A friend took me out in his Bayliner this afternoon for several hours. It turned out to be a longer trip than expected as the engine kept stalling out, a 350 Chevy inboard. He pulled air filter cover off the carburator and it ran a bit more and stalled. He found a spark plug wire wasn't attached to the engine and fought getting it on, pulled a corroded wire going to the starter off in the process so then we were completely dead in the water, with no tools or oars for that matter !!! By this time we were about 3/4's of a mile from the boat ramp. I called TXChamp, at least my friend had his cell phone, to try to get him to come rescue us but he wasn't home. We finally got the Callahan county based Game Warden James Brown (yeah that's his real name !)to come out although he didn't want to bring his boat out as it hadn't been used all winter and he wasn't sure how wrll it would run. We told him exactly where we were stranded at and he shows up at the boat ramp apparently because he asked if we could see his spot light, which we couldn't because of a dog leg in the lake where we were around the corner of it a ways. It dawned on him then we were at the north end of the lake where we said we were to begin with. It takes him 15 more minutes to drive most of the way there, not making it all the way as the road over the spillway had probably been washed out. The property owner 3/4's of a mile north of us got there walking quicker than the warden did. He then told us the wardens plan for us to make it over to the shore somehow (no oars remember ?) was no good and the bank up the dam hill side was solid mesquite bushes all the way up. The warden finally shows up and he sees we are a hundred feet from a shore we can't climb if we could get there and he says he will go get his boat after all, which is what we asked him to do to begin with and my friend had offered to pay him the first time we called him. So we wait another 45 minutes, already over an hour and a half from when we first called him. We finally can see head lights shining on the trees back around the corner at the boat ramp and hear him start the boat motor shortly after that, until it dies too !!! Mean while all this time, five hours on the lake now, we've just had a few bites trying live minnows at various depths for what ever will eat em. Oh there were some good size fish jumping but they must have been those robot fish like at Clyde lake that are programmed to jump at dusk to make you THINK there is really fish out there !!! After I heard the wardens boat start and die a fifth time, I saw the big plastic battery cover my friend had pulled off earlier and start using it as an oar, not waiting for the dang warden who might not make it to help us but need to be rescued himself, not by us either if we ever did make it back to the ramp !!! Well after I had paddled us a hundred yards or so we finally hear him coming for us, YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH !!!!!
We toss him the ski rope my friend had and he pulls us to the ramp. He trailers his boat and then he and the Callahan county sheriff Eddie Curtis helped us get the Bayliner on the trailer, no easy stunt either with no engine power.
We pull the truck on up and then realize the biggest problem,well okay maybe that wasn't it and we just went thru a way bigger ordeal but my friend might be reading this so I want to seem like I feel sorry for him (NOT !!), the lower unit won't raise with no power and between the warden sheriff and the property owner at the other end of the lake who rode back with the sheriff, none of them could figure out how to manually release and raise the lower unit.
So to make a long story short ( I was way passed that point 500 words back huh ??? ), how do you raise a lower unit on a Chevy 350 engine manually.
Signed
Next time I go out fishing with my friend it will be in my little trusty boat with just a trolling motor and a nice pair of 5 foot oars.
Until then I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz," There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home !!!"
David C.

Good story MrClyde.

I too was stranded after going out in a friend's boat. Of the people I knew at the time, I was usually the only one with a boat so we always went in my boat. Met someone new that had a boat and he wanted me to go out with him, I did but only once. We were on Grapevine Lake on a mildly windy overcast day, week day and hardly another boat on the lake. We went to a very diserted area that looked good for fishing. Put down the trolling motor and after fishing quite a while the sky grew darker with clouds and the wind was starting to blow harder. We pulled lines in and prepared to go back to the ramp. We had only gone a short distance when the motor died and would not start. I suggested he check for gas and maybe switch to another tank. After checking all 3 tanks he announced, empty. Not good. The water was getting very rough and the trolling motor only was strong enough to maintain our position as we were going into the waves. I suggested we use the trolling motor to steer us with the waves to any open shore area we could find. After getting to shore safely and a bit nervous, as the water really had gotten rough, we secured the boat. He hiked up a high embankment, found a residential area, got a ride for gas, came back and after waiting for the wind to slow down we made it back to the ramp, just a little shakey for the whole experience.

W/O power I dont think you can make the outdrive raise. You could have used jumper cables to jump power to the hydralic unit to lift the outdrive but that would have been a rigging if you know what I mean. (My boat has no manual lift either you have power or your lower unit is where it is.)
Mark

I can't say for sure but if it had hydraulic trim then there should be a set screw used to fill the trim tank. Unscrew it a little, enough to let the pressure off, then physically lift the lower unit, tighten the screw when the unit is all the way up. Or use jumper cables and connect to on board battery just to raise the unit.

One of the 450 CC Amp Jumper packs from Walmart or Pep Boys can save the day! They only cost $29.99 - $39.00. Also, you were lucky the GW didn't check your boat. You are required to carry at least one paddle in the boat in case of emergencies.

But, no one was hurt and you made it safely to shore.

What time was this, Dave? I got home about 6:00 and was in all evening.

Is this an I/O?

Disconnect the hydraulic line at the trim pump, wrap it with a big rag to catch the spill, get a friend and lift the lower unit and tie it in place.

If you have a wrench, disconnect the rams and tie it up out of the way.

Are you sure about the paddle? I've never heard that. (not that a paddle would matter on a 24 ft Sea Ray anyway)

"Raising lower unit with no power ?"


Tried Viagra yet??

Thanks for the replies y'all
I was hoping for a reply last night before I went to bed if it was something I could do myself. We wound up having to leave my friends boat at the lake and so I hoped to go fix the problem and at least bring the boat back to my house. My friend took the mechanic that works at his little shop to the boat this morning and they fixed it.
TXChamp
This was the lake I've told you about in my last emails. It was close to 6pm when I called, that's when we first started trying to call around for help. It was almost 10 before we finally headed out of the park, leaving the boat behind. I'd lost Progator and Hags numbers or I would have called them too.
Yes all boats over 14 feet long are to have a paddle. When I first got my little boat I checked the boating regulations to make sure it was legal on the water. It does seem an odd rule for big pleasure craft like a Bayliner but I was even amazed at how far I moved the boat with just the pan shaped plastic battery cover that was about a foot by a sixteen inches long !!!
jignpig
Too Funny !!!!
David C.

Each boat over 14 ft must have a second means of propulsion, this can be an extra motor, trolling motor, or a paddle, im not real sure on a push pole but I would think that would work too.

Hugo
Where did you get this info from?
I have been on the Teexas boat safety site off and on for over a year and haven't seen the paddle rules.
search out http://www.boat-ed.com/tx/handbook/toc.htm
show me?

In the state of Texas, boat paddles ARE NOT required except on Corp. lakes and a Game Warden told me they don't enforce that rule on the Corp. lakes.