Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

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Mine? Not so good. For the FIFTH time since I bought my 90 Merc Optimax in March 2009---it threw craps and left me stranded. Son and I were getting ready to troll close to the Idlewilde boat ramp and it just quit. All the earmarks of another ethanol induced fuel pump problem.

I run Merc ethanol treatment in every gallon. Oh--and one time it overheated--about a couple of months after I had a water pump replaced as regular maintenance the water pump hub separated from the impeller-dealer said in 30 yrs he had never seen that happen. Uh huh...

Thanks to the guys who came to my rescue and towed us back to Twin Harbors ramp. They told me they fill up the 225 on their boat with 100 gallons and it lasts them all year with no problems. One of the guys runs an Optimax with NO ethanol type additives with Zero problems.

They also told me they don't think they have ever towed anyone in with this problem they know of---their calls are for ran out of gas, dead batteries, and hitting stumps. So---so much for what the the dealer and manufacturer has been telling me that everyone is having this problem.

I'm done. Afraid to take anyone out over a mile from my dock--I may not get back. Oh---and my 5 yr warranty ran out in March---great....

Thanx to the great guys at the Polk County Sheriff's Dept for their quick response.

Sorry you had problems, I don't go out on weekends like this, I was upset we had a four year old missing after falling off his grandmothers boat with no life jacket on and then a guy who jumped in after a dog, drown, again with no life jacket on ???

Mine went just fine but it was more due to the limited HP lake i am on went out Saturday and fished all day and caught a few then went out again Sunday with wife DIL and grand son, swam, and just rode around and finished up the day in a shady cove with grilling.

As we were pulling out of the boathouse, we felt a few drops of rain.

Within 1/2 mile, we were bombarded with rain, wind and whitecaps. Despite the bimini top being up, we were all soaked to the bone.

Went across the lake (2 miles) and it quit raining. We went up in a large creek about 10 miles--taking our time.

Coming home, we came out of the creek into the big river, and the waves were almost swells. We didn't get rained on again, but couldn't believe some dummies out dragging tubers in such conditions--beating them to death.

Even a rainy day can be an adventure on our lake. But it was still a good day.

Sorry to hear you had problems.
I worked the night shift, so mine sucked too! Plus we are still flooded here on the Mississippi pool 12. Boat ramps are closed. But since, I'm workin, it doesn't matter.

Sorry to hear about your engine troubles... that ethanol is a real pia..... Unfortunately it's getting harder and harder to find stations that sell ethanol free gas... luckily there's a couple of stations in my town that do.. but I still have to haul the boat over 25 miles round trip to get ethanol free gas.... don't know if this will help you in the future, but check out www.pure-gas.org It's a site dedicated to helping people find ethanol free fuel in their area..... just click on your state and look for the closest city or town...

thanx everyone for the replies----

being towed in suck,

Years ago in high school, we had a mitchell runabout that would leave us every chance she got, you could fire her up in the driveway and get her all check out before leaving and she would be dead when you got to the boat ramp.

we got towed home so many times, never did get all the bugs worked out

Sorry to hear about your problem, hopefully you will have better luck next time out.....

This past weekend was the third time out with our boat. Spent Sat, Sun and Monday out on the lake. Allot of boats on the water but its easy cruising with the 20hp limit. Weather was amazing for Ohio......
Had the grandkids on the boat on Saturday, they had a ball playing with a remote controlled speed boat we bought for them.....their only issue with the pontoon is the dang spiders! Before they come on the boat we have to do a spider search........

Ours was Awesome! See the post in my sig pg 17 FINALLY!

curtiscapk wrote:Ours was Awesome! See the post in my sig pg 17 FINALLY!

snowbird wrote:Sorry to hear about your problem, hopefully you will have better luck next time out.....

This past weekend was the third time out with our boat. Spent Sat, Sun and Monday out on the lake. Allot of boats on the water but its easy cruising with the 20hp limit. Weather was amazing for Ohio......
Had the grandkids on the boat on Saturday, they had a ball playing with a remote controlled speed boat we bought for them.....their only issue with the pontoon is the dang spiders! Before they come on the boat we have to do a spider search........

Spiders are terrible down here --worse than usual...

Sorry to hear about your boat troubles.

We had a nice time on Sunday on the lake -- just the Admiral and I. Went to one of our favorite sandbars (hoping the water would be warmer in the shallow area). But it was still cold -- only would go deep enough to take care of business, then get back up to much shallower areas. Went over to a more popular sandbar and it was packed, as expected. When we pulled out of the cove we saw a broken down toon being pulled in by a Seadoo. We started to head over to see if we could assist with the tow, but another boat was already pulling up to lend assistance.

We had rain most of Monday so we spent the day cleaning on the boat in our dock. Saw a of couple of old geezers launching a really old toon. Next thing I hear is one of the guys yelling for help as he tried to paddle back to the shore. Myself and a couple of other guys ran over and swam out to grab his boat and swim him back to shore (he'd have never made it with that paddle against the wind). Turns out he had turned the motor over back at his house. Then figured it would start up. So instead of starting it on the trailer when he was backed in, he went ahead and shoved off then realized the battery was too weak to start it up.

I just hate to see anybody stranded out on the water in a boat that won't run. I know someday, I may be that person and I'd sure like to think somebody would see me and come to my aid as well.

I an curious how you think ethanol is your problem.

Everyone want to blame ethanol but 99.9% of the time it is never an issue.

I disagree as our marina (400 boats) had 150 disabled due to ethanol fuel a few years back. USCG vessel and DNR vessel included. I have a family member t hat works in a refinery. He claims ethanol fuel starts to go bad in 60 days after it leaves the refinery.

I had to replace the carb, lines and fuel pump on my then 1 year old Party Cruiser due to ethanol damaged confirmed by a marine surveyor.

Boat US asked me for photos after paying my claim, then doing a write up that same year.

A pic of the carb, with dissolved pieces of the"alcohol safe" fuel line liner:



And the dissolved "alcohol safe" fuel line liner.