Karma Friday...

[willbaker13]

My wife and I decide to take off a few hours early yesterday and take the boat out. Everything was good until we were homebound. All of a sudden the engine alarm goes off. I stop the boat and check for an alarm code - no codes but the coolant temp is 180 (is that high enough to cause an alarm)? After opening the engine hatch and looking around, trying not to touch something hot, I see that the port side drain plug is leaking and that there is water in the bilge area. Unfortunately, the drain plug broke off and was just hanging there. We are close to our marina so we limp in. Now the broken plug needs to be drilled out and we are on waiting list for a mechanic to get to it. Questions:

• This is the third time we have had a broken drain plug. Is the issue because the plug is plastic and screwing into metal? Anything we can do to stop this from happening every few years? We normally don't do a true winterization living here in TX and utilize a bilge heater so it's not like anyone is messing with it.
• While poking around the engine area seems to have some black belt dust. The belts are in good shape, relatively new, and do not appear to be loose. Any idea what would cause the dust that I didn't check?

No more sneaking out on Friday's...

Thanks,

 

[Doc]

I'm shocked they would use plastic for that purpose, with the heat they'd have to stand up to.
I would hope there is some other option than plastic.

 

[SST]

Taking this a bit off topic, I'm beginning to despise plastic. A couple of years ago, I bought a Taylor umbrella from West Marine. It was cheaper than a Bimini. The canvas they used is very good but the skeletal frame work is plastic. It broke only after 5 or 6 times of usage. I used some wire and epoxy and glued it back together. Only worked 3 times before it snapped again. A waste of money. I have an umbrella with a metal skeletal frame and it still works after 30 years. Hey Taylor...hint hint!!!

I recently bought a new Garmin fish finder. The original one [30 years old] died last month. The old transducer was mounted to the transom with a metal bracket. The Garmin transducer is attached to the transom with a plastic bracket. I am so skeptical that it will last at normal cruise speeds. I kept the metal bracket in case I need to modify it to hold the new transducer.

Good luck with a replacement.