So, another water way I know fairly well is Ponce Inlet. We trailered over and launched at the Dunlawton Bridge. We then motored down to the Inlet and were going to stop at a restaurant and see a touring historical ship there. When, the motor died on us about two hundred yards from the restaurant. So, I dropped the anchor since the current was strong and there was a fair bit of boat traffic. I got the motor running again after taking off the new EPA regulated gas cap. We motored to the restaurant dock, but the boat tour had ended by then. The motor dying had killed our schedule. So, we then motored into a cove in the inter coastal and dropped the anchor for the night. I set the anchor alarm and we went to bed. The alarm went off around 2am and I woke up to let out more scope on the anchor and went back to bed.
The older boys woke up early and fished and we slept in, which was nice. As I sat in the cockpit later that morning, I noticed that all the boats that were running down the inter coastal and out the inlet then returning after about 30 min.. So I checked the weather and the winds were really kicking up out on the Atlantic. I scrubbed our plan for going out the inlet on to the Atlantic and we motored back to the ramp.
The ramp was very busy, windy, and I was pretty cranked up about the motor still having problems. I pulled the boat up to the dock adjacent to the ramp and 'jumped' out to tie the boat to the cleat like I always had in my small boats. When I leaped from the back of the boat my right foot caught on a Bimini strap and I fell face first on the dock landing on my elbows. I cleated the boat off and stood up. I felt the end of my left elbow and told my wife I just broke my elbow. She said how do you know? and I replied cause it is a bit crunchy. She took the keys and backed up the truck and trailer. We loaded up the boat and my wife and 10 year old son did most of the work. After the hour ride back to town we dropped the boys off with friends and I went to the hospital. The surgeon put one 3" deck screw into my elbow and a few months later it works as good as new.
The lessons learned are; 1. Do not get off the boat unless it is anchored or fully tied to the dock. I bought a dock cleat fastened it to a board and everyone in the family practiced in the backyard 'landing and tying up the boat'. 2. Do not get in any hurry at the boat ramp. If people complain you are taking too long to bad for them. 3. I bought a set of 25' dock lines to have plenty of rope to tie up with from the cockpit and bow of the boat. 4. Hold the boat in place with the motor against the dock then tie off to the cleat or throw a spring line over a cleat.
After that trip I threw away the EPA caps. I bought two new old style screw down vent caps and drilled out the vent hole with a 1/4" bit to allow maximum air flow. Once the outboard tanks were properly vented I have never had a problem since with the motor. I have also changed out the primer bulb from Evinrude with a higher quality one just because.
After several test on my own I have come to realize the engine was pulling fuel out of the tank correctly. The EPA cap was not allowing air into the tank at a fast enough rate to make up for the big fuel draw at 3,000 RPMs or higher. Even though the cap might have been letting in some air at 5psi pressure it does not allow enough volume of air to offset the suction of the gas. What gives first is the primer bulb goes flat and locks up. The only way to 'reset' the primer bulb and open up it's internal valves is to turn off the motor and open the gas cap to relieve pressure on both sides of the bulb. It is nonsense if the EPA or ETEC thinks you are going to turn off your motor every 15 min. It does not matter what the EPA or the ETEC computer says it is simple observable physics.
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