My 2024 pre-season prep (maintenance/upgrades/repairs) checklist

[Ronnie]

Did a little retail therapy / geared up today at the local Yamaha dealer today. It worked, I feel better, for now.

 

[Ronnie]

I forgot about the GoPro mount I installed on my tower a few years ago. Today I started test fitting a mount for the wireless camera which will allow me to see what’s behind the boat while I’m towing it.

 

[Ronnie]

I found a part that seems like it will work to lock the camera’s frame onto the GoPro mount. If so the camera should be attached to the tower by the GoPro mount, its power cable and for extra security one of these pads and strings. I don’t want to lose the camera on the road for a few reasons the biggest of which is the potential for it to damage another car or cars and/or cause injury to my fellow travelers. I plan to use locktight red and / or crazy glue if and where appropriate.

 

[Ronnie]

I didn’t know, now I (think) I know about fenders for a 2017 shorelander trailer. This job, replacing the fenders, got more complicated quickly. Thankfully the new fenders came with a new center support.

 

[Ronnie]

I replaced the bad amp with the marine version and also test fitted/hung the camera from the tower before testing the camera system. Finally I removed the broken center brake light from the trailer today. Little by little it’s happening.

 

[Ronnie]

I just realized the pic of the new amp is incomplete. Here is what the rest of the board looks like, minus the new amp). FYI/tmi it powers 13 speakers (2x 8”, 4x 6.5”, 6x 1” tweeters, 1x 10” sub), the head unit, led contoller, etc.

 

[David Martin]

WOW my mind is blowen...............I'l bet she sounds good!!!!! My mind sees COMPLICATED wiring diagram and WOW she sucks some Juice from the Batts for sure. Yakes!!!!! Great Job on the install looks professional.

 

[Ronnie]

So the weather has been sunny and hot on the weekdays / raining and cold on the weekends for the last three weeks. So much for boating or working on the boat but I am still getting what I can done. First unplanned task of today was installing a new hitch on my SUV. Pushing a trailer forward into a tight spot is a lot easier than doing it in reverse.

 

[Ronnie]

Didn’t get much more done today but did manage to paint the front brake calipers on the SUV/boat tow vehicle. I can’t do the rear calipers in the garage the back of the SUV is just a little bit too tall.

 

[drewkaree]

Didn’t get much more done today but did manage to paint the front brake calipers on the SUV/boat tow vehicle. I can’t do the rear calipers in the garage the back of the SUV is just a little bit too tall.
View attachment 218022View attachment 218023

Were you swapping out pads?

 

[Ronnie]

Were you swapping out pads?

No,
Just cleaned and painted the calipers.

 

[drewkaree]

No,
Just cleaned and painted the calipers.

...and your pads!

When the time comes to replace them, it might be worth it to run a utility blade along that paint to avoid peeling any paint off. That's why I thought you might be swapping pads - paint it first, pull the pads and any paint on them, let it dry, and then slide the new ones in

 

[Big_O]

How do you like towing with the Expy? I have ‘16 with 3.5L Ecoboost and towed well. She sags a little with the AR240. Just ordered Sumo inserts should get them later this week.

 

[Ronnie]

...and your pads!

When the time comes to replace them, it might be worth it to run a utility blade along that paint to avoid peeling any paint off. That's why I thought you might be swapping pads - paint it first, pull the pads and any paint on them, let it dry, and then slide the new ones in

Just painted the back of the pads that are exposed. When the brake pads are replaced the back goes back to the standard color. I’ve painted the calipers on about 10 vehicles over the last few years. I just follow the process in many YouTube videos
Where the caliper is painted while it is installed on the rotor, everything next to the caliper is covered in tape and plastic but there is always some overspray, usually on the side, not the face of the rotor. Sometimes I remove the overspray sometimes I don’t.

The only time I ran into issues is when I painted my wife’s car’s calipers by hand. It was an epoxy based paint and I painted too much so it would make noise when the car was in reverse. I ended up bringing the car to a brake shop and they cleaned off some of the paint I applied for an hour of labor, $150 plus about two hours of my time (four counting painting) .Lesson learned: Use spray paint at $15 per can NOT specialized epoxy at $70 per pint.

 

[Ronnie]

How do you like towing with the Expy? I have ‘16 with 3.5L Ecoboost and towed well. She says a little with the AR240. Just ordered Sumo inserts should get them later this week.

The Expediton has been awesome. This is my fourth one and is a 2012 Limited EL with the 5.4L V8. Two wheel drives are rated to tow 9,200 lbs. and four wheel drive 8,900 lbs. not sure what the new ones are rated to pull but was given a 2019 Max as a warranty loaner a few years ago, it had a twin turbo six cylinder that could out accelerate my 2010 Limited. I did not get to tow with it but with 12 forward gears and dedicated tow settings I have no doubt it would have towed by boat fine. If my current Expediton died today I would have another one in my driveway tomorrow.

 

[Big_O]

I like towing with the ‘16. Normal driving get 24 mpg highway. Towing I got ~12 mpg. So, you mpg or power but not both . The 6 speed tranny works well so far for towing. Very good acceleration. I put 93 octane when towing long haul trailer or boat and is very smooth.

 

[Ronnie]

I like towing with the ‘16. Normal driving get 24 mpg highway. Towing I got ~12 mpg. So, you mpg or power but not both . The 6 speed tranny works well so far for towing. Very good acceleration. I put 93 octane when towing long haul trailer or boat and is very smooth.

The non towing mpg of the ‘16 is a lot better than the older versions. It seems like I only get ‘16 mpg when not towing. This was the case with my ‘04 and ‘10 as well. Thankfully, this is not my daily driver. It’s dedicated to towing the boat and/or people moving with a capacity to seat eight legally including the driver.

 

[Ronnie]

I just painted the brake calipers in my truck / main Waverunner tow vehicle. You can see the over spray and although I did not remove that pads before paint the brakes still seem to be working fine.

Also included are pics of the trailer guides, pads and lights that I installed yesterday. I still need to wire the lights, just ran out of time/day light. There is less than an 1” of space between the pad and rubrail.

 

[Ronnie]

I wired the running lights on the trailer guides yesterday and also found a small leak in the hull.
it’s not bad but it is one more thing to add to the list.

 

[Ronnie]

I drilled new holes for and connected the center brake light this morning as well as remounted the garmin transducer. I wish I would have mounted the brake light a little higher but it’s not hanging below the trailer and unlike the unit it replaced it’s mounted level with the trailer and isn’t broken.