This past Saturday we went on an "adventure" trying to find a water way to "Ponce DeLeon's Spring". No joke, it really is a spring here in FL that is located in a corner of Spring Garden Lake, in Deleon Springs FL. There is a very popular restaurant there, and we were trying to scope out a route to there without getting into a car. We ended up taking several "dead rivers" and other shallow tributaries to the St. John river, and it was a beautiful trip of about 25 miles. I knew the lakes in this area were very shallow, with an average depth of between 3-5 feet, and many shallower spots that are referred as "Marshes" on the maps that I have for the area. Much of the trip was through National Wildlife preserves, and we were relegated to "Slow Speed", which is actually very enjoyable in these very scenic areas. I know - PICTURES, or it did not happen. I have so that I will post to my Gallery of "Boating on the St. John".
To make a long story short, once we got into Spring Garden Lake, it got so shallow that even though we were within less than a 1/2 mile from the boat dock, the focus became more one of not getting stuck, and damaging our Benni, than it was to get to the dock. The last depth reading I got was 1.7 feet, and I was stirring up mud at that point, with dirty muddy water coming out through the "pee" hole on the motor. I knew what to expect, and sure enough, even though I had trimmed up as far as possible and still have the water intakes submerged, within less than a minute, the over temp alarm went off, and I shut off the motor. I was surprised at how quiet the alarm was, having expected something shrill and urgent in nature. We always keep a deck brush and our Shurhold handle on board, and used this to clear debris from the water inlets on the foot of the motor. We waited several more minutes, and started the engine back up with no problems. The water, even though still dirty, started flowing freely from the "Pee hole" again.
It was really tough finding any deeper water, even though the GPS and charts for the area of the lake we were in said there should be 3 feet. Yeah right, maybe 10 years ago, but now it was SHALLOW! Luckily here in FL, rocks are as rare as finding gold nuggets, so at least we had no worries about damage from that. Eventually, we did find clean water, without any further alarms, and the motor seems as if it clerared itself out. Since we had roughly another 13 miles back to our dock from this point, we are sure that everything is cleared back out.
Even though the motor ran flawlessly, I was still uneasy about how quiet the alarm had been, and also the fact that I really had no idea what the actual temperature of the coolant in the motor really was. Even though my dealer tells me that actually, the alarm, and what happens if you don't respond to it (the motor will go into a safe mode, reducing RPMs to about 1,800. and it will run rough) is actually safer than providing a temp gauge that needs constant monitoring. Ok, so I buy that premise, but it would be a lot more comforting to be able to read the actual temperature PLUS have the safety of the Alarm with Limp Mode.
What's the general feeling about this with most of you? I tried finding a thread about "Temp gauges" retrofitted on the motor, but came up blank. Have any of you done this yourselves? If so, what did you buy as far as a sensor and gauge, and how hard was it to install? Where's the best place to get the parts, etc, etc.
Thanks in advance for your feedback!
To make a long story short, once we got into Spring Garden Lake, it got so shallow that even though we were within less than a 1/2 mile from the boat dock, the focus became more one of not getting stuck, and damaging our Benni, than it was to get to the dock. The last depth reading I got was 1.7 feet, and I was stirring up mud at that point, with dirty muddy water coming out through the "pee" hole on the motor. I knew what to expect, and sure enough, even though I had trimmed up as far as possible and still have the water intakes submerged, within less than a minute, the over temp alarm went off, and I shut off the motor. I was surprised at how quiet the alarm was, having expected something shrill and urgent in nature. We always keep a deck brush and our Shurhold handle on board, and used this to clear debris from the water inlets on the foot of the motor. We waited several more minutes, and started the engine back up with no problems. The water, even though still dirty, started flowing freely from the "Pee hole" again.
It was really tough finding any deeper water, even though the GPS and charts for the area of the lake we were in said there should be 3 feet. Yeah right, maybe 10 years ago, but now it was SHALLOW! Luckily here in FL, rocks are as rare as finding gold nuggets, so at least we had no worries about damage from that. Eventually, we did find clean water, without any further alarms, and the motor seems as if it clerared itself out. Since we had roughly another 13 miles back to our dock from this point, we are sure that everything is cleared back out.
Even though the motor ran flawlessly, I was still uneasy about how quiet the alarm had been, and also the fact that I really had no idea what the actual temperature of the coolant in the motor really was. Even though my dealer tells me that actually, the alarm, and what happens if you don't respond to it (the motor will go into a safe mode, reducing RPMs to about 1,800. and it will run rough) is actually safer than providing a temp gauge that needs constant monitoring. Ok, so I buy that premise, but it would be a lot more comforting to be able to read the actual temperature PLUS have the safety of the Alarm with Limp Mode.
What's the general feeling about this with most of you? I tried finding a thread about "Temp gauges" retrofitted on the motor, but came up blank. Have any of you done this yourselves? If so, what did you buy as far as a sensor and gauge, and how hard was it to install? Where's the best place to get the parts, etc, etc.
Thanks in advance for your feedback!
