Joys of boats

BRUISER

BRUISER

silent.. but deadly
Moderator
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Raleigh
Well like everyone says owning a boat is a money pit, just like a Jeep

Well last year I got a boat and we had a blast. I bought it so my dad and son could spend time together on the water as my dad loves to fish.

At the end of the season I notice where the motor attaches seemed weak. So I parked the boat for the winter and this Saturday I opened up a can of worms :)

I had to replace the entire transom. Happy to say got it done in two days but crap that was a ton of work.

There is no way I could not have done it with two buddies and a huge shoot out to my 11 year old son. He helped me pit every bolt back in after new wood.

Very Happ to have it done. Now we get to test it again

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Ended up using some hardwood sheets epoxy together. Then I epoxy the entire outside and edges and put it in.

Used some special boat caulk around bolts, holes, etc.

Also had to make a special tool to get old wood out. That was a pain.

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Going off the VRO 70 engine that dates somewhere between the early '80s to the early '90s, I'm not surprised that the wooden transom core is rotted out, especially if it was stored outside.
 
Sold my boat last year for some capital to help move first time without one in about 15 years and I don’t miss working on it in the hot sun one bit last go around I bought a much nicer boat then before thinking it would be less work with fuel injection and all the good stuff I was wroung still a hole in the water to throw money at lol


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Fabrik8 said:
Going off the VRO 70 engine that dates somewhere between the early '80s to the early '90s, I'm not surprised that the wooden transom core is rotted out, especially if it was stored outside.
Click to expand...

previous owner said he replaced transom once also
 
I had a wakeboard boat for about 3 years. Sold it when I was retiring from the military. It was a constant money pit. Every spring I had to dump a few thousand into it for the season. Always something. That being said, I loved every minute of it. Wouldn’t take any of the money back for the good times my family had. I’m actually on the hunt for another boat. I miss the heck out of it. I figure you live once. The kids will always remember fishing and getting dumped on the tube at high speeds.
 
Transom work sucks. I replaced mine last year. I used a plastic board of some kind. It was closed sell stuff and heavy but should rot.

That said I was on the lake Saturday and apparently had gotten bad gas and Fowled the plugs trying to get it running and had to swap plugs on the water.


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I love being on the water. That being said I hate working on boats and hate paddling (big boats, not my kayaks)so I just make a payment. I know who to call when mine needs work now though, @BRUISER that looks good!!
 
Boat owner for 15+ years. Other than purchase price and typical routine maintenance (oil changes, impellers...), ours have required no additional money.

Always crack up when the boat haters come out, yet few have owned a boat...
 
Boating is the only legal hobby known to man or Asians that I would drop driving a Jeep for (or off roading in general to be fair) full-time.
It's dirt cheap for me though.
:flipoff2:
 
mommucked said:
All yall boat peeps, do yourself a favor and only run non ethanol gas.
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I do when I can, but I'll run 93E quick as shit and never flinch. It's all in frequency of use.
Once you put ethanol gas in, you have about 3 weeks tops to burn it all out or it will get expensive.
 
mommucked said:
All yall boat peeps, do yourself a favor and only run non ethanol gas.
Click to expand...

Depends on what kind of engine and how old it is, and how much you let it sit.

We run hundreds of gallons of standard grade ethanol pump gas per year through an Evinrude Etec and it doesn't care at all. We throw a little StarTron in it to be safe, but have never had a problem.

One of these nights I've got to change the water pump impeller on that thing, it's done its normal 300+ hours since last May and is scheduled for a new one. And thermostats, and VST filter, and water separating fuel filter, and plugs, and gear oil, and....
It's not even my boat, I'm just the mechanic and co-angler.
 
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BRUISER said:
That dang glue was some sticky stuff

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How does it run w that whale tail on it? I assume it was on the boat when you bought it? Lot's of them fer sure supposed to help get on plane faster an or stop porpoising. I had some issues w my boat I bought used and stock from the dealer. After 4/6 years I was about to put a whale tail on mine, but I decided to get a 4 blade prop after researching my problems. Got an alum. one on sale for about 2 times the $$ for a tail. That prop changed my boats performance like night and day and I kicked myself for not trying to fix it sooner. The steering , time to plane, and the all over performance change was amazing. You can get your own advise about this, but I bet you could put a 4 blade on it, take the tail off, and the boats perf. might surprise you.
 
This was 2 years ago, a submerged log floating vertically just below the surface. Bent the shaft , prop and rudder. Still the best money i have spent.
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