atx111
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2009
- Messages
- 145
Ok, gonna try to make a somewhat long story short and hopefully interesting. We went to Tablerock Lake this weekend for the Cobalt Regatta that a local dealer puts on taking our pretty much restored '78 Cobalt 19BR. I had built a teak swim deck for her and just had it installed in time for the weekend, looked great.
Get down there around 1700, get the boat in the slip, and decide to go get something to eat. We get on the boat around 1930 for a quick half hour cruise. Tablerock is a gorgeous lake, we cruise about five miles out and decide to head back since its starting to get dark and I dont know the lake that well. We make it about a mile away from the marina when the boat starts acting up. It's chugging and losing power fast. That's when I stop looking at the scenery and look at the guages, temp guage is pegged out. I throw it in neutral and get my hand on the key when it just craps out.
I immediatley open the dog house and that engine was hot! Crap! After I get an anchor thrown I start thinking of what happened. Impeller was new, could have been anything. I couldn't start getting at it till it cooled down and it wasnt cooling down fast at all. We hadnt seen another boat for at least 20 minutes, so the chance of flagging someone down was unlikely. So, I called information and got the number for SeaTow. Called them up, and they got all the information and said they'd be there in 45 minutes, they were in Kimberling City, we were in Shell Knob, 30 minutes by water. Got towed back, and tied up the boat. All the while I was talking to my mechanic back home, who is a great guy for answering a call at 2100 on a Friday night! I was telling him exactly what was going on, and he talked me through a few things to no avail. He said, let it cool off over night and at least see if you can start it in the morning.
Next morning, get down to the boat and try starting it. It would crank and crank, but no go. Best it would do was turn over a bit and back fire through the carb, not good. I called my mechanic back and told him what was going on. He ran me through some things that might work, but didn't. So, I asked him what his advice was. He asked me if I wanted to keep fishing or cut bait on a great boat that needed some pretty major work that could run some big bucks. I decided to cut bait and run.
After a lengthy discussion with the better half, we decided that our timeline on getting a new boat was going to be pushed up considerably. So long story short, we just picked up a brand new 2010 Cobalt 230. Man, the worst weekend Ive had boating turned into the best one!
I really did hate to give up on a boat that I've put so much time and work into, but geez, I had to just draw the line somewhere and say enough was enough. Hopefully, with the new boat, it'll be a very long time before I have to make that decision again.
Get down there around 1700, get the boat in the slip, and decide to go get something to eat. We get on the boat around 1930 for a quick half hour cruise. Tablerock is a gorgeous lake, we cruise about five miles out and decide to head back since its starting to get dark and I dont know the lake that well. We make it about a mile away from the marina when the boat starts acting up. It's chugging and losing power fast. That's when I stop looking at the scenery and look at the guages, temp guage is pegged out. I throw it in neutral and get my hand on the key when it just craps out.
I immediatley open the dog house and that engine was hot! Crap! After I get an anchor thrown I start thinking of what happened. Impeller was new, could have been anything. I couldn't start getting at it till it cooled down and it wasnt cooling down fast at all. We hadnt seen another boat for at least 20 minutes, so the chance of flagging someone down was unlikely. So, I called information and got the number for SeaTow. Called them up, and they got all the information and said they'd be there in 45 minutes, they were in Kimberling City, we were in Shell Knob, 30 minutes by water. Got towed back, and tied up the boat. All the while I was talking to my mechanic back home, who is a great guy for answering a call at 2100 on a Friday night! I was telling him exactly what was going on, and he talked me through a few things to no avail. He said, let it cool off over night and at least see if you can start it in the morning.
Next morning, get down to the boat and try starting it. It would crank and crank, but no go. Best it would do was turn over a bit and back fire through the carb, not good. I called my mechanic back and told him what was going on. He ran me through some things that might work, but didn't. So, I asked him what his advice was. He asked me if I wanted to keep fishing or cut bait on a great boat that needed some pretty major work that could run some big bucks. I decided to cut bait and run.
After a lengthy discussion with the better half, we decided that our timeline on getting a new boat was going to be pushed up considerably. So long story short, we just picked up a brand new 2010 Cobalt 230. Man, the worst weekend Ive had boating turned into the best one!
I really did hate to give up on a boat that I've put so much time and work into, but geez, I had to just draw the line somewhere and say enough was enough. Hopefully, with the new boat, it'll be a very long time before I have to make that decision again.
