Hi folks, yes yet another newbie boat person to pick all you seasoned vets brains. DryFloat? Well I thought it appropriate as I live on the desert here in Tucson Arizona
But guess what!? I was rolling through the local craigslist the other day at the office and under the free column what do I see?FREE SPEEDBOAT. Ok ok, how many of you would walk away from that? Here I am a total landlubber but I just couldn?t say no. So I called and sure enough the lady?s husband passed away and she wants it out of the front yard. His ?project? boat was just that, a project. Turned out to be a Sidewinder out of Anderson California. I have yet to pick up the engine from a local marine shop where her husband had dropped it off and I don?t even know what motor I have but it's supposed to run. Another problem I have is no title and the guy at the Marine shop seemed real negative about this. Like he wouldn?t even touch a boat with no title hmmmm. Sure it may be more difficult to deal with Arizona Game and Fish on this but certainly it can be done and my wife is a God at handling things like this so I didn?t let that bother me all so much.
Anyway, this boat has a sound hull but that?s about it. All of the controls, and everything to the motor needs to be tied back in and such. It really needs completely put back together. Someone had ?hammered? (as in terrible job of glass etc.) in the transom and I have to totally redo this trainwreck. Anyway, I?m not all to worried. By trade I am a journeyman electrician and I grew up wrenching cars, building engines etc. My work ethic is professional and if I can?t do it right I don?t do it at all. Certainly with the wealth of information here and in other places on the internet I can get this lil speedboat in the water again without dropping more money on it than it?s really worth. I?m a bit concerned with all of the cables and controls but no doubt if I take it step by step I can figure it out.
Anyway, my brother in Washington that works around charter deep sea fishing boats laughed and called a boat a hole the water that one throws money into. Am I really wasting my time here? Will this boat simply need to much money for what it is? I?m not worried about my labor on this, just parts. I keep thinking that if I just take the most minimal approach to this we will be having a blast on the local lake with it someday. What do you folks think? Thanks for letting me go on?great forum that you have here and I hope that y?all won?t mind my constant stupid questions.
But guess what!? I was rolling through the local craigslist the other day at the office and under the free column what do I see?FREE SPEEDBOAT. Ok ok, how many of you would walk away from that? Here I am a total landlubber but I just couldn?t say no. So I called and sure enough the lady?s husband passed away and she wants it out of the front yard. His ?project? boat was just that, a project. Turned out to be a Sidewinder out of Anderson California. I have yet to pick up the engine from a local marine shop where her husband had dropped it off and I don?t even know what motor I have but it's supposed to run. Another problem I have is no title and the guy at the Marine shop seemed real negative about this. Like he wouldn?t even touch a boat with no title hmmmm. Sure it may be more difficult to deal with Arizona Game and Fish on this but certainly it can be done and my wife is a God at handling things like this so I didn?t let that bother me all so much.
Anyway, this boat has a sound hull but that?s about it. All of the controls, and everything to the motor needs to be tied back in and such. It really needs completely put back together. Someone had ?hammered? (as in terrible job of glass etc.) in the transom and I have to totally redo this trainwreck. Anyway, I?m not all to worried. By trade I am a journeyman electrician and I grew up wrenching cars, building engines etc. My work ethic is professional and if I can?t do it right I don?t do it at all. Certainly with the wealth of information here and in other places on the internet I can get this lil speedboat in the water again without dropping more money on it than it?s really worth. I?m a bit concerned with all of the cables and controls but no doubt if I take it step by step I can figure it out.
Anyway, my brother in Washington that works around charter deep sea fishing boats laughed and called a boat a hole the water that one throws money into. Am I really wasting my time here? Will this boat simply need to much money for what it is? I?m not worried about my labor on this, just parts. I keep thinking that if I just take the most minimal approach to this we will be having a blast on the local lake with it someday. What do you folks think? Thanks for letting me go on?great forum that you have here and I hope that y?all won?t mind my constant stupid questions.
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