biglar155
Jetboaters Admiral
- Messages
- 1,577
- Reaction score
- 2,142
- Points
- 277
- Location
- Fredonia, WI
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2009
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 23
Funny things happen when there is no snow on the ground in March in WI. A young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of his boat. Apparently the same thing happens to old men as well, because I started thinking about it last week.
In a move that is WAY early for me (last year I didn't start boat prep-work until mid-May and didn't hit the water until mid-June) I got the battery out of the basement and put it on the Battery Tender last weekend. This was mostly done thanks to a "no start" thread here that turned into a "how old is your battery?" contest.
Well, the other day I pulled into the garage and noticed that the light on the Battery Tender had gone from a happy green
to an angry red 
.
"Well WTF?" I said to myself (since I was the most knowledgeable - and only - person in the room). So I put on my safety glasses, pulled out the hydrometer and started testing cells. Sure enough, my 5-year old battery had a bad cell. I could hook a Fluke up to it and watch it self-discharge.
"Curses!" I said as I drove to Fleet Farm for a new battery - and an aerator for behind my lawn tractor. (I mean why waste a trip right?)
I also started ordering things:
In my 5-year-old well-intended-but-never-executed plan to install a "real" electrical system on the boat, I purchased yet another component: A small Blue Sea distribution panel with fuses. This WILL get used sometime before a great-grandchild inherits the boat. (Considering my oldest turns 16 today, that will likely be a while so I should have plenty of time.)
The above was actually purchased as an afterthought to "fill up the box" at Amazon. The main thing I wanted was a couple of those "dock chock" things for the tongue-jack wheel of the sailboat trailer and my little utility trailer.
I also ordered hose fittings to replace the leaky sieves that are the standard Yamaha flush port attachments. To force this issue, I went to the storage unit and cut the hose near the fitting and took the existing fitting home. This let me verify the inside diameter of the flush line (3/8") so that I could order the correct fittings. If all goes well, I'll post up a replacement thread with part numbers. If it goes poorly, I'll bury the evidence and come back here to delete this paragraph from my post - so please don't quote it.
While I was feeling "boaty," I searched every computer I own - both home and work - and I found the Virtual Machine that I was using to run the YDS software. I wanted to pull the engine hours last fall but I couldn't figure out where I had installed the software. Well, I have it all set to go now so I just need to go up to the storage unit with my jump-pack and plug in.
Next up, I'm seriously considering re-packing my wheel bearings this year. It's been 5 seasons now and I really can feel the hair on the back of my neck starting to stand up whenever I think about that 150-mile round-trip that I have to make every time I go boating. Plus, I think one of my calipers has a slight fluid leak. This would be a good time to check that out.
Of course a wheel-bearing job will require re-arranging the storage unit into "summer" configuration. That means some items get moved to the garage at the house. That means one vehicle has to sleep outside from that point on. I'm still mulling that over. I don't like scraping windows and we're still in that "mode" around here.
So I'm hoping that I will somehow manage to stay on top of this. My goal every year is to be out before memorial day but it seems like that slips later and later every year. Maybe this year I can at least have her ready to go by Memorial Day even if I'm not on the lake yet.
'course, the WEATHER has to cooperate....
Dang!
In a move that is WAY early for me (last year I didn't start boat prep-work until mid-May and didn't hit the water until mid-June) I got the battery out of the basement and put it on the Battery Tender last weekend. This was mostly done thanks to a "no start" thread here that turned into a "how old is your battery?" contest.
Well, the other day I pulled into the garage and noticed that the light on the Battery Tender had gone from a happy green
to an angry red ."Well WTF?" I said to myself (since I was the most knowledgeable - and only - person in the room). So I put on my safety glasses, pulled out the hydrometer and started testing cells. Sure enough, my 5-year old battery had a bad cell. I could hook a Fluke up to it and watch it self-discharge.
"Curses!" I said as I drove to Fleet Farm for a new battery - and an aerator for behind my lawn tractor. (I mean why waste a trip right?)
I also started ordering things:
In my 5-year-old well-intended-but-never-executed plan to install a "real" electrical system on the boat, I purchased yet another component: A small Blue Sea distribution panel with fuses. This WILL get used sometime before a great-grandchild inherits the boat. (Considering my oldest turns 16 today, that will likely be a while so I should have plenty of time.)
The above was actually purchased as an afterthought to "fill up the box" at Amazon. The main thing I wanted was a couple of those "dock chock" things for the tongue-jack wheel of the sailboat trailer and my little utility trailer.
I also ordered hose fittings to replace the leaky sieves that are the standard Yamaha flush port attachments. To force this issue, I went to the storage unit and cut the hose near the fitting and took the existing fitting home. This let me verify the inside diameter of the flush line (3/8") so that I could order the correct fittings. If all goes well, I'll post up a replacement thread with part numbers. If it goes poorly, I'll bury the evidence and come back here to delete this paragraph from my post - so please don't quote it.
While I was feeling "boaty," I searched every computer I own - both home and work - and I found the Virtual Machine that I was using to run the YDS software. I wanted to pull the engine hours last fall but I couldn't figure out where I had installed the software. Well, I have it all set to go now so I just need to go up to the storage unit with my jump-pack and plug in.
Next up, I'm seriously considering re-packing my wheel bearings this year. It's been 5 seasons now and I really can feel the hair on the back of my neck starting to stand up whenever I think about that 150-mile round-trip that I have to make every time I go boating. Plus, I think one of my calipers has a slight fluid leak. This would be a good time to check that out.
Of course a wheel-bearing job will require re-arranging the storage unit into "summer" configuration. That means some items get moved to the garage at the house. That means one vehicle has to sleep outside from that point on. I'm still mulling that over. I don't like scraping windows and we're still in that "mode" around here.
So I'm hoping that I will somehow manage to stay on top of this. My goal every year is to be out before memorial day but it seems like that slips later and later every year. Maybe this year I can at least have her ready to go by Memorial Day even if I'm not on the lake yet.
'course, the WEATHER has to cooperate....
Dang!
