PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant VBA_SCRIPT - assumed 'VBA_SCRIPT' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in ..../includes/functions_navigation.php(802) : eval()'d code on line 1 oooh no, it had to happen one day
7.30pm lined up three friends to sneak out to the reef, conditions are OK but should get better throughout the night.
Pitch black, no moon, dog tired from a 400k road trip earlier that day for business, but here we go, nothing gets in my way for a reef trip, if all is right to go.
Run around in circles a few times when out of the river mouth, swore a bit, try to get my bearings, try to get the electronics I paid big $$$ for doing something, get past and around all the boat crunching islands and reach about 12 km out. Clear going from here, 45kms to go, what are the poor people doing tonight, this should be fun, big reds, everyone happy, lots of pics, yeeeeyyyy??
Great mark on Yamacutta reef punched into the GPS where we have caught heaps of reds, what could go wrong, hey what could be better??
Pilot on, radar on, tabs down, nice ride, this is too easy, glad a few beers are in the esky, might have a few and go to bed later.
Poooof, who turned the key off????, Who was that????, who can I blame??? What the ???? it just shut down. No warning from the Mercury smartcraft system, no beeps, buzzers, screams or anything else, she just plain shut down.
The guys with me were not impressed, never been outside out much, never at night, and a bit concerned leaving solid ground, for one bloke it was his weddding anniverisary and the amount of convincing he had to do to get out of dinner for a reef trip was truly remarkable. I luv him for it!!!!!
So here we are, how I have spruuked in previous posts about never seeing any other boats when I go out and how I would sell the boat if I had to move south.
Oh yeah, this is the only time we all left out mobile phones at home, how much great faith we have in this boat, its reputation is second to none in this area.
Bingo, 4kms east of Dunk Island 8.30pm on a dark night, what the *&*&^%$ do we do now??? seen a distant light and tried the VHS a few times and got hold of a prawn trawler, very rare for this area. Pleased he rang our home and told them 3.00am would not happen and we need a tow in the morning.
Anyway, I spat the dummy out there, dropped the anchor, grabbed my pillow, my blankey, and bunked down for the night and left them there. Yes they were scared, but I snored heaps.
I kept being awoken by rachets screaming and the tally for the broken down night was a good spanish mackeral, a large spotty, and about 10 sharks.
They shouldn't whinge though, a good size spanish and a large spotted mack whiled marooned is better than nothing
A good friend came out at 7.00am and home we go.
Of course this is not the end of the story, how can I, having a good fishing reputation in this area, ever break down??? Well at 8.30am limping our way back into the Hull river behind 'Plan B" (good friend, have to pay for fuel and more) at least 15 people, 3 armed with camera's, stood at the entrance to the river, flashes away they go.
Not happy with that, they all piled into their cars and drove around to the boat ramp a few kms away where we limped the poor old girl onto the pontoon and away they flashed, barstar^%%$$ssssss.
Now I can expect that if I did something stupid we can all get out photographs taken for our local paper, but really, I did nothing wrong, all you lot can just pisssss offf
Towing back in was about 15 knots so I thought this was about the right speed for a skirted lure so out they go, but no hits.
I reversed the old lady into the back yard and lifted the cowl and had a look, managed to find the fuse pack, 4 x 20amp fuses in a module fixed to the side of the motor.
My 40 cent, 20 amp engine fuse decided that it did not like contacting with the base socket, melted a little, and shut the system down. Barstar&%#$&**d
So then entire saga related to a tiny blade fuse not contacting with the socket it plugged into. I was flat out finding it walking around the motor on solid ground and had no hope out there.
Called the troups up for another trip tonight but no one called back!!!!
Jingo Googarra You didnt say what you do for a living but if it fails to keep you interested you could just start writing novels!! Great read mate Oh by the way if you ever do decide to sell that Haines I want to be first in line
Also a happy ending. !
John
(who is hoping the weather is still going to be OK as predicted off Cairns on Tuesday
that was a bloody good read mate, thanks for sharing. sounds like you applied common sense to the situation... i would have been happy with that and coming with you the next day!!!
what model is the merc?
did the fuse just become loose causing it to ark out?
Happy to hear you got a good sleep LOL, these things have gotta happen sooner or later i suppose, as experienced as you are with that side of the coin ...you up to be one of the Ausfish dunk island and surrounds emergency contact numbers??
A coastal database like this would be nice little addition for our fishy community i guess.
Been there with a susuki, but same as you didn't fnd it till I got home, then still wouldn't start. After a bit of investigation (read as "pretend I know what I am doing") I was just looking around and when I touched a wire it moved more than it should have, checking further it was a short length of earthing wire that had broken at the lug, seems the wire was fairly tight and vibrations eventually broke the connection, not sure who to blame for this stae of affairs. Have recheched all the wiring on my current motor and do know where the fuses are. Shame your mates kept waking you up with ratchets screaming.
2004 model 250hp Optimax XS go fast as hell model.
The little fuse pack is on the starboard side of the engine about level with the bottom of the cowl when removed.
The fuses did not work loose, they were all in the original place, under a black cover, as when manufactured. The problem being that they had very little 'pressure' onto the small stainless contacts in the housing. Three of them were showing obvious signs of heat and melt from poor contact. The hotter they got, the less contact with the socket and it all went downhill from there.
I dont know what the four actually do, but one sure a hell runs the ignition/computer.
All optimax owners should check this little fuse box and see if they are also showing signs of poor contact.
Hey good story! What are mates for hey? Holding the torch of course! Glad you all had a safe trip anyway. Look forward to your next report - with some fish next time. Better luck next trip, Cheers, Darren
Not uncommon with blade fuses. When you replace them you have to look very carefully that the blade slides into the base and not beside it. If it goes beside it, it goes on an angle and has a small contact area which overloads and starts to overheat eventually failing.
Reply With Quote
