visual inspection

[fiker]

When I got my first boat, I was instructed that one must always make sure your out board is "peeing" when it's running.   That boat didn't have a water pressure gauge, so before leaving the doc I got into the habit of the visual inspection every time. 

Yesterday on my new boat (which does have a water pressure gauge) I made the usual inspection.  I was not pumping out water even though the pressure gauge said I had plenty of pressure. 

I tilted up the motor and looked at the weep hole.  It was plugged with a mud dauber's nest.  This is something I've had happen before.  I straightened out a hook and cleaned it out.  Problem solved. 

I could have done damage to my motor if I hadn't made the inspection. 

Word to the wise, "make sure your putting out water before you leave the docs"

[Genie]

Absolute truth!  We are creatures of habit - create good habits!

[bigmojet]

I carry a piece of metal coat hanger in the boat for that very reason.

[SethV]

You should have both a water pressure and water temperature (digital) gage!!  Cheapest insurance you will ever buy.  If you wait on the warning horn it can be too late - and the pee stream really does not tell you much about pressure, and nothing about temperature.

How do you know you have properly warmed up your engine and opened the thermotats before you take off without a temp gage?  How do you know if you have a stuck poppet without a pressure gage?  Just a couple examples.

[Lightningboy]

No water out the pee hole won't hurt anything, as long as you have good pressure on the gauge. 

A water pressure and temp guage should be standard equipment with any outboard.  That way you can shut down before a problem happens.

I moved three gauges to the top of my dash so they're in my direct line of sight: water pressure, engine temp, and trim angle.

[djkimmel]

I've had mine plugged a number of times. It is an indicator but it's more important you know the things SethV and Lightningboy are talking about.

My Yamaha HPDI has those low nose cone pickups. I like that but I definitely have to watch that I don't plug these up with mud, algae or other debri when I'm hunting real shallow stuff like I like to. I think someone mentioned a tip previously to carry a brush on some kind of pole to scrub the intakes while you're on the lake. I have to remember to set something like that up.

[dartag]

My merc has a smart craft system.  I run
With the temp display on all the time