MikeB0307
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 88
I figured I'd share our first outing with our new to us 20' Javelin 396fs with a newly built GT150 Johnson... It started out with high hopes and excitement, my first boat since retiring and admittedly one of the nicest I'd owned to date. We had checked it out well in the previous few days since we brought her home, changed the faulty regulator, lubed and serviced everything. She was ready, so we thought...
We put her in at the Lake Monroe Ramp on the St.Johns River, and the very first thing, as I pulled the trailer out a bunk bracket broke, not too bad, just lashed it down with a line, it'll be fine... should have taken it as a sign.
Hop in the boat, it fires up and stalls, repeatedly. It ran fine on muffs! Adjust the idle, shove off and... it won't engage in gear! It did fine on muffs!!! We float a ways down the river, about a 1/4 mile, with me on the back tools in hand, making adjustments in cables! Wife and her friend chuckling the whole time! I guess the guy wasn't lying when he said it hadn't been in the water since rebuilt! So, down the river we go! Ride for a few miles, unto the Blue Springs State Park idle zone, as we approach the landing/beach at the mouth of the spring, tell tale dries up! REALLY?!? Now I know why that new waterpump kit was in the box of stuff the po gave me! Well, we relax at the park for a while and decide to limp get back to the ramp, listening intently for the over heat horn, she didn't overheat, how I have no clue! But I noticed that she was handling like a barge and was struggling to get up on plane in the home stretch, what now?!? Pull up to the dock and notice water at the rear floor vent, open the sole compartment/ski locker and there's the culpret, about 14" of water in the bilge! Turns out that the hull to deck joint on the rear half of the boat was, well, not there!!! Thank god I'd rewired that bilge pump the day before, she pumps out as I back the trailer down, but not before I drop my truck keys down between the boat and the dock, with no float!!! Time to go snorkeling! Luckily one of the boatloads of onlookers had a spare mask!!!
So, we finally got her home and started a couple weeks of work that has really paid off. It's nice to go out and come back and not feel like you escaped death once more. Just goes to show, even though I've spent my life around boats, after 15yrs of land lock, the gods of boating have a way of waking you up to the reality of boat ownership, the never ending struggle to have just one day of uneventful fun! It can happen, can't it?!?
We put her in at the Lake Monroe Ramp on the St.Johns River, and the very first thing, as I pulled the trailer out a bunk bracket broke, not too bad, just lashed it down with a line, it'll be fine... should have taken it as a sign.
Hop in the boat, it fires up and stalls, repeatedly. It ran fine on muffs! Adjust the idle, shove off and... it won't engage in gear! It did fine on muffs!!! We float a ways down the river, about a 1/4 mile, with me on the back tools in hand, making adjustments in cables! Wife and her friend chuckling the whole time! I guess the guy wasn't lying when he said it hadn't been in the water since rebuilt! So, down the river we go! Ride for a few miles, unto the Blue Springs State Park idle zone, as we approach the landing/beach at the mouth of the spring, tell tale dries up! REALLY?!? Now I know why that new waterpump kit was in the box of stuff the po gave me! Well, we relax at the park for a while and decide to limp get back to the ramp, listening intently for the over heat horn, she didn't overheat, how I have no clue! But I noticed that she was handling like a barge and was struggling to get up on plane in the home stretch, what now?!? Pull up to the dock and notice water at the rear floor vent, open the sole compartment/ski locker and there's the culpret, about 14" of water in the bilge! Turns out that the hull to deck joint on the rear half of the boat was, well, not there!!! Thank god I'd rewired that bilge pump the day before, she pumps out as I back the trailer down, but not before I drop my truck keys down between the boat and the dock, with no float!!! Time to go snorkeling! Luckily one of the boatloads of onlookers had a spare mask!!!
So, we finally got her home and started a couple weeks of work that has really paid off. It's nice to go out and come back and not feel like you escaped death once more. Just goes to show, even though I've spent my life around boats, after 15yrs of land lock, the gods of boating have a way of waking you up to the reality of boat ownership, the never ending struggle to have just one day of uneventful fun! It can happen, can't it?!?
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