Chris Snider
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2001
- Messages
- 58
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I'm looking for some advice... My family and I went to the lake this past Saturday. We put the boat in the water, started the engine right up, moved down the lake around 1/2 mile and shut her down to start fishing... Well, the waves in Carlyle Lake (Illinois) get HUGE in a VERY small amount of wind... I bet the wind was no more than 10-15 mph and big 'ole waves were knocking us around. I decided to seek out an area that was a little more calm so I didn't have to fight the boat all day... I went to start up the 'ole 1994 Mercury 200hp engine, but she wouldn't start. It would turn over, but would never start! I ended up running the cranking battery out of juice! I was hot by now... This was a very, very bad thing with the waves being like they were...
Anyway, I had to use the trolling motor to travel 1/2 mile back to the dock in rough water. Yep, it was a horrible experience. This was only my 5th or 6th time out, which obviously made it worse. THANK GOD that I didn't go farther than 1/2 mile before stopping to fish. The strange thing is, I normally drive to the other end of the lake and fish back to the ramp (roughly 5-8 miles). For some reason, I decided to stop early this day. Hmmmm... Talk amongst yourselves about that!
My question is this... I am not a mechanic and don't work on cars or any other engines. I also don't have tons of money at this point to take the boat to the shop for a "professional inspection"... Do you guys think replacing the spark plugs would be a good place to start (or am I missing the point entirely)? I'm sure I can do something that simple and it probably needs to be done anyway... I'll take her to the shop if I have to, but I would like to try a few simple things first...
All ideas are welcome!!! HELP!!! ...---... ...---...
Anyway, I had to use the trolling motor to travel 1/2 mile back to the dock in rough water. Yep, it was a horrible experience. This was only my 5th or 6th time out, which obviously made it worse. THANK GOD that I didn't go farther than 1/2 mile before stopping to fish. The strange thing is, I normally drive to the other end of the lake and fish back to the ramp (roughly 5-8 miles). For some reason, I decided to stop early this day. Hmmmm... Talk amongst yourselves about that!
My question is this... I am not a mechanic and don't work on cars or any other engines. I also don't have tons of money at this point to take the boat to the shop for a "professional inspection"... Do you guys think replacing the spark plugs would be a good place to start (or am I missing the point entirely)? I'm sure I can do something that simple and it probably needs to be done anyway... I'll take her to the shop if I have to, but I would like to try a few simple things first...
All ideas are welcome!!! HELP!!! ...---... ...---...