Tip for Southern boaters

S

spuncopper

New member
Hey Guys n Gals: :D

I have a Suzuke 50DF on my 16 Cruiser. Recently I had an alarm go off and discovered that I had a restricted water flow from my tattle tell. The lower unit had just been serviced with a new impeller installed.

I discovered that there is what appears to be a breather tube just above the water outlet (the tattle tell). An inspection revealed what appeared to be insect larva plugging this breather tube.

After cleaning this out everything was fine until the next time we put the boat in. Once again I found what appreared to be insect larva plugging this breather tube. We cleaned it out again and now use a simple fix.

I put painter's masking tape over this breather tube when I put the boat up after a weekend's use. It has worked great. I would suggest using a color that is easy to spot, we use blue.

A friend of ours had to have a small Honda completely torn down to clean dirt dabbers out of his engine after it had been sitting for a summer.

Be safe folks! Sam
 
Sam-

Plugged 'tattle tales" or "pee stream" indicators are found everywhere in the world outboards are run, just like the insects and their larvae that plug them.

They can be unplugged with a piece of stiff monofilament line, such as fishing line or weed eater line.

Your idea of using colored masking tape to keep them out in the first place is a winner!

Thanks!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Oh Man
I took the 22 CD to the lake on Thursday to check out the new fuel line from the Racor to the Kicker motor.
That worked fine but the 90 Yamy had no water coming out the tell-tale when I started it at the dock.
Bought an impeller rebuild kit and educated my self and a friend on outboard motors.
It was a struggle to get the old one off but we put the lower unit back on after completing the rebuild and still no water stream.
We pulled the lower unit again and checked everything we did.
All looked correct.
Put the lower unit back on and still no water stream.
We found the plastic outlet below the cowl and I took off the hose and sucked on it.
I got a mouth full of mud wasp larva and Lord knows what else.
Started the 90 and lo and behold tell tale was flowing!!

All I can say id that I wish you had posted sooner, LOL

Never worked on an outboard before so at least I learned how to rebuild a water pump.
 
Besides the pee stream exit, we put tape over our fuel vent, sink and shower thru-hull, and the Wallas exhaust when we store the boat.

One more southern tip: don't eat BBQ when wearing a white t-shirt. 8)

Best wishes,
Jim B.

{they're called mud daubers in so TX)
 
I know you are going to tell me not to do this, but I don't even pay attention the the pee stream of the outboard. I honestly could care less how my boat is peeing. But this is mostly because I have given up since the indicators on the honda 45s are really small and even get clogged with salt. Besides that, I change the pumps every couple of years so I know they are working.

It is funny how we get all worked up over pee indicators when our outboards have warning alarms and lights to tell us they are too warm. Hell, our cars/trucks don't have pee indicators and we trust the gauges (well for the most part). Why don't we trust the gauges/lights on our boats? I know we want an early mechanical warning, but freaking out about a boat not peeing as I have seen others do, is going overboard. From my personal experiences, it is almost always because the indicators are clogged and not from a real malfunction.
 
Hello again folks:

You're right, Wild Blue, it is mud daubers, I just cain't spel gud. :crook

T. R. Bauer, I reckon it depends on your background. Most boats I ever owned never had gauges nor alarms. They were just like my 4 X 4's, very basic. I learned to listen, look and even smell for trouble.

My father-in-law, a mechanic and mechanical engineer could detect trouble before the gauges ever registered them.

Just as I do not depend entirely on GPS for naviagation I don't rely on gauges to tell me if there is a problem. :)

Be safe out there.
 
All I can say spuncopper, is that Mud dabbers or what ever you call what they leave behind is not edible. When I sucked on that rubber hose and all that mess landed in my mouth, I had everything I could do not to puke.
It was ugly. My friend was laughing so hard while I was gagging.
He said we should have made a U-tube repair video complete with the mud dapper ingestion.
It would have gone viral.
 
Lesson learned. Be very VERY careful about what you suck on.

I gave up sucking gas tubes for syphoning a long time ago, after seeing a person die from a chemical pnumonia resulting from gas aspiration. Gave up sucking on a straw in a drink if it had been left unattended after seeing a case of anaphilatic shock after a patient got stung several times in the mouth by a yellow jacket that was tasting the Pepsi. There just has to be a better way.

Good lesson about using the tape. Tahnks for that tip.

Harvey
[b]SleepyC[/b] :moon

Friends_Cal_09_10_Oct.thumb.jpg
 
Hey:

A little dauber larva, dash of dauber spit and mud, dab of desecrated insect and mix with lake water... yeah, it would start the gag reflex. :crook
 
I think the pee stream is a good indicator to have. If you have to run thru a floating patch of kelp, seaweed, saragussum weed, it's nice to know that if your pee stream is not peeing you might have a problem. This would usually mean stopping going in reverse or tilting up the motor to make sure that the water intakes are not clogged. See a plastic bag in the water you try to avoid it but it might be a good time to check the pee stream to make sure you did not pick it up.. Not the end all in diagnosing a problem but a good indicator. When I flush with a limited water supply from the fresh water in the boat I taste the stream for salt. Everyone has their own way of doing things we always keep an eye on the pee stream if we a suspect their could be a problem. I check it at the launch when we start up so if if stops later in the day that would suggest there might be a problem. :cry
D.D.
 
And while I'm at it, what most refer to as the "pee hole" on their engine, my Honda service manual calls the "water check port". While I don't mind people talking about whether their engine is "peeing" properly, it's when they start talking about sticking wire or other solid objects up their pee hole that I start to get a little queasy. :wink: (I bet 50% of the guys reading this are involuntarily squeezing their knees together right now).
 
I use a pipe cleaner (hard to find these days) to clean out my -- whatever you wish to call them. I found it even better to put two together to make it longer for those buggers that make it further up the way. I like the idea of plugging the holes on the engine and all around the boat, great idea, will add it to my list...

Short story. One day I went into my boat parked along side our house to get something, found thousands of soldier ants having their way with the limited food items I have on board (cocoa packs were their favorite). Found they had managed to crawl up the tire, then the hub, fender, trailer side supports and find the sink drain hole--sent message back for reinforcements. Those soldier ants are clever little guys. (...and they don't have cell phones, GPS or even Ipads!)
 
I keep about 3 feet of weed eater string on-board just for the occasion of a blocker outlet tube. It has saved me several times over the years. Works like a plastic drill bit through most anything clogging the tube.
 
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