Time to get the boat ready!

Okay Jordan Lake is still cold (58 degrees as of Friday).  But it's warming up and the weather is certainly getting nicer - it was 80 degrees here yesterday!

Last year, I didn't get the boat ready until Memorial Day (by then, around here, it's summer and the water is plenty warm to swim).  But that's because I was having the upholstery redone, and though the guy who did it did a fantastic job at a VERY affordable price, he did have the boat for like 8 weeks!

I got the boat from the dry storage at the Marina yesterday and brought it home.  For those of you not in the know, it's a 1986 Glastream 172 (17" bowrider) with a 140 horsepower Mercruiser stern drive.  Nice little recreational boat, good for tubing, runs fairly well.

I took the cover off, cranked the throttle, and started it up (after a few attemps).  It actually started pretty well this year, but I didn't winterize it until well into January so it really hasn't been that long.  I hadn't technically had the boat on the water since the end of July (bad drought), so it really put out some smoke.  I took a look at the exhaust - oops, forgot to take the plast ic bag off!  lol.  Turns out having the bag tightly wrapped around the exhaust caused the air intake valve to pop loose on the engine but I didn't notice it until a bit later.  Funny how the engine needs oxygen.  After I corrected that issue it ran cleanly and stopped smoking.  Phew!

Of course, my blower doesn't work so I ordered a new one from Overtons.  Only $20 and should be pretty easy to install (hopefully) so that's good.

Charles (my sister's boyfriend) might go out Saturday with me for a test run.  It was misbehaving a little last summer.  Charles owns Techniquest Auto in Cary.  I'm probably going to be redesigning his web site in exchange for his services =)

I took the boat over to my dad's this evening, and he and I replaced the rotted running boards on the trailer with new ones (had to buy a sheet of plywood and some outdoor carpeting), and we finally put the two front seats back on hinges.  I bought the hinges last summer but just never got around to putting them on.  So the front seats just kinda sat there loose.

Other than the blower, she's pretty much ready to go I think.  I still haven't gotten around to installing the stereo.  I could do it myself except for the wiring.  I removed the old wiring to the old stereo because it wasn't done properly, but I don't know enough about wiring to know where to correctly hook up the wiring.  The physical installation of the new stereo itself should be pretty easy, actually.  I posted something on craigslist looking for someone in the area who is familiar with boat writing and car stereo installation.  I don't really want to take it someplace like Best Buy cuz I don't think they'd have a clue.