eeboater
Commander
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2004
- Messages
- 2,644
Well we made it back in one piece!!! I'm happy to report that the trip went pretty much problem free. I made a couple rookie mistakes which I will admit below - but all in all, it was a very good first trip. Also -- I have ZERO photos of the trip... That wasn't my "job" per se, so unfortunately we didn't get anything. I'm a bit dissapointed about that tho - it is something I'd like to have photos of - ahh well, thats why God gave us long-term memories.<br /><br />First off, the weather was just downright aggrevating. All day Saturday they were predicting thunderstorms and horrible weather. Well, it turned out to be sunny most of the day with quite pleasant weather. It would have been a perfect day to go out --- but my crew was MIA. So that option wasn't available.<br /><br />We woke up Sunday to mostly cloudy skies. The sun peeked through every so often, but for the most part it was cloudy. There was no sign of rain so we proceeded with our plans to head out.<br /><br />We got to the ramp around 12:30ish. I had visited the ramp sans-boat two times before. It's a nice ramp, something I didn't notice while there was how shallow the grade of the ramps were. Generally, I would have thought that to be a good thing -- what ended up happening is I had to back way into the water to float the boat off the trailer. (BTW --- When I was at the ramp - some jackoff did something, but I'll post that as a rant in another thread.)<br /><br />After the boat was in the water (YES I REMEMBERED THE PLUG 
) She started up right away. I ran her with the muffs in my driveway before we left.<br /><br />Out on the water, she ran GREAT. I grew up with a 19' Bayliner cuddy with the 3.0. So needless to say, I was not used to the brute force 5.0 I have in my boat. The boat performed great - there was decent chop on the water due to the wind picking up a bit, but she just hopped along the top without problems. The first "problem" I realized was that the speedometer did not work. So, I didn't get to find out how fast I was going. I'm not sure what is wrong with the speedo - watch for questions in the Boating topic area... <br /><br />Other than the faulty speedo, there were no other problems that I could tell. Temp and oil pressure held steady at normal ranges. I never hit WOT - didn't want to push it too hard on the first outing. Something that did happen that was quirky was when I pushed the motor a bit, the tach would jump from the 3500 rpm I was running at to 5500-6000 and back down to the speed I was running at. I am not sure if there is a faulty connector or what. Something else to check into.<br /><br />Since the sun was nowhere to be found, we decided to pull into the "Golden Anchor" -- a restaurant that has docks on the water this early in the season. As was pulling into their "dock" (mind you, I use quotes because there wasn't much to this supposed dock) I noticed that the water was getting shallow - FAST. So I was just popping it to creep forward slowly. As I was getting in close, one of the guys who was sitting on the bow with a line said that I should really raise my outdrive because it was getting VERY shallow. As I was raising my outdrive we slowly glided to a stop. I think the hull hit bottom and softly stopped in the mud at the bottom.<br /><br />At this point, I was like F-This their sandwiches aren't THAT good... so I decided to back out. When I popped it into reverse, there was a lound BANG and the whole boat shook. Well, you can imagine how nervous/p*ssed I was right now because I am abusing my "baby." I pulled out of the area and idled back into open water. When I got out of the no-wake zone I decided to get back up onto plane. Well, when I started accellerating, it seemed as though there was more shaking in the boat than earlier. I couldn't tell if I was overanalyzing the situation or what, but to be safe, I killed the motor and raised the outdrive to check the prop. <br /><br />Well, the way my boat is setup - you cannot really raise the prop out of the water while the boat is in the water. It sits really low -- so, all I could go by is how the prop felt. I counted 1..2..3.. all the blades were there. The prop was a little rough in the first place, so when I ran my fingers around the edges, nothing "felt" out of the ordinary. <br /><br />After checking out the prop; I kicked her back on and got up on plane. The shaking as I accellerated was still there --- nothing aggressive, just a little shake. And when we were on plane it ran great. At that point, I did a visual check of the passengers... all three girls were shaking in their respective seats - out of cold, not fear The sun had not been seen in about 30 minutes and the wind chill was enough to make it very uncomfortable - especially for the lady folk.<br /><br />So, I decided to call it a day and head back in.<br /><br />{Commence Rookie Mistakes}<br /><br />I pulled the boat into the ramp without issues. In fact, I was kind of proud of myself on how graceful my docking went. Got out and ran to get the trailer. As I backed the trailer into the water, I started to get the jitters on the performance of my Jeep. I had to back the trailer even further into the water because I used a different ramp from when I launched. The rear tires of my Jeep were under about 6 inches of water and I was afraid of them slipping since I only have 2WD. After the boat was cranked onto the trailer I was given the clear on pulling it.<br /><br />Rookie Mistake Number 1:<br /><br />Forgot to raise the outdrive. But at least I didn't realize it after I pulled the boat. Right as I was about to apply gas to pull the boat it clicked in my head. I had pulled forward about 4 inches when I realized it. My brother was still in the boat and he lifted it right away. Crisis averted. The Jeep performed great (Why did I ever doubt excellence? ) and didn't slip a bit.<br /><br />I pulled the boat up and out of the to perform an visual examination of everything. The prop was a bit more chewed than I thought. There is about a 0.5 cm gap in the prop now. (Pics to follow) I know it will affect the performance of my boat a bit - but I think I'm going to continue to use it. Only because I know I'm going to smack it a couple more times as I'm learning to get used to my boat so there's no need to bust up a brandy-new prop.<br /><br />Rookie Mistake Number 2: <br /><br />I stowed everything in the boat to make sure it wouldn't blow out when we were travelling back to the house. As I put it into gear, one of the guys riding in his own car pulled up and asked if I was going to tie down the transom before I took off.<br /><br />D'OH. So, put the transom straps back on and left.<br /><br />You want to hear the kicker of it all? We stopped for food at the golden anchor via CAR instead of boat. While we were in the restaurant the sun came out.... Clouds dissapeared.... And it was beautiful for the rest of the day. <br /><br />I have to admit - that hacked me off a bit. But, it was the first time I had ever been out on my own boat; so in the end - it was a great day.<br /><br />It was a great time out with friends - even though it was bare-@rse cold everyone had a great time. There's something about hanging out on the water that relaxes you - something I really missed over the past couple years.<br /><br />So, now for many many years of enjoyable boating - and... BRING ON THE SUNSHINE!!!<br /><br />Sean<br /><br /><br />Photos of the prop:<br /><br /> http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i118/eeboater/IMG_5144.jpg <br /><br /> http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i118/eeboater/IMG_5145.jpg <br /><br /> http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i118/eeboater/IMG_5146.jpg
) She started up right away. I ran her with the muffs in my driveway before we left.<br /><br />Out on the water, she ran GREAT. I grew up with a 19' Bayliner cuddy with the 3.0. So needless to say, I was not used to the brute force 5.0 I have in my boat. The boat performed great - there was decent chop on the water due to the wind picking up a bit, but she just hopped along the top without problems. The first "problem" I realized was that the speedometer did not work. So, I didn't get to find out how fast I was going. I'm not sure what is wrong with the speedo - watch for questions in the Boating topic area... <br /><br />Other than the faulty speedo, there were no other problems that I could tell. Temp and oil pressure held steady at normal ranges. I never hit WOT - didn't want to push it too hard on the first outing. Something that did happen that was quirky was when I pushed the motor a bit, the tach would jump from the 3500 rpm I was running at to 5500-6000 and back down to the speed I was running at. I am not sure if there is a faulty connector or what. Something else to check into.<br /><br />Since the sun was nowhere to be found, we decided to pull into the "Golden Anchor" -- a restaurant that has docks on the water this early in the season. As was pulling into their "dock" (mind you, I use quotes because there wasn't much to this supposed dock) I noticed that the water was getting shallow - FAST. So I was just popping it to creep forward slowly. As I was getting in close, one of the guys who was sitting on the bow with a line said that I should really raise my outdrive because it was getting VERY shallow. As I was raising my outdrive we slowly glided to a stop. I think the hull hit bottom and softly stopped in the mud at the bottom.<br /><br />At this point, I was like F-This their sandwiches aren't THAT good... so I decided to back out. When I popped it into reverse, there was a lound BANG and the whole boat shook. Well, you can imagine how nervous/p*ssed I was right now because I am abusing my "baby." I pulled out of the area and idled back into open water. When I got out of the no-wake zone I decided to get back up onto plane. Well, when I started accellerating, it seemed as though there was more shaking in the boat than earlier. I couldn't tell if I was overanalyzing the situation or what, but to be safe, I killed the motor and raised the outdrive to check the prop. <br /><br />Well, the way my boat is setup - you cannot really raise the prop out of the water while the boat is in the water. It sits really low -- so, all I could go by is how the prop felt. I counted 1..2..3.. all the blades were there. The prop was a little rough in the first place, so when I ran my fingers around the edges, nothing "felt" out of the ordinary. <br /><br />After checking out the prop; I kicked her back on and got up on plane. The shaking as I accellerated was still there --- nothing aggressive, just a little shake. And when we were on plane it ran great. At that point, I did a visual check of the passengers... all three girls were shaking in their respective seats - out of cold, not fear The sun had not been seen in about 30 minutes and the wind chill was enough to make it very uncomfortable - especially for the lady folk.<br /><br />So, I decided to call it a day and head back in.<br /><br />{Commence Rookie Mistakes}<br /><br />I pulled the boat into the ramp without issues. In fact, I was kind of proud of myself on how graceful my docking went. Got out and ran to get the trailer. As I backed the trailer into the water, I started to get the jitters on the performance of my Jeep. I had to back the trailer even further into the water because I used a different ramp from when I launched. The rear tires of my Jeep were under about 6 inches of water and I was afraid of them slipping since I only have 2WD. After the boat was cranked onto the trailer I was given the clear on pulling it.<br /><br />Rookie Mistake Number 1:<br /><br />Forgot to raise the outdrive. But at least I didn't realize it after I pulled the boat. Right as I was about to apply gas to pull the boat it clicked in my head. I had pulled forward about 4 inches when I realized it. My brother was still in the boat and he lifted it right away. Crisis averted. The Jeep performed great (Why did I ever doubt excellence? ) and didn't slip a bit.<br /><br />I pulled the boat up and out of the to perform an visual examination of everything. The prop was a bit more chewed than I thought. There is about a 0.5 cm gap in the prop now. (Pics to follow) I know it will affect the performance of my boat a bit - but I think I'm going to continue to use it. Only because I know I'm going to smack it a couple more times as I'm learning to get used to my boat so there's no need to bust up a brandy-new prop.<br /><br />Rookie Mistake Number 2: <br /><br />I stowed everything in the boat to make sure it wouldn't blow out when we were travelling back to the house. As I put it into gear, one of the guys riding in his own car pulled up and asked if I was going to tie down the transom before I took off.<br /><br />D'OH. So, put the transom straps back on and left.<br /><br />You want to hear the kicker of it all? We stopped for food at the golden anchor via CAR instead of boat. While we were in the restaurant the sun came out.... Clouds dissapeared.... And it was beautiful for the rest of the day. <br /><br />I have to admit - that hacked me off a bit. But, it was the first time I had ever been out on my own boat; so in the end - it was a great day.<br /><br />It was a great time out with friends - even though it was bare-@rse cold everyone had a great time. There's something about hanging out on the water that relaxes you - something I really missed over the past couple years.<br /><br />So, now for many many years of enjoyable boating - and... BRING ON THE SUNSHINE!!!<br /><br />Sean<br /><br /><br />Photos of the prop:<br /><br /> http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i118/eeboater/IMG_5144.jpg <br /><br /> http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i118/eeboater/IMG_5145.jpg <br /><br /> http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i118/eeboater/IMG_5146.jpg
