Fishing With Face

Quote: Face

I now have two pickups, two race cars, a wheeler trailer, a car trailer, a wheeler, and now this boat. And alls I got is a one car garage that I need as a shop, so everything is stacked up in the back yard lol. Should've just let my teeth go to complete to motif lol.

Jesus, I have a three car garage and 33 feet of lighted covered RV parking all of which is unused. Feel free to bring the boat and a race car by to park. I only have two cars and both of those stay in the driveway.

Quote: Face

Hey, I've even gone so far as to check the blower hoses to ensure they're not ripped and just blowing the fumes about the bay, AND have checked the vents to ensure I can feel a solid draft exiting. We're doing good so far =)

You are doing great. Lots of boaters don't realize that a backfire is an explosion, just contained by the air cleaner.

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And the kicker is not a consideration, it's a must. But at some $1,400 new,

I sold my 15 hp Honda LS, electric/pull start w/ ten hours on it for 14 hundred. Something I really liked about it was, it had a charging system on it, so even if the house battery died, I could pull start the Honda and regen a house battery to start the main.

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Doubtful I'll have it this year as there's only about 6 weeks left in the season,

Why does the season end? Just add a heater and go year round. I've fished on quite a few snowy days?

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The tach I'm unsure of. It goes to 7k but there's no red. I've gone at full throttle a few times but each time was less than 5 seconds, just horsing around. And during those times, it hasn't even reached 4k. My rip to the city was @ ~3,200, ~2,700 seems to be the comfy, economic cruising speed,

The reason I asked was because of your comment about not going 5kph faster than the ob 50 hp. Redline is probably the same as any 4 banger of similar vintage? For arguments sake, lets say it redlines at 5k. When you are at full throttle, the tach should get near red w/o going over. If say, it will only give you 3500, then you are being robbed of top end,[ while still burning the same amount of fuel, which can be easily changed by getting the right pitched prop. There is a formula for how many inches of pitch you want to add [to restrict rpm, but give you better hole shots] or reduce the pitch, allowing your motor to get near it's rated rpm and getting several more kph on the top end. [it is probably pitched perfect, but not necessarily so] The factory produces thousands of motors, and they go in different applications? You may get curious and www it? It is about 1 inch of pitch per hundred rpm.

If a boat can use all the accelerator but the prop cavitates, that will boil and ruin an aluminum prop pretty quick, so it's worth it to add a couple inches of pitch, which helps immensely when the load inside the vessel increases. [when you acquire enough friends and gear to fill all the seats : )] Your boat is an excellent size and power for what you want, I kept an extra prop aboard for accidents, and would change it occasionally when two of my extra large friends would come along. Just 500 extra pounds worth of friends greatly influences the boats performance. I did a lot of running by myself , and with less pitch on my prop I could gain about 7 knots. With this style and rag top, you got a floating camper. What fun, to go boat camping, night fish, etc.

Anyway, on fuel efficiency, you are only guessing without a fuel flow meter. The bigger boat guys I knew didn't really have fuel gauges, but studied their fuel consumption per hour. It's nice to have an idea. Try to figure out how many gallons you burn at an appx. rpm. ?? There is another formula for boat fuel that goes like this, 1/3 to take you out as far as your going, 1/3 to get you back, and 1/3 in reserve for unseen changes . Or else, "stick the tank".

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I've become too much of a skinflint for any full speed runs, and none of my fishing spots are all that far for a cruise requiring high speeds.

Yeah, but you never had a boat camper before, you can go for days now.

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exactly what's going on, and the exhaust bellow is already shot. Not that I'm worried about the exhaust bellow, but I don't know what sort of stress it's putting where.

If I am thinking correctly, the bellows you are referring to is the rubber grommet thing between the hard exhaust header and the exhaust port running through the stern? I always kept spares, [my last inboard was 4 boats ago] if for any reason the cooling water quits running through the bellow, they melt in an instant. I lost one because my fan belt came off? PITA with that exhaust filling up the boat, and water now dumping inside at a frantic rate. lolol Speaking of which, you have an auto bilge pump iirc? Is there a light on the helm that tells you when the circuit closes [float switch] and it is pumping? Another great diagnostic, when the light comes on, the bilge pump is running,,,,, for some reason?

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Luckily I average that sort of lengthy cruising once every 25 years,

But now you have the magic carpet, take it hunting, and screw a tent.

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Extinguisher is dry chem, good gauge but unsure of age. TBH, it's hard to envision ever using it. If a fire starts and the nearest beer doesn't put it out, I'm tf out of the boat lol. Reckon it's easier to not drown than not burn =p

Yeah, but we aren't worried about you. Maybe it won't even be your fire?

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But HEY... I GOT SURGE BRAKES ON THE TRAILER =D

Those are fun to, especially when backing the trailer uphill. lol

Hard to believe that boat is 30 years old.

Perhaps if I was a boater I could recognize distinct features that gave its age away.

Are you going to put a name on it Face? "The Minnow"

Quote: rxwine

Are you going to put a name on it Face? "The Minnow"

'Face I' would be a good name.

About face

Quote: petroglyph

You are doing great. Lots of boaters don't realize that a backfire is an explosion, just contained by the air cleaner.

I sold my 15 hp Honda LS, electric/pull start w/ ten hours on it for 14 hundred. Something I really liked about it was, it had a charging system on it, so even if the house battery died, I could pull start the Honda and regen a house battery to start the main.

Why does the season end? Just add a heater and go year round. I've fished on quite a few snowy days?

Yeah, I'll just not run it empty again. That big run was seat-of-the-pants, and nothing I plan or even have reason to do again. And the season has to end because I know a delay is something I will completely botch. Sept will already see a big uptick in workload due to school and weekends starting to stuff up with hockey. As much as I loved cruising the bay for trout in Nov / Feb / March, once holiday mail starts and hockey is in full swing, and good ol standard time makes me wish for death again, there's no way I'll care for it properly. That's how we lost my childhood boat; a bad winter froze the cooling system and cracked the block.

I'll stuff it in Sept and spend Oct - May on foot.

Quote: petro

The reason I asked was because of your comment about not going 5kph faster than the ob 50 hp. Redline is probably the same as any 4 banger of similar vintage? For arguments sake, lets say it redlines at 5k. When you are at full throttle, the tach should get near red w/o going over. If say, it will only give you 3500, then you are being robbed of top end,[ while still burning the same amount of fuel, which can be easily changed by getting the right pitched prop. There is a formula for how many inches of pitch you want to add [to restrict rpm, but give you better hole shots] or reduce the pitch, allowing your motor to get near it's rated rpm and getting several more kph on the top end. [it is probably pitched perfect, but not necessarily so] The factory produces thousands of motors, and they go in different applications? You may get curious and www it? It is about 1 inch of pitch per hundred rpm.

If a boat can use all the accelerator but the prop cavitates, that will boil and ruin an aluminum prop pretty quick, so it's worth it to add a couple inches of pitch, which helps immensely when the load inside the vessel increases. [when you acquire enough friends and gear to fill all the seats : )] Your boat is an excellent size and power for what you want, I kept an extra prop aboard for accidents, and would change it occasionally when two of my extra large friends would come along. Just 500 extra pounds worth of friends greatly influences the boats performance. I did a lot of running by myself , and with less pitch on my prop I could gain about 7 knots. With this style and rag top, you got a floating camper. What fun, to go boat camping, night fish, etc.

I've never delved into tuning such as this, I just knew what cavitation was and that I wanted to avoid it. As of now, I can't imagine messing with it as things are so vastly better just begin able to power through waves that raw speed isn't even on the wishlist. Perhaps things will change if I end up with downriggers and start frequently going deep.

Quote: petro

Anyway, on fuel efficiency, you are only guessing without a fuel flow meter. The bigger boat guys I knew didn't really have fuel gauges, but studied their fuel consumption per hour. It's nice to have an idea. Try to figure out how many gallons you burn at an appx. rpm. ?? There is another formula for boat fuel that goes like this, 1/3 to take you out as far as your going, 1/3 to get you back, and 1/3 in reserve for unseen changes . Or else, "stick the tank".


Yeah, but you never had a boat camper before, you can go for days now.

I plan to just keep winging it. My previous boat had 2 - 5gal tanks, one was play, the entire other was just for getting home. I never even push it to 3 - 1/3's and even did this unplanned run with that in mind; I just seriously miscounted my points and 25yr old memories aren't as sharp anymore.

And I dunno about camping. Those dual seats do adjust, you can pop em one notch into sort of a recliner, or another notch that lays them down like a bed. But big water is so close I needn't camp, and the small water I like is reclusive and swampy. I can't recall a night we haven't been literally choking on bugs lol.

But maybe. I really do want a St Lawrence / Adirondack trip, and now there's nothing stopping me.

Quote: petro

If I am thinking correctly, the bellows you are referring to is the rubber grommet thing between the hard exhaust header and the exhaust port running through the stern? I always kept spares, [my last inboard was 4 boats ago] if for any reason the cooling water quits running through the bellow, they melt in an instant. I lost one because my fan belt came off? PITA with that exhaust filling up the boat, and water now dumping inside at a frantic rate. lolol Speaking of which, you have an auto bilge pump iirc? Is there a light on the helm that tells you when the circuit closes [float switch] and it is pumping? Another great diagnostic, when the light comes on, the bilge pump is running,,,,, for some reason?

Yeah, the bellows are the rubber boots in the outdrive. The exhaust one covers the exhaust port, and the big one seals the hull where the outdrive sticks out. All that I've Googled says a bunk exhaust bellow is A-OK; many, including this one, are already designed chock full of holes. There's probably ten, running all along the bottom, each at least as big as a quarter. But since it's shot, it causes worry about the main, because if that goes, the boat sinks. It will of course be part of the winterization check.

And no auto bilge nor light. You're used to bigger vessels, I'm guessing. 30' and up? Our sailboats have all had them, but nothing on this one. It is perfectly easy to just lift a pad and peek in, though. And the pump discharges high in the back, easy to see and/or feel. All I gotta do is not forget to look lol.

Quote: rxwine

Hard to believe that boat is 30 years old.

Perhaps if I was a boater I could recognize distinct features that gave its age away.

Are you going to put a name on it Face? "The Minnow"

I don't think I told the story of getting it...

I've been looking seriously for about 2 months, sort of absently for 2 before that. The last two weeks I had lists and bookmarks aplenty, going through what I wanted, what was out there, getting excited then nixing one or another over this or that. It was kind of nice as opposed to stressful as everything was at least doable, if not outright easy with cash to spare. I was one or two jobs, or a month or two, or a small loan away from having a $4k budget, opening tons of options from Rochester to Cleveland. I called on a few (no call backs, likely pulled the trigger too late) and was content for waiting for something that fit precisely, instead of just getting anything.

Right at the bottom of my hill. The place I walk the dog every other day to get pond food, it was right there. I passed it a few times, glancing here and there and sort of discounting it on account of its "pleasure craft" looks. I finally slowed one day enough to see "19'" along with "4.3" and "$2,900". It was enough to pique my interest, as it was a good size boat with a bigger motor and cheap. I called, it was a guy from Lancaster that popped it in a friend's yard, he hadn't really had it advertised anywhere, and said he could be down tomorrow.

Took me maybe 45sec to drive there. We went through as much as I could think of, and everything was just as I've described here. It was full of water as it had rained like hell the previous two days, but I figured if it was full of water yet dry on the outside, it wasn't leaking anywhere lol. The only thing that concerned me after 30-40min of looking over was the condition of the bellow. I know it's a $55 part, but I also know it's likely a $700 - $1,200 labor charge tearing apart the lower unit to replace them. Told him I needed to think about it.

Went and had a smoke, came back and told him the bellows concerned me due to the labor, but I was right there as far as buying it. Told him if he'd eat the bellows and take $2,200, we were done here. Never heard a man say "yes" faster, just wanted out of it so he could get the pontoon the family wanted.

$2,200 with all the Coast Guard legal gear needed, and the few but necessary electronics. I tied the 4 pin to the trailer (my truck is 7 =p), gave him his plate, and drove it home naked. Total trip there and back was about 900 yards lol. Nice to have something finally just be easy =)

Name will come, I guess. I've never liked being rushed. Jax went several days nameless. Cuauhtémoc went some 3-4 months. S'pose I gotta get to know her first.

'Face It'

Great boat, great knowledge of engines and all things mechanical but good practical reasoning such as that if its full of water but nothing is leaking out then if it is placed in water nothing will leak in.

Fuel/water. I always thought water sank to the bottom which is why airplane fuel systems have tap valves at the lowest point for pre-flight testing.

If you do store the boat for the winter.... time to start work on that barn/shed/lean-to.

What does it cost for a repurposed shipping container? Maybe a couple of holes to plug, but steel on six sides.

Quote: petroglyph

You are doing great.

You had to go and say it. Doncha know you must now be proven wrong? F#$%ing hell, what a night...

So we go out. Had to. 6 day work week, damn near riot at work every day, I just needed out. Weather was looking s#$% but nothing to be overly concerned about. It hadn't rained in several so the shallows were nice and clear. Skies are dark and it's already 6, so we'll just leave the mouth and troll right around there. One time down and back, call it a night, it'll be great.

Things started slow, putting around for a good 30+ with no action. Over the humps, through the deep, nothing doing. Snacks had to pee, stepping out onto the swim deck when I almost knocked her into the water, diving for the boy's rod that just had to light up, what with trying to take a piss and all. Same works with hunting, too, I'm sure y'all will agree. Wanna see a deer? Set your gun down and whip it out. They'll trot right up to you. I give it a yank and hand it off, not really paying attention, just glad it looked like fishing was gonna work out.

This son of a bitch... I'm not paying attention to him at all until I see the fish damn near at the boat. Now paying attention so as to ensure he keeps it out of the motor, I see how his rod is bent and then see the flash. Kid's got a good fish on. I hop over to help and it's already at the boat. This little piss pot done boated the biggest goddamn smallmouth I have ever seen in my life. We never quite broke the 5lb mark in all those tourneys with all those lunkers we hauled in. This thing was so obviously bigger than even those that 5lbs isn't even a question. The question might be "How much over 6 is it?" This f#$%ing kid...



I swear to Christ, the kid done vampired everything from me. I remember the day he did it. "You showed me the magic" he told me. And ever since then, he crushes it.

The day carried on just like that. He nailed another tank, solidly in the 4lb range. He got a rock bass. He got a white bass. He caught probably 8-10 more smallies. Pulled in 2 walleye. I caught nothing all day. Snacks hooked a number but only brought one to the boat. The kid? Threw his purple and yellow jerk plug well into the night and brought home about 18, nailing almost every species there was out there. I don't think I'm going to invite him anymore. Lol?

We trolled until the sun was down, and carried on as the moon came up. Not wanting to miss the ice cream stop, I started packing up while deciding now would be the time to teach Snacks how to operate, case I went down or something. Kill the boat, turn everything off, and start teaching her the start up process. Battery, blower, throttle, turn the key....barely chugs to life, all out of balance. Typical carb, right? Just rev it clear. Pop, bam, boom, sputtering and misfiring. Wtf? OK, try the rev and dump, just get it spinning enough to stay lit when in gear. Nope. Can't rev high enough, dies before it can get going. OK, try.... nope. Now the son of a hoor won't even turn over.

No jump box because it's sitting right here, on my PC desk, charging my GoPro -_- I don't even contemplate, all options were completely obvious. Thank the man-Jesus I troll with wind in mind and have it at my back.

In about 45min I had paddled a solid 1/3rd mile, just a ripping clip for one dude with an oar he broke the end off on his first stroke. I was warmed up, it was a beautiful night, so we went for a moonlight 'yak ride in one really f#$%ing big canoe. Avoiding the break wall while still hugging it close was about as easy as you'd like. Then I made the turn up the mouth.

Good time for the storm to hit. I paddled for so GD hard for so GD long, just focusing on how bright the moon was and watching clouds rip by it as if they were late for court. No pain, no fatigue, just break this GD mouth now or you're f#$%ed. I paddled until I was blown out and just redoubled the effort again, now spurned on by the thought of injury getting me a few days off work finally. And when I couldn't go any farther for the third or fourth time, I looked up, and saw I hadn't moved.

Long story slightly shorter, my ex-wife's husband's friend owns the local water rescue company. An hour from calling and we were hooked and brought in. Wasn't a two and half minute tow; I just couldn't break that GD mouth. Wind blows, man.

…..You thought I was done?

Strap up and head out. Get all the way home-ish. Rolling thorugh town and 5-0's at the car wash. No bigs. Few seconds later and why is that guy's brights on behind me? Ah, it's 5-0, wonder who he got? …..oh. Me, that's who.

Normal whatever, license and reg, do I know why I'm being pulled over. Of course I have no idea. They got a call that a truck and boat with no trailer lights blew a stop sign, they're stopping me for sign and lights. Lights? I... they're brand new. Like, everything. I ask if I can hop out to address. He's very accepting of that. S#$%.

Of course I got sea legs and my sandal slipped hopping out. Of course I f#$%ing stumble and of course I way overcompensate catching, because why the f#$% not at zero dark thirty? Check lights, show the superior craftsmanship, clueless as to why they don't work. And no sir, I cannot say at all that I blew that stop sign. There's no reason whatsoever for that, it's not like I'm not from here. /sigh, yessir, two beers. I know everyone says two beers, but seriously, two beers over the course of.... like, 6 hours. Last one? Easily 3, 4 hours ago. For real. Oh yeah, no problem. I'll do your test. Yeah, I'm good, OK I'll go have a seat.


Hop in the truck, dash is dark. Why... daytime running lights. Throw the light switch... "Let off your brakes!" They work sir? "Yeah, they're on now. Wait right there." I tell Snacks my f#$%ing lights weren't on. We start giggling. She starts thinking out loud and we realize, yes, I DID stop at that GD sign because it caught her attention that I actually stopped this time because I allllllways pull the mailman stop. I remember that, too, because I was wondering why I had stopped all the way and now had to feather the bitch rolling again. We start outright laughing. And called? No one could've called that fast, and they think I'm drunk, and I just didn't have my f#$%ing lights on, and we just paddled freaking home... it was too much. By the time 5-0 returned to my window, we were straight cutting up.

Cop just sighs and in so many word tells me to get my s#$% together. I thank him and take my illuminated ass the 900yds left to my house. Yup, pulled over right in front of where I bought the GD boat from.

What a night. Ain't even mad, Jesus, but my kid can do work with a rod.