Boat launched - failed... heh

[Mr.crab]

Sorry about your troubles Russ, it will get better the more you use the boat by fixing things as they come up.
Replaced almost everything on my boat, now haven’t had time to use it.
Good luck.

 

[UCPA111]

Oh boy Russ. You have us all rooting for you! LOL!
I put a year into my boat before splashing it. It needed a motor. OK. But, after going through it with a fine tooth comb we redid everything. I didn't want to be plagued by issues. It was painful and expensive, but I know the boat inside and out now and I know what it has. I think you're in better shape with a much newer boat. Just need to keep walking through all the systems and learning them and making sure things check out.

Since you posted here, you'll get some advice...right? Here's mine:
- Might be worth saving up for a trailer or converting to electric over hydraulic brakes. You have a good sized boat. I sold the trailer that came with my boat and took the $1500 and put it towards a new trailer with bunks, guides, electric over hydraulic brakes, torsion axles, LED lights, etc. It was a $5700 new trailer. I did not want to spend the money after spending what I did restoring. But, after getting everything setup and understanding how deep to back in and such, we are literally less than 5 minutes loading it (including my time walking to get the truck and trailer). It's ridiculous. For good measure, I added a second set of uprights to help guide during loading. When unloading, Dad is in the truck back it down the ramp and when he hits the brakes I am fired up and off. It's slick.
- When I load, I found the sweep spot for depth of trailer (based on my ramp angle) and gage it based on the fender location in the water. We guide boat into center on the trailer....power boat forward with outboard until she's settled on forward guide v-bunks. I hook the eye and we use the winch and power to bring to the roller. Less than 30 seconds. In the load scenario, I am on the trailer and my Dad is in the boat.
- I think you're wise to workout the bugs close to home. I thought about splashing mine in my parent's pond to start (LOL!) but opted to run it with the boot and do a pre-check of everything I could in the driveway.

Keep the faith!!!

 

[SirGrady226]

I can remember launching my 87 for the first time, neutral safety switch on one outboard was stuck and it wouldn't crank. Decided to load it back up and take it home, pulling it out of the water the winch plate broke loose. Good thing I had a safety chain attached or it would of launched again. Second launch had an alarm sounding on one outboard, putted around on one engine and got caught in a nasty thunderstorm having to anchor up and hide in the cabin. Turned out to be a pinched wire causing the alarm. Third launch had no issues, forth launch both batteries were failing and luckily had a jump box to use. Since then it's been smooth boating. You'll get through it, one step at a time.

 

[glacierbaze]

Were the brakes locked up when you got to the ramp, or only when you tried to back down? Use a test light to make sure you have 12v to the solenoid when in reverse. You may also feel a click.

Best way to test water pump is to submerge it several inches above the top plate. The water pump sits above the separation line. Muffs have to force the water up there, but if you only submerge the water intakes, the pump will not have water.
Get yourself a big livestock water trough at the ag store, big enough for both outdrives. And when you get overheated in that Texas sun, you can take a dip to cool off.

Take oncslr up on his offer!

 

[Ky Grady]

If not both drives, at least one. This is a 100 gallon one. Comes in handy.

 

[Shannon C.]

Hey all, speaking of lower units. Both of my 250’s are taking some time to pee, the port engine has a new lower on it with less than 10hrs and the starboard was replaced a couple of years ago. I have a 40gal water bag that I put them in and the water is up to the separation line. Now that salmon season is closed where I live on the west coast I’m only getting out 1-2 times a month but I start the motors and let them run for 20-30min a week. When I take it off the trailer they start peeing right away in the marina when they are warming up, what gives?

 

[Capt Tom]

Remember, always rule out the pee-hole being clogged by a dirt dawber. Happened to me last week, luckily I was able to loosen it up enough to clear it and head out.

 

[Fishtales]

Yep, used boats need to have the kinks worked out. Took my buddie's new to him 23 Wellcraft out a couple of weeks ago. Generally ok but we had some first time snafus.

 

[leeccoll]

Yep, as others said sorry man!

I used to live in Austin, Bee Cave to be exact but didn't own a boat. I was in raising kiddos mode. Plenty of ski boats on Lake Austin. I'll bet you are one of the few Grady owners in the area. The upside to having no Grady dealers in your area is you will really get to know the in's n out's of how to maintain and repair your boat once it's up and running. I use the same Rubbermaid trough you have when I work on my 228 at home. I call it the "Spa" lol!!

I really liked paying for a guide to fish Lake Buchanan for Stripers. They were great to eat. If you can launch there someday sure you will enjoy it! Used to go camping in Bastrop with the cub and boy scouts all the time. Small world.

Seems to me that owning a boat is a tightrope between a lot of fun and headaches. Those who are able to manage expectations fare well. I would put you in that category

Best of luck moving forward,

Lee

 

[glacierbaze]

Hey all, speaking of lower units. Both of my 250’s are taking some time to pee, the port engine has a new lower on it with less than 10hrs and the starboard was replaced a couple of years ago. I have a 40gal water bag that I put them in and the water is up to the separation line. Now that salmon season is closed where I live on the west coast I’m only getting out 1-2 times a month but I start the motors and let them run for 20-30min a week. When I take it off the trailer they start peeing right away in the marina when they are warming up, what gives?

Can you get any more water in the bag?

 

[glacierbaze]

Russ, did you try to start the engines back home, after they had cooled down?
What alarms are on your engine? When you get an alarm, do you also light up an icon on the gauge?
If the engines will restart on the trailer, with a good water supply, crank one at a time, and log how long they idle before an alarm goes off? What is your idle rpm? Immediately rev up to about 1000 rpm in neutral, and see if increased water flow will kill the alarm. Is it does, go back to idle, and if it returns, rev again.
Do all that with the cowling off. You should have an ir temp gun for your hubs by now. If you get a temp alarm, quickly shoot the temp at the spark plug bases, and compare each head temp. If one head is hotter than the other, you may have a t-stat issue. I would replace them as well as the water pumps anyway, but I would do one thing at a time, to try to isolate the problem, or the cure
Remember, this is a Yamaha issue, not a Grady White issue. Go to thehulltruth.com, the boating forum, and search 'yamaha overheat alarm', and there is more to read than you will ever want to. i tried to post a direct link, but it seems to give readers here access to my account there.

For testing onboard water systems:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&biw=846&bih=503&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=gIhwXdmkJ8Xs5gKY0ragCg&q=fake+a+lake&oq=fake+a+lake&gs_l=img.3..0l2j0i24l8.2570.5571..7757...0.0..0.75.718.11......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0i8i30.1pr0jkRSTME&ved=0ahUKEwjZ5PP25bjkAhVFtlkKHRipDaQQ4dUDCAY&uact=5

 

[Legend]

http://www.yamahaoutboardparts.com/forum2/ = this is an excellent source for Yamaha questions too. Some very knowledgeable Yamaha experts who are very responsive

 

[Ky Grady]

I'd be in contact with ocnslr and get him down there when you're ready to launch again, but only after you get all the maintenance done and do a test run at home. His knowledge and experience is invaluable to you to help you get familiar with your boat.

 

[Shannon C.]

Can you get any more water in the bag?

Unfortunately not, it has holes at the top.

 

[Shannon C.]

http://www.yamahaoutboardparts.com/forum2/ = this is an excellent source for Yamaha questions too. Some very knowledgeable Yamaha experts who are very responsive

Thanks Legend, I totally forgot about that forum, I’ll head over there and see what comes up. Sorry for the thread drift everyone.

 

[glacierbaze]

Hey all, speaking of lower units. Both of my 250’s are taking some time to pee, the port engine has a new lower on it with less than 10hrs and the starboard was replaced a couple of years ago. I have a 40gal water bag that I put them in and the water is up to the separation line. Now that salmon season is closed where I live on the west coast I’m only getting out 1-2 times a month but I start the motors and let them run for 20-30min a week. When I take it off the trailer they start peeing right away in the marina when they are warming up, what gives?

I made myself a flush bag out of the pvc shower liner material. It is kinda like me, when it is full, it gets fat and saggy. Before you fill the baq, try loosely wrapping a dock line around it from top to bottom. That may keep the bag from ballooning, and give you a few more inches of water height.
Also, make sure that the pump is not sucking the bag against the intakes.