Last year we launched from Bullfrog and focused on the Escalante arm. This year the goal was to launch from Wahweap and see the Southern part of the Lake. Things were going extremely smoothly until they weren't. We had two spare gas tanks. We woke up early and there wasn't any backlog at the marina. We launched in record breaking time and off we go on a great adventure. Until.......the boat starts cutting out under load. Past 3K rpm it bogs down. Just when we thought we had this boating thing figured out. Now what? Last year we had a similar issue and discovered the plastic liner was coming lose inside the gas line. The gas line was replaced, and the boat put on different bodies of water three times and ran perfectly.
Those spare gas tanks? They were leaking gasoline. My shoes are covered in gas. The boat smells like fumes. My spare hiking pants are gasoline soaked. I tried to wash it all off in the water, but everything still smelled like gasoline. The good news is if someone were to burst into flames the best place that could happen is on a lake with quick access to water. We try our luck taking off the gas line on the water since we had a spare one. Of course, this just spills more gasoline. I blew through the line to see if the line is clear, and the check ball was working. Later I learned that you don't need to do that. You can disconnect the line at the boat motor and see if fuel squirts out the other end. However, at this point I am rocked pretty good by gasoline and feeling really oozy. We limp the boat off the water and try to decide what can be done to salvage this trip. We call probably every repair shop around and as expected nobody has any availability. We try to rent a boat, and none appeared to have anything available until we finally got lucky with one but we need to be able to launch it ourselves. We can now salvage the trip.
Of course, we didn't get to see as much as we originally planned and this time the lighting conditions were worse for photography. Here are some photos.
Those spare gas tanks? They were leaking gasoline. My shoes are covered in gas. The boat smells like fumes. My spare hiking pants are gasoline soaked. I tried to wash it all off in the water, but everything still smelled like gasoline. The good news is if someone were to burst into flames the best place that could happen is on a lake with quick access to water. We try our luck taking off the gas line on the water since we had a spare one. Of course, this just spills more gasoline. I blew through the line to see if the line is clear, and the check ball was working. Later I learned that you don't need to do that. You can disconnect the line at the boat motor and see if fuel squirts out the other end. However, at this point I am rocked pretty good by gasoline and feeling really oozy. We limp the boat off the water and try to decide what can be done to salvage this trip. We call probably every repair shop around and as expected nobody has any availability. We try to rent a boat, and none appeared to have anything available until we finally got lucky with one but we need to be able to launch it ourselves. We can now salvage the trip.
Of course, we didn't get to see as much as we originally planned and this time the lighting conditions were worse for photography. Here are some photos.
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