Bad Position

[Dn.liner]

My boat has been in the shop for a month now, I usually striper fish this time of year but not this year. I have had my boat to two different mechanics with no resolve to the problem. Its one of them gost problems. Its not the fuel system not mechanical they have checked the eletrical system twice now and they are stumped. I am trying to decide to buy a new engine or just trade the hole thing in on a new one. I owe $3000 more than it is worth. That is not a good thing when your right arm and your boat are of equal importance to you. Sounds like crying but I knew you guys would understand. Is there a 12 step program for fisherman? I don,t drink so therefore I have no relief from the fishing withdrawls. Have spent many hours in the Man Cave trying to find relief. There is none. Should I buy or trade? Gentelmen I place my confidence in your advice.

[CrappieHound]

What year and boat model do you have?

[ThrillSeeker]

What year and boat model do you have?

Also, what's the boat doing (or not doing)?

[1weezer]

Only you know if you can afford a new one or not. However, most of the time on a boat more than 4 or 5 years old, you will be buying some one elses problems. You can't take it with you when it's your time. Might as well enjoy life while your here. Go for the new one. You will be better off getting a new rig than you will just getting a new motor. Just make sure it's what you want. Don't skimp on the options.

[Jerry Blake]

Maybe a third opinion is in order. Everything is fixable if you can find the problem. I had a '92 200HP Mariner that had been rebuilt before I bought it. One day out of the blue it started shutting down. Would be flying down the lake and it would be like you turned the key off. I determined that the fuel pump was cutting out but couldn't figure out why. Replaced the fuel pump and it ran great for a couple months and then started doing the same thing - fuel pump cutting off for no reason again. Took it to another shop and the mechanic/owner there thought it might be the computer and suggested we send it off to be rebuilt. Put a rebuilt computer on it and it ran great for several months and then started doing the same thing again. Took it back to the original shop and between the mechanic and I we determined that there was a loose connection in the plug from the harness to the computer because every time we would twist the connection/plug back and forth the fuel pump would turn on and off. So I replaced the plug by connecting each wire together with heat shrink crimp connectors (like 20 of them) and it ran great for several months again and then started cutting out again.

Finally I found two wires in the wiring harness way down in the bottom that apparently got skinned when the motor was rebuilt. Apparently each time I "fixed" what we thought was teh problem, I had moved the harness around enough that the wires apparently got separated so they didn't touch. Then over a period of time they would start touching again, shorting out and causing the fuel pump to shut off.

The point is that it may be something simple that you just haven't been able to track down yet. Intermittent electrical shorts or loose connections can be a real pain to track down.

[Rookie12]

I work in a truck repair shop and thing slike this happen all the time. My wife's Durango kept shutting off and wouldn't start sometimes. Every time I looked at it, it was fine. Finally go it to mess up with me one time and found a bad cable end at the battery even though I had it off and cleaned three times. Had a CAT motor in the shop recently that would stumble when accelerating. Checked everything I knew to check. It acted like slow timing, but we never could figure it out. sent it to a CAT dealer and even they were stumped. Had problems with a Mercedes diesel engine in a Freightliner blowing head gaskets every 3 months. after 6 sets of head gaskets, he finally got a new engine. Reports came back on the old engine that they saw no reason it kept blowing head gaskets. S*^$ happens sometimes and sometimes you're on the tail end of it. It sucks, I know!!!!

[Rat]

Keep at it, find it and fix it. Use the money you saved from not buying a new boat on new rods, reels and fishing gear!

[stumpy76522]

I had a boat that ran great for a while and then would just quit. When I took it to the shop it would run fine. After many trips to the shop we found that they had ran a screw into the wiring harness when they installed my graph.

[papasage]

go to this site and post year and modle . explain the probablem . there is a bunch of experts on the site . along with TMD . he is a merc. guroue and knowes all about other motors . if he don`t know some one on the site will .some one some where has probabley had the same probablem .


http://www.marinedr.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

also http://forums.iboats.com/

[Scott S]

I once repowered a 10 year old boat with a new motor, never did regret it, in fact it was kind of nice not having to spend time outfitting a new boat. So I would suggest whatever fits your budget best and that makes you happy.

Sounds like your mind is made up to buy, if not spend a day or two of the striper time (since your not fishing) inspecting the electrical and fuel systems of your motor and boat for loose and or damaged areas and connections. It seems like intermittent or nuisance type of problems are usually simple inexpensive fixes in the end.
I learned this lesson back in Feb. 1983 after spending most of my weeks' vacation (meant for crappie fishing) trailering my boat back and forth to the shop and spending $400.00 on supposed repairs. In the end it was two bad fuel lines.

You might want to describe your rig and the symptom, chances are good you'll get some suggestions.

Good luck.