What did you do to your boat today

Cableguy Greg

LaRea said:

I use these, and they work fine in 8-plait.  I don't mark the chain, because I always put out the entire 60 feet of chain.

I only have 30’ of chain on my windlass. I painted a 10” section of chain every 5 feet alternating between red and yellow. That way I can count the sections as they come in with yellow being the 5 feet out from the anchor. 

Cableguy Greg

I took her to the storage yard this past Saturday. She is ready for me to build the frame for the Fisher cover. I also got all of the life jackets out and hung in my basement with the bimini top and camper eisenglass. Now my storage room has that smell of my boat. If I need a whiff of boat in the winter, I go in there for a minute and it gives me hope that summer is on the way. 

YYZRC

Done

Aqua_Aura

I wonder what color that boat is and who owns it 😎

YYZRC

Aqua_Aura said:

I wonder what color that boat is and who owns it 😎

Too bad he never chips in for gas!

TonyG13

Took off my hatch insulation/sound barrier and while looking around found these interesting items clustered around the bilge drain...



A. None of it was from me since this is the first season I started doing stuff myself. And I clean up after myself.
B. Hopefully none of it was/is important to the operation of the boat.

YYZRC

That bolt looks like it's off the cool fuel module.

aero3113

YYZRC said:

That bolt looks like it's off the cool fuel module.

It’s hard to tell if the washer is part of the bolt or not. If it is, it might be for a mounting bracket or one of the pump bolts. You can see them in this pic I have of my old module.

TonyG13

I'm going back tomorrow so I'll take a look at both areas. Thanks!

mattie

TonyG13 said:

Took off my hatch insulation/sound barrier and while looking around found these interesting items clustered around the bilge drain...

Just found two of those stainless hose clamp ends in my bilge as well.

I'm thinking from assembly

raybo3

That 10-32 machine screw would be a little concerning to me......

TonyG13

Yup. That's the one I'm focusing on. Couldn't get to the boat today, so will have to wait until next week.

Dream_Inn

Those hose clamp ends aren't from assembly.  They are from rusting off.  Take it from someone that has experienced it.

TonyG13

If hose clamps rust off in only six years in fresh water, Rinker must have sourced awefully cheap parts.

Aqua_Aura

They don't look rusted at all

Dream_Inn

TonyG13 said:

If hose clamps rust off in only six years in fresh water, Rinker must have sourced awefully cheap parts.

Well, my boat is an 08, and I bought it in 12.  I had clamp ends in the bilge after the first year or two.  I  also have had 3 different hosrs come off while underway due to rusted hose clamps. This was within first few years of ownership. I go thru them all each spring now.

LaRea

When my engines have their OOBE (out-of-boat experience) this winter, I want to replace all hose clamps with better ones.  So what does "better" mean?  

304 or 316 stainless
Solid band instead of perforated band
End finishers that won't cut me and won't fall off into the bilge
T-bolt clamps for the largest ones

Those babies cost 5-10 times more than the ones used by Mercruiser, which is why Merc didn't use them in the first place.  

Ian

You catch the ends of these easily, 2 bends and they snap off.

mattie

TonyG13 said:

If hose clamps rust off in only six years in fresh water, Rinker must have sourced awefully cheap parts.

Yaa clamp ends were stainless, somebody trimmed them off.

Machine bolt is concerning, maybe it’s a oil pan drain plug......lol

TonyG13

mattie said:

Machine bolt is concerning, maybe it’s a oil pan drain plug......lol

That I think I would have noticed! LOL

Aqua_Aura

Not if you use Slick 50 in your engine, it will last many hours with no oil 😂. Remember all those commercials. 

aero3113

Funny you guys mention running without oil. I’ve been helping the buyer of my 242 troubleshoot an issue he had through texts. He said that he was using the boat and it shut down on him and he couldn’t restart, just a click when turning the key. Everything I had him do didn’t help. He had the boat towed to a shop. He texts me back yesterday saying the tech found a lot of oil in the bilge and thinks that the oil pan corroded and leaked all the oil out, the engine is frozen. Crazy thing is if it’s the pan, I had it replaced in July of 2013. How can it corroded that fast!! Also, tells me that the new owner hasn’t been checking the oil level and inspecting the bilge at all !!!!

LaRea

aero3113 said:

... the new owner hasn’t been checking the oil level and inspecting the bilge at all !!!!

Well, there's your sign.  I'm guessing first-time boater?

aero3113

He had a 17 foot center console before he bought my boat.

YYZRC

Isn't there a low oil pressure alarm on the Mercs?  

aero3113

Should be

aero3113

I cleaned and waxed the cockpit today.

davidbrooks

To everyone that has already winterize their boat and pulled it out... I am sorry. The weather this weekend is absolutely amazing

Dream_Inn

davidbrooks said:

To everyone that has already winterize their boat and pulled it out... I am sorry. The weather this weekend is absolutely amazing

You are soooo right, but I did get a lot done outside around home and still enjoyed outside....and, the next cool rainy weekend when you're winterizing, I'll rub it in.👍 but, let's see ssd's come awesome pics!!

Ian

Yeah, we pulled 2 weeks ago, power off dock last week and pulled docks today. With the weather the next few days, Fatboy riding is planned.