What's wrong????

[Nickajack Angler]

I've had a couple of hilarious conversations with a couple of people that inspired this post. Some that made my cheeks hurt with so much laughter. So I want to ask the forum.... What things have gone wrong with your boat when you are out on the water that you couldn't figure out RIGHT away? Then to find out it was something simple....
A couple to get you started... My left foot clicked the trolling motor switch on the side of the pedal. It wouldn't work. I spent the better part of an hour trying to dismantle the entire trolling motor only to find that the switch had been kicked to off! It took longer to get the trolling motor back together than it did the time we were dead!
The big motor wouldn't start.... I cranked until the battery almost went dead... So I trolled back from Nick dam almost 1/2 way back to MCP. Then Louie looked up at me and asked what the red string was hanging from my life vest??? Only to find the kill switch had pulled off!!!!emoBang Or buzzing back across Lake Mille Lacs in MN. BIG waves. Crashing our way back, the big motor just died. We almost rolled the boat in these four ft rollers when we were dead in the water. After a half hour checking everything out, seeing the boat fill up with each wave crawl over the side, we finally worked our way back to the battery terminal to find the postive connection had popped off. Started right up! These things make you panic only to find out it was something SOOOOO simple. Then you laugh... usually hard and at yourself! I wanna hear some funny things you guys have done. Some more interesting than these that have happened to most of us... And yes Lance, this includes YOU!

 

[EricM]

Oh man, stuff like that NEVER happens to me! It must just be you!!!!emoBigsmile emoBigsmile

 

[Gone fishin]

was on west point lake six years ago and put my boat in the water, turned the key and nothing happened. sit there for awhile looking at batteries wondering if they were charged, unhooked trolling motor batteries and tried them to start big motor still nothing. Took cover off of motor and tried for thirty minutes to manually start it, pulling and pulling till I wore myself out. All the while people putting in and staring at me as if I was an idiot. Decided to load boat up and take to the nearest dealer and see what he thought. He did some tests on it looked it over for awhile and even he couldnt figure it out. Then he goes to the drivers seat looks down,flips a switch turns the key and she starts right up. This was my first big tournament and they require you to wear a kill switch lanyard, and the day before was the first time I used one and after loading the boat I had pulled the strap and shut the switch off. Needless to say I felt like a real idiot payed the guy for his trouble and just went back to the motel for the rest of the day.

 

[rsimms]

Answering nature's call on shore late one evening. I'm off in the bushes when I hear my fishing partner say... "Uh, Richard... your motor's on fire."

I completed my task quite quickly.... found my trolling motor battery had tipped on it's side, grounding both terminals against my aluminum boat. That's when I learn that such as situation basically turns circular throttle cables into a heating elements.... melting their plastic covering (and probably starting a real fire if allowed to continue).

But I'll never forget being off in the bushes and hearing that wavering voice say "Uh, Richard... your motor's on fire." emoEek

 

[flip1up]

Came back to Suck Creek ramp after dark one evening last year to put the boat on the trailer. Pulled the boat up on the little sandy area, like always. Went up in the lot to get the truck. Started shooting the bull with two older fellas. About 20 minutes later they drove off and I backed down the ramp. I wondered why a dipsh*t was sitting 20 yards straight in front of the ramp in the water. They wouldnt move, I sat there for about 5 minutes. I got out to see what the problem was. It was dipsh*ts boat alright, mine. It had floated out and was sitting right over the channel. Nobody around, I took all but my boxers off and swam out to get it. I ALWAYS tie off to the tree now. The non existant current that I had been cussing to myself about became a blessing. I recon that boat would have been a mile down river with current.

 

[fishinvol]

emoUpsmile emoUpsmile

 

[craazyboutbass]

I have a problem with my trolling motor everytime on the water but it is easy to fix... I'll click on the pedal for the trolling motor and it acts as if it were disconnected to the battery. All I do is pull it out of the water and put it back in. </p>

I noticed the problem the first time taking my boat out after getting the trolling motor rewired... That day it took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to get it running again!

</p>

 

[slo-ride]

If you ever take your boat to the gulf to fish the bay, be aware of the tides...what WAS a deep hole can become a jail-cell...REAL QUICK!! The movie "The African Queen" comes to mind.......one of many mishaps.

 

[flip1up]

Crazzy, I have a TM that does the same thing. I think its the seal on the shaft right under the prop thats bad. Probably from old fishing line. I think water is getting into the motor housing causing it to cut out. Whan you take it out of the water, it drains out. Dont know for sure if thats it though. Pull your prop, check for fishing line and eyeball that seal.

 

[craazyboutbass]

I've checked for fishing line before and none is to be seen... I don't really know how to fix it... Not much of a big deal for me, so I won't be taking it to the shop anytime soon.

I also hope that I won't have to take the boat to the shop at all anytime soon!

Keep it up boat! You're doing just fine...

 

[churly]

I've seen it all but the most common is the infamous killswitch!!! You know what i'm talking about!

 

[Nickajack Angler]

Not YOU Churly!!!! I thought that was my signature trick!emoRedface Makes you feel like an IDIOT!!!!

 

[anyfish]

me and my dad were going down the river one day at full throttle and all of a sudden we were at half throttle i told him we just blew our motor we were really sick because we were whith a freind one day when his blew it did the same thingemoBang emoBang emoBang so we crawled back to the ramp put it on the trailer pulled the top off and realized one of the plug wires had came offemoParty emoParty emoCool emoCool emoThumbsup emoThumbsup emoThumbsup emoToast

 

[Skeeter]

Back when i was about 16 or so my Dad took the Trophy to Fla. every spring and leave it till fall. One of the trips i went with him and at the end of the fishing day we (I) tied up to the dock and cleaned out the boat and we to the camper. He wakes up the next morning and looks out the window to see his boat is gone. He goes out to investigate and sees his boat about 1 mile away drifted up aginst someones dock. He has to wade waist deep for a mile in the bay to get his boat. Ofcourse it had rocked aginst the corner of the dock all night so it got plenty of nice gouges in the hull. (Sorry Dad)...... So whats wrong here? Never let your 16 year old son who was NEVER in the scouts tie up your boat

 

[fairweatherfisherman]

Couldn't get my trolling motor to work one morning. My main motor worked fine, but I ended up paddling my 21 foot boat around for the day. I noticed pretty much right away that quite a bit more energy required to move that big boat than your average canoe. After I pulled out for the day, I tried battery and fuses, but everything looked good. Finally at home I took the plug off the trolling motor and wired it direct to the batteries. Ran just fine. Hmmm. It turns out that the Marinco 12/24 trolling motor plugs can fail. I've gone through a couple now over the last few years. Apparently the internal jumper cracks - it may be intermitent for a while before failing alltogether. I keep a spare in the boat now.