Project "Honor your Father" - Ultra quick boat project (I hope)

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Like I mentioned in my Cecilia thread my father had a heart attack and almost died. If not for the luck of having someone walk by and see him lying blue-faced on the sidewalk

To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?

he would be dead and in the ground with so much unsaid between us.


What I didn't say is is that his wife decided that she was going to leave him while he was in the hospital too. He won't be able to work anymore and that'll put a crimp on her finances (I'm guessing) so she's done. The divorce will be final in May.

Between now and then I'm fixing up his house enough to sell. I've repaired floors that were sinking (big job) and repaired a fiberglass bath tub so far. It's tough work in the heat. The fiberglass tub re-cracked though so I'll be patching that again I guess.

I also have to fix up a few holes in the walls. My dad...he's not much of a spit and polish guy. If he needs to repair something in a wall he'll cut a hole in the wall, do the repair, then caulk the wall piece back in.

That's right, like bathroom caulk! So I have to tear all that out and re mud it. I've been practicing at home and I think I can pull this off with a reasonable degree of success.

Finally, I have to rent (probably) two different UHaul big trucks and haul all of his stuff here with me and put it in storage. Then I'll move him up here and put him in a place he can live out his days visiting grandkids and going fishing and hunting with me. Wife and time permitting

To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Part of that goal requires a boat. "Ever' man oughta own a boat", he used to say. Well I never did but I've always kinda secretly wanted one. We'll see how it goes. Right now I'm leaning toward a used Ranger or Skeeter bass boat. That should be fun for he and I to fish off of and I can drag the wife up on a pair of skis from time to time too.

I've already looked at two. One was a no-name from the 1980s, but it wasn't decent enough for the wife to sign off on. The second was a Ranger from the 90's but the guy wanted too much money. I'm hoping to have something by May so we can get out on the water as quickly as possible. I'll update with pics after the next candidate shows up.

[bobdylan]

Try and find an aluminum boat, much lighter, does not require as much pwer to pull someone on skis. Lowe makes a nice boat and were made in Mo. Should be easy to find in kansas. Good luck. I will keep an eye out for one, I live north of Lawrence Ks.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Thanks for the tip Bob. I looked at an aluminum but the old man says they tend to crack at the seams and dents are tough to repair. Are you running aluminum?

[bobdylan]

yes I am running a 22 foot aluminum Lowe deck boat,has a live well and trolling motor, not pretty but gets the job done, Before that had a princecraft 17 foot fish and ski aluminum, had to go to the bigger boat because I have 6 kids at home. Aluminum are much lighter than fiberglass, also a dent when you hit somethingis better than that a hole ar crack you would get with fiberglass. Bob

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Hmm, I didn't think of that. I'll add Alums to my list of possibilities. I'm on a tight budget so it might come down to whatever is affordable, but that opens a bunch more possibilities. I didn't know they had live wells etc.

To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Well it's done, my friends! I'm now the owner of a 19 foot 1996 Skeeter. Super stable platform for old-man style fishin. I'll drop a ton of pics on the fix-it portion all at once so Ron doesn't beat on me again (haha) for having too many posts on non-GMC stuff.



To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?





I have to fix the motor. It won't start and overheats when it does. And I have to fix the seats plus a few other odds and ends. Let the learning experience begin!

[GMCDAC]

That looks like a great setup! "Ron" hasn't been back since the day after the tantrum over two years ago so I would let that go. Jeannie gave her approval to your project then and I'm sure she will now! Lets see some more pics and get Dad to pose with it!

DAC

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Well OK then. I've done a few things already. Pics will be up soon. Here's my repair list:

Trolling motor wire cover
Clean up wiring under dash
Front step pad
Skiing eyelet
Fish finder
Transducer
Spare Tire Hold-Down bolt
Oil pump-------------------------Check!
Title change---------------------Check!
Oil level gauge
Trim button in front
Skeeter side decals
Registration decals
Water pump
Spark plug-----------------------Check!
Seats----------------------------Check!
Bearing cap----------------------Check!
Bearing Zerk Screws
Bearing grease
Boat lights
Trim tab
Trailer lights
Skeeter brand Charger

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Ok here's a small picture drop. I got a Lawrance finder with it but it's not mounted or wired in. I need to do that. There's a ton of wires. At least there are also labels!



To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?




To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?







And the first thing I messed with - the oil injection system. These motors have a tank by the gas tank that is full of what seems to be weed eater style oil. There's a pump by that tank that pumps the oil into a reservoir on the engine, then a second pump in the motor dribbles oil into the carbs (there's 3!) from the reservoir. Mine wasn't pumping anything onto my tissue.



To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?








And behind my reservoir there was a busted off bolt. Turned out it wasn't a big deal, but I tried to drill it out anyway. I ended up making a mess.



To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?







Finally, here's me measuring the SKEETER on the side for new decals. Look at that sparkly paint! Nobody sells these older decals anymore so I had to order some made up. Cost me $15 whole dollars.

To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?





To view some links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Maybe you should introduce yourself with a new topic?