Back on the Water!

My boat is out of commission. :(

Had the unfortunate experience of meeting some underwater Canadian Shield after stupidly not checking the map before attempting to power up and go through a fairly narrow area between two islands. In my defense, I had a "guide" and former resort operator with me that day that said it was "all clear, i go through there all the time wide open." Hmmmmm....a hard grinding on top of the rock as I was still planing out had him wondering "how have I never hit that in the last 20 years."

Sooooo the mechanic at the time said there was nothing visibility wrong besides the prop (which I had repaired of course) and skeg (which I left a little bit banged up) and there was nothing he could really do to check/test for a problem. "Go ahead and run it, it might make it a few months or a year if there is gonna be a problem, you'll find out eventually" was the advice.

Eventually came Monday evening. I had a friend/guest out fishing for a couple hours and had trouble shifting into forward. Thought nothing too much other than I better go see Henry this week because it had did that twice the week before and then didn't do it when I was out for a few hours Sunday evenings.

So now we're coming in on the trusty 9.9 kicker and doing 5.5 MPH, which would get us back to camp somewhere near 10pm because we were up in Miles. Yup, that was my major bonehead move of the day. Should have been fishing locally and then could have fished our way home no problem.

I didn't have too much concern because the weather was fine and it was still only 8pm or so. However, 30 mins into running the kicker full throttle, the warning light comes on and it starts shaking and coughing and spitting to beat the band. I had maybe 2 hours on this little engine since I bought it because it was for emergencies only, right?

Ok, so now I'm a bit worried, but do have the cell phone and was able to get through to someone after getting away from some high rock face. My good buddy and fishing friend "The Captain" answered the call and came out to give us a tow.

After a quick inspection at the local motor doctor, it was deterimined that a referral to a specialist will be required. A call to the insurance office was made. An appointment for an adjuster/appraiser is in the works.

I'm not sure when Pooh will be back on the water.

All of this during some of the best action of the season. UGH!!

So that's the story of Pooh taking a dump. Thanks for the Drees Crew from Carroll, IA for the suggestion that maybe all Pooh needed was some honey and everything would be ok. It appeares a little more serious than that at the moment.

I made need to put a honey pot in the dockhouse if the insurance people don't co-operate.

The moral of this story should be clear:

ALWAYS CHECK YOUR HYDROGRAPHIC MAP!! Regardless of who says "all clear."

The area in question showed the depth in that "saddle" as 2 foot. I would never have attempted such a maneuver with that knowledge.

Well maybe I should trying fishing that rock, I might at least end up with a muskie spot of it, "eh"?

You might think the day could not have gone much further south, but you would be wrong. On the way back towards home with the kicker, we stopped to fish an area that usually had some action if there were fish in the weeds. We had fished half the weed bed when someone came in and started where we did...10 mins later they are fighting a fish...we overhead them proclaim 45 inches in their excitement. We had two fish up in that bed and 5 total follows but could not get anything to find hooks.

Then someone put a squeeze play on us by coming up the shoreline from the oppposite end and makig us fish "seconds" through the rest of the area. We didn't get any fish to eat in the already fished section. :confused: Yup, 3 boats fishing one 100 yard section of shoreline. If I had warp capability, i would have been outta there, but I was down to the 9.9 and couldn't exactly make a statement by roaring out of the area at 5 MPH could I?

Maybe I should go dust off my "Walleye Sheriff" Badge and fish out of a resort boat instead. :rolleyes:

That is a complete bummer about the boat! Sorry man.
Did you at least give the rude fisherman the "It's a small lake isn't it??" comment or "Did you mistake this for Mille Lacs??" comment?

Hey Nic...thanks, buddy. Hope the foot feels better soon. That was a freaky accident for sure.

My Dad will drop off the boat on his way through Fort Frances on Sunday for an insurance appraisal of damages on Monday morning. I would like to have it back by the end of the week, but I'm not holding my breath at all.

A complete lower unit is $3600 plus 13% taxes so I'm hoping not to have to take care of it all on my own.

I'll keep everyone that is interested posted with new developments.

After a two day delay due to reasons beyond anyone's control, the pooh boat should be insepcted by the insurance appraiser today. Keep them fingers crossed that I will have it back on the water in less than a month!

UGH.

Hi Justin
I see the boat is not back yet.Were heading up thursday for 17 days.If you can get some time to go fishing,let me know and i'll let Pattie rest and we'll go for a few hours.
Jeff

Hey Jeff,

That is a great offer!! I would love to jump in the big ranger for a session. We'll keep in touch for sure. i might be able to get away for a few hours sometime in that stretch.

I haven't gotten a call yet today so that isn't a good sign. :confused:

For those of you following the saga...here is an update:

Senior mechanic at the dealership is the only man capable of inspecting the lower unit and putting together and estimate for insurance purposes. Senior mechanic is on vacation this week and back in on Monday.

Been told it will get looked at Monday and estimate forwarded to insurance. Not sure how long it will take insurance to decide if they agree/disagree, etc or if I will want to move forward with the claim if they are not replacing lower unit.

Parts are a minimum of one week away according to my dealer.

It might be awhile. I've called the Yamaha people to investigate making a change. Sounds like I just missed out on a 3 year old engine with low hours that woudl have been a perfect replacement. D'OH!!!!

Being able to get good service is much more important up here than loyalty to one type of engine.

We may be near the end of the saga.....

I have been assured by the dealer that Pooh will be ready to pick up Friday evening so my Dad will grab it on his way through Fort Frances.

I was lucky that parts were in stock in Toronto and shipped within a day or ordering this week.

So the total repair bill for the 90 HP is $2000, of which I have to pay a $500 deductable. I will end up with all new guts in the lower unit, but not a new lower unit casing itself. The skeg and proper will be repairs by the usual prop specialist we use for our repair needs.

The kicker was sick from a bad oil pressure switch. That makes sense considering the low oil warning light came on despite being full of oil. That will be $130 for parts and labour. Seems a bit steep per hour of use....I might have 2-3 hours on it MAX now in my 5th year with it...probably closer to 2.

No fun. No fun. No fun. At least I'll be back on the water!!

Thanks to everyone for the concern expressed during Pooh's extended illness and time at the boat hospital. Im happy to report that Pooh is feeling much better and is back in it's rightful place taking up prime dock space next to the gas pump!

Hope to get out fishing again soon, but glad to be back on the water.

Watch out for those rocks, everyone!