Here is some simple tips that may help get you out of trouble at sea if you have mechanical issues.

Theres alot of variables as to EFI, carby etc but your EFI will likely flash a code of 2 digits, google what it means

First rule-check the simple cheap and obvious stuff first!

IT WONT START or crank at all

• Check kill lanyard, jiggle it and refit
• Jiggle gear lever for "start in gear lockout"
• Check battery, swap to other battery, check electronics for power/voltage
• Get the pull start lanyard out 

It wont start but cranks normally

• Check fuel bulb, if sucked flat filter or supply blocked, if flacid  out of fuel (check sight glass?)
• Pump up bulb until firm
• Carby outboard-may be flooded, full throttle out of gear and crank for 20 seconds til it fires (maybe take cover off outboard)
• Take a spark plug lead out and get your simple mate to hold onto it while you crank (maybe not but stick a spare plug into it and watch for spark)
• Chuck in your spare spark plugs as a last resort (tilt outboard up for this)

If it loses power then dies

• Smell the outboard-fuel, hot, burnt wiring?
• A carby will rarely just go full tit to stop instantly from a fuel issue, it will lose power and die as the bowl empties
• grab the fuel bulb, if its sucked flat you have a blockage or filter blockage
• If its flacid you are either out of fuel or have a hole in your fuel line between tank/bulb
• Check site glass for water/dirt
• Swap to other batteries
• If its hot, check for a bag or weed on leg, let it cool down. Watch telltail, impellor may be cooked.

If it just stops dead with no alarms

• Kill switch?
• Check if other equip is working, check voltages and when you crank (if it has 13 volts but drops way down when trying to crank battery may be dying)
• Earth or power wire (some like Suzi have a seperate white? wire straight to supply for ECU)
• Some other electrical prob

If your outboard overheats and impellor is shot

• If you have a deckwash and your muffs, put muffs on and ducktape, connect up deckwash and idle in (with care of course)
• Connect deckwash to flushing port instead (Im not 100% that all outboards get full cooling from this so "caveat emptor")

If your hydraulic steering is knackered

• Try and block reduce the leak if on a hose
•  at a pinch you can put anything in it, cooking oil, engine oil, even water.
• lash the outboard central and make a rope bridle from each aft mooring bits and drag something in the water to steer. There are many variations of this but I have seen crayboats drag a craypot for this.

If your leg drops its oil but you have to drive it

• Fill it with grease and go easy

Most electronics have a battery power feature so you can see what your battery charge state is, check the menu/manual

TOOLS AND SPARES-minimum

• Plug spanner
• Pliers, small shifters
• Philips and flat screwdriver
• Duct tape
• Cable ties (good ones)
• Spare plugs and fuel filter
• Torch
• Fuses as required (tin foil twisted up can substitute also)
• Random pieces of electrical wire

This is just some ideas, and I may have overlooked some stuff so feel free to comment constructively (or PM and I'll add to keep it all in one place)

 Have a 99 merc anywya got my 20 crabs yesterday was on the way back in motor started coughing and stopped tried to restart but the motor rolled over slow like the battery died lifted the leg to see if I sucked up some weed. Put it Down and it started. Tried lumping it home went home got about 2 more minutes  and it completely died again got a tow home (thanks lads if your here) know it's trying to start but a lot slower than usual 

also I changed the spark plugs hoping it would be that but no dice

3 week wait in all stores just to get it looked at helpppp! Haha

 I'm looking at possibly buying a cat with 90 hp etecs that require the 300 hour service. Can anyone tell me the basic cost involved. Reccomendations SOR..?

TIA..

Winta

 Hi guys, done a bit of searching, can’t find anything related.

With concerns of air, moisture etc with boat tanks, is there some reason why we can’t use a car fuel tank, being it’s closed off to environment etc?

Was thinking of setting one up under floor, perhaps add a one way air release valve to allow vent off when required, but not allow air/moisture in.

Cheers!

Hi guys, I have a Garmin GMI 20 multi gauge on my boat connected by NMEA 2000 to my Honda 135.
The boat is brand new and only has 12 hours on it so far, but I have noticed the fuel level/ fuel remaining on board figures are out be a fair amount (at one point it said I had used 50L but when I topped it up I put in nearly 80L). The levels are configured correctly with tank size ect. Has anyone else had these issues? Is there an easy fix?
Cheers

hi guys. Just wondering if any one can tell me if you can use car oil in your boat motor? Cheers Jadeo

Does anyone have poly skids on their trailer instead of rollers

is there anything you can put on the poly to make the boat

slide off easier.

cheers

Mark

 Looking for a welder to weld up a broken bit from the skeg on my outboard. If anyone knows of a good one can you drop me line.

Cheers

Has anyone installed an Anchor Winch on their Baron?
What winch?
Got any pics of the install?
Happy with it?

 Does anyone have any advice, opinion or previous knowledge of price and quality for repowering a 6m glass boat.

I am looking at the mercury 150 4 stroke, suzuki df150 or df150ap or yamaha 150 4 stroke to repower my 6m voyager.

Seems bloody hard to get any solid information or pricing information without asking for a quote!

 Hi All, just purchased a decent ali hull but with an old 1975 50hp Evinrude I hav to use for now.

Having trouble with google search finding service parts for it, impeller, gear/prop seals etc.

Anyone know where I can get this stuff without paying inflated prices?

it a 50573B model

Thanks in advance.

Has anyone recently purchased a new Ali trailer ?

Im looking into the more affordable options like Wahoo or Spitfire.
Can anyone give me their thoughts and experiences with these brands of trailer?
"you get what you pay for" comments wont help me too much
Boat is a Baron Outrider with Honda150 on Ali pod

Cheers
CC

Hi guys, was wondering if any of you can help, i have a baron sportsman and i can see there are 3 water tight compartments, 2 each side and the middle 1,i wasnt shown the middle 1, 

when i bought it was told to take out the bungs now and then to let it air, was only shown the outside 2 then i noticed the middle 1 had no bung in it so i put 1 in,

after a while i took all 3 out and the middle 1 had water coming out,a fair bit mind,  there should be no water in these compartments? i can see no holes in the hull, then it rained last night , i wound the jockey wheel up and more water came out so if its getting in from the top of the boat could anyone with a baron have a clue where its getting in any info would be much appreciated,

 Hi all

Is there anyone on here who has a carby syncroniser tool that would be willing to lend me can bring the boat to your place and do there if you would prefer should only take half hour. Happy to buy you a carton.          I'm located in pinjarra but will travel to use one.

I have a yamaha f50 4st all local mechanics are booked out till the new year I recently had the carbies cleaned while up north as we picked up some dirty fuel but the mechanic didn't have a syncroniser tool so the butterflies are slightly out causing it to run a little rough.

Cheers

Rod

 fuse on my yammy has blown, lucky it happened when it was my turn to put the boat on the trailer...put a new fuse in and the moment the key is turned to crank the motor over it blows.

ignition coil, engine management system and fuel pump is labelled on the fuse

yesterday i replaced it 3 time and blew them straight away

next morning i unplugged all the ignition coils and connected them one by one whilst attempting to start the motor, trying to isolate the problem here... all six connected and the engine runs fine and no fuse blown??? any ideas anyone ???

i dont want the same problem when im out 20miles offshore

thanks in advance

 Looking at upgrading my old Johnson 175 hp Oceanpro 2 stroke for a new 4 stroke. Any advice on whats good or what to steer clear of? Thinking about Honda BF200 at the moment but would appreciate any feedback?

 Looking for a solar system to keep the boat batteries topped up, and the boat has 2 24v banks

All I can find is 12v systems. Does anyone know where to get 24v systems from in Australia?

Hi all,

Just after some advice and help.....Decided to try and do a service on my trailer....I had a mate give me a hand at the start but he had to go before we finished the first wheel so i was sorta on my own  for it.....Plan was to swap out the bearings and disc brake pads. It is a dual axel Dunbier trailer with disc brakes. I finished it late today and went on a little slowish test drive (up to 50-60km max). After a few kms i stopped to check it and found two hubs were very hot and also two of my bearing buddies had come off. After letting it cool for a bit I drove back home slowly and parked it up....thinking i may need to call in the professionals....but thought i would suss out here first in case it is something simple.

I pretty much followed what i had read here/youtubed and mates advice. Some things i noticed during the service....was  that it was apparent the brakes hadnt been working properly for a while (rusted to glazed discs ...?heat damage and pads stuffed). I wash the trailer really well every trip with fresh water, but i am beginning to think that doing it at home and just parking it...hasnt been good....should drrive it to dry the brakes out etc.....will do that from now on......

I took the glaze/ rust off the discs carefully with a grinder and emery cloth...they came up nice and smooth and rust free...not sure if i should have binned them but thought that i would try and restore them. they seemed fine.

When putting in the new pads i had a hard time getting them in (i tried using a g-clamp and squeezing the piston back and releasing the bleed nut.....but it was still very tight and on one wheel i had to gently tap the brake unit onto the disc....this made it pretty hard to turn the wheel....i know it is meant to rotate freely.....this wasnt one of the hot hubs though.

I also made sure to back the castle nut back off a bit so it wasnt tight....but the wheel was pretty hard to impossible to spin freely....guessing this should have been a red flag I was doing something wrong??  .... with the brake unit i tighened up two nuts holding the slides up tight....not sure if this is correct? I also lubed up the slides with Magnesium grease.....used good Japanese bearings and high quality marine grease......

I realise I'm probably doing a few things wrong....so don't crucify me......just after some advice......the videos etc made it look like a pretty straight forward job.........how wrong i was.... :(

thanks in advance

 wanted a few peoples opinions with the capabilities between  lcx37c and a newer hd 7 inch model

i want to use bothe, one for navigation and one for a sounder, prefere to use the old one as the sounder and the new as nav

if i got a p66 on the old lowrance would i be getting the same results as the p66 on the newer hd model. i would be running 200hz either way with the p66

im a bit lost as the hd sounder i own has all the spots saved and the nav card etc. older one came with my new boat 

or get the p66 for bothe?

appreciate any info on the matter

I am going to install an extra 2 speakers at the rear of the boat and they need a 130mm cutout. I'm not too keen on paying $50-60 for a hole saw bit I'll use once so will I get away with taping the area with painter's masking tape and using a fine jigsaw bit to cut out a circleish hole?

It's around 8-10mm of fibreglass/gelcoat I'll be cutting through and I don't have any other cutting tools besides an oscillating multi tool.

Cheers

 I have a 1992 Evinrude 70HP, in pretty good condition and good service history.

Around 12 months ago, while driving along, the motor would 'miss' for a split second, then keep running, it would only do this once on every trip.

Now the motor is 'breaking down', sort of like a fuel blockage, does this for about 5 seconds, then clears and fires back up to normal revs. But it is doing this on about 4 occasions every trip.

However, when heading back in from fishing, the motor can run fine for the 15/20 minute trip back to the ramp, doesnt miss a beat.

Mechanic has gone over the motor on the past 2 services, cant find anything obvious, and cant re-create the issue while running the motor at home.

Any body had similar issues before ??

 Hi all..new fella here. 

Have purchased a 20ft regent viscount with a aq145 i think and 280 leg.My question is what is the best way to check motor is ok.The circ pump and alternator are frozen but motor winds over.Thinking of doing compression test before i go ripping it out. Toying with putting a pod and about 175-200hp behind or maybe just cutting  transom out  and building splash well in.Budget is limited as the project boat came out of the blue. Otherwise cut hull up and send to tip..lol

Hey folks

 Hi all.

Ive got a yamaha salt water series 115hp motor and the tilt rams are leaking oil, so the plan is to rebuild them eg new seals. i require a special tool to remove the end caps of the tilt rams to replace the seals so im taking a chance and asking any fishwrecked members have they got the end cap tool. Happy to purchase/ borrow the tool get my job done.

I may have to try and make one, thought i would try this first i'm in Rockingham work Welshpool so cover a bit of the metro to pick it up.

Regards 

 Hi I have been running my transducer out near the edge of the boat to get it to work. I made a bracket that is adjustable up and down and for angle to try to work out how to run it in the conventional position. Tried it out today and could not get above 15 mph before dropouts.

Has anybody here got a transducer running properly on a 6m signature and if so could they send a picture.

Hey guys,

I have a TM 260 and cant get a good reading with 3 shims, has anyone tried these brackets from Barcrusher before?

Hey Guys and Gals,

I'd like to learn how to weld ally. Nothing too serious to start out with, maybe welding up an ally bait board and some other accessories but with the long term goal of welding together my own ally boat from one of those kits....maybe.

I've done the YouTube "thing" and spoken to the guys at a few local tool shops who sell welders. The machine that looks best value is the Gigaweld 3 in 1 with a few extras like the spool feed on the gun etc. 

I'm wanting the welds to be neat, strong and not too difficult so if it means buying a slightly better than the cheapest machone available then I'd be happy to spend the extra.

Anyone out there got some good advice?

Thanks

 So besides the obvious weight saving with the 100B sharing the same block as the 70/80/90 and the 100A sharing the same as the 115 and 140, why would one go for the 100A? Suzuki are going to continue to sell it, what advantages would it have seeing as it has the same output?

Hi All

Can anyone recommend a decent Mercruiser Mobile Mechanic NOR.

Cheers
Brad

 just wanted some opinions, i have just bought a boat from over east for a good deal and is on its way home

just thought a yamaha 200hp 4 stroke on the back seems a bit over the top, the plate on the boat says it can take one but it seems like a lot of engine for a boat that size

should i worrie about downsizing and saving on fuel ?? the owner says it will do 30l an hour at 25kn, is that not too bad?