What Did You Do To Your Boat This Week?

I have been using Salt-Away with their sprayer to wash down the boat after every time we take the boat out and the Marina Water is on.

Last fall after washing down the boat in the normal way using the sprayer and getting soaked again by the sprayer I started to think, I wonder if I could do a better and faster job if I just put a little Salt-Away in a bucket and sloshed it on with one of these

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This was a GFI (last word Idea first word Great) and now I get the boat cleaner, faster and the salty residue comes off the boat really well.

This way it doesn't leave those little white patchy areas that were invisible when I rinsed the boat off after I used the sprayer and then mopped. Bonus is I drive home in dry or at least drier clothes.

I also started to wear a self inflating life jacket when I am washing the boat. Walking on wet decks and or wet slippery docks while mopping the boat down makes the odds are pretty good that if I slipped that I would hit my head on the boat or the dock before I went into the water. Even with one hand on the boat it can get awkward

I remembered I was going to post this up because every time I wash down the boat someone walks by on the dock and says that method looks faster and has way better results than using the sprayer and your boat always looks so clean.

I am now using much less Salt-Away without the using the sprayer .
 
Last Saturday: take batteries off charger, install, earmuffs on main. No start. Start battery fails load test, replaced. Both motors fire up. General spring cleanup. Fill both gas tanks.
Sunday: lake test, both motors, downriggers too, but no fishing. Boat back in carport. Go to Apex, ski for the afternoon. One beer at top of mountain to celebrate last day of one season and first day of the next!
 
Last Saturday: take batteries off charger, install, earmuffs on main. No start. Start battery fails load test, replaced. Both motors fire up.
I should give an honorable mention to whoever makes Canadian Tire batteries. That marine starter battery was dated 2015. Was a group 24 with 650 CCA. Its replacement, rated at 675 CCA, was a modest $149, less core value. I know I'll be paying more than that in a few years when the 12V battery in the Lightning gives up.
 
Agree with Sly karma. Had a set of Canadian Tire nautilus batteries that one lasted 9 years and 1 lasted 15 years and was still going strong but I felt I was pushing my luck and replaced it finally!
Replaced 1 in 2017 and 1 in 2019 and both are still going strong.
I do maintain them by adding water and charging and load testing before the season starts.
 
Can someone explain what a load test looks like? I pull my batteries and put them in the garage over the winter. Hook up a charger every month or so to top them up. Putting them back in the boat is on the to-do list for those weekend.
 
I pulled over at the Silver Creek General store on the way home from trout fishing to get a drink only to find one of the trailer lights on my small boat dangling in the gravel. It still worked, so I duct taped it back on with a newly purchased roll (it's a general store) to get home. Today I bought a new set, put some more tape on the broken one, and watched the Masters.
Chironomid season has started, so I gots to fish tomorrow.
 
I pulled over at the Silver Creek General store on the way home from trout fishing to get a drink only to find one of the trailer lights on my small boat dangling in the gravel. It still worked, so I duct taped it back on with a newly purchased roll (it's a general store) to get home. Today I bought a new set, put some more tape on the broken one, and watched the Masters.
Chironomid season has started, so I gots to fish tomorrow.
Yessir bangin a few out now!
 

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Well she’s almost ready, got it all shinny, not too sure why I do it, within a couple weeks of being in the water it looks like s…. .pic #1 when I started this morning, pic #2 at 2-30 when I was done
 

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Worked on (sons)@Rated-R 's 34 Camano
Bottom painted the hull, did some refinishing of cabinets.
Hull, engine drive train is in excellent condition.
He's been refitting the old gals interior rear cabin, seating, kitchen area
The helm and especially the sleeping area is beautiful condition just like video.
Watch for it based out of Alberni this yr
Here a few pic from yesterday after painting.

Heres a video of the gal 15yrs ago?



Into the water she went,
 

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Busy weekend catching up on some trailer maintenance.
-disassembled and re-packed bearings with fresh grease (I bought the boat in early 2023, and hadn't looked yet). Turned out to be a bit of a bust - all the bearings were in perfect shape, grease looked basically new and seal was fine. I wanted to open it up anyway just to get a look at the part numbers. I guess that's the plus side of launching in fresh water

-Trailer drum brakes looked pretty good. I'm no expert on drums, but nothing was locked up, corrosion didn't look bad, and I put a tiny bit of grease on the piston

- Was going to change the brake fluid, however I was doing the work at the storage yard and I only brought metric tools. 10mm - too big, 9mm - too small - damn. The drain screw was fairly corroded so I decided to put that one off and not round it off with pliers...

- Took the boat to the drive through carwash and washed algae off the storage cover, too the T-top canvas home and threw it in the laundry.

- Changed the fuel water separator. PS - any advice on how to prime the filter? I tried using the primer ball, but seemed like it was air locked (its an injected engine) - do I need to crack open one of the screws on the filter to let the air out - or will it self vent when I start it up?
 
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Busy weekend catching up on some trailer maintenance.
-disassembled and re-packed bearings with fresh grease (I bought the boat in early 2023, and hadn't looked yet). Turned out to be a bit of a bust - all the bearings were in perfect shape, grease looked basically new and seal was fine. I wanted to open it up anyway just to get a look at the part numbers. I guess that's the plus side of launching in fresh water

-Trailer drum brakes looked pretty good. I'm no expert on drums, but nothing was locked up, corrosion didn't look bad, and I put a tiny bit of grease on the piston

- Was going to change the brake fluid, however I was doing the work at the storage yard and I only brought metric tools. 10mm - too big, 9mm - too small - damn. The drain screw was fairly corroded so I decided to put that one off and not round it off with pliers...

- Took the boat to the drive through carwash and washed algae off the storage cover, too the T-top canvas home and threw it in the laundry.

- Changed the fuel water separator. PS - any advice on how to prime the filter? I tried using the squeeze ball, but seemed like it was air locked - do I need to crack open one of the screws to let the air out?
I filled the fuel water seperator with gas before screwing it back in.
 
New Canopy done last month, props to Bear Canopy in Campbell River. Then its been chasing gremlins for the past month. Yamaha kicker got gummed up and needed cleaning, the idle jet broke during removal, just bought a chinese carb online because... why not? 100$ vs 575$. Will instal next week and report back. Then the washdown pump stayed on and drained battery, new battery, replaced toggle switch which corroded (rubber gromet cracked letting in water), replaced nav lights as one burnt out - replaced with LED.... few gelcoats chips to repair, a wash and wax coming up then time to get fishing.
 

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A couple of days ago, launching the boat to go fish for winter chinook, I suffered the indignity of breaking down——my pair of DF300’s ingested water all the way back to the VST’s. Had to have all the filters replaced, the injectors cleaned, and the VST’s drained.

I’ve been battling water ever since buying that boat.

This was a first for me—-losing power, looking immediately at the fuel water separator bowls to see if there was water in either of the bowls….saw none….limped back to shore on my T25 , drained both bowls just to make sure—-100% water in both bowls….no gas at all in either bowl!!!!!

So finally, knowing I should have done this two years ago, I towed the boat back to the manufacturer and they are going to completely replumb the fuel filler tubes and put them in a different location

Problem NO. 1—The charcoal fuel-overflow canisters mandated by the EPA get plugged up. When that happens, it builds up a considerable vacuum in both fuel tanks….any rain water (or saltwater from splash!!!) that gets near the two Perko gas caps gets immediately sucked into the tanks

Problem No. 2: the Perko gas caps sit on the walk-around strip outside the wheelhouse. They are on the end of that strip and sit at the bottom of a slope….any rainwater or wave splash is guaranteed to be funneled back and form a pool of water around both gas caps

You can imagine how much water there was in the tanks by the fact that both fuel water separators were plugged with water, one of them with only 20 hours of run time!

I’m dumping 250 L of gas, scrubbing out the tanks, and getting those charcoal canisters out of there….hopefully this summer, I won’t have to be constantly checking those plastic bowls as I did last summer!

Sunday AM—-Getting ready to board the ferry for the long drive back to the builder

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