Bought my first boat!

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

I'll definitely clean it up, but any idea what it is and where is it coming from? Also for the bottom, should I remove the tank and clean it out? Also, what do you mean check for "pits"?

 

[rbh]

Re: Bought my first boat!

I guess with all boats you are going to track water in which will mix with the dust and make mud, things will rust, and you will get corrosion, as well you have to deal with mildew,
when you have the time tilt the boat up, remove covers, etc, pull the plug and power wash.
rob

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

Question about chaning oil in the stern drive. It's a Volvo Penta SX. Would you guys know where is the drain plug and how do you go about chaning it? Aslo how can I inspect the gimble bearing?

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

Another question for you guys, is it ok to powerwash the engine with a degreaser?

 

[eterry]

Re: Bought my first boat!

Congrats on your first boat!! The guys on here are a great help, they have been helping me with problems for a couple years and its saved me lots of headaches/heartaches.

I recently replaced the cusions/carpeting in my tri-hull, I got some plywood for backing and bought some foam and matching vinyl from a fabric shop. I got a can of 3-M spay adhesive, a electric staple gun and went to work. Your job is a little more complicated but is not impossible. I worked for an upholstery shop as a teen, here's some tips.

Dont cut or tear the matertial if it can be avoided, try to cut the thread and seperate the seats into sections. Take some chalk and mark them so you can identify them later. Use upholstery thread, nylon if available and go slow. We used hog-rings on vehicle upholstery but most marine work uses staples to attach upholstery to wood or backing. Its usually better to have the cushion a little larger then smaller, if you have trouble sliding the upholstery over the cushion use some plastic wrap ie. saran wrap, on the corners to help the cover slide on.

As for carpeting, I went to Lowes and bought some indoor-outdoor carpet and glue. Total cost for carpet and glue was $60.00. Had enough for boat and recover rails on trailer.

Good luck, hope this helps.
Eterry

 

[NoKlu]

Re: Bought my first boat!

If you use staples make sure you get a type that won't rust as it won't take long before they are gone.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Bought my first boat!

What kind of thread is used for stitching?

there is special outdoor/marine vinyl. dont use normal stuff. i found some stuff at my local upholstery guy called Sunguard. 12 bucks a spool, but it will be worth it. your local fabric store wont have it, but an interior or upholstery shop may

 

[Les Robb]

Re: Bought my first boat!

I'll side with sewerrat, a boat that dosen't run with brand new sharp looking upholstry is not going to make anybody happy. Find someone experienced to go out with and take care of your mechanical issues first. Then you can make everybody fall in love with your new boat.

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

Update - What a long day, but so worth it so far.

So far so good. We (my brother and I) ripped out the floor carpeting and will be installing a new on ourselves. We took out the tank and cleaned the area (at first I was going to throw up when we took it out, it stank so bad). Cleaned that and also side wall carpets as well as the ski storage. The small stuff that doesn't need stitches my brother already redid with new plywood and vinyl that I bought from a local upholstery place. I took pictures of before and will take pictures after we install everything. As far as the engine and the stern drive go, engine was clean on the outside and when I turned the ignition it started on the first crank and purred like a V8 should (my brother's a mechanic). I'd like to find out how to check out the gimble bearing and how to check if there's oil in the stern drive.

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

If you use staples make sure you get a type that won't rust as it won't take long before they are gone.

Yeah, I used stainless steel rust-proof.

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

I also detached the whole throttle and wanted to know how can I lubricate those cables. Also how can I go about lubricating the steering cable?

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

I'll side with sewerrat, a boat that dosen't run with brand new sharp looking upholstry is not going to make anybody happy. Find someone experienced to go out with and take care of your mechanical issues first. Then you can make everybody fall in love with your new boat.

We are pretty experienced mechanics, so as I mentioned before the engine seems good from first glance but will be checking thoroughly later as well as the stern drive.

 

[Kaybol]

Re: Bought my first boat!

UPDATE:

We decided to do the upholstery by ourselves since all the places wanted an arm and a leg for everything that we wanted redone. Went to wall mart bought a $100 sewing machine, nylon thread, and thicker needles for leather/vinyl. Long story short, we redid everything we needed in a week, of course it isn't perfect, but works fine for us (I'll post pics up of before and after). After we put everything back in, we tested the engine and we were ready for a first test drive in the lake. Now we expected something to go wrong so only my bro and I went even though like 6 people wanted to come. Long story short, we take it out on the lake, starts right up, take off, hit the throttle and the engine sputters and dies. Tried couple of times, same thing happened. We bring it back to the garage and start replacing parts. First it was the anti-siphon valve, but that didn't help (although it was busted), so we went to rebuilt the carburetor. Changed the fuel filter and ordered the carb rebuit kit, while we were waiting for that to ship in we decided to replace the gimble bearing (while on the lake when turning, it was making griding noise when turning left and right). Rebuilt the carb, the filter screen on it was so clogged up, that if held up to light you couldn't see nothing through it. Also when we took down the lower drive, we noticed that the flappers were all mangled up and inside there. Took those out and bought new ones (replaced them few days ago). So we put the whole thing together and the next weekend we took it out for another test drive. This time it was 100% success. Spent several hours on the lake without any issues. That was Saturday, then on Sunday few more people came with us and it was awesome time on the lake. Now there's some kind of noise still coming from the drive, but we can't pinpoint it. With the motor flush connected, running on 2k+ RPMs the noise is emitted form the drive. I don't know if it's the bearings inside the lower drive, or the u-joints. Although u-joints looked good when we took it down. Anybody have any ideas?