Summer in the Northland: Just 6 weeks of bad sledding.
All seriousness aside ... On the positive side of our short but glorious boating season up North - if the season was 12 months, I don't think I could afford to be a boat owner. The winter months give my boat budget time to recover.
Anyone having problems sourcing the rubber pre-formed hoses for the early 2000 Volvo Penta 5.x GXx? All of my regular on-line VP parts sources are out-of-stock and they say VP can't tell them when they will will ship citing a supply chain issue. All of my rubber coolant hoses are original...
Probably should qualify this by saying, "... any boat as old as those that has been slipped is gonna have rot ...". My 2001 Chris Craft Constellation 26 "lives" on her trailer (high and dry) and has spent most of her life in a climate controlled toy-shed in the high, dry desert of Wyoming - dry...
It seems that my electric brakes on my tandem axel steel trailer are loosing their "grip". I test them by flicking the brake controller to MAX BLAST when pulling out of the driveway and easily notice the extra drag of the trailer but their effectiveness seems to be waning over the years. My...
Consider how/where it's been stored - dry stored/trailer or slip. Also consider engine/drive hours (thinking VP and Mercruisers here) on the older cruisers. I see some 20+ year old dry-stored boats with 400-500 hours (just broken in?). Compare that with a 10 year old boat with 1000+ hours...
While it might be possible to replace the bellows without removing the pivot housing, removing it makes it much easier to access. When removing the pivot housing break the female allen head bolts loose BEFORE you pull the drive. The weight of the drive will help you break those suckers loose...
My DP-SM bellows were last changed in 2011. My boat is dry stored (fresh water only, trailered and inside) when not in use. It saw about 200 hours use in 24 years. I changed both bellows this spring. If you are handy with tools, don't sweat pulling the drive - watch some youtube vids - it's...
That's a lot of work but really the only way to know for sure. The sensed (fuel level float) fuel quantity in my boat varies considerably with the pitch attitude of the hull. Based on experience, it's pretty accurate when I'm cruising on plane. It's very conservative (i.e. shows EMPTY when...
This works for me ... Starting off w/ engine full DOWN and hull tabs full UP. Hammer down - as the the speed stabilizes and the hull is on plane, I begin trimming the engine UP while watching the bow rise. At max pitch the bow begins to porpoise and I can feel a rumble under my feet...
^^^^ THIS ^^^^
I have a 2001 5.7GXi-A. Contacted Fox Marine and they knew exactly what I needed. Easy install. Works Great. Turned an old cruiser into my "Glass Cockpit" pride and joy.
First timer for removing my DP-SM and inspecting gimbal bearing and bellows. The drive came off easily but there were a couple of surprises. The manuals say there should be a jam nut on the shift cable cube ... there wasn't one (pic 4096)! Also, there was no C-Clip on the drive side of the...
Just noticed some slight weather checking on the sidewalls of my trailer tires ... 2-axle steel trailer with 7,000lb boat. I bought the rig 2 years ago. No date code on the tires - I suspect they COULD be 6-10 years old. The trailer has always been stored indoors. Tires are Firestone...
