Post Your Breakdowns or Mishaps

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MrSimon

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There have a been a few threads lately about what things to take out in the boat other than fishing gear. Lots of guys talk about spare parts and general provisions.

I was curious to know what kinds of breakdowns and mishaps you guys have experienced.

And, were you able to fix it on the water and keep going? If not, what did you do?
 
Last time I was out, my trim tab came loose and dropped down into the prop. Made a mess of the prop, used the pliers and crescent wrench to fix it up to be able to continue on. Another trip 12 or 13 years ago the throttle suck wide open on my bass boat. needed several tools to get things freed up to be able to get back to the dock and loaded with out running aground.
 
Lets list them:
Trailer
Blew out a trailer tire @ 3AM needed to get towed because the spare was under the weeks worth of luggage.
1982 Johnson 25
Seized and died at WOT without warning. Used electric motor to go back to ramp (thankfully tide was with me then slack)
1998 Mercury 15
Spun a prop, then a a few weeks later the Lower unit died outright. Both times had to use electric motor to get back.
1979 Chrysler 45
Forgot to switch to second (full) tank and ran out of gas, then killed starting battery trying to restart after switching to full tank.
Starter solenoid went while out while on the water. Switched motor to trolling motor battery. Jumped starter with a wire.

Trolling motors
Various Trolling motor mishaps including broken barrings, bound cables, stuck switches, and bent shafts. Used gas motor to get back to ramp.

I am sure there are more but these are the ones that stick out to me at the moment lol
 
I've had my fair share of on-water mishaps, but I'd guess 95% of them were related to using a motor/gas that had been sitting for a long time without giving it a once-over. Bad gas, old fuel lines/tanks, and gummed up carbs have ruined their fair share of fishing days for me.

Other than maintenance (or the lack of) related issues, I've had a broken prop once and that's it.
 
Last year, fall, blew my 225HP Merc Jet 5 miles from my dock. Fortunately, I was able to troll back. Bought a used power head to rebuild this motor, but haven't got to it yet. It's a time/money issue.

3 months later, after buying a 150 Merc, paying a lot to have the shop run through it to make sure it was in good shape, buying a glass boat and having it mounted....I was on the water for 7 minutes and blew that motor. I was able to troll back about 2 miles when I ran into a friend who towed us back the rest of the way. I rebuilt that motor over the winter and it's running great so far.

Last year was VERY expensive and frustrating to say the least.
 
Back around 1982 I was hunting out of my dads 14' boat with it''s brand new 25 Yamaha. I moored the front of the boat to a tree, grabbed my stand and bow, and made my way to my chosen location about 250 yds away. About three hours later I heard an awful clanking sound coming from the boats direction. I climbed down and made my way back to the boat. The tide was out almost low and I tied the bow too close to the tree! The boat was straining on the rope and suspended at around a 45 deg angle. All the gear had slid to the stern. The gas can was drifting behind the boat connected by the fuel line. the back of the boat was full of water, but floating somewhat. The new outboard was submerged in the salt! I climbed aboard, and cut the anchor line, sliding rather swiftly off the bank. It took a while to bail out the boat, and then I attempted to start the Yami. No luck! I popped the cowling, and pulled a spark plug. I remember salt water blowing out the hole when pulliing the start cord. I started to get worried because I was alone, and no one knew where I was hunting. I was 15 miles upstream from my dad's dock, and figured it would take sever tide shifts for me to drift with the outgoing, while anchoring and waiting out the incoming. After about two hours, I hear a boat coming. I tiny jon boat came around the corner. Unbelievable to me, it was my Grandfather and little brother coming to try and catch a stripped bass. He hadn't fished this river in decades and had no idea I was up there! He towed me back with his little 50's 3hp Evinrude (still have that 3hp). By the time we got to my house, I only had a couple of hours before my dad got home. I pulled the 25 Yami and took it up to our little utility room workshop. I was 15 years old, pretty mechanical, but no outboard mech! I pulled the plugs and sprayed two whole cans of WD-40 on, and in that motor, since I figured it would displace the salt water. I hauled the motor back down to the boat and got her mounted back up. She started up almost immediately. I didn't tell my dad about the incident until we sold that boat 15-20 years later. That Yami ran for thousands of hours with nary a hitch after the dunking. Great motor!
 
Late last summer I got my first boat. My first mistake was running up river, not knowing any better I stayed in the middle hoping I would avoid any shallow spots. Ha! I ran my boat right up onto a sandbar that was just under the surface. I had to push/row myself off the sand bar. Second, I was told to let the battery run down before charging it so it didn't develop a memory. I let it get too low and got out in the middle of a thankfully, small lake and barely made it back to the ramp. Here's one that's not a big deal, I use battery operated lights for nighttime and last week I turned my stern light on only to watch it slowly fade out.

I am slowly learning from my own mishaps, and a lot from this site, how to prepare for the unexpected.
 
Screwdrivers, plyers, big knife, and an adj wrench for me. If ya can't fix it with hose your probably sol anyways

Worst I've had was blowing a prop hub in bfe, no cell service for miles

We cut wedges out of wood, hammered them into the prop hub housing and let soak overnight

I sold that motor with the wooden wedges still holding strong! Lol
 
last summer on my month long fishing/camping trip=impeller,waterpump,cdi box and fuel pump all died one after the other.went 75 miles to the nearest city and bought a new 15 horse yamaha 2 stroke.still haven't fixed the fuel pump.
 
The last day of this years duck season was so cold the water froze in the motor. Used the trolling motor to get back to the dock. I guess that's what 5 degrees will do!
 
I was on a fishing trip with a buddy, everything was going great it was time to leave i fired up the motor to head back to dock and we made it about 500 yards and spun the hub on the prop. We limped to the shore and took it apart, was trying to whittle out some wood shims to drive in it and sliced my thumb open with my knife. I happened to remember i had a tube of superglue so i glued the cut shut on my thumb and we took off for the dock using the trolling motor. It only took us about 2 1/2 hours to make it back to the main lake channel and i had called a buddy to come tow us in. he shows up and we tie off to his boat when we notice his outboard quit pumping water. they begin working on his motor and now im dragging both boats to the dock with a tiny little trolling motor and a almost dead battery. The sun like to have killed me, im sunburnt everywhere and we did finally make it home...on the upside we did catch a good mess of fish.
 
Ive had my share of mishaps, i usually try to prevent them by maintaing things before i leave.. Which usually starts on tuesday or wednesday before leaving on Friday.. My wife says my 2 day trips become 4 or 5 because I'm always having to fix the motor, boat, trailer, quad or truck.. Had a 1977 evinrude 9.9 which became more trouble than joy so I opted for something newer.. Bought a 2000 Johnson 9.9 in 2010.. It ran good for the remainder of 2010, but 2011 it started acting up. Last year I blew up my 2000 9.9 Johnson .. Fixed it by buying a brand new 16ft legend with a 30hp merc. Now I don't have recoil issues because of the electric start
 

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Right after buying my tin I was out running up the river to get a feel for the new boat (1st boat). I was in the middle of the river and all was going well until I hit something under the water which I will call a slab of concrete, the motor tilted up and went back down. The boat didn't run well after that, I turned around and took it real easy and was able to get back to the ramp. When I got her back on the trailer I could see how bad I chewed up the prop and I knocked a piece off the skag. Still haven't been back to that part of the river.

DSC03982.JPG
 
MrSimon said:
GYPSY400 said:
Fixed it by buying a brand new .......

Nice 8)

Sometimes a credit card is the best tool in the toolbox :lol:
Yup.. After all these years of fishing I just sick of broken motors and leaky boats..
My small portaging boat is still an old weapon though, but the 9.9 I got for it runs good.
 
I've had a good many. One of the worst, I was by myself, started my 50 hp Mercury and the starter hung, but I didn't know it until I ran about a mile and the rpms went back to idle. I looked back and it was on fire. My old fire extinguisher had turned white with age, but it worked. Had to get towed back.
 
Was running WOT and hit a stump. Boat darted to the left causing me to hit the right side of the boat. Went camping with my gf and forgot to check to see what the tide was doing. Just to be safe i drug the boat uo the hill a good bit and took the anchor and buried it about 20ft away just to be safe. The next morning i go to check on the boat and theres about 6ft of sand behind it. Tide dropped overnight and i spent a good while trying to spin the biat around and.get in back in the water. It was a fiberglass skiff. Wish it woukdve been a tinny
 
Cruising along the flats one day around 25mph and out of no where hit a rock or old crab trap and whooops no more skeg. Also bent of the prop blades. Tide was coming in at that time, by the time I got the spare prop and tools out I was in chest deep water. I haven't had any issues since then knock on wood.
 

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