Best Of

If it's green or brown go around.   Blue is good to go and green,  white you just might. 

.I've had the navigation say I should be in 1ft of water and it's a 14 ft deep channel and to my side is a sand bar that shouldn't be there. Storms change things quickly and it can take years to replace channel markets lost to a storm.

Go slow, wait until you see other boats go through if you can should you not be sure about any area.   Really worth the trip!

Kohler purchase Lombardini  some time ago.   This means I have access to Lombardi (or did the last time I asked our rep about it)

I'm not sure if you guys have seen the phasor style generators, basically a belt driven style Marine generator. Small foot print , perfect for fitting inside my fish box. I only need about 6000 watts,  maybe 8000, I'm planning on getting a full enclosure and would then add a second ac for the helm area. 

Thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these this fall to build a generator.   Building my own I can mix/match pulley sizes to get an 1800 rpm generator.   I'd really like it quiet enough to keep running all weekend while we spend the weekend on the hook. 

I'd rather use a more simple designed Kubota twin but I have no dealer access to them or their parts.  If i come across something second hand I'd probably jump on it.  In 3 years of searching I've had no luck. Did have a Kubota z a customer purchased from an auction we got running to find gear box PTO issues that were not cost effective to repair and offered to buy it from him and eat the shop bill but no luck. 

@mattie after digging further, the cross poles are also bent, or more bowed also..it's a hot mess. Those can probably be bent back ok...

My waste tank evacuation pump that I use after every weekend on the water to pump into a campground RV Park waste station was giving me some issues last year towards seasons end.  I've been running the Jacobson macerator.  I got maybe 2-3 years out of it.  It would no longer self prime.   

I thought I had purchased a whale gulper to replace it, it wasn't, it was a sealand T series pump.  Its supposed to have a pickup of 10 ft. 

I thought this would mean it would have zero issue pushing waste up from the top of the waste tank and through a hose routed thru an open transom door.  It does not.  It apparently has zero lift on the output side.  

So I had to take my spare pump (cheap Jacobson style) and connected it after the sealand T series to pump her out. 

Despite paying yearly army core pass fees for the past decade or more the new park attendant hassled me over pumping last launch of fall last year and I'd rather not deal with idiots on my weekends off.   I already unintentionally work with mental people everyday at work.  He asked if there was somewhere else I could dump on the inland lake,  I told him my federal tax dollars put this in so we don't have to pump where we eat fish and swim. 

So I set up a pump station at home to pump into my septic tank clean out port.   Not ideal but being just a few gallons a week over the summer months it shouldn't cause an issue.   I wouldn't recommend this for the average Joe but having access to mini ex, mt100, backhoe and skid loaders a new drain field is an afternoon job for me.  

So anyway,   my first launch of the year, 4th of July weekend.   Now I can bring out crap home with us and the kid/admiral no longer scream and complain when they have to help me dump.   Having to attach the 2nd pump and drop a battery on the swim platform is a pita but it smells much less than the open RV Park pump pit. 

Was looking things over after a 5 day trip,saw a lot of water in the mid bilge. Vacuumed out over 5 gallons. I found the fitting for the AC drip pan broken.

My windows have really bad hard water spots and I have tried two products that work really well and wanted to share. 

The first one is for mild water spots that aren't etched in. It's a gel you put on and leave for about 15-30 minutes then wash and clean the window. 

https://www.chemicalguys.com/products/heavy-duty-water-spot-remover


This is the second product I used which is a window polish you apply like your buffing a boat. This works really well for etched in water spots which is what I have on my side windows. You use a polishing pad specifically for this process, it looks like white felt. 

https://www.griotsgarage.com/fine-glass-polish-16-ounces/