Changing The Spark Plugs on the Pontoon

It is a lovely, beautiful, warm day so we thought we would head to the lake and take a spin (and lunch) on the pontoon boat before the madness that is the 4th of July weekend sets in. It was before lunch and The Boathouse Restaurant was all set up for their lunchtime patrons. Our lunch was packed so we continued on over to the slip.

We loaded up the boat and headed out.

It was a still, calm, warm, peaceful day as we cruised along slowly.

Or so we thought. The engine wasn’t sounding quite right, almost like there just wasn’t enough power. So we decided to stop and check it out.

Maybe the spark plugs were a bit gummed up so Norm climbed onto the back of the boat, got under the back seat, and fiddled with the engine to remove the spark plugs, clean them, and replace them. Plus, we always carry a few spare ones with us just in case so he replaced one of them. While doing this he assigned Lisa the job of making sure that the wrenches, spark plugs, etc. didn’t fall into the lake and if they did she was to retrieve them. Our depth finder was only showing about 140′ deep where we were. No problem!!

Norm said that this was almost as difficult as cleaning the radiator while laying on the engine under the bed on our Alfa See Ya motorhome! Geez.

 

He finished up and since the engine was still working, but still not sounding quite right, we decided to head on over to a quiet bay and have our lunch and go for another dip (just can’t get enough of that glorious water).  After an wonderful afternoon we headed back and decided to pull the boat out of the water for Norm to check out the engine a little easier! He thought maybe it was the carburetor.  We pulled the boat out and Norm spent the next few hours cleaning the carburetor and doing a thorough engine check. He also found a bad relay, hence why the engine tilt wasn’t working. He ran off to the local boat parts store and bought a new relay and it wasn’t long before the engine was as good as new. We will get it relaunched shortly so we can enjoy the 4th of July fireworks. Yay!