Pensacola Trip

[Spoiledrotten]

Glad we brought the moring cover today, on our 100 mile excursion from Pensacola to Destin’s Crab Island and back. Got caught in a storm on the way back, and rode it out on a sand bar near Ft. Walton Beach.
2hrs 40 mins one way. Stayed at a steady 4000RPM 24MPH. It was 49 miles by boat. We had some bad luck coming back. Gas gauge read 1/4 tank left, but guess what? It wasn’t calibrated, and 1/4 means bone dry. There we were, stuck in the middle of the intracoastal waterway, just on the West side of Navarre. It was starting to get dark, and we saw one guy on all of the waterway around us. He came over, went back to his house and brought back 10 gals. Made it within about 8 miles of the ramp, and it was totally dark. I had to make it back to the ramp, using only my phone google map, and my depth finder. Then when we were about 1/4 mile from the ramp, I missed a channel marker, and ran shallow onto sand had to get out and pull boat into deeper water. It was probably 9:00. Got boat loaded, and noticed a little smoke from the area of the impeller. I got back to the hotel, flushed the motor for quite a while through the small flush hose on the motor. Then put the muffs on, for the test. No water out of the p hole. #&*@#$! So guess what I’m going to do this morning? Found a couple of marinas that sell Yamaha parts. Got to change the impeller. Great day. Very stressful evening and night. 11:30 is when I collapsed into the bed.

 

[Mike31406]

Wow, what an experience! We can all learn from your misfortune. Glad you made it back safely. Another reminder that “Murphy” is alive and well.

 

[mattb]

Livin life brother, livin life. Still sounds like a good trip.

 

[lakeliving]

How many hours are on the boat? Why would the impeller have failed already?

 

[Michiman]

Glad you were able to roll with the punches! One thing that stuck out to me in your story was the 9:00 PM dark reference. Here in northern Michigan, the sun doesn't set until around 9:30 or so.

In the end, I guess you at least know not to trust that gas gauge.

In a somewhat related theme, we finally splashed our boat Sunday afternoon on a cloudy, extremely windy and cool day. We made the best of it but because of conditions, there were not many boats left on our lake when we headed back to the marina around 6:30 or so. In the distance we saw what appeared to be a boat trying to get our attention so I changed course and sure enough, they were powerless in heavy seas. Ended up towing them 45 minutes to their dock, so needless to say, we were a bit late getting back home last night.

 

[Spoiledrotten]

How many hours are on the boat? Why would the impeller have failed already?

About 80, guessing. My thought is churning in the sand probably did it.

 

[Mike31406]

Glad you were able to roll with the punches! One thing that stuck out to me in your story was the 9:00 PM dark reference. Here in northern Michigan, the sun doesn't set until around 9:30 or so.

In the end, I guess you at least know not to trust that gas gauge.

In a somewhat related theme, we finally splashed our boat Sunday afternoon on a cloudy, extremely windy and cool day. We made the best of it but because of conditions, there were not many boats left on our lake when we headed back to the marina around 6:30 or so. In the distance we saw what appeared to be a boat trying to get our attention so I changed course and sure enough, they were powerless in heavy seas. Ended up towing them 45 minutes to their dock, so needless to say, we were a bit late getting back home last night.

Good job “looking out” for fellow boater. We all may need help some day.

 

[Badger]

It wasn’t calibrated, and 1/4 means bone dry

Ours is the opposite. When the gauge is on E we still have a 1/4 tank. I guess that's a good thing. Glad to hear you returned safe.

 

[Alicedream]

Really glad you made it back safe Randy! There had to be some very stomach churning time with all of that.

 

[BigKahuna]

Sounds like a great trip! We have been to Destin and Ft. Walton Beach ......Just a Beautiful area! For such a long trip don't you bring an extra gas can??? Just in case.......

 

[Link]

That is one rough trip but sometimes when things don't work out is when we laugh through it and have the best times.

 

[Spoiledrotten]

Great comments. After purchasing a new impeller kit, I pulled the lower unit this morning. Got down to the impeller and found that it was in perfect shape. I greased everything up, put it all back together, and flushed it again. When I put the muffs on it, I cranked it up, and water started pouring out of the p hole like nobody’s business. Talking about relief! That made my day. I’m guessing it was sand stopping up something. Well,we’re hoping the rain will not last all day, so we can get back out in the Gulf, this afternoon. Andy, I think you jinxed the south by moving down here!

 

[lakeliving]

I think you’re right!

 

[sunedog]

When I put the muffs on it, I cranked it up, and water started pouring out of the p hole like nobody’s business. Talking about relief! That made my day. I’m guessing it was sand stopping up something.

When I was selling my old Benny, my Honda stopped peeing midway through a test drive. The prospective buyer and I both remembered observing and talking about it peeing strong at the dock before leaving for the ride. Twenty minutes later, while in the middle of the lake, we noticed it was not peeing. Came back to my dock at just above idle speed and shut it down. I used a piece of weed eater line to poke up there and sure enough, something had gotten in there to clog it up after we had left.

He ended up offering me $2K less than I was asking. I let him walk and sold the boat for full price two days later.

Glad you got yours fixed.

 

[Spoiledrotten]

We took it out for the day, yesterday. I watched it like a hawk, and it performed like new. Maybe it just wanted to be taken apart to see how much I loved it. Oh well.... had a great time in the sun. I got to snorkel for a while, too. Had a blast. Dinner last night....

 

[Spoiledrotten]

We also passed by this little vessel while out.

 

[Spoiledrotten]

The mechanic at the dealership is going to bring the new fuel sending unit to my house to install since my boat is in the driveway. That’s mighty nice of him. Hopefully, I won’t have any more misreading of how much I have left. Don’t want to go through that again. He said he wants to calibrate it to where there’s still a few gallons when it reads empty.

 

[Michiman]

Good deal but before you place too much faith in the "extra" reserve, you may want to verify first, which I'm sure you'll do.

 

[Spoiledrotten]

Mine had a digital sender going to an analog gauge. After seeing that the two were creating incorrect readings, he replaced the digital with an analog sender. I’ll be carrying an extra can of gas, to see what the gauge reads when it runs out.