Just passing this along

[steplift20]

I went down to see my boat cause I have not been taking her out much lately, I plan on going fishing Sunday so I wanted to make sure she starts. Turned the key and cranked a little and she started right up, great I was very very happy buy then I am waiting for the piss tail to work and no water so I waited and ran her but no water to make a long and boring story short it was the outlet that the water comes out of was clogged, my wife was with me and I asked her if she has a paper clip and she did, I pushed it thru and got it open,now the reason I'm telling you this is I have been boating for over 25 years and this is the first time that happened to me, so it can happen to you too I hope this will help someone to check out the fitting before they remover the lower unit and change the impeller .

[Destroyer]

Good point. Thanks Steplift20. I don't know what was clogging your pisser outlet, but I can tell you that some of the people here have had problems with wasps building nests in tank vents and pisser outlets to the point that the engine wouldn't run. Checking vents and any small hole at the beginning of the season is always a good idea.

[steplift20]

Destroyer, it looked like just dirt or salt cause I run her in salt water but I will tell you one thing, I removed the fitting after I disconnected the hose and tried to blow thru it and couldn't, then I cleaned it with the paper clip and it was good after that. I never tried to clean out the gas vent but I should look at it,there is always a first time.A simple thing like that can ruin your engine and day.

[Blue_Runner]

I've had it happen with salt. I've had it happen with sand. I've had it happen with dirt. Good on you to check that first before dropping the LU!

[steplift20]

Yep, I tell my sons always check the simplest thing first cause that can happen. I also have a 50 merc that was not stating you would hear a click than nothing I put a multimeter to the starter and the volts were good , tried to start it and the volts dropped to nothing, I talked to a mechanic and he said YOU HAVE TO BRING IT IN you have a massive voltage drop so I got back to the boat thought about it and said let me check the terminals on the battery? Guess what the ground cable was very loose,,,,,problem solved .......
always start at the beginning.

[spareparts]

happens pretty common around here. String trimmer line or heavy leader works great to clear it out

[steplift20]

String trimmer line , great idea I didn't think of that ,I'm going to keep a piece of that in my tool box. Thanks spare parts I think everyone of us who read this should keep a piece of trimmer line in there tool box and that's because of what you said,great idea. Thanks

[garbubba]

Happens so much to me that I take a stainless screw tie some flagging around it (because I can be forgetful) & put it in the tell tale hole. I'm certain it's been insects of some kind, fished some web out with the string trimmer line.

[bradford]

I've had some kind of wasp like insect build a nest twice now in the same water tank vent on the trawler. The first time it wouldn't vent at all when filling the tank, I ended up disconnecting the vent line from the tank and blowing it out with compressed air. Shot bug guts and larve down the side of the hull. Second time I caught the bug in the act going in and out of there and sucked them out with a shop vac while filling the tank past full flushing them out. Can't really blame them, I'd live on a boat too.