5 Attachment(s)
Finishing Up on the Skeeter
I've been rolling on the three boats here for some time now. The Black & Green Blazer is in the final tuning stage. I have to do that on the water. The Champion is ready to wet too. Poor Skeeter has been on the hind tit so to speak till a few days ago.
Attachment 500747Attachment 500748Attachment 500749
Figuring out where to mount the RAM Mount Balls for the Plotter/Fishfinder & Panoptix Transducer Stick burnt up a few brain cells. I use blue tape the mark where to mount stuff like this so I can clear everything else out of the way while drilling & mounting.
Attachment 500750
There's always a bump in the road, the power cord for the Plotter has a built in fuse holder. Since that & the Panoptix power is all that is needed on the bow I'm not using a terminal block. Once I split the fuse holder it went right thru the hole. Terminations were done inside, if I happen to blow the Plotter fuse I will have to open the switch panel to replace it. Since I have never, ever blown a Plotter fuse I expect I won't need to replace the fuse anytime soon.
Attachment 500751
Now the bow is all closed up. I can't make the final Trolling Motor transducer cable till the boat is in the water I left some available slack in case it's needed.
Well, Well, Well, the Boat that Doesn't Float!
This is how my wife greeted me calling me to dinner when I was checking out where buckets of water ran into the Skeeter when I dropped in the water early this morning. She can be direct.
Anyway, I wet the Skeeter and found out quickly there was a problem. First I thought it dipped water when I launched it. Being rated for only a 80HP, being manufactured in 1986 few if any 4cyl 80Hp engines were made. If I'm wrong I welcome the correction but I think the 88HP no-frills Evinrude & Johnson was the lowest HP offered in a 4 cylinder outboard engine. In a 20in shaft they weighed 320#'s. The 90 3 cyl E-Tec weighs 320#'s also, most of the engines of the time 80HP or less was in the 250-260 pound range. I added a 5in manual Jackplate to the situation increasing the fulcrum factor aft of the transom increasing the depth the Transom was submerged.
To my surprise the boat was really sitting down in the back. I moved it over to the side of the dock and tied it up. Using a Bud's ramp I pulled the Fishin' Expedition up parking in the ramp and went back to the boat to check and see if any engine mounting bolts were leaking but the whole back of the boat was filling up and filling up fast. I turned the bilge pump on but it couldn't keep up. I went to start the E-Tec and it would hardly turn over. Battery voltage was fine till I put the cranking load as well as the Bilge pump was still running. I quickly realized it had to go back on the trailer pronto. I backed the trailer back in and used the trolling motor to bring the boat to the trailer winching it up on the bunks and safely out of harms way.
It has 2 very large hull penetrations for the 2 livewells for drains and I suspect either a hose is not connected inside the hull under the deck out of sight or a rodent has chewed a large hole in them. This is a opportunity to add a remote Livewell drain valve. I checked the voltage drop on the battery and I suspect the battery is past it's prime and too old to use for a cranking battery. More later after pulling the hoses out. Nothing but keeping life interesting, never a dull moment around here.
