Over rev concerns

[jdino]

Do outboard motors cut out if over reved? Or does all **** break loose? Just wondering as this coming fishing season, my wife wants to learn to drive our boat so she can maybe take the girls out sometime or to let me take a ride in the tube. My concern is with trimming and possible blow outs on turns while pulling tubers. I know how to tweak the trim as needed but if she is driving by herself, I'm concerned that she may get the revs up too high from time to time. Am I worring needlessly?

[staylor]

and there is no reason why she can't learn to trim almost as good as you. Most motors have over-rev protection since at least the late 1980s and these will shut off a few cylinders to stop the over-rev condition. That being said, I won't let anyone drive any of my rigs unless I've run with them and made sure they understand the rig. I learned this the hard way with my Dad back in the 1980s. He had been boating for 30 years, but always in fishing/skiing rigs. He wanted to drive my 18 Baja, 1000 lb hull with a 175 V-6, 65 mph top end. I told him to trim in and ease the throttle to 1/2 to plane and to watch the steering torque. Luckily I had a long extension rope on the kill switch and was holding it in my hand. He procceded to hammer the throttle and the Baja leaped entirely out of the water- when it came down the steering torque from full trim-in hit the wheel and it came out of his hands- I pulled the kill switch just as the boat was starting to go into a barrel roll. I was lucky, we took on about 100 gallons of water but no one was injured. Nothing beats a bit of driver training in any boat.
Doug

[yarcraft91]

Unless your motor is pretty old, it probably has an rpm limiter so the occasional over-rev won't destroy it. If in doubt, ask a local boat dealer.

Best thing you can do is take the wife for a boat ride. Let her hear the engine over-rev so she knows what it sounds like, show her what you do when it happens, then impress on her why she shouldn't let it happen and how to prevent it. Then, have her do some practice under your watchful eye until you're convinced she understands- it beats the situation described below (I've seen various versions of this on our lake).

Hypothetical situation to be avoided ( jdino, no insult intended- you're looking for an answer before you have a problem- very prudent):

Engine- over-revving and screaming!!!
Husband (in tube behind boat), waving arm, yelling "Shut it off!! Shut it off!!"
Child, in boat; "Mommy- why is Daddy waving and yelling?"
Wife, driving boat- "What Dear? I can't hear you . The engine's really loud............. Oh, now it's quiet. What did you want?"
Child- "Never mind, Daddy isn't yelling anymore."
Husband (in tube behind boat)- weeping quietly.
Engine, quiet, smoke coming from new piston-size hole in the cowl.

[jdino]

Engine- over-revving and screaming!!!
Husband (in tube behind boat), waving arm, yelling "Shut it off!! Shut it off!!"
Child, in boat; "Mommy- why is Daddy waving and yelling?"
Wife, driving boat- "What Dear? I can't hear you . The engine's really loud............. Oh, now it's quiet. What did you want?"
Child- "Never mind, Daddy isn't yelling anymore."
Husband (in tube behind boat)- weeping quietly.
Engine, quiet, smoke coming from new piston-size hole in the cowl.[/QUOTE]


LMAO!!!! I know not to let her take complete control until she understand completely what to do. She is a very smart lady who learns quickly. That being said, my motor is an '05 115 Merc EFI. Just wanted to make sure that there was some sort of protection, which I thought there was. Never hurts to double check with others that know more than me(-:

[Hombre Robusto]

John Candy water skiing in The Great Outdoors comes to mind. For some reason.

[Hot Runr Guy]

I wonder if this is already part of the system, or can they be added? for 45 bucks, cheap insurance.
http://www.iboats.com/Mercury_Rev_Limiters/dm/cart_id.974778805--list_time.1231611683--session_id.549569522--view_id.335809

HRG

[Richard B]

I had a Stratos bass boat that would do over 70 mph. My wife wanted to learn how to drive it when we were on vacation one year. What can you say. Switched spots with her and had her start out slowly until she finally had it running around 60. Then I told her to turn it. Once the rear end of the boat started to skip and the engine started to blow out I told her to trim it down. She did, the prop caught, rpms dropped, and the hull stopped skipping. She looked at me with her eyes wide open and said "Now I understand!" From that point on when she went fishing with me I drove the tow vehicle and ran the trolling motor and she ran the big motor.