issues starting boat on steep ramp

[Guest]

I went to a new boat ramp this weekend that is very steep and my Tige did not want to start. It took almost 10 key turns to get it to fire and then it ran really rough and die and a few more tries later it finally fired and ran fine. It also sounded weird when I was trying to start it. It usually fires on the first key turn. Maybe the steep incline was causing the issue? It ran fine once it fired and I backed off the trailer. Any of you guys had this type of issue? THe boat ran fine the rest of the day.

[dogbert]

As long as your raw water intake is in the water, it shouldn't be an issue. I usually back mine in until the back end starts floating off the trailer just to make sure this is the case.

The only other thing I can think of is that you have gotten some water in your fuel tank and given the angle (and gas floats), you somehow got either water or debris mixed in with your gas.

Some other things to check are your batteries (if they are weak, the boat will be hard to start and run rough at first). If it's a Mercruiser, then I'd check the distributor cap & rotor.

[Guest]

Thanks Dog, that was our guess as well, or hope I should say. My backend was floating so I know the intake was in the water. The boat ran fine the rest of the day. Until I got some rope tangled on the prop, but that is a whole other story...

You guys ride Lake Travis occasionally, right? I launched at Briarcliff marina, man that ramp is steep! Even more steep than the Pace Bend ramp.

And this freakin wind is killing us, it was almost to windy to surf Saturday! I am hoping this wind is gone soon...

[dogbert]

Thanks Dog, that was our guess as well, or hope I should say. My backend was floating so I know the intake was in the water. The boat ran fine the rest of the day. Until I got some rope tangled on the prop, but that is a whole other story...

You guys ride Lake Travis occasionally, right? I launched at Briarcliff marina, man that ramp is steep! Even more steep than the Pace Bend ramp.

And this freakin wind is killing us, it was almost to windy to surf Saturday! I am hoping this wind is gone soon...

We're never on Lake Travis. I usually go to Lake Austin (Quinlan Park) or Lake Buchanan. Bullock Hollow is the closest boat ramp on Lake Travis and it's just too rough out there to have any fun so we no longer go there.

Quinlan Park is pretty nice. It's free and it's almost totally serious boarders around there so everyone's pretty good about lake ettiquette.

[CP3]

Thats odd. The ramp I go to is very steep as well but I have never had a problem...

That sucks you got the rope tangled in the prop

[Guest]

Dog - Yeah, the main body of Travis is a madhouse, we usually launch on the Perd and run up past the 71 bridge, which is mostly boarders too. We were just hanging out with some folks in a cove by Briarcliff so we launched there. I do like upper Lake Austin on weeknights or earlier in the morning, but man even that cold water gets crowded on the weekends! Really our mistake on Lake Austin is launching at 360 bridge and having to run all the way up to Quinlan and back, that ride is brutal on the weekends. It will shake your fillings lose!

Rope on prop was a combination of brutal wind, a hung up anchor and one moment of stupidity on my part...