Re: show your aristocraft pics
As for the trip, it was 360 miles one way. Brentwood, TN to Knightstown, IN and back.
nice road trip. well worth it i'm sure..
got there, realized the tires were dry rotted completely, found some more and had them put on, filled up the bearing buddies and started the 6 hours home.
funny, i had that problem too. i opted to just go to the tire store right from the dealer i got mine at. they did new tires and new brgs. made me feel much better about the trip home for sure. fwiw. imho, brg. buddys are great, but when ya fill them up, they only introduce grease to the outer brg. imho, the inner brg. is the one to worry about. it don't get much grease from introduction from the brg. buddy. + if the seal is breached, the inner brg. is the one that gets the water first. i'm also a believer in repacking brgs. yearly. i tried to go two years, one time. i didn't make it. smoked me some brgs to the point there were no brgs or cages. almost a total melt down. needless to say that ruined my day at the lake that perticular day. instead of boating, i got to change wheel brgs. at the boat ramp. needless to say, i didn't have any replacements with me, so that was a trip back to town for parts. all in all, it was a real drag, let alone dangerous. just food for thought.
the rope holding the bow eye to the trailer broke and the boat started bobbing around on the trailer! Limped into an Autozone and the guys there saved me. Got the boat back on straight (it had shifted) and tied her down good.
again, funny, i had that happen too. though mine broke while retrieving out of the lake. i just tied a knot to the bow eye to get it out of the lake. glad yours didn't shift to much and fall off. on my trailer, i also have a safety chain along with the winch strap. i like this idea as it's secured twice to the bow eye. when i'm splashing and retrieving, both safety chain and winch strap are secured till the boats over water. i also have a roller trailer so this is most important to me. get on an angle (boat ramp) and i think my boat would just roll right off the trailer w/o much persuasion.
A few spider cracks on the deck and engine cover but not too bad really
i got that too. not real bad either. it's not the end of the world and it makes it no less serviceable imho. i mean, we don't have a new boat. it's wear and tear imho.
Als...Scared to death of the foam. Have you tackled that job? Not even sure I want to know!
i havn't had to do it. i suppose ya could weight the rig and see if it's close to proper weight, or if she is water logged. it may feel real heavy when on the trailer, hard to get onto the trailer. maybe sit real low in back when in the water. also, if it's got water, performance should be affected. ie, hard to reach wot, not plane proper, etc. i hear ya in not wanting to know. i check my alignment both fall and spring. i'm figuring that if i got water on board in the foam, the hard freeze here in NE. will effect alignment. if alignment is good both spring and fall, i figure all is likely well.
The engine clearly has some water in the oil.
i'd get the water out asap with a fresh oil change. read
this especially the 2nd link about what to do for water intrusion. a merc service bulletin. i got water in my oil after about the first week of use of mine. my manifold was rusted through.
that was the outside of my manifold. i figured i might be in for a replacement when i bought it. i just didn't know it'd be in the first week of use.
this is a pic of the manifold removed from the engine. the water jacket filled with water. ya can see the trickle of water breaching the inside of the manifold. this introduced water into my engine oil. turned it milky. not saying this is your issue, but this was what happened to me. i did manifold and riser at the same time.
again, congrats on your purchase. hope to hear all about what ya got to do to keep her up and running...
