Life passed me by.. Or at least new engines.. LOL

[Deitz Dittrich]

So, the other day I stopped and picked up a 12 pack of beverages, set up the heater in the garage and set to winterizing the boat. For those who have kept up with me, I got a new ride in July. A BassCat Puma with a Merc 250 Opti XS Racing Eng.. For the last 15 years I have owned a boat, I have always done the winterizing. It started with a 35 horse Force, then a Merc 175, Then a Jonson 150... Life was always good. Took me about an hour maybe a little more, probably a little less..

So, cracked my first cold one, grabbed my lower unit pump, grabbed a regular screw driver, tilted the motor down.. AND... scratched my head.. There was no lower drain plug.?.?. I found the top plug, but no lower one?.. No big deal, the manual is in the house, sip of beer, I'll take the engine cover off, and fog the motor. Motor cover off, HOLY YOWZERS, look at all the pretty wires!!!! For the love of everything, where the BLEEP are the spark plugs? Scratch head, sip beer... look for lower unit drain hole again, look for spark plugs again... Sip beer, Look for Frakies Marine Phone number in phone book.. Back up truck, hook boat to truck.. Pull to Frankies!!!

THATS HOW YOU WINTERIZE NOW I GUESS...

I feel so dirty!

[Shawnny B]

LOL, you mean you didnt invite someone over to help you figure it out, and then they could invite someone else ..and then...=)

[Twins 57 Fan]

now thats funny.

[Deitz Dittrich]

So we all could have sipped beer and scratched out behinds.. Honestly, this thing looked more like a computer than it did a power engine.

[DTro]

You clearly messed up by sipping it.

[hanson]

Deitz-

I've got an early 80s Johnson 60hp in the garage that still needs some work if you are really feeling lost. I'll even supply the 12 pack.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Deitz-

I've got an early 80s Johnson 60hp in the garage that still needs some work if you are really feeling lost. I'll even supply the 12 pack.

What time should I come over?

[walleyewild]

Deitz,

Could you help me with my 95 merc 40?

Bet you didn't open the manual either?

WW

PS I'll bet you'll be reading the manual soon enough.

PPS We did find a few walleye's on Vermilion but no smallie's the bite was tough the end of July.

[solbes]

Gotta love how complicated these things have become. My 5 year old could have figured out where the spark plugs were on my 1984 Evinrude 90.

I had the same problem with my '08 Yamaha 75 (and probably only 1/2 as complicated as Deitz's beast of an engine). I looked for a good 2 or three minutes and finally realized they were hiding underneath a plastic shroud. Of course we want to first remove 8 screws to get to the spark plugs!

Also loved the fact that a standard gear oil pump does not fit a yamaha lower unit. You need to get a Yamaha adapter. Of Course!

I remain determined not to pay the $200 the dealer charges for $50 worth of materials and an hour of my time. $150 buys a lot of beer...

[Black_Bay]

The only thing you did wrong was not spending more time in the man cave drinking beer. You at least could have finished that beer grabbed another and sipped on it as you pulled the prop to check for fishing line.

I don't blame you at all for taking it in. I heard all the horror stories about pulling plugs on Optimax motors. After buying mine the first thing I did was pull off the cowl. Oh my! You have a hard time even seeing some of the plugs. Now the only work I do is changing the lower unit lube and compressor filter.

[Eric Wettschreck]

DD, I'm a pretty handy guy but I think I understand what you're going through. I've never been under the hood of an Opti but I've heard a few stories. At least you called Frankies before you hit beverage #10 and got the courage to "Give it a shot."

[delmuts]

"At least you called Frankies before you hit beverage #10 and got the courage to "Give it a shot."

Man !! Now that would have been a story!!!!

[bassNspear]

dude, its not even worth messing around with!

The reason that i say that, is becuase thats alot of money on your hands, i mean, beer is like 10 bucks for a 12 pack ya know!!

[JohnMickish]

Wait a second here, back this thread up to the begining. You have a heated garage, your boat is in it and you only had a 12 pack and you where alone? This is exactly where things started going wrong. If you check the fine print in the man book it clearly states this is a two man job and the wife must be out of town.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Wait a second here, back this thread up to the begining. You have a heated garage, your boat is in it and you only had a 12 pack and you where alone? This is exactly where things started going wrong. If you check the fine print in the man book it clearly states this is a two man job and the wife must be out of town.

I must have an outdated man book, mine calls for 3 guys, the third just stands there while the other two do the work usually reserved for the nosey neighbor you never talk to.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Dude, get the updated version. I believe it's Rev # MB-10W40.

It clearly states that the nosey neighbor does not have to be allowed in the garage during quality time with the fellas, unless he brings enough beer for eveyone and some left over.

[caseymcq]

You should have kept sippin'. You're a Bemidji State graduate, I am sure after an adequate number of sips you would have had it all figure out.

[JohnMickish]

Dude, get the updated version. I believe it's Rev # MB-10W40.

It clearly states that the nosey neighbor does not have to be allowed in the garage during quality time with the fellas, unless he brings enough beer for eveyone and some left over.

Man, I have to get the newer book too, mine has nothing about the nosey neighbor.

Boy, do we need some ice.

[jwhjr]

Boy, do we need some ice.

I second that!