lake erie trip and my year up to date

[sherman51]

hey everybody this is pretty long, so if you dont want to read it, its all ok.

just got back from my trip to erie this year. some of you already know this year hasnt been real good to me. i didnt get my boat out of the shop until late june. and had to do all the rigging before our trip the first of aug. so i really didnt have time to water test her. and besides i had just paid the crooks at the marina 2900.00 to make sure she was ready to go.

i hadnt registered the boat because i put her in the shop as soon as i got her home last oct. so when i went i was told i had to have a re-assignment of title. i couldnt get in touch with the lady i bought the boat from. so they told me i had to get a court order for a title. it costed 150.00 to file the case. then the seller emailed me. and she told me her state was a non title state and she couldnt give me a re-assignment of title. that i shouldnt need one from a non title state. so i went back to the license branch and told them what she had said. so after about 2 hours and having to remind them about 50 times i bought the boat in a non title state, they issued me what i needed. the 150.00 was just wasted. if they had just looked in there book they would have seen i didnt need the re-assignment. the bill of sale i had was all i needed.

so now my son changes the oil in my car. and i let a friend use it to go get a water line for my bathroom. he calls a few minuets later and says the car had just died on him. my son hadnt put the oil back in the car and the motor is locked up tight.

so its time to head up to erie for 2 weeks. i use 12 volt coolers for my nightcrawlers. so i buy 500 of them, then just for fun i buy 10 dozen of the green crawlers. i put them in seperate coolers. then i hook the truck up to the boat. and before we get started i notice this big wet spot under the truck. and remember my son saying the brakes felt funny when he was backing it up. the main brake line to the back had busted. this was on sunday. i know a guy that has a auto shop so first thing mon morning i ask him for a favor. to get me in quick so we can get on the road.

i had bought 2 batteries from a guy on the forum. im sopposed to meet him in columbus and pick them up. so we get there and stop at the flying j truck stop. i get out and start checking things out. i have a flat tire on the back of my truck. so we just buy a plugging kit and plug it ourselves. now this is a 10 ply truck tire. and i cant get enough pressure to push the reamer in the nail hole, so i lay down scoot under the truck and start pushing as hard as i can. about that time i felt something hot on my leg. i hardley ever wear shorts. but my wife talks me into it. but anyway i had put my leg to the exhaust pipe and burned this big spot on my leg. but got it done.

got to the campground about 10:30 mon night. had alittle trouble finding our reserved spot. then figured it out, some jerk was trying to get a free nights camping. he had our spot. i had to wake him up and ask him to move. he started getting alittle snotty and said we wasnt sopposed to get there until the 20th. and i told him that was when we were leaving. that we had that spot rented the day before but was running late. and told him its getting late now and he needs to just leave. my son told him there was another empty spot across the road. he started getting smart and said he was just going to wall marts parking lot. and he left.

now the worms, the 500 i bought was just loose in dirt, the 10 dz was in styrofoam boxes. the cooler the boxes was in stopped working. so i just took the boxes out and set then in on top of the cooler the other worms were in. well we were greeted with thunderstorms and very high winds. so it was a few days before we could get out. we started to get some worms to take out fishing. well i had screwed up big time. where i had put the boxes on top of the other worms it had inselated them from the cooler in the lid. so my 500 worms were dead. the green ones in the boxes were in great shape. so i learned not to put styrofoam on top or your worms. the bad thing is i had brought 3 extra coolers just in case, and for taking smaller amounts out in the boat.

well everybody we talked to had said to go to conny to fish. that it was much better than geneva. so thats what we did. its about a 50 mile drive from geneva state park campgrounds where were staying. but we get ready to take off, and the left engine had to be put in reverse to go forward. i knew right away what i had done. this is my first twin engine boat. and the props were getting pretty rough. i had a high 5 five blade prop on my old boat and another high 5 for a spare. so i just put them on my new boat. well that didnt work as planned, the port side takes a counter rotating prop. and the ones i put on are both right hand props.

then we get on the water and its still alittle rough but fishable. and everybody is saying the fish are scattered from the storms. we catch 1 then nothing for awhile then another one. its real slow. i got a migrain headache. when i get these i cant see very good. about this time we get turned side ways. and notice some of our dipsy rods are tripped and tangled. we reel that side in and start cutting and retieing. i cant see the line to tie things back on. so i just go down in the cabin out of the way. one of the lines that got cut still had the diver out. so my daughter-n-law started wrapping the line around a cresant wrench until she gets it in. and she goes off, there is a nice 7 or 8 lb walleye on it and she loves it. well by the time they get the mess cleaned up they are both alittle sick. we have 5 nice eyes from about 5 lbs to about 8 lbs. and one real nice steelhead. so they want to call it quits. im out of comission for the next little while so i say its up to them.

we get started in and the starbord engine is overheating. we had to shut it down and limp in on one engine in reverse to go forward. but we make it. its about 1:00 pm when we start. its about 5 when we get home. so the next day we work on the boat. its got a new raw water pump on it. the only thing we find is its about 3 quarts low on coolant. we start it and run it with water going to the pick up for the raw water pump. its stays cool. a few days later we get back out. were running along about 9 miles out and about half way out and the engine just dies. we get 1 fish, and limp back in with one motor. the next day we try to find out whats wrong. we use starting fluid and it fires then just dies. i clean some of the connections and just wiggle things around hoping to find something. well after about 2 hours of this i tell my son to just put it in neutral and try it. it starts right up and runs good. we get back out in a few days. we wanted to fish close and had marked fish. so we went out at geneva. it ran good all the way out. and we trolled for a few hours and had 2 fish. so we gave up and planned to go over to conny the next few days. the weather was going to be good the next 3 or 4 days. we headed in and went about 1/2 mile she backfired and died. we couldnt get her to even fire. so we limped back in again.

we worked on it the next day at the campgrounds. found out that we wernt getting any fire to the plugs at all. and the weather forcast was right for a change, we had a couple of stray thunderstorms. but not much wind and calm water. but we spent those 4 days in the camp playing dice games and just camping with the family. and just knowing the other guys are out there catching fish,LOL.

the next time you have a bad day think about my whole year, and say what i say to keep going. it could have been alot worse. and im no quitter, so were not only planning on our 2 week trip next july but were planning to try and make a few more trips. if im still able to fish and gas prices dont go any higher. we plan to get the boat running again and put a left hand prop on her,LOL. then just take her up the first trip to geneva and store her up there for the season.

oh yea i almost forgot. on the way home i decided to stop and rest for alittle bit. so we stopped in a rest area and i went back to the old motorhome and started the generator and turned the air on. about that time the generator stopped and the pretty blue smoke just rolled out. then it wouldnt even turn over and smelled really bad.

i thought i would get home and just not come out for the rest of the year. oops that wont work, got home and our house air was broken,LOL. you wander why i say LOL. well its either LOL or sit down in the middle of the floor and cry like a little girl that has broken her best doll.,LOL. i choose to LOL. good luck and good fishing to you all.

sherman

[danthebuilder]

You need to tell Murphy to take his law & go pick on someone else for a while.

[shu9265]

Holy cow Sherman ! ! !

I feel really lucky, after ready about your trip and troubles.

About all I can say is "it will get better"

Next season, when you get to Geneva, give me a call, I'm only 2.5 hours from there.

You and the family can come up to NY and catch some salmon if you would like to, or fish walleye with me on my boat.

Bill

[sherman51]

Holy cow Sherman ! ! !

I feel really lucky, after ready about your trip and troubles.

About all I can say is "it will get better"

Next season, when you get to Geneva, give me a call, I'm only 2.5 hours from there.

You and the family can come up to NY and catch some salmon if you would like to, or fish walleye with me on my boat.

Bill

hey bill

thank you for your offer. and if next year isnt better than this one i may just take you up on that walleye offer,LOL.

but im sure things could have been worse. and im almost positive things can and will be better next year. i,ve had alot of good years. i just had alot of bad ones rolled up into this one. i still have a positive outlook for next year.

in II deep had a bad start this year and his luck turned around. mine just never got on the right track. i,ll have alittle more time to get things right next year. the marina kept my boat untill the end of june this year. thats not going to happen next year. and i already got all the rigging done on it now. so all i,ve got to do is get the one engine running. and im pretty sure its just something like a bad coil or the electronic ignition. i can track that down myself. i,ll be back with bells on next year,LOL.

sherman

[KJ pluggin]

Sorry to hear about the rough year Sherman.

[Prime Time 2]

And I thought I was the only one with these kind of problems, I do think we are close though.

2008, July fourth weekend, we are in erie for a whole week. started with one day on the water,First time out and boat ran great,cought 4 nice ones, next day left the dock and headed for the trenches out of walnut creek, boat started to realy make some noises like lifters and than I noticed the temp gage was off the top, as I stoped, it stalled and locked up. We are four miles out in three ft. seas, Dead in the water, Well I flag down another fisherman going in, He towed us in and we get on the trailer and I take it to a local marina, I told them I wanted it for our trip in august so just fix it right!

Well two weeks later I call and find out they didn't touch it yet but will this week. Call again and they say they got the drive off but do not have the motor out, Call again and motor is still not out, We are going to be in erie for ten days in two weeks, no problem. Call day before we leave and I am told that the heads are cracked, new ones wont be in for a week, Well no boat for ten day vacation, I have to buy a bike and ride around the peninsula while others are just pounding the fish. Ok, We are going back to erie in two weeks for a weekend, yep it will be done, good. Well back to erie we go, pull in to set up camper and off to the marina I go, It's 5:00 and when I walk in the motor is on the floor, I just got done putting it together he said and I'll have it done by Monday. I was Pissed! Look I will not leave here without my boat, so tell me what to do and lets get this together, No he said I'll put it together tomorrow, I said no, now or it goes into the truck as is and we can be done.., So we start, and at 2am we are running, sounds good. but has a miss. lets sea trial at 9:00 am. Sleep for little while then back to lake, carb was not right and oil leaking all over in bilge. Left it there again, two weeks later, I'm back, Lets fish and off we go, Boat kept stalling at the dock but ran good w.o.t., After we fished for about a hour I looked in the bilge area and saw lots of oil, milky,what a mess.. Good thing I carry extra oil along. Back to him again, and than Its winterized, long winter of wondering, So back for the first run next year, Into the water and off to fish, Still stalling at the dock, and after about four hours not much of an oil leak but has some, so after we get on the trailer I head to a different marina for some oil and as I pull into the lot with boat in tow, The trailer axle snaps!, This is a thirty ft. boat on a tandem, Now 2 New axles, new carb and now it runs great, Ah look there is a newer boat, ya maybe less problems, ok, sold the old, and after

spending about $8000.00 its someone elses.

Do you think the new one will be any different??

BOAT, $$ about another thousand $$

Hay sherman If you get to erie your welcome also, I just love to be on the water and catch some eyes.

Oh ya, The marina that did the work is now out of business so no one else has to worry,

The new guys I go to are great to work with.

[sherman51]

this is an old post but it was nice of you to tell us about your problems. i have had another yr since i first posted this. this yr i took my old boat to erie. things started out alittle bad. the boat would die every time i went into reverse. but it went into forward ok. so we went fishing, and did real good for a few days. then my son had to come home and work a few days. so i put the boat in the shop and said fix it. he said he would check it out in a couple of days. my son got back and i still hadnt heard from them on the boat. so we go check on the boat. he said he would get to it that day. he calls a few hrs later and says the boat is ready to go. we pick up the boat and he tells us he adjusted the shift cable. he said the water line from the outdrive to the boat is leaking. after our vacation we need to get that fixed.

the next day we go fishing. we have a so so day and head in. about half way in i look down and were running hot. about that time the motor starts to rattle. i slow down and shut it off. we anchor down and let it cool. then we start back up and head on in. if i try to run faster than a fast idle the motor starts to overheat. so we idle on in.

we get home and im thinking if the water hose is that bad then the bellows is probably getting bad also. and the boat had started dieing again every time i put it in neutral or reverse. so i figure i might as well get a new shift cable. so i just decided to do it right. i put it in the shop and tell then i want a new water line and bellows kit and shift cable and gimbel bearing and u joints.

they call me up in a few days and said they pulled the outdrive and found the drive coupling was worn out. they want me to come look at it. all that was left of the teeth on the drive coupling was little nubs. it would have went out at any time. so i said change it. they call me up about 2 weeks later and it is ready to go.

i took it down to brookville lake for a test run. we go out tubing and run for about 1 1/2 hours. we pull up in a cove and do some playing in the water. we get back in the boat and take off. i hit the gas and it doesnt take off and is making some strange noise. i think they have screwed something up. i take it back to the shop. after a couple of days i go back out there. the mechanic says i have not one but two blown head gaskets. he says he has checked the heads and they are ok. so i tell him to put new gaskets on it. when i finelly get the boat back it is already cold weather. then i get to talking to the mechanic and find out the way he checked the heads was by just looking at them. he hadnt magnaflexed them for cracks or surfaced the heads incase they were warped. so i bring the boat home and put it in the pole barn.

as it was to cold to take the boat out on the water i am stuck with the boat out in the pole barn not knowing if it is fixed or not. so i have to worry all winter if its fixed or not. it will have to be warm weather before i can put the boat on the water and see if the heads leak. so now i have put about 4500.00 in the boat and dont even know if i can use it.

sherman