skibum
Well-Known Member
She's alive! I picked up the boat from my mechanic's shop this afternoon. He had it on a trailer, so we stopped and filled the tank on the way to the ramp. He cut me loose 7.5 miles from my marina. The ride back was uneventful with the exception that my GPS decided that it didn't want to power on. I played with the connections at the fuse block under the helm and it started working, then it died a couple of miles later. Fortunately, I was in familiar waters by then. The same thing happened a couple of years ago, and new crimp connectors fixed it. I'll take care of that tomorrow.
My fuel burn seems to be better. That might be due to me getting one of my props that had some dings cleaned up. It was at 3450 RPM, 28.6 MPH (GPS), and 13.6 - 13.8 GPH (last season, it was closer to 14.6 GPH @ 3450). She's running as good as she ever has. Walked right up on plane as easy as pie and cruised just like she'd never been touched. Season started!
I had a chance to take a close look at my old aluminum exhaust manifolds. They still looked perfect after 16 years. I could have easily gotten another 5 years out of them. I find that hard to believe. I've been stressing over their age for the last 5 years for no reason. As to the actual reason that I had to go through all of this... My transom assembly had a fairly large hole in it. Apparently, all of the mud and corrosion packed in around the rubber water inlet tube (on the outside) was keeping me afloat. With it bolted on the transom, none of this was apparent. I had no idea. My mechanic said that despite what the transom assembly looks like, my transom is in perfect condition. I find that a bit hard to believe after seeing all of that mud on the inside of it.
My fuel burn seems to be better. That might be due to me getting one of my props that had some dings cleaned up. It was at 3450 RPM, 28.6 MPH (GPS), and 13.6 - 13.8 GPH (last season, it was closer to 14.6 GPH @ 3450). She's running as good as she ever has. Walked right up on plane as easy as pie and cruised just like she'd never been touched. Season started!
I had a chance to take a close look at my old aluminum exhaust manifolds. They still looked perfect after 16 years. I could have easily gotten another 5 years out of them. I find that hard to believe. I've been stressing over their age for the last 5 years for no reason. As to the actual reason that I had to go through all of this... My transom assembly had a fairly large hole in it. Apparently, all of the mud and corrosion packed in around the rubber water inlet tube (on the outside) was keeping me afloat. With it bolted on the transom, none of this was apparent. I had no idea. My mechanic said that despite what the transom assembly looks like, my transom is in perfect condition. I find that a bit hard to believe after seeing all of that mud on the inside of it.