jayhanig
Master Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2010
- Messages
- 836
I had company here at the beach and naturally that called for me to drag the boat to the ramp and take them for a ride. Last week, I pulled the boat to a gas station that sells ethanol free gasoline but managed to cook a trailer bearing at some point on the trip. To make a long story short, $236 later, I had new bearings, hubs, and bearing buddies on my trailer.
So then today we were going to put in the water. I went to crank the boat on muffs in my driveway first thing and all I hear is the solenoid click. So then I threw it on the charger and finally got it to crank. I let it warm up until it came up to normal operating temperature then shut down. The tilt/trim pump has been lethargic and today was no different.
I put in at that point with no further difficulties and we had a very nice ride right up until just before it was time to dock. I pulled up to the dock gently but then the outdrive refused to move. I had slowed down for a wake and then lowered the outdrive for better acceleration and it wouldn't trim back up once I was on plane. So then it was a matter of trying to pull it out with the outdrive down... never a good idea.
I loaded the boat on the trailer only to discover a bent lever on my winch that interfered with its smooth operation. Damn it... it's only a year or a year and a half old. I got it winched on finally and carefully pulled it up the ramp without dragging, though it was very close. The first thing I noticed was my Humminbird GPS/Chartfinder transducer bracket had broken (3 years old). Pulling the plug drained entirely too much water out of the bilge... maybe 30-45 seconds worth. I'm not used to more than a few seconds.
A kind gentleman pointed me down the right path and we disconnected the trim cylinders, manually raised the outdrive and slid a block of wood into the hinge to hold it up so it wouldn't drag down the road. A ratcheting strap made sure the block didn't fall out so I was able to get home safely.
Further investigation revealed a hydraulic reservoir lacking fluid and a protruding seal where the reservoir meets the trim motor. So now I have to track that down and get it repaired.
So: 1) Replace the hydraulic seal
2) Replace the mounting bracket for the transducer. Got that ordered already from Amazon.
3) Replace the winch.
4) Figure out where the water came from. There are various possibilities: some more critical than others. It could be as simple as rain, which we got a lot of last week. I have since waterproofed the cover with 303 but that was later; not before. More ominous is that it came in through a defect in the hull. I did find some cracked gelcoat on the hull below the waterline that I had patched temporarily with fast curing 5200. I guess I will see what I will see.
At least nobody died. :grumpy:
So then today we were going to put in the water. I went to crank the boat on muffs in my driveway first thing and all I hear is the solenoid click. So then I threw it on the charger and finally got it to crank. I let it warm up until it came up to normal operating temperature then shut down. The tilt/trim pump has been lethargic and today was no different.
I put in at that point with no further difficulties and we had a very nice ride right up until just before it was time to dock. I pulled up to the dock gently but then the outdrive refused to move. I had slowed down for a wake and then lowered the outdrive for better acceleration and it wouldn't trim back up once I was on plane. So then it was a matter of trying to pull it out with the outdrive down... never a good idea.
I loaded the boat on the trailer only to discover a bent lever on my winch that interfered with its smooth operation. Damn it... it's only a year or a year and a half old. I got it winched on finally and carefully pulled it up the ramp without dragging, though it was very close. The first thing I noticed was my Humminbird GPS/Chartfinder transducer bracket had broken (3 years old). Pulling the plug drained entirely too much water out of the bilge... maybe 30-45 seconds worth. I'm not used to more than a few seconds.
A kind gentleman pointed me down the right path and we disconnected the trim cylinders, manually raised the outdrive and slid a block of wood into the hinge to hold it up so it wouldn't drag down the road. A ratcheting strap made sure the block didn't fall out so I was able to get home safely.
Further investigation revealed a hydraulic reservoir lacking fluid and a protruding seal where the reservoir meets the trim motor. So now I have to track that down and get it repaired.
So: 1) Replace the hydraulic seal
2) Replace the mounting bracket for the transducer. Got that ordered already from Amazon.
3) Replace the winch.
4) Figure out where the water came from. There are various possibilities: some more critical than others. It could be as simple as rain, which we got a lot of last week. I have since waterproofed the cover with 303 but that was later; not before. More ominous is that it came in through a defect in the hull. I did find some cracked gelcoat on the hull below the waterline that I had patched temporarily with fast curing 5200. I guess I will see what I will see.
At least nobody died. :grumpy:
