1. Mid River Marina
Mechanic Shadow
Ethan
Ahern
Head Mechanic: Duane Poole 319.784.8280
Date Hours Notes
17-May 5
Spring start on Mericruiser Alpha One. It had a dead battery so
we charged it and checked the lower unit oil levels using a zip tie.
Estimated cost analysis on spring start boat repairs. Finished
Rebuild of Yamaha 9.9 two stroke. Added new spark plugs, prop,
and lower unit grease. Adjusted the carburetor spring screw and
air fuel intake screw so it idled smoothly.
23-May 3
Looked at Johnson four stroke outboard fuel injection and did a
spring start on it. Wasn't starting so used a screwdriver to arc the
starter selenoid (what starts the engine or water pump or etc.).
Did a spring start on a Mericruiser Alpha One and put a prop on it.
Did a spring start on a Mercury 150 Verado outboard. Had a dead
battery and we had to scrape the terminals clean and charged it.
Checked the lower unit oil and there wasn't any so we took the
prop off and pumped 36 ounces of lower unit oil into the engine.
Also checked engine oil and added oil to it because it was low. Put
the prop back together to find out that it did not fit correctly due
to some error that wasn't diagnosed.
6-Jun 3
Looked at Alpha One Gen 2 lower unit rebuild. Loose Prop shaft
due to worn parts. Replaced washer and shifting arm mechanism.
Looked at another Alpha one that had electronic corrosion on
starter transformer, so we scraped it off. Used a timing gun to see
if engine was still sparking after, it did. Pumped gas in the line by
hand and the engine ran so we figured out that no fuel was
getting pumped. Checked if it was caused by fuel pump failure or
electronic failure, they both worked fine. Fuel pump was good.
Ended up being a bad alternator so we took it off and sent it to
get rebuilt, which fixed the problem.
8-Jun 3
Mericruiser alpha one boat wouldn't start. Found a wire
connector on the slave selenoid that lips off so we bent it back
with a pair of pliers and plugged it back in. Also tuned the idler
screw and fuel intake screw on the carburetor. Boat ran fine after
that. Another Alpha one tilt trim wasn't working so we checked
the connections and it turns out that one of the accessory wires
to the battery from the tilt motor wasn't connected which fixed
the problem.
22-Jun 4
Replaced and rewired a transducer in a cobalt with a 350
Mericruiser bravo 3.

2. 27-Jun 4
Got a wave runner started that hadn't been ran in 6 years. Put a
new mirror on it. Added new gas, oil, and spark plugs. We also
cleaned the inner haul out with dawn dish soap and washed it
out. After doing this we took it out on the lake and tested it. No
problems were discovered after testing.
11-Jul 3
A 496-mag bravo needed a new starter, so we took off the
exhaust elbow, the exhaust manifold, and the captains call.
Checked the starter and it was bad. In addition to the bad starter,
the flywheel was also bad. Engine needed to be pulled so we
called the owner. Apparently, the owner had a new starter put in
the boat in the Ozarks, so he took the boat from us and is taking it
to the marina that did the initial repair because they screwed
something up. Bad day to be that mechanic.
13-Jul 3
Trailer tire drum brake was full of water and grease. New one had
to be put in so we measured/cataloged the races, seals, and
bearings for the trailer and got the parts ordered.
18-Jul 3
Alpha one needed new tilt trim hoses because fluid was leaking
over the engine. The owner though he blew a head gasket, but
we did a compression check and a couple other tests and found
out that claim was false. The fluid leaking on the engine was from
the tilt trim hoses, which were torn and leaking. We replaced the
tilt trim hoses and pulled the lower unit. Once the hoses were
replaced, we reattached the lower unit. Once it was reattached,
we made sure that the shift cable still worked properly and it did
not. Somehow the lower unit was "off one tooth" and it wouldn't
shift into neutral all the way without my boss holding the pin on
the front of the motor in place. We tried to adjust the shifting
cable from the transfer point to the lower unit, but the thread
bottomed out at the transfer point so we had to find another
solution. We ended up adjusting the shift cable from the transfer
point to the control unit. It took 2 turns on a 30 thread per inch
bar, so barely anything. This gave the shift cable running from the
transfer point to the lower unit more room to move into reverse.
After attaching the lower unit the problem was fixed and the prop
worked in forward, neutral, and reverse. We also added new
grease to the lower unit and the problem was fixed.
20-Jul 3
Replaced a rack and pinion steering cable and wheel. Struggled
for a long time to get the old steering cable out of the outboard
because it was stuck in the bar under the outboard. Tried to
break it loose with a hairdryer and penetrating lube but we were
unable to break it free that day. The plan was to let it soak
overnight.

3. 1-Aug 4
We fixed seals on a lower unit of an alpha one and added lower
unit grease. After that we fixed a master craft that wouldn't hold
a charge. We cleaned the posts, checked the voltage, and ran
battery diagnostics. After that we checked the alternator to make
sure we weren't getting any back feed. We used a bearing scraper
today and my boss made a point to ask the Mercury Marine
engineers if they had ever used a bearing scraper before.
3-Aug 4
Today we replaced a fuel pump on the shop Tahoe that was used
to pull boats.
8-Aug 4
Today we put a new 90 hp elpto optimax on a pontoon. I hooked
up the fuel lines by finding the diagrams in a manual. After that
we attached the steering, fuel lines, and test drove it.
9-Aug 4
Today we had a Merc I/O alpha one that wouldn't start. Gas was
collecting in the butterfly valves on the 2-barrel carburetor. We
took the carb apart and cleaned it. We changed the water
separator and cleaned the flame arrestor as well. After
attempting to start it, it wouldn't turn over. Dwayne said the
spark plugs were flooded with gas. We took all the spark plugs
out and cleaned them. After putting them back in, the boat ran
fine.