SpitAndDirt
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2008
- Messages
- 103
Hey all, I can see that this forum doesn't get a whole lot of activity but I figure I would introduce myself anyway.
I'm Chris and I'm starting on a major boat project.
My short story is that I first started out buying one 1996 Sea-Doo XP in spring of 2005. Rebuilt it from the crankshaft up and and I still ride the heck out of it. Found a 1992 Sunbird boat where the previous owner had obviously forgotten or abandoned it. Bought it for next to nothing back in fall of 2005, got it running and used it for the entire summer of 2006. It wasn't perfect, but it got me and my friends out on the water. I had always planned to really tear into it and restore it from the transom forward but things always get in the way don't they? In any case, in 2007 I was able to get the Sunbird on the water only THREE times, two of which were complete disasters!
The third trip that year was when we struck an underwater stump that was perfectly positioned to rip a 18" gash in the bottom of the hull. Getting it back to the boat ramp was.....well, nothing short of amazing. I tied everything that had the ability to float to the ski loops. It had just enough buoyancy to keep the bow from slipping under the water while we pulled it back with the Sea-Doo. It took us well over 45 minutes to creep up the boat launch while the water drained slowly from the interior of the boat.
I guess it wasn't all bad. I learned some valuable lessons that day:
Number 1:
Don't ever think that your friendly water patrol will help you in the least when it comes to your boat taking on water. They have all the equipment they need to ruin your day
, but none of the equipment required to get you out of a sticky situation.
Number 2:
When glassing a new floor down, make sure that you seal every compartment underneath to be watertight, this way your boat doesn't turn into the Titanic and water spills over from one watertight compartment to the next. The boat manufacturer decided to skimp out on that extra glue on mine.......
Number 3:
Boat insurance, whether actually required in your state or not, is something everyone should have. If I had let it sink, I could only imagine what kind of penalties the EPA would levy on me. Me, being still somewhat ignorant at that time of what can go wrong on the water, decided that I wouldn't carry boater's insurance. I see the error of my previous thinking and I will carry insurance in the future for all my watercraft.
So that's where I'm at. I'm finally going to be able to tear into this boat this summer (after 5 years of being patient and not tearing things apart) and start to perform all the repairs and even add a few things the factory never did. I want to do it myself because I'm a HUGE DIY guy and I thoroughly enjoy learning along the way. I'm sure a few of you might want to see the progress along the way so pretty soon I'll be posting my progress in the Boat Resto sub-forum. Just FYI, I'm pretty active on PWCToday.com in the Sea-Doo sub-forums. I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty well versed in most things Sea-Doo.
So until then, I hope to meet some new people and maybe learn a few things along the way. Cheers!
I'm Chris and I'm starting on a major boat project.
My short story is that I first started out buying one 1996 Sea-Doo XP in spring of 2005. Rebuilt it from the crankshaft up and and I still ride the heck out of it. Found a 1992 Sunbird boat where the previous owner had obviously forgotten or abandoned it. Bought it for next to nothing back in fall of 2005, got it running and used it for the entire summer of 2006. It wasn't perfect, but it got me and my friends out on the water. I had always planned to really tear into it and restore it from the transom forward but things always get in the way don't they? In any case, in 2007 I was able to get the Sunbird on the water only THREE times, two of which were complete disasters!
The third trip that year was when we struck an underwater stump that was perfectly positioned to rip a 18" gash in the bottom of the hull. Getting it back to the boat ramp was.....well, nothing short of amazing. I tied everything that had the ability to float to the ski loops. It had just enough buoyancy to keep the bow from slipping under the water while we pulled it back with the Sea-Doo. It took us well over 45 minutes to creep up the boat launch while the water drained slowly from the interior of the boat.
I guess it wasn't all bad. I learned some valuable lessons that day:
Number 1:
Don't ever think that your friendly water patrol will help you in the least when it comes to your boat taking on water. They have all the equipment they need to ruin your day
, but none of the equipment required to get you out of a sticky situation.Number 2:
When glassing a new floor down, make sure that you seal every compartment underneath to be watertight, this way your boat doesn't turn into the Titanic and water spills over from one watertight compartment to the next. The boat manufacturer decided to skimp out on that extra glue on mine.......
Number 3:
Boat insurance, whether actually required in your state or not, is something everyone should have. If I had let it sink, I could only imagine what kind of penalties the EPA would levy on me.
Me, being still somewhat ignorant at that time of what can go wrong on the water, decided that I wouldn't carry boater's insurance. I see the error of my previous thinking and I will carry insurance in the future for all my watercraft. So that's where I'm at. I'm finally going to be able to tear into this boat this summer (after 5 years of being patient and not tearing things apart
) and start to perform all the repairs and even add a few things the factory never did. I want to do it myself because I'm a HUGE DIY guy and I thoroughly enjoy learning along the way. I'm sure a few of you might want to see the progress along the way so pretty soon I'll be posting my progress in the Boat Resto sub-forum. Just FYI, I'm pretty active on PWCToday.com in the Sea-Doo sub-forums. I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty well versed in most things Sea-Doo. So until then, I hope to meet some new people and maybe learn a few things along the way. Cheers!
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