first outing of the year is always iffy
this is what happened last back in 2019
(straight copy and paste from when i shared it)
we got this little bayliner, 19 foot boat
nice little boat, bought it a few years ago but with the baby being born last spring, we havent had it out in about 2 years
so i got it dusted off over the week and got ready to take it out today
since i wasnt sure how it would go, i decided to only take the boy out
so, hooked the boat up to the bronco (i know i know, should have bought a dodge)
managed to get her down to the boat launch with the truck only stalling out about 5 times, and i only had to turn the crank by hand 3 times to get the starter to mesh
got the boat in the water, and it ran allright but it didnt want to go into gear from idle without dying
i figured it would "clear" up after running it for a while
so, we got going, did allright
idled through the no wake zone, out into the big lake
and anchored it some 30 feet out from the beach
me and the boy jumped of, did some frisbeeing, some swimming and got going again...well, tried to
i fired her up and when i went to put her in gear, she stalled out
it did that to me 4 or 5 times, and i hadnt noticed that as it was stalling out, the current pushed it across my anchor line
i finally got her going, the drive rattled and shook and then it died on me
i jumped out and sure enough, my anchor line was wrapped around the drive and 2 or my 3 prop bladed were gone
so, we pulled her a close to the beach as we could, ran a new anchor line to the beach, grabbed the keys and started walking
luckily, there was a lady there who was willing to give us a ride back to the boatlaunch, so we could at least get the truck back home
so, we got in the truck, fired it up and drove about 50 foot before it backfired and stalled
at that point the carb caught fire and i was not able to get it going again
now, it had happened before that the starter would hit what i guess is a flat spot, and i would have to get down and turn the crank a few degrees by hand before it would catch again
but at this point, it just would not engage no matter how much i turned the crank
finally i had someone tow the bronco a few more feet out of the way (he didnt have much choice, if he was gonna get his boat out) and walked home
when we got there, i jumped into the charger to at least get the trailer home but as of right now...the boat and the truck are still stranded
View attachment 1715737701
(and 2 days later)
Got the boat back home...it was actually kinda fun
We just took the entire family to the beach and while they played, I fixed the boat
(Turns out, swapping out a prop is a 2 minute job. ..if you have the right tools)
Overnight the current had pushed the boat further ashore and I could tell people had been in it, but nothing was stolen or broken so I'm not too mad about that
The only thing to decide now is if I want to tow the bronco home and fix it, or slap it in neutral and just let it roll into the lake