Have you ever broken down?

[Reckless]

  This might seem like a broad subject but just for my on curiosity. And possibly avoid a problem in the future or prevent one. Preferable prevent.

   If you have broken down what was the cause?
Where you able to repair it or did you have to be towed?

Thanks all for your input!! 

[rugman]

I was fishing on the hudson for stripers and the gas gage was off by a half of a tank and we ran out of gas. I  found out it is not fun to paddle up river with a paddle and with the tide moving in a 18 foot boat  bngh bngh bngh bnghjust tossed the anchor in and called a buddy that was in the boat slip next to me to come out with some gas . PS THEY BUSTED MY CHOPS BUT I GOT IN .  TT^BE SAFE OUT THERE

[Treebeard]

In over 15 years with my old Grumman, she only left me adrift once..The culprit was water in the fuel and a saturated water separator..She would run at idle, but would stall at soon as I put it in gear.. Like Rugman, I was also on the Hudson striper fishing , and I was able to use a hard incoming tide to push me into a nearby marina as I steered with the outdrive of the I/O .. My first tow took place last season, ironically in our brand new boat.. We had turned the corner at Sandy Hook, and where heading down the SH channel, when the power steering belt broke. It was a bit nerve wracking being adrift in the channel with no steerage as party boats zoomed by.. Thankfully I had gotten a SeaTow membership a couple weeks prior. They where on their way out of AH  within 5 minutes of my call and towed us back to Keansburg. That tow was worth over 700 bucks, so the $150.00 membership has already paid for itself 5x's over..

[Capt. Mike]

SeaTow is the way to go! 

[Luna Sea 5]

just get towed, don't stress yourself  trying to fix anything on the boat.  Thats how you loses tools and exquipment to the bottom of the ocean.

[kezsr]

have to agee with you Nick,more than once I've seen parts go into the drink.

[SouthPaw]

Three years ago in a bowrider in the Bay had the impellor go bad and overheated the engine. It was a I/O with a ford 302 no permanant damage to the engine. Had to get towed from a passerby.

[Last Call]

Sure did, blew the motor at midnight last August on the way out on a shark trip.  Made the call for the tow.

[wb]

Long Answer- Growing up riding jetskis you learned quickly they were either broken or about to break, so also you learned about the buddy system, tow ropes, plug wrenches, etc.

Now that I've learned "sellthemgetaboat soitsmoreexpensivetofix", also comes "seatow or boatus indipensable unless you tote a bag of money with you every time you sail."

Short answer "Yes"- best off to have a solid anchor and rode and know how to use them-- as well as have the unlimited tow package from a reputable local towboat.

[Duffman]

#1 - talking about breaking down is plain bad luck

#2 - after I tell these stories, NO ONE will have me as a guest on their boat again!!!

  My boat, just before the railroad tressel in the Navesink and needed to get back the ramp at Keyport. Engine cranks, starts, let go of the key and it stalls.  Bad ignition switch.  Unscrew dash panel and hot wire the switch to get home.
  A friends boat, Reach channel 1 AM drifting eels.  No start, no fuel to injector rail.  Corrosion in fuel pump connector.  Scraped corrosion out of the connector best as we could with a filet knife. Started her up and got back to the slip.
  And finally, another buddies boat dies on the Knoll. Fuel pump diamphram ruptures on a v-6 merc, carbed  I/O. Siphoned fuel from the tank by holding the fuel line below the fuel tank level deep in the bilge. Kept pouring the small amounts of fuel we could get from a cup into a bait cooler. Once we had a about a gallon in the cooler we gravity fed the carb by hold the gas higher than the float bowl.  Enough to keep low RPM and limp into AHMH.
  Yes I have tow insurance. I guess its a pride/ego thing to get them running again.
  25 yrs and 3 breakdowns isnt too bad I guess   

[hareball]

you sound like a handy guy to have around duffman

[Duffman]

   OR just one unlucky guy to have around   


Looking back, it wasnt the wisest choice to have an open fuel container above a running engine......but we made it home and lived to tell!!!

[PeggyLee]

   Yes,Couple years back I made a solo run to the West Bank Area, and on the way out I picked up a huge construction tarp floating in the water. Wrapped around the outdrive (previous boat)and stopped the boat dead in its tracks;I almost went thru the front windsheild.After I settled down(pick my a$$ of the deck)I anchored up so I would not drift to Europe,gave my location to the boys at the Marina,and put a life perserver on and went in to the drink with a fillet knive and a life line attached to me back to a cleat on the boat and layed over a swim ladder.Cut that SOB off pieces at a time and went back home.
I never forgot that trip.Wasn't a nice day.

[Diego Dangers.]

in 1998, we put our 79 mako into the water for the first time. we went night fishing at Molasses reef in key largo, it was about a 5 mile trip. When we were out, we started taking on water from the transom, the engine just wouldnt start, she wasn't even cranking over. after 3 P.A.N. calls to the USCG, seatow intervened and asked for a location, I launched a flare, it was picked up by a party boat that happened to be fishing a mile away at the same reef. They said they would leave the boat, but then I received a transmission from SeaTow that they finally had our location and were there in a minute. That's a very tense situation when you're 12 years old.

Towed us back in, needless to say, that was the 900 dollar mistake. Next day, we purchased a membership with Sea Tow and addressed the burns that I received from the flares. I remember pulling the boat out of the slip the next day and going directly to the Mariner dealer to put a whole new get up on the boat.

My favorite part of the whole situation was, my uncle REFUSED to drop his rod, he had a nice sized black tip reef shark on the line. Eventually was reeled in when seatow arrived.

- Diego