i'm a dic#he@d

[SunriseH2OSkier]

[NorCaliBu]

...goes into limp mode when it gets hot....my bride tried to pull me out of the hole twice before I figured out that there was a problem.

You want to try this one Jack?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just too much material to work with...it's like hunting over a baited field.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can't believe you guys left that one alone.

...you think a marine mechanic won't realize what happened.

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I would assume the on board computer would record all the info about engine temp, amount of time run at "over-temp",...

[doughickey]

Similar thing happened to me about 8 years ago with my prior boat. (A 200 Merc outboard). By the time I shut it down....it was too late. Fried one cylinder.

But that's not the point of my story.

When my marine mechanic pulled the engine apart, his only conclusion was that I had sucked in a plasic bag or other debris... just long enough to restrict water flow and fry the piston furthest from the pump. His opinion was it was NOT abuse or negligence or lack of maintenance.... but "water hazard". I contacted my insurance company. Was totally up front with them. They sent their mechanic to investigate and speak with my mechanic. My claim was denied because they could no longer find any evidence of debris in the engine. My mechanic went to bat for me.... saying the "auto" mechanic they sent didn't understand the complexities of the marine engine. My mechanic also showed all the records of my maintenance. I escalated to my insurance agent (not the claims adjuster), and said I wanted them to revisit my case. This time they approved the claim for the engine rebuild (over $3000) less my deductible. All based on the fact that the ONLY explanation for the rapid overheating and subsequent engine damage was a temporary clog in the cooling system.

The point is.... the engine damage told the story as well as my mechanic, and with some escalation, the rebuild was covered by insurance. (not a heck of a lot different than hitting a submerged log and damaging the under-hull components)

No fraud, no hiding stuff, just calling a spade a spade... and not accepting a "no" the first time from the insurance. It also helped to have the mechanic tell the "story" to the aduster. Telling him the whole story was critical.

Absolutely not preaching here.... but it was the full true story that made this have a happy ending.

[tvano]

never accept an insurance adjusters' first offer.

[doughickey]

So... to bigmacholdthefries... might want to give your insurance folks a call..... but after talking to your dealer/mechanic..... knowing what THEY would say to the adjuster..... and don't take the first or second "no" as their "final answer".

(By the way, I had told my Insurance AGENT that she would be losing ALL my insurance business if she wouldn't help out here. It worked. She's paid on sales. She put pressure on the djuster. She didn't want to lose all her future commissions on my house/boat/car/cottage/floater policies. )

Edited December 16, 2005 by doughickey

[bigmacholdthefries]

So... to bigmacholdthefries... might want to give your insurance folks a call..... but after talking to your dealer/mechanic..... knowing what THEY would say to the adjuster..... and don't take the first or second "no" as their "final answer".

(By the way, I had told my Insurance AGENT that she would be losing ALL my insurance business if she wouldn't help out here. It worked. She's paid on sales. She put pressure on the djuster. She didn't want to lose all her future commissions on my house/boat/car/cottage/floater policies. )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

at this stage she's running totally normal so i will continue to monitor her performance and keep my fingers crossed ,i'm hoping the closed cooling system somehow helped prevent a blown head gasket ,realistically she was only running at high temp for maybe 30 seconds at a time whilst i was trying to creep it back to shore, fingers xxxxxxxxxx she will be ok

Edited December 18, 2005 by bigmacholdthefries