Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Interestingly enough . . . very few of the sellers still out there from last year have lowered their prices or have lowered them only a minor amount, which defies logic . . . If the boat was going to sell at that price, it probably would have done so by now.

So, you could say that in this situation, which I think is typical of the boat market, only about 30% of the folks really wanted to sell their boat, the remaining 70% are just listing it for sale. There is a difference.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

I have decided to continue this thread up to the launching and 'maiden voyage' of my 'new-to-me' boat.

Over the winter I have been going through the boat and taking care of a bunch of things. I kept track of all this stuff on a spreadsheet . . . here it is below. As you can see, I have prioritized the items and also noted items that were called out on the survey (1's & 2's are the more critical as outlined on the survey report).



I have posted some of these repair/improvement items in their own threads . . . other items were fairly minor.

It has been tough to get things done over the past month or so, with the temperatures being so cold in the northeast. I have about 5 weeks to go until the planned launch date of May 17th 2013.

I should be able to get the remaining items finished off and give the boat a final inspection before launching. :thumb:

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat - Launch Preparations

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat - Launch Preparations

The only good thing about painting a boat is that it usually is an indication that you will soon get to use it . . .

This weekend was a big weekend for painting the bottom of the hull and the outdrives in preparation for launching.

First was the barrier coat to protect the hull from osmosis.



Once the barrier coat(s) have set up I will be putting on the anti-fouling coat(s) . . .

I also prepared the outdrives for their season in the water. Here they are after the top coat was applied.



I read on another forum (THT) that some folks have used zinc rich coating with good success as an anti-fouling paint for stainless steel propellers. Since having a little extra weak metal (zinc) attached to the prop would be a good thing for salt water use, I figured that I would try it.

Here are the propellers (4 of them) with 3 coats of zinc coating



Then I put the anti-fouling paint on the outdrives, installed the anodes and the propellers. I also have the prop anode retro-fit, which is probably a good idea, since these outdrives are the early generation Bravo 3. They came with the same protection as the Bravo 1, but had significantly more stainless steel on them, and as such were subject to corrosion.



Hopefully, this increased level of anode protection will be sufficient. Of course these anodes will be trashed by September. I usually can get about 4-5 months out of a set of anodes. We shall see how these wear.

Next steps are to put 2 coats of anti-fouling paint on the hull and the trim tabs. I use a high performance Eco-friendly paint . . . ePaint EP-2000. The company that makes it is only about 1 mile away from me, so it is a quick trip to go pick some up :thumb:

Then I have some special transducer anti-fouling paint to put on the couple of transducers that I have. I'm not sure what the difference is from regular anti-fouling paint, but I figured that I would try it . . .

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

UPDATE:

Ready to Launch . . . May 26th (Finally), but the weather has different ideas. Just drove out to the beach to check Buzzards Bay. It is pretty stinky out there and will only get worse. So, I had to cancel the launch for today. Disappointing, . . . but it is better to be safe.

I have completed all of the items that I planned to go through from when I purchased the boat in Sept (2012). I kept everything in a spreadsheet, so I could plan & track things as they progressed. Here is my completed list below, covering the things I did last Fall as well as this Spring. In total it amounted to about 225 hours of work and lots of $$$$ in materials, etc. But, now the boat is as close to 100% as could be.



I made note of the things that were called out on the pre-purchase survey and their relative priority (1 = highest priority) as well as my own priority for getting it done. some of the things were general 'maintenance' . . . some were 'repair' . . . and even a few were what I would call 'upgrades'.

So, the plan is now to launch next Saturday (June 1st) . . . I hope the weather is more cooperative then.

 

[HellRaZoR004]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Nice job! Weather in southern NH is craptastic....cold and windy.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Since I did not launch today, I found another issue and fixed it, as well.

The transom shower plumbing had been bastardized and was starting to leak when the water system was activated. It also looked like it was running off the hot water side only, which would be a scorcher, once the water had heated up from the engine.

So, I re-plumbed the shower and fixed the shower valve and nozzle. :thumb:

Hopefully, I am now out of stuff to fix :noidea:

 

[SWD]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Noticed your port side skegg is damaged. Guess you'll have to fix that too. Had to do mine this year too. I re-launched last week-end after a whole winter of fixing up. Cant wait for the next trip to the lake.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Noticed your port side skegg is damaged. Guess you'll have to fix that too. Had to do mine this year too. I re-launched last week-end after a whole winter of fixing up. Cant wait for the next trip to the lake.

Yup. that is on 'next year's ' list . . . not sure at this point if I'll put a skeg guard on the drives or have a piece welded on the port drive.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Did you ever decide on stripe color? Boat looks great by the way.

LK

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Did you ever decide on stripe color? Boat looks great by the way.

LK

Thanks and yes, going with the teal/green as the top color. I may do that next year. . . .

It will look something like this:


Of course, 'next year's ' list is getting kind of long, but it is mostly upgrades, rather than repairs.

 

[SWD]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Yup. that is on 'next year's ' list . . . not sure at this point if I'll put a skeg guard on the drives or have a piece welded on the port drive.

Did mine for under $200. $25 for the skegg and the rest for actual welding.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

LAUNCH DAY UPDATE: (June 1, 2013)

Today was the day when we finally were able to launch the boat. The boat hauler arrived about 1:30 PM . . .



Positioning the trailer under the boat . . .



Then we went off to the launch ramp. . . which is a couple of harbors up from our harbor.


The boat went in fine and the engines started right up. We set up the bimini at the dock before departing for our harbor.


* * * Continued on Next Post * * *

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

We had to make about a 7 mile trip to our harbor, where we could moor the boat for the season.

Here the Admiral and I are out in Buzzards Bay making the trip to our harbor.


there were 2-3 foot waves and we came down hard off of one of them and the shock popped open a bunch of cabinet doors, etc. I noticed that this boat 'pounds' much more than my 24 footer, which had a 24 degree hull. This boat has only a 20 degree hull - makes a big difference.

At that point, I told the Admiral we should have gotten the "311 SR1" that we looked at last year. We wouldn't have even felt that big wave in that thing.

Anyway, this boat will take a bit to get used to and to figure out the best speed and trim for various sea conditions, etc.

We made it to the harbor and tied up at the dock for a while. I went to get my dinghy and took this photo of the boat . . .


Here is another shot from the dock . . .


then we headed out to the mooring . . .


It took a few runs at the mooring to be able to pick up the pendant as this boat is a bit higher than the old boat and we did not have an long reach hook. We did eventually snag the mooring at the stern and then walked it around to the bow.

Here is the boat at its new mooring ( 500 lb 'Dor-Mor' )


We plan on taking it out for a 'maiden voyage' tomorrow.

 

[Dawg'sLife93]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

That is a sharp boat! It looks so much better in the water than the blocks. Good luck tomorrow!

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Great pictures, Great boat - Did you open er' up yet?

LK

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Great pictures, Great boat - Did you open er' up yet?

LK

Thanks LK and DG93 for your kind words.

I have not 'opened it up' yet . . . as a matter of fact I only got the engines up to 2200 RPM . . . but the boat came up on plane @ 18-20 mph, and we 'topped out' at about 22 mph . . .

After the cabinet doors popped open I backed it down to a mere 1800 RPM and raised the bow a bit . . . then we plowed the rest of the way to our home port.

I think that I have to pull the instrument panel and freshen up the electrical connections, as the starboard engine temp gauge would only read 110 degrees, while the port engine was up to 160. Then as we were putting the boat away, the starboard gauge decided it wanted to read 160 as well

Everything worked great with the boat on blocks !!! It's funny how things change once you put the boat in the water.

 

[Mischief Managed]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Congrats! Looks great.

When mine pounds, I trim the bow way down with the drive trim and trim tabs. Really softens the ride. I have also noticed that passengers in the cuddy soften the ride too. Try moving gear as far forward as possible and see if that helps. If pounding remains a problem, maybe go with more chain in your anchor rode (assuming you have windlass...), that would be the best bang for your buck if you really need to add weight. Unfortunately, adding weight forward makes the boat less fuel efficient and slower. Can't be worse that running bow high and plowing though...

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Congrats! Looks great.

When mine pounds, I trim the bow way down with the drive trim and trim tabs. Really softens the ride. I have also noticed that passengers in the cuddy soften the ride too. Try moving gear as far forward as possible and see if that helps. If pounding remains a problem, maybe go with more chain in your anchor rode (assuming you have windlass...), that would be the best bang for your buck if you really need to add weight. Unfortunately, adding weight forward makes the boat less fuel efficient and slower. Can't be worse that running bow high and plowing though...

No windlass, yet. There is a fairly large water tank in the bow, which I can keep full for more weight forward. Word-of-mouth has it that the Sun Sports tend to pound a bit. The hulls are flatter than their prior generation boats, which had a 24 degree hull. The Sun Sports hull are 21 degree for the 28 footer and 20 degree fr the 33 footer.

I think it will be a matter of trying a few things and maybe getting some advice from the folks over on the OSO forum who have 330's or 280's.

The winds are up today, so we may not got outside the harbor.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Quick Update:

Small Craft Advisories out on Sunday, so we kept the boat in the harbor, which gave me some time to practice close quarter maneuvering, docking, etc.

We anchored for a while in the harbor . . . so I was able to try out the anchoring process, which is a little clunky without bow pulpit and windlass. (maybe next year)


The space in the boat was the most noticeable thing - great !!!

The anchor sunk way (way) down in the mud, probably due to the heavier boat and high winds. I could not pull it up by hand and had to loop the chain around the bow cleat and use the boat to 'pop' it up.

The Starboard temp gauge still is reading low . . . never came up to temp the way it did the day before. Plus it seems like there is a slow coolant loss on the Starboard engine. So, I will be working those issues over the next few days/weeks

I did manage to pick up the mooring on the first try, so that is a positive.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Looking for a 'new' boat . . .

Another Update . . .

We took the boat out on a 'real' day of boating today and things went well. We headed across Buzzards Bay to a place called Kettle Cove, which is along the Elizabeth Islands on the southern tip of Cape Cod. There was 2 foot seas on the way over and 2-3 foot on the way back. The weather forecast for today was for light winds, but as per usual, the winds kicked up anyway to a level that would be considered fairly normal.

The boat rode fairly well, both going over and coming back. I got the engines up to a walloping 2800 RPM, and a boat speed of 30-32 mph. (Any higher and the ride became a bit uncomfortable).

We anchored for a while over at Kettle Cove, but did not go ashore . . . too freaking rocky. I could have gotten my 24 footer in the spaces between the rocks, but was not about to try it with the 33 footer.

So, I messed around with the high-tech GPS/Sonar unit . . . It said that the boat has gone a maximum speed of 53.8 mph (probably on the sea trial) . . . the water temperature today at Kettle Cove was 60 degrees F (burrrrrr). I think I am going to have to go back to college for a few years and get a PhD or something to figure out the rest of the stuff. :noidea:

I am still chasing a few 'Gremlins' with the boat . . .

1) Starboard Temp gauge no worky . . .
I did some diagnostic work back at the dock and I 'think' I have isolated the problem to the gauge (not the wiring) as it appears that the needle in the gauge has become 'sticky' . . . If I continually tap on the gauge, it will slowly register the temperature. So, I pulled the gauge out and brought it home. I found a replacement on eBay for not too much money. We shall see how that goes.

2) Starboard engine loosing coolant ( a few ounces each time I used the boat/run the engine) . . .
I added some more coolant today before starting the engine, etc. after our day on the water I noticed a tell-tale green anti-freeze spot on the oil absorbing pad that I left in the bilge. The position of the spot (and presumably the associated drips) put the leak up in the area of the recirculating pump. So, I am figuring that the recirculating pump on the starboard engine is getting ready for its swan song

Anyway, my plan is to keep an eye on it . . . having a working temperature gauge on that engine should help :thumb:

Well that is my story for the day. The boat did well and ran nicely. . . . the Admiral commented that we seem to get places faster in this boat versus the 'old' one. I guess we will be heading to Martha's Vineyard soon . . .