-Take or get a strong light, I have a few of the Mini mag LED lights that use two AAA batteries they’re very bright. Look into each compartment carefully, take your time and really look at things.
-In between the clean out plugs there is a mechanical access hatch that gives access to the aft bilge, open it and look carefully in this area for corrosion and or broken hose clamps. Look at the area where the drain plug is, debris? Water level marks in the V area? Just about all of the Yamaha boats have water in the bilge at the end of the day, so no surprises there if there is evidence of water, you’re just looking to see how it was managed. The good news is with a couple of weekend days of work you can make this boat have a dry bilge.
-Reach inside the live well and gently try to move the fittings, they should not move
-Underneath the mat you’d stand on while you are at the helm is an access hatch for the fuel tank, open that and have a look. Clean? Dry?
-All rocker switches should light up when operated, check for operation of each device, nav lights, courtesy lights, bilge pump, live well fill, live well aerator, horn, etc.
-Get under the boat while it’s on the trailer and look up into the jet pump intakes, look at the gap between the impellers and the wear ring, the gap should be very tight like can’t get a business card in between the impellers and wear rings, look for dings and dents on the edges of the impeller blades and radial scratching on the wear rings, some scratching is normal.
-Pull the dust boots off if the bearing buddies, do they appear to have been greased? Push on one side of the piston, does it rock or is it solid? If no to these questions plan on servicing the wheel bearings to avoid problems. Have the owner Jack up each wheel one at a time and check for excessive bearing play a little is normal. On the braking wheels check that the wheel spins without too much drag. -Check the brake rotors for discoloration which would indicate a stuck caliper.
-Check the brake fluid level and the color of the fluid. If there is fluid and it’s black you’ll need to change it. On the brakes, have the owner show you the trailer owners manual, in the manual are instructions on how to bleed the brakes using a screw driver, pump the brakes with a screw driver to make sure they work. If you need help with this let us know. do this while one of the braking wheels is off the ground to see if you can verify the brakes work.
-Has the center pivot between the trailers springs been lubricated? If not, this could be area you will need to work on as it can rust up inside and prevent the grease zerk from being used. If possible put a grease gun on there and see if you can pump grease into that bushing and note that grease comes out of the pivot area. Ask me how I know lol!
-Pull the oil dipsticks and see what condition the oil is in, while black in color is not desirable the smell is more important, does it smell fried? Check the wellness page on the connext screen for how many hours since last oil maintenance.
-Have a look inside the battery boxes, how do the batteries look? Clean? Age? Electrolyte levels? Connections tight? On board battery charger? Turn the key on and check voltage levels for house and start.
-Turn the steering wheel full left and right slowly, check for ease of turning and if there are any rough spots.
-Check the pop up mooring cleats for proper operation and tightness.
-Turn on bilge blowers, do they sound okay? They will make a not good sound if they’re on their way out.
Lastly the sea trial.
-Do the live well and aerator pumps work correctly?
-Does the raw water wash down work?
-Do the throttles operate smoothly? Will they hold their position? Does the no wake mode work correctly? Three steps up?
-Will the boat run at cruise (25 mph) for 10 mins without over heat? Check that the cruise assist functions correctly, should be 8 steps up and 8 steps down from a given throttle position.
-After the cruise increase to wide open throttle for at least five minutes without overheat. 8000 rpm’s is rated rpm, but if the test is done at altitudes above sea level it will be less and that’s normal. But at sea level on a 60° they should be close to 8000 rpm.
