mattkab
Senior Member
I had to get towed home for the first time in over 11 years of "real" boating.
Went fishing last week after work. Trolled for ~4 hours, and turned off the boat to mooch for another hour. Everything ran very well for the most part.
At dusk went to turn on the motor, and it first turned over and made a horrible sound like a chain was banging around in the engine room. Turned it off, and looked, but everything seemed to be in order. Tried to turn the motor over again, and it now makes a horrible metal scraping sound and won’t turn over!
It was around 9:30pm when the trip home started, called vessel assist, and they showed up an hour or two later… in the meantime we just drifted, fished, drank iced tea, and generally enjoyed the evening. Vessel Assist arrived, and towed us the three miles or so back to our home dock. Gave the “all safe” text to my wife at 11:51pm. Pulled into my driveway at around 2am.
One of the lessons learned is that Vessel Assist is WELL WORTH the $200/year for unlimited towing… the bill would have been over $700, but it just cost me $30 (all the cash I hand on me, an off-the-books payment to the driver for coming out on a weekday evening) and a cold iced-tea.
In the post-event investigation, I believe it’s the starter. Reports of the “chain clanging” have come from the starter pinion not retracting, or even breaking. And I found the exact noise I get when I try to turn it over on Youtube (40 second mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCUglkXAoec&t=40
I have a mobile mechanic coming out on Monday.
I posted picts and a full write-up here.
Went fishing last week after work. Trolled for ~4 hours, and turned off the boat to mooch for another hour. Everything ran very well for the most part.
At dusk went to turn on the motor, and it first turned over and made a horrible sound like a chain was banging around in the engine room. Turned it off, and looked, but everything seemed to be in order. Tried to turn the motor over again, and it now makes a horrible metal scraping sound and won’t turn over!
It was around 9:30pm when the trip home started, called vessel assist, and they showed up an hour or two later… in the meantime we just drifted, fished, drank iced tea, and generally enjoyed the evening. Vessel Assist arrived, and towed us the three miles or so back to our home dock. Gave the “all safe” text to my wife at 11:51pm. Pulled into my driveway at around 2am.
One of the lessons learned is that Vessel Assist is WELL WORTH the $200/year for unlimited towing… the bill would have been over $700, but it just cost me $30 (all the cash I hand on me, an off-the-books payment to the driver for coming out on a weekday evening) and a cold iced-tea.
In the post-event investigation, I believe it’s the starter. Reports of the “chain clanging” have come from the starter pinion not retracting, or even breaking. And I found the exact noise I get when I try to turn it over on Youtube (40 second mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCUglkXAoec&t=40
I have a mobile mechanic coming out on Monday.
I posted picts and a full write-up here.
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