Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

-ran out gas...had 2nd full tank on board. But had to switch midtrip. I thought I could do the trip on a little over a half a tank...guess not.

-got stuck in waterway muck. We anchored in a channel to fish. When we decided to move, we couldn't. Friend had to hop on the back and tilt up the non-power trim motor. We used the boat hook to push us out and then once in deeper water, dropped the motor and tried again.

-got the motor started only after it let out a high pitched shrieking noise from the helm. Last around 10 seconds then noise stopped and cruised as normal.


Hopefully no lasting damage

Prob sucked a little mud

is that why it yelled at me?

katieclooney wrote:is that why it yelled at me?

They don't like mud. Glad you got back ok.

katieclooney wrote:is that why it yelled at me?

I'm thinking pretty likely. Whenever you have a mud or weed experience like you did you also want to check the 'pee hole' at the back of the motor make sure water is coming out of it. that way you know your water pump isn't plugged. if its not peeing shut your motor down right away and tip it up and clean the intake

Lol thank you. Not gonna lie, almost crapped my pants thinking I killed the motor and we were stranded

tuned wrote:

katieclooney wrote:is that why it yelled at me?

I'm thinking pretty likely. Whenever you have a mud or weed experience like you did you also want to check the 'pee hole' at the back of the motor make sure water is coming out of it. that way you know your water pump isn't plugged. if its not peeing shut your motor down right away and tip it up and clean the intake

Yea she was peeing. Had a new impeller installed beginning of the season I was told to always check the peeing

It sure gives you a bad feeling when they make noises don't it, even my wife now listens to how the motor sounds. I had a CDI box crap out last year and as it was dieing I was idling in and she asked why and I explained the motor didnt sound right. lol and I all most made it back to the marina before it died.

Bad day..... but happy you all made it home okay... another way to try and clean out a plugged up "pee hole" is after you shut your motor off, you can try running some weed eater line in and out of the hole to try and loosen anything causing the clog.... I've had a couple of times where the line got some mud or something in it causing the alarm to sound and the weedeater line did the trick... now we carry a small spool of line on the boat at all times... just in case!

Another quick trick if you get all balled up with weeds and can't go forward very well- put it in reverse and rev it up. Sometimes what floats to the surface is amazing.

Now back to your original problem, when your rig yelled at you, I assume that it was the alarm at the control box?
You may have been triggering that alarm on high heat (no cooling water), although there are other ways to trigger that alarm, including simply leaving your key in the on position without actually starting the motor (it's how you test your alarm).
If you were temporarily plugged up and heating it, you need to shut down quickly and investigate. It doesn't take too long to ummm. .
Methinks that you are okay as long as you ran well afterwards
You're asking all the right questions as you learn. It's a pleasure to watch, as opposed to the new pilot that is too proud to admit gaps in the knowledge. You will notice that even the old salts here still ask questions. A great thing to have the 'collective' to help any of us.
Glad ur having fun. Keep at it. You're doing great.

Thanks Tuned

The alarm was coming from the gear shift. Once she yelled I killed the engine.then my friend hoped in the back an checked it out.

We tried kicking it into reverse but nothing. The water is only 2feet there we discovered. Needless to say, I aint going back there

Glad you made it back okay! There's a big warning alarm on these boats? Who knew! Now I do- thanks for your question and everyone's answers. Weed eater line is now on my To Get list. Hang in there, Katie!

katieclooney wrote:Thanks Tuned
We tried kicking it into reverse but nothing.

Did you try just plain kicking it?

landlockedsailor wrote:Glad you made it back okay! There's a big warning alarm on these boats? Who knew! Now I do- thanks for your question and everyone's answers. Weed eater line is now on my To Get list. Hang in there, Katie!

its a 1984 motor and a helm with a steering wheel and gear shift. NO CLUE there were alarms. Scared the crap out of me when they started going off

tuned wrote:

katieclooney wrote:Thanks Tuned
We tried kicking it into reverse but nothing.

Did you try just plain kicking it?

My luck if i tried, cops would have come

katieclooney wrote:

landlockedsailor wrote:Glad you made it back okay! There's a big warning alarm on these boats? Who knew! Now I do- thanks for your question and everyone's answers. Weed eater line is now on my To Get list. Hang in there, Katie!

its a 1984 motor and a helm with a steering wheel and gear shift. NO CLUE there were alarms. Scared the crap out of me when they started going off

tuned wrote:

katieclooney wrote:Thanks Tuned
We tried kicking it into reverse but nothing.

Did you try just plain kicking it?

My luck if i tried, cops would have come

Yeah, depending on brand, you could be arrested for abusing your Johnson