Out on the lake all weekend, with a number of chances (light traffic in certain areas) to take her wide open, which for me, is just hair over 60. The sun is starting to set, so we are heading back to the ramp (about 5 miles). After going through a no-wake zone under a bridge, I open it up one more time. I felt water hitting my feet. Drop back to the no-wake/idle speed and my mind is racing.
A while earlier, I had spilled about half a coke on the dash, so I'd stopped and got a cup of water to rinse it off before it got sticky. So, I'm thinking some of the water had gotten into the cup-holder, and it was just now pouring out. No, wait a minute, the cup holder has holes in the bottom, so it should have already drained.
Maybe some of that rinse water got behind one of the gauges? Naw, even if that was it, it couldn't have been that much.
What else could it be? There is no cooler on the starbord side of the boat, at least not close enough to the dash.
Oh crap, that big wake I slammed into a while back must have busted a hole in the bottom or side! Kill the engine. Check the ski locker and bilge, no water there. Open the mid-ships locker (between the dash and bow seat). Carpet and sides dry, no sign of water. Jump in for a close look at the starbord side and bottom. Nope, all fiberglass is in tact.
Now, I can almost see Rod Serling sitting on the bow, going into one of his "Twilight Zone" monologes. All I can think of is that there is NO chance of ANY water coming from ANYHWERE around the console - grown man ready to start crying any second here.
Fire the engine back up, give it some gas, and before I can plane out, more water pouring down on my feet. Drop back to neutral, kill the engine and keep telling myself that this is indeed real, and I'm not having an acid flashback from the '70s.
Anyone guessed it yet?
After about 15 minutes of thinking I'd lost my last marble, I remembered one of my spring preps, which is to disconnect the speedometer pickup tube from the outdrive (Bravo I) and back flush the outdrive passage with water to be sure its not clogged. Now I'm thinking, the other end of that tube has to go somewhere...
Yep, that was it! The speedo tube had come lose from the back of the gauge, and anything over an idle was sending water all the way through the tube on to my feet. Grabbed a hemostat from the toolbox and clamped the end of the tube under the dash so we could get home.
Don't feel like pulling the gauge or crawling around under the dash and midship locker tonight, so I'll take a look at this tomorrow. Has anyone been through this before? I just took a quick look at the Merc service manual, and they make no mention of how the tube hooks up to the speedo. PLEASE tell me this is an easy fix!
John
A while earlier, I had spilled about half a coke on the dash, so I'd stopped and got a cup of water to rinse it off before it got sticky. So, I'm thinking some of the water had gotten into the cup-holder, and it was just now pouring out. No, wait a minute, the cup holder has holes in the bottom, so it should have already drained.
Maybe some of that rinse water got behind one of the gauges? Naw, even if that was it, it couldn't have been that much.
What else could it be? There is no cooler on the starbord side of the boat, at least not close enough to the dash.
Oh crap, that big wake I slammed into a while back must have busted a hole in the bottom or side! Kill the engine. Check the ski locker and bilge, no water there. Open the mid-ships locker (between the dash and bow seat). Carpet and sides dry, no sign of water. Jump in for a close look at the starbord side and bottom. Nope, all fiberglass is in tact.
Now, I can almost see Rod Serling sitting on the bow, going into one of his "Twilight Zone" monologes. All I can think of is that there is NO chance of ANY water coming from ANYHWERE around the console - grown man ready to start crying any second here.
Fire the engine back up, give it some gas, and before I can plane out, more water pouring down on my feet. Drop back to neutral, kill the engine and keep telling myself that this is indeed real, and I'm not having an acid flashback from the '70s.
Anyone guessed it yet?
After about 15 minutes of thinking I'd lost my last marble, I remembered one of my spring preps, which is to disconnect the speedometer pickup tube from the outdrive (Bravo I) and back flush the outdrive passage with water to be sure its not clogged. Now I'm thinking, the other end of that tube has to go somewhere...
Yep, that was it! The speedo tube had come lose from the back of the gauge, and anything over an idle was sending water all the way through the tube on to my feet. Grabbed a hemostat from the toolbox and clamped the end of the tube under the dash so we could get home.
Don't feel like pulling the gauge or crawling around under the dash and midship locker tonight, so I'll take a look at this tomorrow. Has anyone been through this before? I just took a quick look at the Merc service manual, and they make no mention of how the tube hooks up to the speedo. PLEASE tell me this is an easy fix!
John