Chuck Buck
Jet Boat Addict
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 98
- Points
- 97
- Location
- Lake St Clair
- Boat Make
- Sugar Sand
- Year
- 2004
- Boat Model
- Mirage
- Boat Length
- 18
Forward: Diving In.
I figured another I/O was out because of the weight and draft, so I steered toward a clamp-on. I also swore off open-bows because I’ve taken water over my SRV, and getting swamped on St. Clair is a real possibility. A closed bow ski boat seemed the obvious choice, so I looked at one an hour away in Davisburg. After one circle around it I told the owner to his face “I’ll tell you exactly why I’m not buying this boat” and pointed out all the damage and wear that was conveniently washed out in all the pictures he posted due to the bright sun. I said his ad was a total misrepresentation, and I could see in his face he turned downcast, but he had wasted my time and gas coming to look at this “beautiful condition” boat. It did teach me one thing, however, that this type of ski boat had a fraction of the freeboard I’d feel safe with on St. Clair, so my search narrowed somewhat. I had the keyword “ski” in my Craigslist search, so I got a hit on a “Sugar Sands Mirage Fish and Ski.” It described and pictured a 2004 Sugar Sand Mirage 1800 Fun and Fish jet boat with matching trailer; exceptionally cared for, and at a reasonable price (according to the NADA website).
I liked what I saw, so after work on the last sunny, 60° day in late October 2017, I drove an hour downriver with $1000 less than the asking price in cash to have a look and perform a sea trial. I took the “Rastro” just in case I went through with the purchase and needed to tow my booty home. The reality was something different. Upon initial inspection, the boat appeared more worn than the pictures suggested. I was alarmed by the busticated trailer brake hose and lack of a license plate. However, I liked the overall look and layout, and decided we’d take her out anyway. As we finally got into open water, I discovered the engine was very loud, pushed us only to 27 mph (GPS), had a bad vibration, and the boat was missing most of the required Coast Guard safety equipment. There was also zero accompanying paper work – no owner’s manuals, no documentation, no nothing. Also found during the sea trial was that the depth finder only read off-plane, and the speedo was totally inoperative. The owner, from Wisconsin, knew nothing about boats, and was VERY motivated to sell. At one point in the recent past, the boat was well cared for, and had new canvas front and rear, but this joker had totally neglected it. And as we learned long ago, of the four; use, misuse, abuse, and neglect, the worst is neglect. Anywho, after returning to the dock and loading it on the trailer, I pointed out all the glaring problems, for which he made lame excuses, so I started to walk. He immediately panicked and came down $1000, so I countered with $1100 off. He cried “but I’m not making any money on this deal!” As if…so I just shrugged and said “oh, well…” and he folded. I decided at that price, I could afford to fix whatever was wrong with it and have a boat that fit my needs, open bow notwithstanding. After counting out the cashish, and with the title and bill of sale in my hands, I drove home through the multitude of construction zones as the autumn sun quickly set. I stopped several times to check that the trailer hubs (and thus the wheel bearings) stayed cool to the touch. The last thing I wanted to be was “that guy” broke down on the side of the road, singing Kenny Rogers You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Loose Wheel. I backed into the dark driveway, turned on the big outdoor light, snapped a few pictures (a MUST on ANY first day of ownership), covered her up, went inside, and began dreaming of once again, being on the water and proclaiming out loud to nobody in particular “I wonder what all those poor people on land are doing right now?”
Chapter 1: Preliminaries.
Winterizing the boat shortly thereafter, I found the #4 spark plug hole cross-threaded. I was PEEVED, but able to carefully clean the threads with a 3/8 drive extended 14 mm thread chaser, some bearing grease and a ton of patience. I coated the chaser with grease and screwed it in [straight!] until it just started to cut, then backed it out, wiped off all the chips and repeated the process of greasing, chasing, backing, and cleaning so no chips fell into the cylinder. It took about 10 repetitions, but finally the chase went through cleanly and the remaining threads had plenty of meat. I then got out my handy-dandy $10 Hazard Fraught compression tester and all 6 cylinders read remarkably high, indicating little internal wear, and within the merc spec of 15 psi total difference from highest to lowest cylinder. Installing 6 new NGK’s to torque and running the engine on a concentrated dose of Sea Foam and premium, the idle speed kept increasing and the engine ran noticeably smoother. Armed with more information on this type of drive, I inspected the jet from below and it appeared to be in remarkably good condition. I foamed the cylinders with oil, drained the carbs, and removed everything vermin or water could damage, then covered her up and parked it next to the garage for the duration.
During the long, long, long, (did I mention long?) brutal winter, I kept pondering the possible cause for the poor performance/vibration/noise. Was it carburetion? Ethanol gremlins? Worn jet impeller/wear ring? Internal gearbox problem? Something else? I found an old watercraft registration copy inside the little “buoy” attached to the keys, so I searched the name and came up with a phone number. I called the guy up, explained who I was, and asked if he knew the service history of the boat or if there was anything else he could tell me about it? He had little to tell, so I mentioned the cross-threaded spark plug and he admitted to replacing the stator. Turns out he was the previous-previous owner. I asked about the missing paperwork, and his reply was that the owner before him was in the process of a nasty divorce when he had to quickly get the boat away from his future ex-wife before something bad happened to it. If that person was the “original owner” I’ll never know. Just like retired racing greyhounds, you don’t know their history. You have to just take them as they are. Now, I had more questions than answers, and figured I’d just have to wait until Spring.
I figured another I/O was out because of the weight and draft, so I steered toward a clamp-on. I also swore off open-bows because I’ve taken water over my SRV, and getting swamped on St. Clair is a real possibility. A closed bow ski boat seemed the obvious choice, so I looked at one an hour away in Davisburg. After one circle around it I told the owner to his face “I’ll tell you exactly why I’m not buying this boat” and pointed out all the damage and wear that was conveniently washed out in all the pictures he posted due to the bright sun. I said his ad was a total misrepresentation, and I could see in his face he turned downcast, but he had wasted my time and gas coming to look at this “beautiful condition” boat. It did teach me one thing, however, that this type of ski boat had a fraction of the freeboard I’d feel safe with on St. Clair, so my search narrowed somewhat. I had the keyword “ski” in my Craigslist search, so I got a hit on a “Sugar Sands Mirage Fish and Ski.” It described and pictured a 2004 Sugar Sand Mirage 1800 Fun and Fish jet boat with matching trailer; exceptionally cared for, and at a reasonable price (according to the NADA website).
I liked what I saw, so after work on the last sunny, 60° day in late October 2017, I drove an hour downriver with $1000 less than the asking price in cash to have a look and perform a sea trial. I took the “Rastro” just in case I went through with the purchase and needed to tow my booty home. The reality was something different. Upon initial inspection, the boat appeared more worn than the pictures suggested. I was alarmed by the busticated trailer brake hose and lack of a license plate. However, I liked the overall look and layout, and decided we’d take her out anyway. As we finally got into open water, I discovered the engine was very loud, pushed us only to 27 mph (GPS), had a bad vibration, and the boat was missing most of the required Coast Guard safety equipment. There was also zero accompanying paper work – no owner’s manuals, no documentation, no nothing. Also found during the sea trial was that the depth finder only read off-plane, and the speedo was totally inoperative. The owner, from Wisconsin, knew nothing about boats, and was VERY motivated to sell. At one point in the recent past, the boat was well cared for, and had new canvas front and rear, but this joker had totally neglected it. And as we learned long ago, of the four; use, misuse, abuse, and neglect, the worst is neglect. Anywho, after returning to the dock and loading it on the trailer, I pointed out all the glaring problems, for which he made lame excuses, so I started to walk. He immediately panicked and came down $1000, so I countered with $1100 off. He cried “but I’m not making any money on this deal!” As if…so I just shrugged and said “oh, well…” and he folded. I decided at that price, I could afford to fix whatever was wrong with it and have a boat that fit my needs, open bow notwithstanding. After counting out the cashish, and with the title and bill of sale in my hands, I drove home through the multitude of construction zones as the autumn sun quickly set. I stopped several times to check that the trailer hubs (and thus the wheel bearings) stayed cool to the touch. The last thing I wanted to be was “that guy” broke down on the side of the road, singing Kenny Rogers You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Loose Wheel. I backed into the dark driveway, turned on the big outdoor light, snapped a few pictures (a MUST on ANY first day of ownership), covered her up, went inside, and began dreaming of once again, being on the water and proclaiming out loud to nobody in particular “I wonder what all those poor people on land are doing right now?”
Chapter 1: Preliminaries.
Winterizing the boat shortly thereafter, I found the #4 spark plug hole cross-threaded. I was PEEVED, but able to carefully clean the threads with a 3/8 drive extended 14 mm thread chaser, some bearing grease and a ton of patience. I coated the chaser with grease and screwed it in [straight!] until it just started to cut, then backed it out, wiped off all the chips and repeated the process of greasing, chasing, backing, and cleaning so no chips fell into the cylinder. It took about 10 repetitions, but finally the chase went through cleanly and the remaining threads had plenty of meat. I then got out my handy-dandy $10 Hazard Fraught compression tester and all 6 cylinders read remarkably high, indicating little internal wear, and within the merc spec of 15 psi total difference from highest to lowest cylinder. Installing 6 new NGK’s to torque and running the engine on a concentrated dose of Sea Foam and premium, the idle speed kept increasing and the engine ran noticeably smoother. Armed with more information on this type of drive, I inspected the jet from below and it appeared to be in remarkably good condition. I foamed the cylinders with oil, drained the carbs, and removed everything vermin or water could damage, then covered her up and parked it next to the garage for the duration.
During the long, long, long, (did I mention long?) brutal winter, I kept pondering the possible cause for the poor performance/vibration/noise. Was it carburetion? Ethanol gremlins? Worn jet impeller/wear ring? Internal gearbox problem? Something else? I found an old watercraft registration copy inside the little “buoy” attached to the keys, so I searched the name and came up with a phone number. I called the guy up, explained who I was, and asked if he knew the service history of the boat or if there was anything else he could tell me about it? He had little to tell, so I mentioned the cross-threaded spark plug and he admitted to replacing the stator. Turns out he was the previous-previous owner. I asked about the missing paperwork, and his reply was that the owner before him was in the process of a nasty divorce when he had to quickly get the boat away from his future ex-wife before something bad happened to it. If that person was the “original owner” I’ll never know. Just like retired racing greyhounds, you don’t know their history. You have to just take them as they are. Now, I had more questions than answers, and figured I’d just have to wait until Spring.
