Keep up on Preventitive maintenance

[lcmains1]

Just a reminder to keep up on preventitive maintenance.

I bought my new to me boat this spring. I have had my boat out all summer with no major issues. This past weekend I was running all day sunday with no issues. I tied up to a houseboat for about 2 hours. When we went to leave I took the bumpers off the windows and went to throw them in the ski locker. It was FULL of water, almost completley full!

After pumping it all out I looked in the engine compartment and water was "peeing in" behind the engine. I have not pulled the drive yet but I am pretty certain that I have bellow that has a tear in it. :facepalm:

I'm glad we left when we did, I wanted to stay for dinner and the wife didn't. Glad I finally listened to her!!!

Anyway, I knew they were due for replacement and I was going to put it off until next year to save some cash. That $700 savings almost cost me $3500....
Guess its time for a bilge with a float also!!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Keep up on Preventitive maintenance

I do a good "walk around" on my boat every time before I hitch it to the truck, and will look down the deck drain into the bilge a couple of times during the day just to make sure there aren't any surprises. I've been surprised before and really don't like those kind of surprises.

 

[partskenn]

Re: Keep up on Preventitive maintenance

My boat sits in a slip all summer. Before I take it out, I always open the engine hatch and do a visual on bilge, belts, hoses etc. Hopefully I will catch most small problems before they become large ones.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Keep up on Preventitive maintenance

+1 on getting your bilge pump on an automatic float switch.

My float switch actually told me that I had forgot my garboard plug while I still had the boat hooked to the trailer. Had I floated it off...and parked the truck...!

Happy boating!