Warning and question thread.

I have a 25hp electric start on the duck boat. Was just getting home from the river the other day and when I shut my truck off, I heard the outboard on the boat running WHILE OUT OF WATER!!!. I ran back and shut it down and realized that my load of duck stuff which I had not secured very well had shifted and and had punched the started button and the motor had fired up on its own. A new water pump was installed and I feel fortunate that this was the only damage.

What are the odds of this happening?

Gotta make sure that the motor is in gear or the kill switch lanyard is pulled or that someone secures the load a bit better.

Lucky you caught it in time to save it. Could have been time for a new motor. :thumbup:

That was close. Must have just happened a little before you stopped. You'd have known if it had run long enough to get too hot probably by just listening to the heat to metal making slight popping noises while cooling off. Lucky dog. You fared better than my buddy a few years ago who's load shifted and something got across the battery (he thinks) and started a fire. He said a 50 miles an hour it don't take long for oil and gas to get hot enough to melt the back of the boat off. I can only imagine.

Glad your safe RCC!!!! be careful!!!

Wow that is crazy. I would have never thought that would happen...except to me! :Doh: Thanks for sharing that golden nugget. Hope the water pump was it.

Just checked again today. Motor is OK. Lesson learned without really major expense.

Glad it worked out!!

RCC, when I load my boat, I always after shutting the motor down, put the motor in gear. I do that because someone once told me that if the motor is in neutral, the prop will spin and end up causing issues. Not sure that would be the case, but none the less, I always put my motors in gear to stop prop spin. I guess now I can add "accidental motor starting" to the list of things being in gear will prevent.

Glad it worked out for you with nothing more than a water pump

Glad everything is ok, that is really wild....:scratchhead

You got lucky if there wasn't any other damage. Depends on how long it ran. Check your compression.