the boat back onto the trailer.
Now I just need to figure out what when wrong at the ignition point, my gut feeling is the iginition unit went bad and just needs to be replaced, but we shall see.
Farmer Ted
04-25-2005, 05:43 PM
JimN as I normally do in regards to your engine advice, I did lube the Bendix this past year. However, this was the solenoid. I was glad I put in that battery switch, it really saved me time and ripping out battery cables. Some quick thinking and familiarity with the engine/electrical system really helped.
Lube the bendix, it relieves frustration...
sounds like a good metaphor....
east tx skier
04-25-2005, 05:53 PM
My manual recommends hitting it with WD40. Is everyone using marine grease, WD40, or what?
Lubriderm?
/that's it, I'm outta here.
OhioProstar
04-25-2005, 05:59 PM
My buddy and I found out about the bendix sticking the hard way about 20 miles from the ramp. We had the radio up really loud and he didn't notice the starter running for about 3 minutes or so....needless to say the teeth were torn off the starter and we were stranded. About one hour later a friend came by and ended up towing us back...we ran the cooler and battery down to nothing...but made it back to the ramp.
H20skeefreek
04-25-2005, 07:04 PM
I prefer lubriderm or some Johnson and Johnson's......
BriEOD
04-25-2005, 08:45 PM
My manual recommends hitting it with WD40. Is everyone using marine grease, WD40, or what?
Lubriderm?
/that's it, I'm outta here.
Doug, I use marine grease. Also, when I said I "ripped up the seat," I was using figurative language. I removed the seat rapidly to get to the battery switch. I know how you English Majors are!! ;)
Farmer Ted
04-25-2005, 09:09 PM
Doug, I use marine grease. Also, when I said I "ripped up the seat," I was using figurative language. I removed the seat rapidly to get to the battery switch. I know how you English Majors are!! ;)
Oh, I thought you meant something else.....