Had a scare...

[Tony]

...ingested some of Lake Michigan through my fuel vent line, shutting down my engine after some loud knocking noises. Apparently the holes were facing the wrong way on my new fitting, and the noise was a backfiring because I was trying to run on about half water half gas! I lost some sleep fearing the worst, but a buddy and I troubleshot and got it figured out.

Thanks a ton to Brad and Jeff for the great tow & escort. I am so thankful we were with friends, as the waves were about 2-3' and building, with not too many other boaters out!

We left two wives with my boat (they did a noce job containing their glee) while Brad and I in his '86 22' and Jeff and Randy in Jeff's '05 AE busted 15 miles north. The lake had built to about 3-4' by the and it was an incredible ride home! I saw the AE well out of the water many times, and I'm sure Brad's boat was, too. It was great, with Brad laughing like a loon and me trying to shoot pics. Our wives asked later if we got wet and we replied "just from the neck up!". I am now a veteran of "stuffing the bow", what a rush that is!

[mrfixxall]

My x has a check valve in the line,,,lets gas out but not in....:)

[Marlin275]

I am now a veteran of "stuffing the bow", what a rush that is!

How did you deal with "stuffing the bow"?
Slower speed?
Please explain!

[gold-n-rod]

How did you deal with "stuffing the bow"?
Slower speed?
Please explain!

I'm sure the water from the waist down is warmer, right Tony?????????? :bonk:

[Carl C]

Tony, if I remember right, your fuel vent hose goes down and back up to form a loop. This will form a water trap like a sink drain, effectively blocking the vent with water in the bottom of the loop where it will be drawn into the fuel tank as the fuel level drops. My vent hose just goes up and then down to the tank. I say lose the loop!:alligator

[BaldEagle]

Tony has SS balls. Having been out on L. MI many hours in seas far worse, not in a 22 ft boat, these were the 3-5' vintage. The problem with Great Lakes waves are that they are cycloidal, sharp tops, and the frequecny is very high, there is less than 25' between them and they dont always come from the same direction. When you fly off of one wave you bury the nose into the trough of the next one, unlike the ocean rollers. With drive trimed in and tabs full down, at 25 MPH GPS we would still go air born and waves would come over the windshield.

[DonziBlue]

I know we left an impression around town. I had more people running up to me at work on Monday saying, "I seen (and heard) three Donzi's !" One of them said the person they were with when they saw the boats said, "You know those people that own Donzi's are very particular with their boats - you know, just like Corvette owners are with their cars. They are nuts."

Like I told Randy, Jeff, and Tony: I sure enjoyed the time with a bunch of other nuts :-)

Tony, I am glad the scare is over - let's do it again!:yes:

Brad

[Tony]

Carl, I had lost the loop. My hose ran up to the top of the underside of the deck, then down...but I only had room for about a 3" rise upward. The trouble is, by aiming the interior leg of the fitting upwards and forward, this aligned the small screened exterior holes up and forward. This was, apparently, a very bad thing!

I think the flush vent style, with the check valve internal, is the best deal. But those types require a hole larger than my existing hole.

Stuffing the bow was a result of an extra large wave hit just wrong. As we were not wave hopping, but rather controlled wave jumping at about 20-25 mph, stuffing the bow was more exciting than dangerous. If you are quick enough you can duck your head below the dash to avoid a wall of water in the face!


:beer:

[sweet 16 1966]

Sounds like too much fun! Was the water difficult to remove?

[Trueser]

I almost drove up last Sunday for the day. Looks like I missed it.

Anyway that’s how I shattered my windshield last year. First wave went over me and hit the back seat. Second wave cleared the window again. The third wave hit smack in the middle of the windshield.

Will be up this weekend for sure.

[Tony]

We dumped the fuel/water separator, then purged the two fuel lines by cycling the key. Got it started, then ran it at various high idles for about 20 minutes. Then dumped the separator again and purged the lines again. Added dry gas and ran it on a lake for about an hour. Will let this tank go almost empty, then add another can of dry gas to the refill, and swap the fuel water separator.