Boat Update

So, I got my boat back Wednesday from Arnold's Upholstery Shop.  Mr. Arnold completely redid all the vinyl - and added a few parts that weren't there before.  He also refinished the teak, and bolted the driver's seat back into place.

Unfortunately, since I'm the one who took the throttle apart, I was the one to put it back together.  Funny story - I left the bag of parts on the back of the boat and somewhere between the marina and home, it flew off.  Re-assembling the throttle just got a little more difficult!  I did manage to get it into working order after working on it Friday and Saturday, with the help of a few parts from the Home Depot, and one of those locking plastic ties.  It was a little loose, but it worked!

I put the earmuffs on, connected the water and attempted to start the boat..  After some work, I finally got it started, and it seemed to run fine.  That was Friday evening i think.  I tried again Saturday morning and it started right up.  Great!  The guy at Boatworks (who did my winterization) told me I was gonna need a new alternator belt soon, but I figured I could get in some boating this holiday and put on the new belt next week.

Emily and I headed to the lake around noon on Sunday - we went to the Vista Point boat launch at Jordan Lake, as Laurie's boyfriend Charles was camping there with the PWP folks.  Charles has a boat too, and runs an auto repair shop.

To make a long story short, I got it in the water and got it started.  The belt did some squealing, but as usual it eventually quieted down.  I was having some acceleration trouble - it's always had a spot where I'd have to back off the gas a little bit to avoid stalling then throttle up through the spot.. but this time it kept stalling on me.  Eventually I was able to get the boat to plane out, though it took a good 5 minutes to get through that "spot" in the throttle.  Charles suggests that the carberator might be gummed up or something.

We cruised around some, did some swimming, and then headed back to the campsite so Charles and company could grab some lunch.  My other sister Karen and her kids showed up about that time too, and we went back out on the water.  The boat started up just fine again, and we cruised around some.  We stopped at the vista point beach for a few minutes while I talked to Adrienne on the phone.  We decided to head back to the campsite area until Adrienne called from the docs.  The boat started up fine again.  Then I showed Karen how the boat was stalling through the "spot" in the throttle.

And then the boat died.  Click click click.  Boat wouldn't start.  I didn't think it would've been a dead battery, but sure enough, the gauge read 10.5 volts - enough to run the blower, the radio, the bilge pump - but not enough to turn over the engine!

So we called Charles, who came out and towed us back to the dock.  Our day at the lake was done.  Upon further inspection, I noticed the alternate belt had snapped.  No wonder the battery was dying!!

Oh well.  I guess I needed an alternate belt "sooner" rather than "later"!

So after we got the boat home, I charged up the battery and it started just fine again.  Thank goodness!  Charles offered to help me out so I'm gonna take the boat over to his shop this week sometime, and have him put on a new alternator belt and check out the carburator.  We'll have it as good as new in no time.

Probably needs an oil change too.

Ah, the joys of boating!  It's a little frustrating sometimes, owning an older boat, but damn I love being out on the water!  The water was awesome this weekend too... water temp in the low to mid 70s maybe, air temps near 90.  About a billion people on the lake too.