Been watching boat ads for awhile now. A few aluminum had my eye but sold before I could get a response. So I was keeping tabs on a 1992 Seaswirl Striper 200 with a 4.3 OMC Cobra. Sunday I took the 4hr drive to check it out. After I got there the Admiral texted me to see what heck I was doing. Yep you got it, I never a word to her about upgrading.
So 2 hours later I'm loaded up with the accessories, 8hp Honda kicker in the back of my Envoy . Last thing to load was the engine stand as it had to go in the boat after storing a bunch of stuff in the cabin. Ton of traffic on the trip home at an average speed of 47mph. I had been worried about pulling it over the passes and holding up traffic. Wasn't an issue as the Subaru's and Honda's hauling 2 kayaks took care of that. The Admiral was still unimpressed upon my return. So Monday morning get up and unload stuff to store it out of the way, then head out to take care of titles and registration. 320$ in fees later, I head to the lake to run around a bit and get used to the operating differences with the open bow Bayliner. Docking procedures is a complete rewrite as I normally run solo. Putter around a bit trying to familiarize myself with the Raetheon fish finder. Everything was going great, opened it up to about 4000 rpm and was doing around 35 mph eased back down to idle near the dam as someone was fishing. Headed back the other direction and opened her back up, enjoying the throttle response and power steering.. Temp and oil pressure continued looking good and was about to play with the trim as I haven't had a trim gauge before. Tapped the button to raise it a little and about that I hear pop or some odd noise and loose a little power. I looked back to see smoke billowing out of the engine compartment. Something shorted out could smell wiring. Chopped the throttle into neutral and shut everything off. Grabbed the fire extinguisher and emptied it while unstrapping the battery and unhooking the ground cable. Didn't see any flames but wasn't taking chances. Hadn't put a paddle in the boat so that option was out. The kicker was still in my Envoy doing me no good either. Anchored out and tried flagging people down to assist with a tow. 2 boats glanced over and ignored me . Raised the anchor and drifted a little more and managed to get a cell signal. Called my son and he headed up and contacted the Sheriffs office to request marine patrol for a tow. No one on duty so it would over an hour. About that a little boat with maybe a 5hp came by and was willing to help. He managed to tow me in.
Got the boat loaded onto the trailer then eased forward till there was about a half in of clearance. Took about 2 1/2 hours to finally get the outdrive raised. Son had to go back after tools and some ratchet straps to unhook the lift cylinders. Needless to say the Admiral had a "serves you right" look on her face when I got home.
So 2 hours later I'm loaded up with the accessories, 8hp Honda kicker in the back of my Envoy . Last thing to load was the engine stand as it had to go in the boat after storing a bunch of stuff in the cabin. Ton of traffic on the trip home at an average speed of 47mph. I had been worried about pulling it over the passes and holding up traffic. Wasn't an issue as the Subaru's and Honda's hauling 2 kayaks took care of that. The Admiral was still unimpressed upon my return. So Monday morning get up and unload stuff to store it out of the way, then head out to take care of titles and registration. 320$ in fees later, I head to the lake to run around a bit and get used to the operating differences with the open bow Bayliner. Docking procedures is a complete rewrite as I normally run solo. Putter around a bit trying to familiarize myself with the Raetheon fish finder. Everything was going great, opened it up to about 4000 rpm and was doing around 35 mph eased back down to idle near the dam as someone was fishing. Headed back the other direction and opened her back up, enjoying the throttle response and power steering.. Temp and oil pressure continued looking good and was about to play with the trim as I haven't had a trim gauge before. Tapped the button to raise it a little and about that I hear pop or some odd noise and loose a little power. I looked back to see smoke billowing out of the engine compartment. Something shorted out could smell wiring. Chopped the throttle into neutral and shut everything off. Grabbed the fire extinguisher and emptied it while unstrapping the battery and unhooking the ground cable. Didn't see any flames but wasn't taking chances. Hadn't put a paddle in the boat so that option was out. The kicker was still in my Envoy doing me no good either. Anchored out and tried flagging people down to assist with a tow. 2 boats glanced over and ignored me . Raised the anchor and drifted a little more and managed to get a cell signal. Called my son and he headed up and contacted the Sheriffs office to request marine patrol for a tow. No one on duty so it would over an hour. About that a little boat with maybe a 5hp came by and was willing to help. He managed to tow me in.
Got the boat loaded onto the trailer then eased forward till there was about a half in of clearance. Took about 2 1/2 hours to finally get the outdrive raised. Son had to go back after tools and some ratchet straps to unhook the lift cylinders. Needless to say the Admiral had a "serves you right" look on her face when I got home.
