The Purchase, Evaluation and Other Costs

In April of 2012 a week before my birthday I was attending a party when the host, Ralph, an associate of mine showed off his new boat. Behind it was his old one which turned out to be my "dreamboat" of 30 years ago.

He offered the boat with trailer an all for 3K.

He explained to me the boat was 30 years old but ran very well. If I was to purchase it I should expect to replace most components. I immediately made a mental note to schedule each area (engine, wiring, hull, trailer).

During my life I have been on boats frequently but they never belonged to me and for the most part I was there to fish, dive and contribute my share of costs. I really had no idea what it was to maintain a boat. At the moment that I was purchasing the boat I did not even have an idea of what kind of boat it was.

There are a number of boat styles but mainly there are two styles that I would be concerned with, the one I was purchasing which turned out to be a Bay Boat and an Offshore Boat the one I wish I would have purchased!

Bay boats I later learned are a hybrid between Flats boats and Offshore. This is a boat you can use to go as shallow as 2 ft of water and out to sea in a much as 2-3 ft seas. Mind you I clearly write 2-3 ft seas!

Unknown to me was that this Mako was a complete fishing machine. It had two livewells attached to the transom, an electric trolling motor, poling platform, just about everything I would need to have a successful fishing trip. But I had another conception of what I needed a boat to be. I have always dived and I wanted a boat that I could turn into a diving platform. Perhaps if the boat’s limitations and purpose were explained to me I may not even have bought the boat. The following day we closed our deal and Ralph gave me the title to the boat and trailer. On Monday morning, avoiding the lines I went to the tag agency located on Ponce de Leon Blvd in Coral Gables. I was the third in line.

Once there I paid for the title transfer, new title, tag and sales tax on the purchase. Close to 500$.

The following weekend was my birthday and I wanted to take out the boat. I told my parents about the boat purchase and my step-father asked me why would I want to buy a boat and my answer turned out to be the boat’s first name, the ‘CauseaiCan”.

I looked on Craig’s list for a storage facility in the Keys where I would be able to keep the boat at. I figured the cost of gas and risk of towing the boat down every weekend was worth the expense and I hit a home run when I saw an ad posted by “Robbie” offering a secure place for 50.00 a month.

I went to check it out and the place looked like a dream. It turned out to be the property behind Mother Ocean Marine Consignment Shop MM 98.7 in Key Largo.  It had a boat ramp that was primarily for Kayaks and PWCs and it was locked down and secure. I immediately paid for two months in advance and with a handshake I had a place to keep the boat at!

On Friday Ralph offered to drive the boat down in his Ford Expedition and as we left he told me that the tank on the boat’s gas gauge was reading correctly but he knew it had 1/2 a tank. The boat has 24 gallons. When buying a boat make sure to check the hoses from the tank to the fuel filter to the engines and be sure they are all “Ethanol Resistant”. Along with absorbing moisture, Ethanol is blamed for breaking down fuel lines internally and the debris will make it’s way to your engine and cause numerous foul ups. I changed the hoses recently (pic) notice their blue color. As a precaution I also add Sta-Bil Marine Formula to the fuel along with the oil.

Here is some information on ethanol and it's effects on marine fuel lines.
Effects of Ethanol on Marine Fuel lines and Motors

The fuel lines are usually connected to a filter/water separator unit which should be checked at least once a month. Drained and fuel checked to see if it has any moisture. I upgraded this system to

This fuel filter by Marpac (Sierra or Mallory) features a “Visi-Bowl” on the bottom where you can see the fuel and empty it out without having to remove the unit. Unfortunately when I opened it up I over did it and broke the plastic lever. So beware and don’t force anything. Using the Red Laser app on my phone I found it at River Marine in Miami for 32.00.

So continuing with the story…..I wanted to stop to top it off the gas tank but he was in a hurry and I wanted to return in time to be able to take our SUV to get a trailer hitch installed.

Once at the storage/ramp/beach site Ralph launched the boat and advised me not to use that ramp. I took his advise and planned to use the ramp at the Carribean Club a couple of miles north.

He took out the boat tested it, then took me and gave me a 20 minute lesson on how to start the boat. I was on my own after that.

We returned to Miami and I immediately took our Saturn SUV to the U-Haul on 67 and US1 to get the hitch installed. I picked U-Haul because of their warranty and experience on mounting the hitches on all types of vehicles. Since the technicians are representing the company and their jobs depend on getting the hitches installed with no “come-backs” I felt confident I made the right choice. Cost 350.00

Ralph had given me a hitch ball with a sort of adjustable safety brace and that was a savings.

That night we went to KMart and purchased a number of items to outfit the boat.

Flares, fire extinguishers, ropes, air horn, bait bucket, batteries, ladder, deck shoes, sunscreen lotion, and assorted fishing gear. Total cost of outfitting: 400.00

Surprisingly I have found Walmart, Kmart and Home Depot to be excellent sources for boat supplies.

I was planning to stop by West Marine and get the BoatUS tow insurance but decided to forgo it till the following week. A big mistake on my part and I recommend that you do not dare go into the water with a boat if you don’t have this insurance.

Cost 180.00 for a one year Membership.

Tow insurance by BoatUS

We left on Saturday morning and stopped at The Yellow Bait House and picked up three dozen live bait shrimp. We also stopped at Kmart in Key Largo and purchased our fishing licenses and sandwiches at Publix and QuickSilver boat engine oil at Advantage Auto Store. I later downloaded "Red Laser" a price comparison ap for my Galaxy Note Smartphone and discovered that Walmart has the best price for the oil. I strongly recommend this ap when shopping for whatever boat equipment supply you may need. In the long run it has saved me hundreds of dollars.

Although I did not show it, I was pretty intimidated towing the boat a couple of miles to the Caribbean Club ramp so I decided to bypass filling up the tank as planned. I wasn't going to go too far on the first day....BIG MISTAKE!
I managed to take it to the ramp, perform a checklist that included securely installing the plugs and flawlessly launched the boat into the water and tie it to the dock-Rosemary knew how to tie boat knots from before and I put her in charge of that. From there on the lessons began to pile up.
To begin with the engine would not turn because I simply did not realize the battery switch had to be turned on. There are two types of boat batteries Starting and Deep Cycle. The difference is that the starting battery has “cranking power” to do just that….start your engine with perhaps a little help from the other deep cycle battery which is normally used to run your accessories.
There are many options on the market and here is a link that I found useful. Please note that I do not endorse any of the suppliers shown in this blog.
About Boat Batteries
We finally got underway into Blackwater Sound. After finding a spot we began to fish. We changed spots after a while but on the third move the engine refused to start. We had run out of gas.
Luckily we were able to hail a passing boater and they towed us to the the nearby fuel station. I learned the hard way to secure my line to a line guide because when the rope we were being pulled by shifted it took out the bow running light. Replacement cost 22.00.
We filled up, added oil and were on the way.
 

Ramp Antics and More Lessons

I’ve described what a stressful procedure it is to tow a boat and back it up down a boat ramp. Well, it’s nothing compared to having to retrieve the boat and not having anything but an “idea” of how it’s supposed to be done.
On our maiden voyage when it was time to return to the ramp my performance was not the best of it’s class. I was told to “Power Load” the boat unto the ramp so first I had to get the SUV and back it into the water. Get out of the truck, run to the dock and bring the boat in. I was able to “Power Load” it on my second attempt. I secured the boat and when I went to pull it out the SUV would not budge. I realized that Rosemary in an attempt to help me by backing the vehicle had pulled the emergency brake on. I realized this and took drove the boat out of the water to be washed down and get the engine flushed.
We accomplished this in a timely manner. There were other’s waiting but as I drove off I was hailed by another boater because I had not bought up the engine for trailering! WOW! That indeed would have been disastrous. It could have damaged the engine and even torn off the transom.
I later discovered that “Power Loading” is definitely not recommended nor safe. Winching up the engine may take a longer time but you have to remember it’s your safety and your investment at stake. The onlookers can wait an additional five minutes.
Why You Shouldn't Power Load
We survived the maiden voyage and I took that Monday off to enjoy an outing with my girlfriend. We had a very nice day and even the Ramp Antics were toned down.
That week I decided to purchase a Depth/Fish Finder and began my shopping. Once again using the Red Laser ap I found a Lowrance Mark 5X for 150$ at the GPS Store. I chose the Lowrance model because of it’s 5” screen. I got it in monochrome because honestly who really cares about seen the screen in color. I figured that I would using the unit to keep track of the depth instead of actually finding fish. Till now I’ve used it just for that and now that I am actually fishing I use it to evaluate the bottom. Beware of on line pricing because many times these units are “Factory Serviced”, meaning “ReBuilt” or do no include the transponder.
Lowrance Unit Write Up May-2013 on Amazon.com
Adequate with Flaws…
I purchased this unit a year a go and within a month, due to my negligence, it was submerged and did not work. I mailed it to Lowrance for service/replacement. I received the unit back in an adequate turn around time. Remember this is warranty work and you are not dealing with a short order fry cook! I am not sure if the unit is the same one I send in but they stated that it would not be covered any more under the warranty. I have been quite careful ever since.
I regret not purchasing a fishfinder/chartplotter combo unit and for the most part I use the unit as a navigation aid. I done most of my fishing in the Biscayne Bay area and keep an eye out on the depth when navigating. I usually plan my trip, arrive at the spot and troll around while using the unit to get a feel for the bottom by observing the screen. I use the Navionics Ap on my Galaxy Note along with four batteries as a GPS (I spend up to 12 hours at a time out) This method has saved me over 300$ from buying a combo and allows me to plan my fishing trips in the comfort of my living room-but I still would have enjoyed having the combo!
I don't have any complains about the screen's visibility in bright light. It usually sits in the shade of my bimini top. At times I have gotten erratic depth readings (2 ft in 14 ft water) but it happens temporarily and it's not a chronic problem. I would think that it has to do with the transducer or voltage irregularities from the boat batteries.
As described by other reviewers the instructions are very basic but with practice and fisherman's patience you will be able to figure them out and apply the features to your specific needs. I know that I have not exploited all the features this device offers.
As noted at the beginning I regret that I did not purchase the FF/GPS combo. Tight lines.

Bad Fishing Day, Another Boat Headache

 

On the weekend of Father’s Day I went out on the boat to what I did not expect to be a promising day of fishing.

Recently I downloaded an ap called “Fishing Calendar” by Mobile Software. This ap supposedly takes into consideration the Moon and Sun phases along with the tides and other tangents and predicts the daily “fishing efficiency”.  Last weekend it predicted Sunday to be at 64%. I made matters more difficult by launching at 9 AM. We were at my targeted fish spot by 11 AM and as expected the fishing was non-existent to the point that my girlfriend who refuses to go offshore in boat asked me how I thought the seas would be offshore!

 

All we caught were some undersized Lane Snappers and after dodging a rain cloud we took off to the Miami River. Once there we went up the River and entered “Little River”. The view was amazing as the canal was lined up with boats behind nice residents. In over 50 years in Miami I had no clue this area existed. As we were navigating the narrow stretch we reached the end and had to turn back. As I did I was a submerged palm frond in the water and it went under the boat and jammed against my engine. I immediately turned off the engine.

I had to dislodge the frond and began to raise the engine. To my dismay the trim motor did not activate. I went on and using the fileting knife I cut the frond to pieces and successfully dislodged it from the engine.

We had an entire box of chum left and about two dozen shrimp but Rosemary was starved and I did not want to continue fishing with the prospect of having problems at the dock. I decided to call  it a day.

Sure enough when I arrived at the dock I could not get the engine to go up. I diagnosed the problem as a discharged battery but the engine would turn on without any hesitation. I knew the trim motor has two solenoids and my next idea was to check these out. However the solenoids are mounted on the side and there was not possible way to look at them so I had to dismount the motor from it’s bracket. Once I did I realized that one of the wires, a 2” ground bridge wire, had rusted and come loose. I simply touched the wire to the solenoid terminal and the engine went up.

Note the loose wire on the right

That week I cleaned and replaced the wires on the solenoid with heat shrink connections and liquid tape on the connections that were not heat shrunk. I would have liked to change the nuts with stainless steel fittings but I realized standard fittings do not fit Arco Solenoids. The following week I was ready to go out again.

It Won't Start

As mentioned previously a few weeks a go i purchased an onboard battery charger from Bass Pro Shops. It is an XPS 5/5 model to recharge dual batteries. Because of the possibility of adding a trolling motor in the future I may have made a mistake by not buying a charger capable of working three batteries but I feel that decision may be months away.
The advantage of having a unit like this is that all you have to do is connect an extension cord to it and both batteries will be charged and maintained with little effort and time. Great to see the "Go Fish" green light that indicates the batteries are ready to go.
I decided to mount the charger to the thin fiberglass wall of the battery compartment in front of the console.
I was concerned with the unit's operating temperature which in a number of product reviews was described as "running hot" so I mounted the unit to a piece of 1/4" starboard. I cut out a recesses where I placed the screws so that once I would mount on the compartment it would lay flush. I used stainless steel 1 1/2" screws with washers.
Once done i proceeded to mount the unit onto the fiberglass wall.
Like many, I hate to drill any new holes into the the boat so I used a pair of holes that had been drilled to install some fasteners to hold down a boat cushion that I don't use. Once again I used the same #10 1 1/2" screws and installed washers both on the head and nut ends. I used a washer on the head so it would hold the weight of the unit better and avoid tearing through the fiberglass wall with use. Remember the boat will bounce while underway and the unit's weight can easily tear it off the wall leaving a large hole. The washer helps distribute the weight at the attachment point.

Note the piece of starboard the battery is mounted on. 

This works as a :"heat sink" in case the unit gets hot. 

Also seen are the new battery cables.

The circle seen on the bottom left of the EXP is where

I will run the electrical extension used to 

charge the batteries

I tripled checked that all connections were proper. All my grounds including the starter battery's were connected to the deep cycle battery's negative post. Except for the bilge pump and trim motor which were connected directly to the battery switch, i connected the rest of the accessories to a bus and those i connected to the deep cycle battery.

Everything was in place and I proceeded to lower my engine, installed the rabbit ears, pumped gas into the engine, turned on the water hose, jumped unto the boat, put the throttle in neutral, turned on the battery switch to #2 (cranking battery), held my breath and turned the ignition key.....nothing! Not even a click!
After turning the key a few more times, looking at the wires, expecting to see a short. Everything in it's place. I touched all the cables, nothing seemed warm (short circuit?). I took off the engine cowling and heard a clicking sound coming from the solenoid. I tested the solenoid and that was OK here is a link for testing a solenoid on a Mercury Outboard Engine...

Testing a Mercury Outboard Solenoid 

After that I was a bit baffled and worried that it may have been the starter motor, stator, trigger or switch box, all expensive engine components.

I had replaced the starter less than a year ago but it was the first thing that I was going to test. I hit it a couple of times with a rubber hammer, and jumped the battery cable directly to the input cable. Nothing. But I did realize there was no spark either. This happens when the ground wire is not connected.
I ran a automotive jumper wire from the negative terminal on the cranking battery to the ground terminal on the starter and I tried it again. The starter roared to life! The ground wire was the culprit. I reassembled the wires and tried it again using the ignition but still using the jumper wire to connect the ground...the starter turned and the engine roared to life flawlessly. I let it run a few minutes then disconnected the fuel hose so it would burn the fuel/oil in the carburetor and turn off.

From there I went on line and ordered new 12 ft 2AWG Red and Black battery-engine wires with 3/8 lug posts from Gregg's Marine Wire Supply. This is a very well priced source from which I had already ordered cables for the cranking battery and was very impressed by the quality and workmanship of the cables.   I ordered the wires on Monday night and they arrived on Friday in time for my planned Saturday night outing.

I also ordered a replacement cable for switch to positive terminal t6 the deep cycle battery. I had been using an automotive wire and could see rust already building up on it.

Installation was relatively simple. Just carefully match the wires to the proper terminals on the battery and you are done. In order to run the wires from the motor to the console I used electrical cable ties to connect the new wire to the old through the battery lugs. Then I wrapped them with electrical tape so that the wire would not snag as I pulled and pushed them through. It worked like a charm.

New and Old Cables

First connected them using wire ties, then wrapped it in 

electrical tape to avoid getting the wire snagged as I pulled/pushed it through

Pulling the ground wire from the console

Everything was ready and sure enough when I tested the engine it roared to life.

I went out fishing that Saturday night as well as on Sunday morning. I wish fishing would have been as easy as fixing the wires.

Smooth Seas and Tight Lines.

Onboard Battery Charger

A  few weeks ago before leaving on a fishing trip I went to test my boat and as I was turning the engine (be sure you have water running through the engine anytime you do this) smoke started to billow out of the console.
I immediately took out the fire extinguisher and sprayed down in the direction of what I thought was the source of the fire. I walked to the front compartment of the console where the other two batteries are stored and flames leaped a foot when I opened the compartment.
                      

Immediately after this mishap I inspected all batteries and found that only the cranking battery had been literally destroyed. I disconnected all wires from the batteries and connected one at a time to the battery switch and tried to turn on the engine. There was no reaction from either of the two batteries. I then took apart the switch and there was only a small “contact burn mark” on one of the plates. From there I went to West Marine and purchased a new switch for 52$. I realized that if I would have used the Red Laser ap I would have been able to buy the piece for as low as 30.94 from ManVentureOutpost.com but I wanted to go fishing that same day so….
I installed the new switch, turned the key and the engine immediately roared to life. I wonder how long this switch had been faulty and how much it has affected my starting.
On my third fishing trip I had accidentally left the battery switch on and my accessory battery had been drained to the point that after a short time out in the bay the battery was drained. I went on with the primary battery doing all the work.
Because of this mishap I decided to buy an on board charger and picked the Bass distributed XPS

XPS Bass Charger by Tackle Tour

I read a number of reviews regarding this charger and a few have warned that the charger runs hot. I plan to mount the charger in the front battery compartment and saw that the fiberglass wall is very thin at this spot. I expect the area if it doesn’t end up warping because of the heat it would probably begin to discolor. With this in mind I mounted the charger on a piece of 1/4 inch white starboard to act as a sort of heat sink.
In the meantime I have connected the batteries to the charger inside my garage. And it seems to work flawlessly. I’ve checked on the temperature and it’s not dramatically hot as described in the reviews. Perhaps they were describing a 3? bank unit.
I’m planning to be sure I have a deep cycle battery to run the accessories and a cranking battery strictly for starting the engine.
It’s the Salt Life Baby!