getting back into boating

[jak1]

Congrats!

It is going to be a long week for you. I went through the same thing in December and it drove me crazy. I couldn't actually put down a deposit though. I just agreed on the price Monday morning (pending inspection) and then had to wait until Friday to get to the boat to go over it and drag her home. It drove me crazy. Thankfully you have a deposit down though. I was buying from an individual and terrified the whole time that somebody would beat my offer and I'd be out of luck!

Either way the wait is torture, or at least it was for me.

It is already driving me crazy! I figure the next 2 months are really gonna suck until I splash her for the time.I will be removing all the old pinstriping and graphics.Then go crazy with the buffer.Looking at a cover to bring her home,found a company...Vortex covers,5 year warranty,waterproof,comes with straps for 119 shipped.

 

[tlombard]

A cover is the only thing that I have left to buy or do which was actually kind of disappointing. I was looking forward to a winter project or at least having a bunch of stuff to purchase before spring! I'll have to check out their stuff here soon because once I get her down to the lake I won't have indoor storage anymore. I don't think I want to keep paying for the indoor storage if I'm not using it and I don't plan on hauling the boat back and forth when I can just store it at the lake and not have to deal with the hassle of storing it at home (which I can't) or the general hassle of towing it at all. Once i get her to the lake I will only have to go a few blocks to the ramp each time.

 

[tlombard]

Oh, and the way I described it to a friend who didn't understand was to tell him to imagine that he brought a pony home and showed it to his girls (6 and 4) but then told them that they had to put the pony away for five months and they couldn't see it or play with it. He said that the girls would drive him crazy and never stop thinking about it or wanting to play with the pony. I told him that I'm just like his girls would be right now. I'm thinking of the boat probably 50% of the time at least. I can distract myself at work from time to time but it isn't easy.

 

[jak1]

I just ordered a cover from Vortex direct 5year warranty,waterproof,straps included as the boat will be outside.

 

[batman99]

Congrats jak1.

From now until "splash down" (LOL!) this spring, recommend:
- If needed, install guides (post or rails) on the trailer.
- If light weight tow vehicle, recommend install of trailer brakes.
- If doesn't already exist, install Fuel / Water separator
- If doesn't already exist, install Keel guard (which is rubberized strip down its keep)
- If needed, Install Aux outlet - for 12V cooler or other 12V plug ins
- If needed, install fish finder / depth finder.

While waiting for spring, hope these upgrade ideas help.

 

[tlombard]

Thanks for the tip on the Vortex covers. I found their website and ordered one for $80 to fit my boat. Even if it is junk that doesn't last long (I've never heard of them myself), it was still cheaper than something I could find at my local Walmart so I won't be upset.

 

[jak1]

I just ordered a cover from Vortex direct 5year warranty,waterproof,straps included as the boat will be outside.

says my cover will be here tomorrow

 

[jak1]

Congrats jak1.

From now until "splash down" (LOL!) this spring, recommend:
- If needed, install guides (post or rails) on the trailer.
- If light weight tow vehicle, recommend install of trailer brakes.
- If doesn't already exist, install Fuel / Water separator
- If doesn't already exist, install Keel guard (which is rubberized strip down its keep)
- If needed, Install Aux outlet - for 12V cooler or other 12V plug ins
- If needed, install fish finder / depth finder.

While waiting for spring, hope these upgrade ideas help.

already has depth gauge,trailer guides sound good,will check to see if it has a seperator,already thought about more 12v outlets definetly want to do dual batteries.Thanks for the tips

 

[tlombard]

So far I can't complain about Vortex. Ordered this morning and it has already shipped. I should get mine Thursday if I remember my ground transit times properly from back in my customer service days.

And I'm with you on the rest of Batman99's great suggestions. The trailer brakes are something I hadn't thought of and is a great idea but I only have to tow the boat three blocks to the ramp so I won't worry about that (and the tow vehicle can handle the load just fine anyway). Unfortunately all that is already taken care of and leaves me without a project... unless.

Unless I decide to actually go through with my joking plan to add either a projector with a screen that hangs from the wakeboard tower or just some other video monitor in the boat since the stereo plays DVDs. I love the idea of floating around off the back of the boat watching Jaws at night but at the same time, that might be a bit too far. It seems like portable projector technology has come far enough that I could make it work for a reasonable price though. A white sheet for a screen and a <$500 battery powered projector to set on the back sun deck and we're good to go. I would just have to run the video cable to the back of the boat to hook up to the projector (or use an old tablet with the movie downloaded and Bluetooth for the sound). Already have the transom controls if I use the actual DVD head unit and not tablet route!

 

[jak1]

my Vortex cover is on the truck for delivery today.I wish I had a boat to put it on!

 

[tlombard]

Soon enough! Are you bouncing back and forth between extreme excitement and worrying that you're making a mistake? I was like that the week between agreeing to the price and actually being able to get back to pick it up. Drove me nuts. Of course it was the largest cash payment I've made up to this point in my life so that had a lot to do with it. One minute I would want to run around screaming with joy and then the next I would be having a near panic attack at how much money I was about to drain from my savings. Once I hooked her up to bring her home, that worry went away though!

 

[jak1]

actually I have been going back and forth in the same way it's making me a little crazy.The last time we laid out this amount of cash we decided we wanted new motorcycles.We laid out 16k cash for 2 new bikeson the same day we still have them that was november 09.Difference being they were new

 

[tlombard]

Ah, I miss my motorcycles. With work and other stuff I just never had the time to ride them so I sold them a few years back. Wish I hadn't done that!

I forget where you're located but hopefully for you, the weather where you are at is a little more conducive to early spring boating than me because while the panic attacks are gone, I am still being driven crazy by the fact that I haven't been able to put the boat on the water yet and it's been just over two months with two more months to go most likely!

 

[jak1]

central Pa. so looks like about another 2 months for me as well to know if I made a good purchase.BTW the cover is sitting in the living room looks to be decent quality but didnt bother to unfold it.Looks like we should be picking up the boat saturday morning.Suppose to be in the 50's here so I will start removing old cracked pinstripes/graphics maybe even sit at the helm and make engine noises!!!

 

[tlombard]

Engine noises? Who does that? Oh wait... I did!!!

 

[jak1]

tomorrow is the big day.Been researching everything I can to checking for rot in transom to looking for telltale signs that the manifolds may be on the way out.So nerve racking.Just dont wanna throw away my hard earned money hell maybe I should buy a couple quads instead!

 

[jak1]

we went out to the boat this morning and went through it thoroughly checking manifolds ,hoses transom,floors actuall spent close to 2 hours going through the boat all checked out good.They fired the engine up and she purred like a kitten no raps taps or funky noises.The S Blazer pulled her fine as well,already have all the graphics stripped off one side and started buffing.The trailer has 2 brand new tires,rims,disc conversion,receiver head,master cylinder.The prop is a 14/19 stainless and it has factory 4 bbl Weber on it.I do need to find some more agressive compound for working the "haze" out of the gelcoat.The Vortex cover I ordered fits absolutly perfect.I will try to get some pics tomorrow.Landshark lager time now!!!!

 

[tlombard]

Congrats. Glad you found a keeper! Now only a couple more annoyingly slow months!

I got my cover last Thursday but still haven't had time to get to the boat in storage to put it on.

 

[jak1]

Congrats. Glad you found a keeper! Now only a couple more annoyingly slow months!

I got my cover last Thursday but still haven't had time to get to the boat in storage to put it on.

very happy with the cover great fit.still gotta post some pics of the boat worked my ass off the last 3 days removing old stripes/graphics and buffing the top half off the boat.still dont know what I'm gonna do below the gunwales very stained and of course the hideous bottom paint.

 

[tlombard]

As I've been told before, I need to see pictures or it didn't happen!