Motor overheated and a Jet Skier

[Dave Clark]

Sunday evening while cruising around checking out the new Garmin 240 searching for the hydrilla edges in Lake Austin, I managed to get my intakes blocked by hydrilla. Blocked enough to overheat and get the warning buzzer going off. Having never had that buzzer go off, I was perplexed. I turned the motor off immediately and tried to restart it, but it wouldn't even try to crank, I had power so I assumed it was overheated (after I found the clumps of hydrilla on the lower unit) and took the cowling off to let it cool.



Now Lake Austin is a high traffic lake on the weekend. People flying by left and right and the only guy to stop was on a Jet Ski and asked if I needed a tow and would go get his boat. I said maybe but I think it just overheated. He went and got his ski boat and was back in 10 minutes, in which that time the motor cooled off and would crank again. I made sure I could power up and thanked him graciuosly and gave him some secret info for fishing Lake Austin as he was in a cove throwing a buzzbait from his Jet Ski when he came out to the main lake and saw us.



The entire time we sat there, amny boats went by, and some people even seemed as though they made a point to look the other way and ignore us with motor trouble. While I know that maybe only 5% of Jet Skis give 100% of them a bad image, this incident just reminds me to not judge them all. This guy went out of his way to make sure we could get off the lake though we didn't need his help after all. Sometimes I think you need to be put in the position of needing help to realize how desperate it can become. We were 10 miles from the ramp we launched at.



I just thoguht I'd share this story with y'all and remember that helping a stranded boater is worth more than your time to get back to the ramp only caring about yourself. It may be you out there wondering why no one stops when you have you motor cowling off and scratching your head in bewilderment...



BTW, lots of hydrilla, no fish caught but Max the Dog's maiden voyage was successful, he loves the boat...

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Dave,

It's always nice to hear that someone cared enough to stop. I have been guilty of judging and stero typing "water fleas". Thanks for reminding us (me) not to prejudge them all. I have pulled lots of people of the water, but have not needed the favor returned yet. I know it's only a matter of time, and I hope when it does happen someone will stop.

Rob

 

[Steve Johnson]

I was on Lake Austin fishing Sunday. What a beautiful morning. I lost the tail on a couple of Grubs, but no fish.



It was a little tough for the Jet Ski's to be out with all the "big wake" boats pulling trick ski's. Not great to fish with all that wake either, but it's their time of the year. They are usually pretty good on Lake Austin about taking care when they pass.



Thanks for your note. Hope to see you out there some time.



Regards,



Steve