Almost a bad day...

[smthng]

Had friends staying in town with us for the weekend, so took them on a tour that I'm comfortable with and have run numerous times. Had a great morning going from St. Augustine (FL) down the intracoastal to Crescent Beach, which is a great place to stop and spend some quality beach time. Got the usual show from dolphins and such, figured out that I have an extended awning and thought I pretty much had all the idiosyncrasies worked out of the new-to-me 212X. We stored all the flip-flops in the cleanout hatch and someone decided that they needed thiers to walk to the bathrooms. When I went to put them back later, the latch on the hatch broke off. :S "No big deal" I thought, until one engine wouldn't start.
Due to the numerous issues posted here with the kill switches, I figured out that was the issue without freaking out. Had a guest sit on the hatch and the engine fired right up. So... how to get the hatch to latch when the latch handle it busted? Tried a bunch of stuff including pliers, trying to spin the remnant with pointy things, etc. No dice. Eventually jammed a piece of cardboard (chicken wing box) in the hatch and all was reasonably well.
Wife assumes "We're all gonna die" as soon as anything goes wrong with the boat, so we headed back to port. On the way, there were a few boat wakes we jumped that dislodged my hatch wedge, so we lost that engine a couple times, readjusted and continued on our way. But, there was one giant boat we had to pass that was a cross between a fishing boat and ferry that was throwing a very slow but massive wake. I tried to get over that thing three times and stalled out each time as we came down. Finally had a guest just sit back there and "hang on"... worked like a charm.
Bought a new latch at West Marine for ridiculous money this morning, will replace all the others from online stores as I get a chance. This helped me figure out that my port switch is way too touchy and needs to be replaced (no more adjustment left in the threads and the rubber "boot" is cracked), so I'll be doing both of those as well.

Note the bird about to steal my unsuspecting wife's chicken wing.

 

[buckbuck]

Hmmm...did I read that correctly? You only lost one engine when the hatch came open? You should have lost both.
Sounds a bit sketchy knowing you are going to lose power on the wakes. Glad you got home ok. I had to buy one of those expensive latches also. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

 

[Bruce]

Only one latch failed so only one engine was shutting down. There are two switches on opposite sides of the hatch. One can trigger killing an engine while the other runs. I have had one engine shutdown crossing waves when I forgot to latch one handle.

After this years Bimini crossing I am thinking about cutting the clean out hatch cover in half so that one engine could be shut down while the other continues to run. This would allow continued movement while cleaning out clogged jet(s).

 

[4x15mph]

@smthng, good story and glad to hear it all worked out okay. The boat looks great in the pictures.

 

[smthng]

Both my switches are right next to each other and the hatch only has one latch. One switch is way too sensitive and probably needs to be replaced. When unlatched, the hatch lifts about a quarter of an inch on its own, which was enough to trip that flaky switch. The other one would cut out if the hatch actually opened, but that didn't occur, even on the big wakes. So, I was still able to maneuver on one engine when needed, it was just a pain.

The boat looks great in the pictures.

Thanks, it was actually the wife's first time out and the first time I haven't been working on something when I've had it out. It did great, everyone had fun, and we dig the increased space and fuel range. It just taught me one more thing to be aware of. If we were a long way out from our port, I would have just pulled the switches out completely and been done with it, but it was a nice day for limping back.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Only one latch failed so only one engine was shutting down. There are two switches on opposite sides of the hatch. One can trigger killing an engine while the other runs. I have had one engine shutdown crossing waves when I forgot to latch one handle.

After this years Bimini crossing I am thinking about cutting the clean out hatch cover in half so that one engine could be shut down while the other continues to run. This would allow continued movement while cleaning out clogged jet(s).

Might be easier to install hidden bypass switches for those safety switches.

 

[Bruce]

Both my switches are right next to each other and the hatch only has one latch.

Interesting, my 230 has two switches that are spaced out and two latches.

 

[smthng]

Interesting, my 230 has two switches that are spaced out and two latches.

That doesn't really surprise me... the rear hatch and cleanouts seems to be one of the things they redesign drastically every couple of years. When I only had my '03 I never understood half the discussions about them because mine didn't have the little center access hatch. I thought you were all talking about pulling the whole tray out every time.

 

[Gym]

Think I might have tried swapping the anchor locker latch or one of the stern locker latches to complete the trip. I know what you mean about your wife thinking "we're all going to die". We're on our fifth year of boating and my wife just stopped screaming this year.

 

[jawsf16]

I have some OEM latches left over if you want them shoot me a conversation.

Also taping a penny or nickel is an easy alternative to pulling the tray to adjust the kill switches.

 

[Boat Crazy]

If you want to skip the replacement of the switch due to sensitivity just get some foam padding with 3m tape on the back and place on the underside of the hatch where the switches hit the lid. I do not know if it is OEM or not, however my lid hatch has had this padding attached since new purchase. Your local hardware store will sell it.

 

[itsdgm]

That switches are pretty easy to adjust on our vintage of 21' yamahas. There's an access port between the two clean out ports. So you can just reach right in and adjust.

 

[Britboater]

Good to see an almost a bad day, turned into a, not too bad day by all things considered. Your wife looks very comfortable there, those pesky birds are real smart when it comes to dive bombing you for food.

 

[rkluck]

I am glad it all worked out. Nice looking boat!

One question to the group, why not just bypass the switches completely? I have a tendency to remove things like this because they seem to be high failure points. I have not had an issue yet but so what if the hatch is unlatched? I understand the safety around not letting the boat start when you are working on it but just take the keys out to prevent any issues.

 

[tdonoughue]

As for me and my house...

I'll be leaving the safety locks. I need all the help I can get. I certainly don't need to chop a finger because I was dumb enough to not grab the keys or the lanyard when I was going back to clean something out. Simply, my finger is worth more than the hassle of an occasional switch failure. Besides, that is how I remember to put the plugs in. I leave them out on the back with the deck open. Boat won't start like that, forcing me to put them in.

Think that I am too smart to have forgotten to put the plugs in? Lemme tell you a story...

And if I can forget the @#$# plugs, I can forget the key/lanyard. So, on my boat, they stay.