I had a long talk with the fiance tonight and I think I am giving up on the boats. Ive tried and tried and spent thousands and thousands of dollars. Ive had 4 boats in the past 3 years and have yet to have one that ran good.
First boat, 1989 23ft Gw Invader. Bought the boat in April 2003. Took it out three times then it started backfiring like crazy. Spent a ton of time learning and turning wrenches. Two months later I found the culprit, bad cam. Changed cam and springs and got it running. Took it out two more times and snapped the bravo one. Got a rebuilt drive and got that on, ran the boat a couple weekends and the floor began to feel soft. Tore it out to find rotted wood everywhere. Sold boat following spring and got 1/3 my money back.
April 2004, bought Mild Thunder. It was too cold to do a water test, (lake frozen), so they fired it up for me and it sounded healthy. First time out noticed low oil pressure. Fooled around changing gauges and sending units for a month. Turned out engine was shot. Brought it in shop, sat for almost 3 months till first week of august, and cost me 7k. Ran the boat for a month, then it was time for storage. Lost 9k on it.
May 2005, bought Chris Craft Stinger project. What was supposed to be a matter of dropping fresh power in, turned out to be too much of a project. Never got it in the water. Sold it 2 months later and made a couple bucks.
Three weeks ago I bought the Excalibur. Was told by several mechanics, the owner, and locals from the marina it was a sound boat. Since Ive had it, Ive had to turn wrenches day in, day out to try to get it to run right, and to find out today it needs a new engine due to metal shavings under the valve covers. Ive had it out three times, every time it ran like $hit.
Now I can either sell it as is, or put it in storage somewhere because frankly, Ive had enough. The past three seasons, Ive probably pi$$ed away 50 grand for maybe, maybe 75 hours of boating. Its not a fun sport anymore for me, its just bleeding knuckles, empty pockets, and making me absolutley miserable.
There is nothing I enjoy more than being on the water in a go fast with friends, but I just dont think I can do it mentally or financially anymore. If I get out of the sport, Ill still drop in from time to time to help share the little boat knowledge ive learned over the past few years.
MT
First boat, 1989 23ft Gw Invader. Bought the boat in April 2003. Took it out three times then it started backfiring like crazy. Spent a ton of time learning and turning wrenches. Two months later I found the culprit, bad cam. Changed cam and springs and got it running. Took it out two more times and snapped the bravo one. Got a rebuilt drive and got that on, ran the boat a couple weekends and the floor began to feel soft. Tore it out to find rotted wood everywhere. Sold boat following spring and got 1/3 my money back.
April 2004, bought Mild Thunder. It was too cold to do a water test, (lake frozen), so they fired it up for me and it sounded healthy. First time out noticed low oil pressure. Fooled around changing gauges and sending units for a month. Turned out engine was shot. Brought it in shop, sat for almost 3 months till first week of august, and cost me 7k. Ran the boat for a month, then it was time for storage. Lost 9k on it.
May 2005, bought Chris Craft Stinger project. What was supposed to be a matter of dropping fresh power in, turned out to be too much of a project. Never got it in the water. Sold it 2 months later and made a couple bucks.
Three weeks ago I bought the Excalibur. Was told by several mechanics, the owner, and locals from the marina it was a sound boat. Since Ive had it, Ive had to turn wrenches day in, day out to try to get it to run right, and to find out today it needs a new engine due to metal shavings under the valve covers. Ive had it out three times, every time it ran like $hit.
Now I can either sell it as is, or put it in storage somewhere because frankly, Ive had enough. The past three seasons, Ive probably pi$$ed away 50 grand for maybe, maybe 75 hours of boating. Its not a fun sport anymore for me, its just bleeding knuckles, empty pockets, and making me absolutley miserable.
There is nothing I enjoy more than being on the water in a go fast with friends, but I just dont think I can do it mentally or financially anymore. If I get out of the sport, Ill still drop in from time to time to help share the little boat knowledge ive learned over the past few years.
MT
