06/28/2026
Splashed the boat today. We did our regular pre-launch routine. The motors fired up, and all was good to splash. I backed Kelly in; immediately, the starboard engine died. The port motor sounded strange. Kelly limped back to the dock for me to jump in. Now, the starboard motor will not start, and the port engine is running very rough. We limped around to our dock with a lift, and while doing so, I opened the engine hatch. Right away, I noticed water flowing in from the rear chamber of the bilge. There was steam and heavy fumes. We got the boat on the lift, and while out of the water, both engines cleared up and seemed to run fine. We decided to load it onto a trailer to take it home. The motors were running fine; we dropped it back in the water, backed out of the slip, and the starboard motor died. The port acted like it was running on two cylinders. We got home, pulled the rear wet locker tray, and found the exhaust hose was dislodged and pumping fumes and water back into the bilge. See pictures.
UPDATE: This morning I went out to complete this project. After making the connection on these hoses I was checking other clamps. Well, this was a good thing to check because every hose clamp was finger tight at best. Most were hanging loose. I was able to get 2-4 full turns with a nut driver on every clamp and some, more than that.
Moral of this post. Check your hose clamps and make sure they are all tightened!!!!