Boat tech (or throwing away money tech)

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:08 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Then I pulled the boat out without trimming the damn outdrive up, scratching the prop in the process. Won't ever do that again.

There are two types of boaters in this world. Those who have done this, and those that will. Don't sweat it. If you want to feel better about yourself all you have to do is spend an hour or two at the boat ramp at take-out time just watching everyone else. You'll see amazing things. Or drive around the repair lot at any large boat dealer. You'll be hard pressed to find a straight skeg.

I'd suggest adding some PVC pipe extensions to those vertical bars at the back of your trailer. Whatever size PVC will just slip over them and stick up four or five feet. Gives you a better visual indicator for lining things up, and it's softer material when you do bump it. And you will.

--Donnie

steve remchak · **Posted:** Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:34 am

don't forget the bundle of purple pool foam wrapped with white tape. a must for traveling on I40.

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:03 am

Congrats on the new boat. Trust me, you will forget to trim in at least one more time :-)

I remember my first boat, a 20' Regal with the 4.3L FI motor. It was a great boat. The first time I took it out, I had a friend who is an experienced boater with me. For the first 2 hours of my first boating experience, it was practicing backing the trailer down the ramp, unloading the boat, then loading and pulling the trailer out. And then doing it all again.

I was pissed at first, but as time passed, I really came to appreciate it. Hell, when I had my Baja speed boat, I could load and unload it myself...which was important cause a lot of people where watching.

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

nice post mike, it reads just like someone's report from their first track weekend

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Hope y'all had a good time at Danville. I found out that even on a 100F day being on the water is awesome, very comfortable. Had a much better day than last time, only a few issues with what I believe is fuel delivery at high loads. Boat will cruise all day long at 35MPH but doesn't seem to like full throttle. Got to pull some kids around on the tube for the first time, it was cool.

Turns out I towed someone in *again* in my POS boat

Neighbor down the street was out with us in his really nice jet boat and sucked a tow rope into both impellers. We tried to cut it free but it was getting late so I took him in. 2 weekends of boating, 2 friends towed in!

Here's my 6-year old son Nathan using the boat as a diving platform:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnpJPd1wBQ

She's starting to look a little better. Soft scrub is magic on mildewed vinyl. On the worst stuff that was very faded and lost its shine, I actually rubbed the vinyl down with lacquer thinner, which restored the shine.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:16 am

My jet boat was a single impeller and I did that once. Had to put it on my boat lift and get under it on a float and take the grate off to get the rope out. Was kind of a pain since our cove isn't very protected and it was a busy day, so I had people on each side of the float to pull me out from under the boat real quick so I could work right up until the wake was going to get there. Quite annoying, but not bad. Had to remove like six bolts (and careful not to drop anything, obviously). Then you're pulling and cutting for a while because you can't just pull it back off...jet boat impellers are directly connected to the engine and thus will not rotate backward to pull it out. There's no physical "neutral."

Would have been much easier on dry ground on a trailer.

--Donnie

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:34 am

Quote:

Took her out today and it was running like a top, until the motor just flat died out on the water (with the family onboard). Drifted in and beached it, fortunately we were only 30 seconds from the beach, and went to work diagnosing. Checked the stupid stuff first ... fuses and circuit breakers fine, cap and wires, ignition switch, battery, controls, etc. When trying to restart I found it would work for a moment after priming, so I suspected the fuel pump and wiring, not ignition. I had a decent toolkit but did not have any electrical diag tools, so I went to the truck and snagged my lighter power plug extension cable (which has an LED showing power), cut the plug, and stripped the bare ends to use it as a 12v test light. Figured out that for some reason the fuel pump must have stopped running. I think it was from some grease/oil on the main fuel pump relay. But to be safe I jumpered the pump direct from the battery and yay! she's alive.

Welcome to inboard motor leisure boat hell.

Quote:

So now I'm in a hastily repaired POS boat, my first time in the water, faced with the possibility of death by lightning, and I have to tow a boat to the dock at the same time 10000 other people are anxiously trying to get their boats out of the water. Did I mention that the winds are picking up pretty fierce?

Be careful. A freind of mine was killed by lightning trying to get his boat out of the water.

Quote:

Amazingly we get out OK but I made 2 rookie mistakes. First I was at a bit of an angle pulling on the trailer (did I mention the hurricane force winds?) and chipped a few spots of gelcoat from hitting the trailer at an angle. Then I pulled the boat out without trimming the damn outdrive up, scratching the prop in the process. Won't ever do that again

.

Try slipping some long(~4ft) pieces of PVC pipe on the metal posts sticking up from just above the tail lights. It gives you something to bounce off of and a reference while your backing the trailer

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:03 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Turns out I towed someone in *again* in my POS boat

Neighbor down the street was out with us in his really nice jet boat and sucked a tow rope into both impellers. We tried to cut it free but it was getting late so I took him in. 2 weekends of boating, 2 friends towed in!

I came way too close to doing this as well this past saturday

Next time it happens, this is an option for him to try, if he can get ahold of the end of the rope that's hanging out of the intake of the jet system.

Pull the spark plugs out of the engine. Jump in the water, grab the rope and brace your feet against the side of the boat, then pull like a madman. The engine "should" spin backwards and the rope will untangle.

We had to leave quickly. The two boys we had out were about to get into nap deprivation, so we packed up and headed home.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

MarcusMcRae wrote:

Try slipping some long(~4ft) pieces of PVC pipe on the metal posts sticking up from just above the tail lights. It gives you something to bounce off of and a reference while your backing the trailer

Roger that. If you look under the boat in the pics they are sitting under the trailer, had them off for gelcoat beautification

Regarding your comments about "Inboard hell", I actually prefer the inboard to an outboard for serviceability. I don't mind something more complicated or less reliable if it's familiar, cheap, and easy to work on. The fact that I can sit on the floor inside the boat and wrench on it is a plus. I should take a picture of the engine w/ the cover off so you can see how easy it is.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:06 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

MarcusMcRae wrote:

Try slipping some long(~4ft) pieces of PVC pipe on the metal posts sticking up from just above the tail lights. It gives you something to bounce off of and a reference while your backing the trailer

The fact that I can sit on the floor inside the boat and wrench on it is a plus. I should take a picture of the engine w/ the cover off so you can see how easy it is.

Bleh, give me an outboard anyday.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:12 pm

MarcusMcRae wrote:

Bleh, give me an outboard anyday.

I guess it depends on the boat, but every inboard I've had to work on was in a hole. You're basically laying down with your head below your body. Yuck. Give me outboards, too.

My next boat will have two of them.

--Donnie

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:04 am

Donnie Barnes wrote:

MarcusMcRae wrote:

Bleh, give me an outboard anyday.

I guess it depends on the boat, but every inboard I've had to work on was in a hole. You're basically laying down with your head below your body. Yuck. Give me outboards, too.

My next boat will have two of them.

--Donnie

Donnie,

You need to UPGRADE to a "cabin cruiser" (30-40 feet) with a couple of GM v-8's. There was pretty decent room in the engine "room" of the one I was in helping Miles Beam a few years ago. Not exactly walk in or stand up in though. Now that was a HOLE to throw money into.

ChrisSuich · **Posted:** Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:41 pm

Screw th' trailer...
Eff'n yo' haf a van, yo' kin jest load yer boat like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mm2DxCVrGU

NOT!

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:48 pm

DickRasmussen wrote:

Donnie,

You need to UPGRADE to a "cabin cruiser" (30-40 feet) with a couple of GM v-8's. There was pretty decent room in the engine "room" of the one I was in helping Miles Beam a few years ago. Not exactly walk in or stand up in though. Now that was a HOLE to throw money into.

I want something I can trailer around easily yet is big enough and well enough equipped to head all the way out to the Gulf Stream from Hatteras Village. That's anywhere from 5-30 miles off shore. So that's a 23-25 foot center console with a head in there and twin 150 Yamahas (at least, but that's probably where I'll stay). I also plan to do some free diving and spear fishing from it on the shallow water wrecks right around there near shore, too.

Screw big boats. You can do a LOT of charter days on one for the price of the MAINTENANCE of those bad boys.

--Donnie

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Donnie Barnes wrote:

I guess it depends on the boat, but every inboard I've had to work on was in a hole. You're basically laying down with your head below your body. Yuck.
--Donnie

Not this one

Finally got a picture up. Only problem is that there isn't a convenient place to put a beer when wrenching.

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