queensland My Most Unique Capture Yet...wasn't A Fish

[The Mad Hughesy]

After months of sitting beside the house with no use, I finally had a free morning to take the boat out. Launched from Scarborough and planned to head out to the measured mile to try and find some macks/tuna/sharks.

Dropped the boat into the water, cranked the engine over fairly easily (yesssss), my brother kicks us off the pontoon and I clunk the engine into reverse…..steering was completely seized, no movement in it at all! Luckily the wind pushed us into a spare dock where after some “encouragement” with some bolt cutters, the steering came back to life. Id say it had just seized with gunk after no movement for so long…???? Will some spray with wd40 help it?

Anyway, after 20mins of sitting in the marina, we finally start motoring out…400m from the harbour the engine just dies. We could start it no worries, but trying to keep it idling was impossible. It would just slowly loose rpm and die. We spent about an hour trying to start it up with no luck. With my fuse by this point about to explode, I started it and as soon as it fired I punched it into gear and went full open throttle….now she was awake and wanted to play the game! I hammered around doing donuts for about 15 minutes to get some confidence back that the engine would die again…thankfully it ran well for the rest of the day. Im putting it down to a few things……

1. Lack of use for about 3 months
2. Stale fuel potentially..?

Anyway, we spotted a bust up on the way to the mile, but they disappeared before we could get to them. Couldn’t raise a scale on the beacons, had one small hammerhead play with my bait and follow it to the back of the boat but no hook-ups

The only highlight of the day was pulling this up at the end of the day as we were about to leave….pretty cool. Shimano Sorocco (about $140 of reel plus line and rod) so it would have been a semi good combo worth at east $200+

[Drop Bear]

Fun catch mate! awesome stuff. Look at all the growth on that! 

Sure does sound like old fuel. Top up with 95 and see how it idles. 

[Luvit]

Not to be the bearer of bad news but, I would say on the cable steering its only a matter of time before it seizes fully or at least that is what happened to mine. I tried squirting lubricant down it with no success.

It's not a big job to do on your own unless you have to remove the motor to install a new cable. Mine one required motor removal and I did not have a block and tackle etc so got it done by Northside Marine. Big mistake with shoddy workmanship. I have never had my boat serviced there again. 

When this happened to me a second time on another boat I had it upgraded to hydraulic steering.

 

[ellicat]

Was probably water in the fuel/tank from condensation after leaving for so long.

[The Mad Hughesy]

i will have to monitor it heavily @Luvit, thanks for the advice

[Jimmyjack]

yep, been through the steering thing, and basically just buy a new cable. sooner or later it'll probably go again if you leave it for any length of time. When you take it off, measure it so you know what size to buy. Once you have the new one on, make sure you turn the wheel every few days just to keep it from seizing again. Good luck,

[ellicat]

@benno573 caught one at Mud one day -

 

 

[The Mad Hughesy]

Hah brilliant @ellicat

[benno573]

@christophagus depends a lot on what your steering set up is.  Could be cables, otherwise, it could be you just need to disassemble the unit in front of the motor, give it all a liberal clean and a bunch of fresh grease. 

 

Mine seized in my old boat and once cleaned out and fresh grease, just remembered to top up the grease every couple of trips, turn it lock to lock a couple of times and all goodly.  No replacement items required.

 

Other problem almost certainly crappy fuel, run some premium through it, if you don't run a fuel/water separator filter get one and drain it regularly.  also could be worth putting a bit of metho in the fuel on your next long run as this also helps remove moisture from the situation.

 

I think your combo was potentially worth a little more than mine too, although to be fair I think they are both worth about the same now...    Thanks for the blast from the past @ellicat

[Drop Bear]

1 hour ago, benno573 said:

@christophagus depends a lot on what your steering set up is.  Could be cables, otherwise, it could be you just need to disassemble the unit in front of the motor, give it all a liberal clean and a bunch of fresh grease. 

 

Mine seized in my old boat and once cleaned out and fresh grease, just remembered to top up the grease every couple of trips, turn it lock to lock a couple of times and all goodly.  No replacement items required.

 

Other problem almost certainly crappy fuel, run some premium through it, if you don't run a fuel/water separator filter get one and drain it regularly.  also could be worth putting a bit of metho in the fuel on your next long run as this also helps remove moisture from the situation.

 

I think your combo was potentially worth a little more than mine too, although to be fair I think they are both worth about the same now...    Thanks for the blast from the past @ellicat

So are you going to buy a new boat and take me offshore again?

 

[ellicat]

1 hour ago, benno573 said:

putting a bit of metho in the fuel

I've known this since I was a kid but have never known how much to put in.
Any idea on what's safe ratio?

[Drop Bear]

2 minutes ago, ellicat said:

I've known this since I was a kid but have never known how much to put in.
Any idea on what's safe ratio?

It would be hard to work out how much water is in the fuel to get a ratio. 

[benno573]

i used to put a litre of metho in an 80L tank.  never seemed an issue.

 

also @Drop Bear - i believe you are in possession of a boat capable of reaching places previously fished? Just saying...   

 

my next boat is likely to be peddle powered so unlikely to be heading offshore unless camping on moreton or out around the blinker off the sunny coast.

[jhedrick]

I've had similar experiences with other boats. I suggest draining the fuel and putting more fuel in, one boat my fuel cord was corroding from the inside and started blocking the filters, did the same thing and would only go a certain speed until the grot passed through. Definitely check your fuel filters for water or debris. As for the steering.... Heaps of a grade Greece but there is a chance it could happen again and you might need new cables.... Cables themselves don't cost much but paying someone to install them wow. All I can suggest is make sure you are signed up to a vmr and when it all fails on you then it might be time for new ones lol. If it's due for a service take it to someone that is not going to screw you over. I suggest coorparoo Marine because they will tell you the facts before they work on it. I've had a run in with Slade's marine on the Gold Coast before for doing work on my boat that I didn't approve. Was costly and unnecessary. All in all sounds like you had an adventure. Any day on the water is better than at work

[Drop Bear]

On 29/10/2018 at 2:52 PM, benno573 said:

i used to put a litre of metho in an 80L tank.  never seemed an issue.

 

also @Drop Bear - i believe you are in possession of a boat capable of reaching places previously fished? Just saying...   

 

my next boat is likely to be peddle powered so unlikely to be heading offshore unless camping on moreton or out around the blinker off the sunny coast.

Lets go!