GC Seaway scare

[frankgrimes]

Left spit ramp this morning ~4:15 for a looksee, was looking a little lumpy outside and with runout tide, bit of swell, thought Id flick a few plastics along nth wall until closer to tide change then head out....did a couple of drifts from pipeline to end of nth wall(engine running of course) without issue, then on last drift was about 50m from end of wall and engine starts struggling, then dies(WTF!?)...quickly bring line in, try to restart...runs for second or two, then dies...as you can imagine the 'ole heart rate increases substantially!! Tried engine again, same thing..quickly toss anchor out as Im getting f**cking close to rocks+waves breaking on rocks...no time to see if anchor has grabbed, tried engine again, same thing...thinking it has to be fuel, check primer bulb(hard) give it a couple of pumps, and some fuel spills out at fuel line/engine connection(is that normal?? F**ck knows! Maybe a blockage or something), tried engine again, same thing..anchor has not grabbed, getting within 10mt of rocks/waves, see a boat heading out - Start waving my arms/whislting/yelling(Amazing how motivated you are in these situations), and he comes over...tosses me a tow rope(I pull up anchor in about .0005 seconds) I tied off but as im basically on the rocks, his deckie doesn't have time and tries holding on as skipper motors off...gets me 10-15m from rocks and deckie looses grip(fark!!)...start drifting back into rocks/waves as old mate circles back around...I toss deckie rope, he ties off and skipper motors off...few tender moments getting back through seaway due to short rope/run-out and bit of swell, but he gets me back to near spit ramp, and I row in rest of way...could not thank this bloke enough..offered him beer etc, but wouldn't take it(Whoever you are, thanks mate - saved my skin!!). Tried engine again, same thing - so cut my losses and put her on trailer and went home.

Once home(And adrenaline wasn’t pumping a million miles an hour!), I put muffs on an tried engine again(Same thing), tried primer again, and some fuel spills out...with stress levels down to normal, and with more than 10 seconds to diagnose the problem(Or Im going to get smashed into rocks!), I thought - nah, that cant be normal so pulled fuel line connector from engine, and tried reconnecting(didnt feel like she "snapped" in, so tried again(harder), and it clicked -tried pulling it off(without pressing release), and it wouldnt move....tried engine again, and she fires and runs without issue for 10minutes...Relieved, that in the end it was something simple....but Murphy's law certainly came to fruition in the most inopportune time……to say it was stressful is an understatement!!

Mick

[Chimo]

Re: GC Seaway scare

Hi Mick

Glad all OK in the end.

The GC is just like a big country town if it you give it a chance or your in need as you were today.

What motor do you have?

The connector must have just been nearly on and just moved enough with the engine vibrations as you were drifting .

Cheers
Chimo

[frankgrimes]

Re: GC Seaway scare

Cheers Chimo - Merc 60 4 banger....bloody thing decided to come loose at the worst possible time!

[finga]

Re: GC Seaway scare

That happened to me once.

I found though out before heading over the Evans bar as I always give it a brief wide open spurt before I get to the 'danger zone'.

But it's simple to do. Something you do a million times and 999,999 times it's right.

And thank goodness for good boaties who are willing to help.
A pat on the back for you (who-ever you are) is well deserved.

[aharding]

Re: GC Seaway scare

Exactly the reason why I never use connectors at the engine end, I run a decent water/fuel separting filter and from there a strait line, through a grommet to the carbs, bypassing the engine mounted filter. Just too many connections and too many places for trouble and air leaks. It's not as if you need to disconnect the coupling on a permanent mounted engine anyway.

[frankgrimes]

Re: GC Seaway scare

That happened to me once.

I found though out before heading over the Evans bar as I always give it a brief wide open spurt before I get to the 'danger zone'.

But it's simple to do. Something you do a million times and 999,999 times it's right.

And thank goodness for good boaties who are willing to help.
A pat on the back for you (who-ever you are) is well deserved.

Cheers mate - That's the thing, id given her a couple of runs at wot, and had been motoring around for a good 45 minutes.

Bloody oath on the other boatie...absolute legend....if it wasnt for him, reckon you'd have seen me on the news tonight!

[robfin]

Re: GC Seaway scare

Same thing with my 40 4stroke merc. Fuel line came loose after 10 minutes but thankfully it wasn't a scary situation like yours. After if happens once you'll be checking and rechecking that "click" each time you fill up.

Good on the fellas who helped you, it restores confidence in the human race.

[Scalem]

Re: GC Seaway scare

After that amount of stress I guess you didn't really feel like fishing did you? Can't say I have done that, but similar. Forgot to undo the breather on the old plastic fuel cans which almost shrivelled up to half their size B4 the motor stopped. Got me stressed the 1st time, after that I just swore at the NONG HEAD (me) responsible for the same thing next time it happened.

Good to see it was nothing serious.

Scalem

[FishHunter]

Re: GC Seaway scare

I know the feeling of impending doom well been there a few times with the yak. Lucky for you there was someone around who was willing and able to help.

[dreemon]

Re: GC Seaway scare

I had that same conection to the engine come off a couple of times on my yam 902st, it is freaky cause it could happen at any time as you found out, I went to get a new one from yamaha dealer and they said I could get an after market one for cheaper, I told them the genuine one will be fine,

but would like a better more solid conection style like my commpressor fittings,

also if anyone caught my eye and were waving me over I would have no prob helping out, I allways have a ski rope handy, great t hear someone helped you out

[FNQCairns]

Re: GC Seaway scare

I had that same conection to the engine come off a couple of times on my yam 902st, it is freaky cause it could happen at any time as you found out, I went to get a new one from yamaha dealer and they said I could get an after market one for cheaper, I told them the genuine one will be fine,

but would like a better more solid conection style like my commpressor fittings,

also if anyone caught my eye and were waving me over I would have no prob helping out, I allways have a ski rope handy, great t hear someone helped you out

Like the suzuki ones? superior to the yamaha ones IMO, i had my yamaha one come loose idling from the ramp just before putting the hammer down for the next couple hours, deckie worked it out quickly and fixed it.

101 things can be wrong when these things happen but I think 9/10 times it's operator error at some level and that includes simple oversights and lack of due maintenance.

Glad to hear it became nothing but a close shave, this is why i like an axillary, need to follow my own advice sooner rather than later as my time must be getting close again.

[bigdonk]

Re: GC Seaway scare

Shit pants! literally... good to see all good things come out from this and all you lost is some fishing time!!

BD

[trueblue]

Re: GC Seaway scare

nothing good about engine problems at inopportune times

glad it all worked out ok in the end

[Mr__Bean]

Re: GC Seaway scare

And thank you for sharing your near miss.

It is posts like this that help prevent the next guy falling victim to the same type of failure.

- Darren

[Jabiru658]

Re: GC Seaway scare

Glad to hear you're ok, I've experienced the same problem although I was lucky enough to have plenty of water around me and enough time to sit down and think about the problem.

It's good to hear about a boaty helping someone else out for a change instead of all these stories about people stealing pots or over fishing or keeping undersize fish etc etc

And it does point out the usefulness of an auxiliary motor though *thinks*.