Painting

Moved to the hangar for painting. Going to use the topside paint from Interlux, Bright Sides. Cleaned up all the metal on the decks, sanded and taped. Will need to remove the dust and get ready for the paint.

Tried painting the cabin in a couple of spots to see how the paint would work out. Seemed to work out ok. Will try to paint the rest of the cabin in the next few days. Will post pictures after I get some pictures posted once it is all done.

March 28, 2010

Changed the lower unit fluid. Lower gear case fluid looked good. Upper case showed some signs of water getting in to it. Talked to the mechanic at a local shop. He said it is almost impossible to keep water out of the upper case on the older units. Next weekend trying to get the engine oil changed and finish working on the new seat covers.

Getting Ready for 2010

Pulled the cover off to see how she made it through the winter. Looks like the tarp worked. Tried to start the motor. After a little cranking she fired right up. Removed interior component to find out how to take the windows out and replace the plexi in them. Painted the lower unit and the prop. Also cleaned an area on the upper cabin and experiment with painting it as well. Will see how this goes.

Starting Relay

Just read back over and realized I left the starting relay saga un-resolved. Well, it turns out I was able to track the part number down to a Sierra number. O'Riley's auto carries Sierra parts. Turns out they had the relay in stock and it was less expensive than originally advertised. Long story short, problem was fixed in about an hour for less than $20.

Labor Day

Ok, its been a while, but I have been busy. Finally got to the lake today. All ran well. Little swimming and tubing with the kids. Accidentally ran the lower unit into some mud. Little disappointed that the clutch did not kick out and let the unit swing up. No damage seemed to come from it so all is well.

I modified the trailer with some V-Bunks on the second roller, the idea being to lift and center the boat as she comes on to the trailer. This worked like a charm !! Just kept her roughly centered as I approached the trailer. I felt her hit the bunks and then slide down on to the rollers and just coasted right up into the forward rest. WOW, no fussing and wrestling. Just hook up the winch line, snug it up, shut down and jump in the truck. Think I am going to add some stern guides to help center her up there. She is sitting a little to the left on the trailer.

Depth Finder Works !!!

Short trip out to Keystone today. While gone for the last couple of weeks I send the Garmin 178C back for service. Recall, that the depth finder side of this unit has not worked yet. So, prior to going to the east coast for 3 weeks, I sent it back for warranty service. It was waiting for me when I got back. Dropped it in and took her to the lake. IT WORKS !!! Took a couple of tries to figure it out, but Garmin (www.garmin.com) tech support was great, consistent, and easy to work with. They never tried to make it sound like the problems were my fault, or an installation problem that I was responsible for. They gave me a check list to run down. After running through the list they said it was their problem please send it back. They first thought it was the transducer, so I exchanged that part first. That was not it, next they said send back the whole unit, which they exchanged in about a week. Great support by my standards. I have spent many hours arguing with other vendors so this was refreshing. Anyway, the 178C worked great.

However, the starting relay is going out. Turned the key, heard clicking but no starter turning. Little trouble shooting found that the relay was not closing. Out comes the pock knife, bridge the contacts, and she fires right up. We stopped for lunch at a beach. After sandwiches, she fired right up so its on the way out. Checked the diagrams and the parts list, guess what, at some point in the past some one bolted up a non-marine relay on the motor. Really no surprise there, as the marine relay is pretty expensive, but that explains why it failed as it is not sealed. I am sure the contacts are corroded.

Keystone Last Weekend Jun 2009

Took out our exchange student through the Girl Scout camp program. Boat ran great. Did a lot of tubing and swimming. Ended up spending almost 5 hours on the water. While swimming I anchored the boat in about 3 feet of water out from the beach. Here is the interesting thing, when I put it back on the trailer there was hardly any water in her. Maybe the water is due to not getting the plug tight enough. Or maybe with use, some of the seals are starting to swell up now.

The bad news is the Garmin 178C did not work again. The new transducer was installed, but still no depth. I sent the whole unit back for service. The good news it is under waranty and so far Garmin has been easy to work with. Hopefully this will do the trick.

I put her on the trailer. Still got it to deep. The bow never hits the lead roller which I think is what is required for it to center up properly. Next time I am going to lay the rollers out flat and back up until they are just in the water. Then see what happens.

Hope everyone had a safe 4th.