When it rains it pours and I’m not talking about the weather we’ve been having lately. Things on my boat have been going awry the last few weeks, situations I have no control over.
The first incident happened two weeks ago as I was cruising down the ICW to my first fishing spot. I wasn’t far from that spot when all of a sudden the whole boat started to vibrate. I throttled back to neutral and raised the engine to see if I possibly picked up a stray rope or fishing line on the prop. I didn’t see anything so I put the boat in gear and took off. The boat instantly started vibrating again so I shut it down immediately. This time when I raised the engine I found the problem. One half of one of the blades of the stainless steel prop was missing. I hadn’t hit anything nor had I hit anything in the past that would have caused this problem. Not wanting to lose a day of fishing and risk any damage to the motor by running the engine, I put the trolling motor down and fished my way back to the boat ramp.
Once at the ramp and the boat was out of the water I inspected the prop and found a clean straight break with no damage to any of the other blades. Upon further inspection I found rust inside of the crack indicating to me that this was likely a flaw in the production process. I returned the prop to my boat dealership and they sent it off to the manufacturer (Power Tech) in Texas. My presumption of a defect must have been correct because Power Tech is replacing the prop at no cost to me. I bought an aluminum backup prop to use in the meantime. Not a bad idea to keep a spare prop onboard especially if you plan on fishing in remote areas.
My next situation happened last weekend. I left the ramp at 6AM and pulled up to my first spot, put the trolling motor down, and began fishing. I landed one trout and decided to move to another spot. I raised the trolling motor and took off. Upon approaching the next spot I put the boat into idle speed and instantly smelled smoke. As I looked around I saw that it was coming from my trolling motor and there was lots of it. I reached for the breaker on my console that shuts off power to the motor to disconnect it. Being a person who can’t fish without a trolling motor I called it a day and headed back to the ramp. Once at home I removed the motor and put on a spare that I keep for just such situations. I took the burned out motor to Bob’s Discount Marine Supply in Deland for repairs. The motor comes with a three year warranty so lucky for me all repairs are covered.
All in all I came out of these problems with no cost to me other than some driving time and fuel costs. I expect it would have cost over a $1000 had not the manufacturers stood behind their products.
Fishing wise not much to report on this week due to the weather. In the ICW snook, trout, flounder, blackdrum, jacks and ladyfish are being caught if you are brave enough to fish in the wind. It looks as if things should start calming down this weekend and getting back to normal, let’s hope so.
The first incident happened two weeks ago as I was cruising down the ICW to my first fishing spot. I wasn’t far from that spot when all of a sudden the whole boat started to vibrate. I throttled back to neutral and raised the engine to see if I possibly picked up a stray rope or fishing line on the prop. I didn’t see anything so I put the boat in gear and took off. The boat instantly started vibrating again so I shut it down immediately. This time when I raised the engine I found the problem. One half of one of the blades of the stainless steel prop was missing. I hadn’t hit anything nor had I hit anything in the past that would have caused this problem. Not wanting to lose a day of fishing and risk any damage to the motor by running the engine, I put the trolling motor down and fished my way back to the boat ramp.
Once at the ramp and the boat was out of the water I inspected the prop and found a clean straight break with no damage to any of the other blades. Upon further inspection I found rust inside of the crack indicating to me that this was likely a flaw in the production process. I returned the prop to my boat dealership and they sent it off to the manufacturer (Power Tech) in Texas. My presumption of a defect must have been correct because Power Tech is replacing the prop at no cost to me. I bought an aluminum backup prop to use in the meantime. Not a bad idea to keep a spare prop onboard especially if you plan on fishing in remote areas.
My next situation happened last weekend. I left the ramp at 6AM and pulled up to my first spot, put the trolling motor down, and began fishing. I landed one trout and decided to move to another spot. I raised the trolling motor and took off. Upon approaching the next spot I put the boat into idle speed and instantly smelled smoke. As I looked around I saw that it was coming from my trolling motor and there was lots of it. I reached for the breaker on my console that shuts off power to the motor to disconnect it. Being a person who can’t fish without a trolling motor I called it a day and headed back to the ramp. Once at home I removed the motor and put on a spare that I keep for just such situations. I took the burned out motor to Bob’s Discount Marine Supply in Deland for repairs. The motor comes with a three year warranty so lucky for me all repairs are covered.
All in all I came out of these problems with no cost to me other than some driving time and fuel costs. I expect it would have cost over a $1000 had not the manufacturers stood behind their products.
Fishing wise not much to report on this week due to the weather. In the ICW snook, trout, flounder, blackdrum, jacks and ladyfish are being caught if you are brave enough to fish in the wind. It looks as if things should start calming down this weekend and getting back to normal, let’s hope so.