Not a great weekend... took on some water. Engines OK?

[MOA_Chaser]

So I had a double whammy weekend. Yesterday, we were at the party cove and I ended up losing my box anchor. I thought someone had put it away, but it was left on the rear swim platform and fell off in the river. That was an expensive mistake.

Today, somehow, I forgot to put in the drain plug. What a stupid, rookie mistake. I was in a hurry, I thought for SURE I had left it in last night, and I thought I had doublechecked it before we left today. Apparently not.

The water was up over the oil filters, it was pretty bad but it didn't get up to the air filters or anything like that. Both engines started up and were able to get us to the ramp, the bilge pump worked to keep the level down. The boat is safe at home in my driveway.

Do I need to worry about damage to the engines if the water didn't get that high and I was able to run the engines?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

No worries, you should be just fine, spray it all down with silicon or similar spray and don't feel bad we have all done that a time or two.

 

[Bruce]

How much did you run the engines after getting the water out?

I would check the oil to see if it looks milky or otherwise different. Then if the oil looks fine I would run the engines for an extended time on the flush hose to dry out the inside and outside of the engines. Finally I would spray down all the engine fittings with some kind of oil, silicone spray or other rust inhibitor.

 

[Ronnie]

I don't think you need to be concerned if the engines still start and run fine but I would wipe down / dry off the engines and spray them down with some anticorrosive product.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

Thanks... I was thinking/hoping that it would have to take in water through the air filters to mess up the engines and the fact that the engines ran SHOULD mean that they were ok. I'll do all those checks and run it for a bit.

 

[Gym]

Don't be so tough on yourself @MOA_Chaser. Most of us have been there. You're just man enough to admit it.

 

[tdonoughue]

I flooded mine almost that much from leaving the plugs out.

Unfortunately, that was on my 2nd voyage and I didn't know that the breaker on the bilge pump was DOA on my new boat.

Drained it out and dried it off. No water in the engines and everything is fine.

I think you are a-ok.

 

[Bruce]

If it makes you feel any better, I unhooked the winch but forgot to unhook the safety cable on the first launch this year. Fortunately my wife realized something was wrong when she tried to back off of the trailer .

 

[jetboater4life]

Before I had boat buckles I forgot to take off my rear tie downs. It made for an interesting launch

 

[txav8r]

Lets see...I used a carabiner on my expensive box anchor at first so that I didn't have to collapse it...and lost that one. I have forgotten the transom drain plug once, forgotten to install the clean out plugs once, forgotten the transom tie down straps once (also before the boat buckles), and then I designed a checklist! I haven't seen that much water in the engine compartment, but up to the oil filters is not a big deal on that model...unless it is sloshing and gets into the engine that way. Here is a checklist, you can alter it to suit your setup.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

Thanks. I think I'm also going to put a small float... like the kind that are used on swimming area boundary ropes... and attach them to the bitter ends of my anchor lines. Then if something stupid happens again to my anchor, at least I'll have a chance to find it (as long as the anchor line isn't all tangled up when it goes in the drink).

 

[cane.mba]

@MOA_Chaser love the screen name!

 

[Gym]

Ya see @MOA_Chaser. We've all sinned.