so I took off yesterday from work to go with the finance' to look at wedding reception places. all well and good and we were done by 11a.m. so on the way back to the house I swing by the local neighborhood boat launch and see only a single truck/trailer in the lot and its dead high tide. nice. gotta love having off when everyone else in the world is at work.
so I say to her "wanna test out the boat since I'm just about finished with it so I can also see whats working/not working?" this is after I've spent 4 years pretty much tearing it down to the hull for structural work and completely rewiring it, etc.
she gets a grin on her so we head to walmart to get some new paddles "just in case" lol and crank it up at the house to let it warm up real quick and then hook up and off we go.
she has NO CLUE what to do on a boat so I basically launched it myself and floated it to the back of the landing dock (to stay out of other's way if they wanted to launch/load). we tie it off and I go to crank it.
it just cranks and dies. cranks and dies. cranks and dies. sigh. guy on the other side just cranks up and off he goes :facepalm:
finally get it choked enough to keep it running (at this point I'm thinking I may need new controls/cables as they are very stiff and probably starting to freeze up internally). then I get up enough nerve to back out...and 15' straight back from the dock...it dies lol.
by this time the tide has started to go out and the boat is turned facing down the river and I'm screwing with it to get it running right.
in the past 4 years, I've only ever had it idling...never on the water and its sat a couple winters with old gas in it, etc. well I finally get it to part throttle and I just keep it there and as it starts to clear up...I give it more and more until its right at WOT and running pretty good. I slow it down to part throttle and go to steer past a crab pot I'm coming up on, turn the wheel to port...the boat FLIES to starboard pointing right at a dude's private dock.
I dropped a heartbeat and a deuce in my pants and steer starboard while throttling down and it turns to port.
lol, I put the new steering on backwards and didnt think to check it properly before getting out on the water :facepalm::facepalm:
after getting used to my bizzaro world steering I take it up and down the river between my original landing and another landing letting it ride WOT to help clear it out (while staying where I know I can likely see another boater and get towed if need be). after a couple passes, its idling and transitioning into power nicely. All the gauges except the trim gauge are working nicely, the new top hasnt blown off the boat, etc, etc.
but the tide is starting to rip at my landing due to the fact a cut was dug between two natural rivers so the tide flows extra hard. I dont want to get stuck with this with backwards steering and loading by myself so I head back.
trying to get to dock with super stiff controls (forward/reverse) and backwards steering was NOT fun. my girl was just sitting there like "I dunno" I just it float to the dock and used sheer force to prevent it from running head on into the dock, tied off and let it keep idling, and ran to get the truck.
got back and went to put it in forward to drive on the trailer and the stupid controls are completely stuck. crap.
I turned the boat off and floated it to the trailer but the current was whipping around. I ended up having to get in the water up to my chest with my girl in the bed of the truck pulling a rope from the bow while I'm pushing the stern out level to the trailer to get it on correct.
thank god it was such a slow day. the kids/parents at the playground gave us an ovation after we pulled out of the water too
on the bright side, I apparently got the few small holes in the hull properly fixed as I had it in the water for 45 minutes and not a drop came out of the bilge when I pulled the plug versus in the past it would have drained for at least 2 minutes....
now its time to get the steering fixed and get the controls fixed so I can start teaching her how to help with launching/loading.
oh yeah, and rebuilding the carbs seems to be in order as well this winter lol.
so I say to her "wanna test out the boat since I'm just about finished with it so I can also see whats working/not working?" this is after I've spent 4 years pretty much tearing it down to the hull for structural work and completely rewiring it, etc.
she gets a grin on her so we head to walmart to get some new paddles "just in case" lol and crank it up at the house to let it warm up real quick and then hook up and off we go.
she has NO CLUE what to do on a boat so I basically launched it myself and floated it to the back of the landing dock (to stay out of other's way if they wanted to launch/load). we tie it off and I go to crank it.
it just cranks and dies. cranks and dies. cranks and dies. sigh. guy on the other side just cranks up and off he goes :facepalm:
finally get it choked enough to keep it running (at this point I'm thinking I may need new controls/cables as they are very stiff and probably starting to freeze up internally). then I get up enough nerve to back out...and 15' straight back from the dock...it dies lol.
by this time the tide has started to go out and the boat is turned facing down the river and I'm screwing with it to get it running right.
in the past 4 years, I've only ever had it idling...never on the water and its sat a couple winters with old gas in it, etc. well I finally get it to part throttle and I just keep it there and as it starts to clear up...I give it more and more until its right at WOT and running pretty good. I slow it down to part throttle and go to steer past a crab pot I'm coming up on, turn the wheel to port...the boat FLIES to starboard pointing right at a dude's private dock.
I dropped a heartbeat and a deuce in my pants and steer starboard while throttling down and it turns to port.
lol, I put the new steering on backwards and didnt think to check it properly before getting out on the water :facepalm::facepalm:
after getting used to my bizzaro world steering I take it up and down the river between my original landing and another landing letting it ride WOT to help clear it out (while staying where I know I can likely see another boater and get towed if need be). after a couple passes, its idling and transitioning into power nicely. All the gauges except the trim gauge are working nicely, the new top hasnt blown off the boat, etc, etc.
but the tide is starting to rip at my landing due to the fact a cut was dug between two natural rivers so the tide flows extra hard. I dont want to get stuck with this with backwards steering and loading by myself so I head back.
trying to get to dock with super stiff controls (forward/reverse) and backwards steering was NOT fun. my girl was just sitting there like "I dunno" I just it float to the dock and used sheer force to prevent it from running head on into the dock, tied off and let it keep idling, and ran to get the truck.
got back and went to put it in forward to drive on the trailer and the stupid controls are completely stuck. crap.
I turned the boat off and floated it to the trailer but the current was whipping around. I ended up having to get in the water up to my chest with my girl in the bed of the truck pulling a rope from the bow while I'm pushing the stern out level to the trailer to get it on correct.
thank god it was such a slow day. the kids/parents at the playground gave us an ovation after we pulled out of the water too
on the bright side, I apparently got the few small holes in the hull properly fixed as I had it in the water for 45 minutes and not a drop came out of the bilge when I pulled the plug versus in the past it would have drained for at least 2 minutes....
now its time to get the steering fixed and get the controls fixed so I can start teaching her how to help with launching/loading.
oh yeah, and rebuilding the carbs seems to be in order as well this winter lol.
