WickedPorter
Jetboaters Lieutenant
- Messages
- 160
- Reaction score
- 124
- Points
- 162
- Location
- Polk City, IA
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2013
- Boat Model
- AR
- Boat Length
- 24
Hi all, back for the season 
I got the boat out of storage this last weekend, pulled it home and began inspection, and all is well. It's like no time went by in storage as far as the boat is concerned ... wish I felt the same!
Anyway, it was time to replace the black rubber gaskets/plates where the wake tower connects to the hull... they were cracking, and "migrating" a bit, and in general, looking like crap. This turned out to be a relatively easy job with a (small) friend.
The (small) friend was able to fit all the way inside the port/starboard compartments and hold a wrench on the nuts while I removed the massive bolts from the exterior. The bolts require a 1/2" hex socket. Upon removal, there is enough play in the tower that you can lift it slightly; enough to get it out of the way to clean the surface (I used Goof Off, basically paint thinner) and remove any excess adhesive/etc from the surface. After a thorough cleaning of the surface, place new gasket / plate / whatever they call it under the wake tower, get (small) friend back in to the compartment to hold the nut, and torque them down to 25 ft/lbs.
Basically repeated the process on the remaining mount points. The port side was a bit more difficult than the starboard side, as the tower (or the holes) didn't line up as nicely, which required some force to be applied to the tower in various ways in order to get the tower to line up with the holes in the hull to get the massive bolts through. I was a little concerned about this and the force being constantly applied from the tower to the fiberglass in these locations... though I haven't had any issues in two years, and the fiber glass where the tower points mount is approximately 1/2" thick. That said, I had to use a large ratchet strap tied to my truck (line of site with tower/directly in front of boat) in order to "pull" the tower forward about 1/4" so that I could line it up to insert the bolt in the forward/port mount point. Scary. I will keep an eye on it.
Other than that ... polished it up nicely with my new Porter Cable buffer + Zaino AIO polish, put the carpet in, loaded up all my gear, installed charger/battery, greased around the pump area... turned the keys and both engines fired up perfectly on the first try.
I was all ready to load her up in to her summer home / slip, but figured I'd go test the lift in my slip beforehand. This was a good idea ... no power to the blower (Hydrohoist model) ... so unfortunately, still waiting to launch while the marina figures out the electrical issues to my slip. I'm thankful I'm waiting on the marina, and no actual boat related issues!
One other new addition this year: A Weber Q1200 portable grill. Looking forward to firing that up! Hopefully soon...
I got the boat out of storage this last weekend, pulled it home and began inspection, and all is well. It's like no time went by in storage as far as the boat is concerned ... wish I felt the same!
Anyway, it was time to replace the black rubber gaskets/plates where the wake tower connects to the hull... they were cracking, and "migrating" a bit, and in general, looking like crap. This turned out to be a relatively easy job with a (small) friend.
The (small) friend was able to fit all the way inside the port/starboard compartments and hold a wrench on the nuts while I removed the massive bolts from the exterior. The bolts require a 1/2" hex socket. Upon removal, there is enough play in the tower that you can lift it slightly; enough to get it out of the way to clean the surface (I used Goof Off, basically paint thinner) and remove any excess adhesive/etc from the surface. After a thorough cleaning of the surface, place new gasket / plate / whatever they call it under the wake tower, get (small) friend back in to the compartment to hold the nut, and torque them down to 25 ft/lbs.
Basically repeated the process on the remaining mount points. The port side was a bit more difficult than the starboard side, as the tower (or the holes) didn't line up as nicely, which required some force to be applied to the tower in various ways in order to get the tower to line up with the holes in the hull to get the massive bolts through. I was a little concerned about this and the force being constantly applied from the tower to the fiberglass in these locations... though I haven't had any issues in two years, and the fiber glass where the tower points mount is approximately 1/2" thick. That said, I had to use a large ratchet strap tied to my truck (line of site with tower/directly in front of boat) in order to "pull" the tower forward about 1/4" so that I could line it up to insert the bolt in the forward/port mount point. Scary. I will keep an eye on it.
Other than that ... polished it up nicely with my new Porter Cable buffer + Zaino AIO polish, put the carpet in, loaded up all my gear, installed charger/battery, greased around the pump area... turned the keys and both engines fired up perfectly on the first try.
I was all ready to load her up in to her summer home / slip, but figured I'd go test the lift in my slip beforehand. This was a good idea ... no power to the blower (Hydrohoist model) ... so unfortunately, still waiting to launch while the marina figures out the electrical issues to my slip. I'm thankful I'm waiting on the marina, and no actual boat related issues!
One other new addition this year: A Weber Q1200 portable grill. Looking forward to firing that up! Hopefully soon...
