Help Please, problems at Lake yesterday

[strickland7]

I have 2007 LSV with about 52 hrs. We were at the lake and it was getting dark, so we headed to drop some off at marina where they parked. Since all the flooding earlier in the year, lake levels are weird still. Anyhow, we run up on a sand bar, about shin to knee deep water. I don't get too worried yet, so we push the boat back off the sand into deeper (waist to chest) water. I am knew to V-drives so I assume I can start up and take off. The boat runs fine cruising into marina, we did notice a little "burning plastic" smell, but thought it was other boats in front of us. After being at the marina for about 15 mins. We start boat to head to boat ramp, I make it half way out to the wave break and boat dies. It smells a little hot, and absolutley won't start again. We paddle back to the marina. I find a guy to tow me to the ramp I was at after about 40 min. He says he knows the lake like the back of his hand so I get a ride to go get the truck so there is some light at the ramp. I put a friend of mine in charge of the boat thinking it wont have to be started again. The tow guy runs them right back onto the same sand bar. Too bad he has a 38 ft. house/cabin boat. The guys get mine off the sand again. not knowing any better they start the boat ( I would assume it had cooled off enough by then) and try to drive it to the ramp. According to them, it gets extremely hot and smells like it's on fire, temp gauge was pegged past 240 while a friend was driving it.

I have no idea where to start, a buddy told me I probably got sand in the raw water intake/seawater pump. I don't even know what these parts are. I take him out today to look at the boat and we find that the plastic elbow fittings that run into the exhaust actually melted and fell out, the divider between the ski locker and motor actually got stuck to exhaust and melted too.

Any ideas on what happened to boat, what I need to try and repair, and what its going to cost me to fix????
Any help is greatly appreciated.

We did start the motor momentarily today and there is no knocking, ticking. I think the motor is okay. Are there any other fittings that might have melted or what else might be damaged??

Thanks,
Kip

[04OUTBACK]

Sounds like culprit was burned up impeller in your raw water cooling pump.
Beyond that, I have no help.. Sounds like a little bit of work to get the exhaust parts fixed...
Bummer...sorry to hear..

[deafgoose]

Edit: 04OUTBACK beat me to it.

I doubt something like that is covered under warrantee. You might wanna call your insurance company.

[gcombe74]

kip,
my take would be to start with the impeller.... take the impeller cover off and see what is left of it.. my guess is that you either sucked sand silt.. small rocks.... ext. into your water intake on the bottom of the boat... possibly breaking the fins off your impeller and thus sucking the fins into the motor... ..... but it could be worse then that... but I would start there since it sounds like you are not getting water into the engine.. or the water passages in the motor are blocked.

if this is the case you need to find a way to flush the motor to get the fins out.

I have to tell you my rule of thumb is simple.. I dont put my boat in 4ft of water or less... just not worth the headache of what you are about to encounter.

[strickland7]

Thanks
We were probably 500 yds from the shoreline, this sand bar was not marked. I had no idea, if I knew of the shallow water I would have avoided.

[deafgoose]

Thanks
We were probably 500 yds from the shoreline, this sand bar was not marked. I had no idea, if I knew of the shallow water I would have avoided.

Join the club.

I just spent $850 last week because my gf hit a rock in an area that was not marked.

Get yourself a depth map for the lakes you visit.

[strickland7]

With the plastic elbows that are threaded into the exhaust melting, does anyone think that there is other damage that I don't know of yet?? I am no mechanic and have no clue on these things, would like some of the experienced to help out.

What would it cost to have the impeller and these fittings replaced through a boat mechanic? Maybe an hour of labor plus parts?

Thanks for any help
Kip

[Reese350]

Strickland, I had my impellar changed by my Moomba dealer earlier this year for less than $150. I think the part was about $40 plus an hour of labor, taxes, etc.

[04OUTBACK]

Since your exhaust is fried, changin the impelle will be easy once you remove the exhaust parts.. Johnson 812b is the impeller part #

[strickland7]

Well took the boat this morning to local motorsports shop. He assessed the damage, which isn't good. It looks like about $2000 to get everything fixed. He said the whole exhaust system is fried. Told me that the muffler/exhaust itself is about a $900 part. Hopefully insurance will cover, if not, looks like the boat is MIA for the rest of the year...........

[smokedog2]

This is why you have a dealer. Why junior engineer it and miss something?

Melting boat = dealer problem. Besides, he will be better equiped to tell if it is your fault or SC. It might have nothing to do with the beaching of the boat

[gcombe74]

Strickland... besides being 2k to get it fixed.. did they say what went wrong?

[deafgoose]

Get a second opinion from a certified inmar dealer at the very least.

[zegm]

Strickland,

You must keep in mind that the engine did not get coolant during this time either! I would run a compression check on the engine to make sure nothing started to seize. I have warped heads once when we lost the impeller and it did not take long at all.

[strickland7]

Found out that the whole exhaust system was fried due to heat. The impeller and seawater pump were actually still good. The boat just sucked up a ton of sand. Mechanic will run a pressure check once the exhaust system is fixed and new pump and other parts are installed. He said he was also checking for cracked head/block and any other mechanical problems.

As far as dealer's second opinion, Iowa is not known for inboard dealers and the closest one's are 3 hrs. Both are mainly pontoon dealers that sell Moombas (maybe 8 boats per year) and I wouldn't trust them to build me a squirrel feeder, little own work on my Moomba. No offense to those knowledgeable dealers out there. My mechanic specializes in inboards and knows what he is doing.

Insurance is covering, so we are getting everything fixed on the same claim. Whew! Definitely learned my lesson.