- Joined
- Jan 11, 2009
- Location
- Highland NY 12528
I was out yesterday on a lake with a 45 mph limit. I mention this so you know we weren't going wide open. I was following a procraft down lake about 300 yards behind then all of a sudden out of nowhere he does a bat turn. spins 360 and stops. I stop and turned to my bud and say looks like he blew out but we were going too slow for that to happen. I stop and pull up to the boat to make sure everything was OK. The 2 guys were white as a sheet and in a bad way shock wise. I grab hold of the boat to keep us together and checked for blood or broken limbs. Thank God all looked fine they were just scared. After a few minutes of making them drink some water I asked what happened. He said the boat jjust made a sharp right turn for no reason and threw them both against the passenger side. Luckilly he had his kill switch hooked up and the motor killed as it should when he was tossed out of his seat.
Well turns out it wasn't for no reason. His sea star steering hose popped of and he lost all his fluid instantly. The motor basically was free to turn as if there was nothing holding it back. He had no steering at all. I reattached the fitting and tried to rebleed the system but there wasn't enough fluid remaining to do anything.
The only fluid we had in both boats was a bottle of stabil blue. He insisted we put it in the helm just so he could get back to the ramp 12 miles away. I wasn't real thrilled about towing him 12 miles so I put it in and proceeded to try and rebleed the system. Believe it or not It worked. After a couple of purges the steering worked. I couldn't believe it.
I told him I'd follow him back just to make sure he got to his trailer. We made it with no more problems but I told him to drain and flush the system when he got home and he agreed.
I tell this for a reason. The boat was in good shape and looked like he took really good care of it but didn't take the time to check all his fittings
and fasteners. Check those steering fittings, center tiller nut and bolt, all the fasteners that hold the sea star steering together , transom mounts, side bolts on the jackplate and basically every nut and bolt you can get to frequently. AND HOOK UP THAT KILL SWITCH. Its a PITA but this incident may have been a lot worse had he not hooked it up.
Well turns out it wasn't for no reason. His sea star steering hose popped of and he lost all his fluid instantly. The motor basically was free to turn as if there was nothing holding it back. He had no steering at all. I reattached the fitting and tried to rebleed the system but there wasn't enough fluid remaining to do anything.
The only fluid we had in both boats was a bottle of stabil blue. He insisted we put it in the helm just so he could get back to the ramp 12 miles away. I wasn't real thrilled about towing him 12 miles so I put it in and proceeded to try and rebleed the system. Believe it or not It worked. After a couple of purges the steering worked. I couldn't believe it.
I told him I'd follow him back just to make sure he got to his trailer. We made it with no more problems but I told him to drain and flush the system when he got home and he agreed.
I tell this for a reason. The boat was in good shape and looked like he took really good care of it but didn't take the time to check all his fittings
and fasteners. Check those steering fittings, center tiller nut and bolt, all the fasteners that hold the sea star steering together , transom mounts, side bolts on the jackplate and basically every nut and bolt you can get to frequently. AND HOOK UP THAT KILL SWITCH. Its a PITA but this incident may have been a lot worse had he not hooked it up.