My First Boat thread

[GTBRMC]

Oh well, guess I gotta go look for different wheels to put on the Ram....you chose the ones I wanted! Is your wife blonde as well? What are those kids ages? We might be living parallel lives, shoot from 30 yards we could probably pass for brothers. LOL

Yamadopplegangers

 

[Murf'n'surf]

@Watts What make and model are those rims?

 

[Watts]

Oh well, guess I gotta go look for different wheels to put on the Ram....you chose the ones I wanted! Is your wife blonde as well? What are those kids ages? We might be living parallel lives, shoot from 30 yards we could probably pass for brothers. LOL

Ha! Yea, the guy on the back of the boat in that pic is my buddy, not me. I was takin the pic! But yea, my wife is blonde as well, kids are both boys, 4 and 6. I got a couple more pics in my media gallery. Yea I love the wheels/tires. Got them from Custom Offsets. Hold on i'll get you a link. Great guys to work with too. That's my problem w the boat, I got so much other crap I have to customize as well! Boat, bike, truck, wifes ride, etc......

 

[Watts]

@Watts What make and model are those rims?

Moto Metal MO970, 20x10, -24 offset. Federal M/T tires, 33/12.5. I have a 3" lift on the front and 1.5" on the rear. I wanted 35's and 6" lift, but the wife said no Maybe i'll sneak it on when these tires run out.....


https://www.customwheeloffset.com/wheel-offset-gallery/20970/wheel-offset-2013-ram-1500-aggressive-1-outside-fender-leveling-kit-custom-rims

 

[njmr2fan]

Gosh what happened....? This is what kept running through my mind as I was washing the boat off after our first outing in 6 1/2 months! The blink of an eye and seasons have passed. It was just the end of August and I was looking forward to the many weeks of boating still to come. We washed and dried the boat up, slid it into the garage and then it started. 4 Rain out weekends in a row! September was now history. The kids were back in school, we had some birthday parties to throw and to attend, Halloween came and went, and then were racing through November towards turkey day. Decorating the house, buying a tree, celebrating the new year, taking down a tree, watching the superbowl and here I stand.... 6 1/2 months later. I had such high hopes that I'd be posting photos of our gang on the boat, sweaters on just out alone on the lake. I thought I'd be able to satisfy someone's Jones for a recent boating picture. ... Sometimes things don't work that way I suppose.

I stared at my grey faux teak Seadek from the day it arrived until Friday when I finally installed it. After an unusually cool fall and winter, I never had the right temperature until now anyway.
So, to kick off the 2016 season, I jumped aboard and went to task of installing my new flooring. I removed the old carpeting, and set it aside for a full powerwash. Began vacuuming the boat and realizing that the previous owner was either really hairy or had a black short haired dog! (Gag!) With the floor vacuumed and washed with acetone and every nook and cranny as clean as the day this boat was shot out the back door of the Yamaha plant I laid out and installed our Seadek!

BOOM! New boat! Wife loves it! Dog loves it, kids said "Dad, that's cool!"

Yes kids, it is!

So off we went to the lake.

I'm so impressed with this boat. I put it away in August, I pull it out in March. The batteries had a tender session twice and we're topped off 2-3 hours? 1st Turn of the key and the motors fired right up. Not finicky, no drama, turn, click, Vroom! Out on the water it felt like we had a 6 day break, not 6 months. But as I laid there viewing this:

And this :
l
I had to ask myself again... What happened?

 

[Bill D]

Well said! I too was looking forward to boating all winter and making the folks back home (I moved to Bama from Illinois a year ago) super jealous all winter. We only got out twice.

The SeaDek looks great. I'm sure your family will love it and it is so easy to clean up you'll love it. Happy boating!

 

[njmr2fan]

With 2 boys who seem to be endlessly snacking on all types of crumbly snacks, I sure hope this Seadek can stand up! Today I went in and vacuumed (got caught by the wife, "You're vacuuming the boat?! Different blog about that...) all the cheez-it crumbs, potato chip crumbs, sand, etc...

Anyway, I can see the dirt from our feet I'll have to do some reading or call @JetBoatPilot and see what the very best plan for keeping this stuff new looking is.

Ugh!!!!!!!!
Its just occurred to me that I have truly personalized my 190 by installing a section of Seadek backwards.... Oh well!

 

[Bill D]

I love using a vacuum on the boat. I sneak our cordless days on out of the house when the wife isn't watching and it makes cleaning the crumbs, sand, dog hair, etc a breeze. For the muddy footprints I usually hose it down good and scrub with a deck brush. Cleans everything up and dries in minutes in the Bama sun.

 

[DAMATS]

Just purchased my 1st boat. When I told my other boater friends their reply was "Bad move!" Or "Waste of $$" kind of discouraging actually. I'm pretty excited about it but anxious and nervous at the same time. Don't have much experience with boats other than sitting in one. Anyway, any tips or must do's or dont's or must haves would be appreciated for this novice.

 

[GTBRMC]

Welcome aboard, @DAMATS

You are really, absolutely in the right place to learn how to maximize your boating enjoyment while keeping the costs reasonable.

Best place to start per your request for advice:
https://jetboaters.net/threads/faq-reference-thread-for-forum-content-check-here-for-your-answer-first.81/

 

[bronze_10]

Just purchased my 1st boat. When I told my other boater friends their reply was "Bad move!" Or "Waste of $$" kind of discouraging actually. I'm pretty excited about it but anxious and nervous at the same time. Don't have much experience with boats other than sitting in one. Anyway, any tips or must do's or dont's or must haves would be appreciated for this novice.

@DAMATS .. All my family and friends told me the same thing when we bought ours.... Now they all wait on an invitation to go boating!

 

[njmr2fan]

Hi @DAMATS welcome to the forum, Hope you'll continue check out my running commentary on our first boat! If you post an introduction in the welcome page then everyone will be able to chime in and offer you more advice! Might be fun for you to to start a thread about your experiences, almost a diary of sorts.

 

[stever40]

Just purchased my 1st boat. When I told my other boater friends their reply was "Bad move!" Or "Waste of $$" kind of discouraging actually. I'm pretty excited about it but anxious and nervous at the same time. Don't have much experience with boats other than sitting in one. Anyway, any tips or must do's or dont's or must haves would be appreciated for this novice.

Have been told the same thing for years. The thing I keep finding is this is an investment for life experiences not an economical investment. Any motorsport/powersport is not an economical investment.

I get my investment seeing the joy and excitement in my families faces when we go out. This is my first Yamaha that I will own and in my mind...money well spent!

 

[itsdgm]

@njmr2fan your sea deck looks great.

 

[DAMATS]

Have been told the same thing for years. The thing I keep finding is this is an investment for life experiences not an economical investment. Any motorsport/powersport is not an economical investment.

I get my investment seeing the joy and excitement in my families faces when we go out. This is my first Yamaha that I will own and in my mind...money well spent!

Oh, I know....We also own snowmobiles, motorcycles, ATV's etc. It's all about making memories!

 

[Watts]

Lovin the seadek bro! Nice work!

 

[njmr2fan]

I finally got back to the boat to install my last piece of Seadek under the captains seat. I pried up the seat and when I looked underneath saw this:


Not sure how this happens, But had to figure out a fix.

For now I cut a piece of 1/2" plywood to the shape of the seat bottom, rounded the edges to match the plastic, drilled holes for fasteners, got longer bolts to extend an additional 1/2", and epoxied it to the plastic.



I attached the seat rail and tightened everything down to pull the broken section of seat base to the wood so that it bonds. I'm going to go back and fill the empty cavity of the seat base with expanding foam so it doesn't crush back again. Its the only thing I could think to do....

 

[CFD3Captain]

Apparently cheap material /plastic is how it happens. Happened to mine as well. Covered under warranty. I think your solution will prevent it ever happening again though.

 

[njmr2fan]

Apparently cheap material /plastic is how it happens. Happened to mine as well. Covered under warranty. I think your solution will prevent it ever happening again though.

You're right, they saved a few cents on this seat being made.

Wish I saw this last year (Im sure it was already there) and had the chance to warranty it through Yamaha... My only other hope would've been to find a 190 owner with YES and have them claim on my seat. Thats more trouble than its worth. We'll see how this holds up.

 

[njmr2fan]

Here was the other problem with the seat that I found while investigating my cracked seat base. The vinyl was sliced clean through. There was actually a mark from the razor or sharp edge that cut it. How this made it through QC to be installed was beyond my comprehension. I had to pull and staple this down, still disappointed to find this.