My New (to me) Boat

[Duraflame]

Here's my 1998 Hydra Sports 2250 Anniversary Edition with a 2001 Yamaha ox66 225hp. The hard part was pulling it home from SC, now the easy but expensive part of rigging it up.

Things to do:

- Install kicker engine on new Garelick mount, part on order.

- Purchase and install Seastar Kicker steering cable.

- Purchase and install rod and DR mounting track on gunnel and hardtop.

- Purchase and install new Scotty DR's.

- Purchase slip and get boat in water, need some help from Mother Nature on this one.

- Purchase and install new auto bilge pumps.

- Purchase docking lines, bumpers, interior cushions.

Yikes, seeing all this on here makes me a little sick. Oh well, I'm off to the bank. Hope to be on the water in 30 days.

[fishsniffer]

nice ride scott

[N II Deep]

Very Nice Scott,

[SeaCatMich]

Looks great!

Are you going to get it bottom painted too since you're getting a slip?

[Boss Hawg]

Nice Rig. How was the haul home? I'm getting ready to head to Florida in a couple weeks to bring mine home. I'm a bit nervous about that but I want to get my eyes on it even after I have had a surveyor look at it.

[Priority1]

Scott, VN boat. They are a well made boat.

[Duraflame]

Looks great!

Are you going to get it bottom painted too since you're getting a slip?

I hadn't thought about painting the bottom. I read some other forums on it, and it's a 50/50 split on whether to do it or not. I know the kazoo river is pretty dirty, so I could easily pull it out every month and clean it. The other concern is blistering. I'll go unpainted this year and see how it does.

Thanks,

[Duraflame]

Nice Rig. How was the haul home? I'm getting ready to head to Florida in a couple weeks to bring mine home. I'm a bit nervous about that but I want to get my eyes on it even after I have had a surveyor look at it.

The ride was long, about 14hrs. The previous owner, who owns a tire shop, put new tires on the trailer, as he didn't want me to have any trouble. However, 40 miles into the 850 mile trip, I blew the back passenger side tire. I called the owner, and he sent a local guy to put on the spare, which had no rim. The failure was a bad valve stem. So, make sure you check them, as they will leak air as centrifugal force increase with speed.

After that, the trip was pretty smooth. I hauled it with a GMC 2500 HD diesel, and the boat gave it a good workout through the mountains in NC and TN. Then I had 30mph headwinds through KY, IN and into MI, so it killed my MPG. I averaged 18.8 on the way down, and 13.8 hauling the boat back up. Didn't help that the fuel prices spiked that week, as it was the first week of spring break, averaging $4.15/gal.

Safe travels.

[SeaCatMich]

Only took about 2 months of not having bottom paint on a boat I had up in Ludington before I had it painted. Ludington/Pere Marquette is a whole lot cleaner than Saugatuck/Kzoo river . Power washing at the car wash required lots of scrubbing with a stiff brush and by the end of June the slimey algae growth was heavy enough to need cleaning every two weeks or the boat was a lot harder to get on plane. It amazed me that the stuff didn't come off when cruising at 30 mph in a nice 2' chop, but it didn't. A key to a good bottom paint is to have a barrier coat paint applied first. Keeps the water out of the gellcoat and also makes applying new bottom paint easier.

When I moved to St. Joe and got the SeaCat, I didn't want to paint the bottom to prevent the gellcoat from blistering, so I bought a boat lift instead. Made it easy to keep the hull clean plus made it easier to get on board with fluctuating water levels (high in spring, low in summer/fall). When I calculated the cost of the lift compared to bottom painting and maintenance it was cheaper after 4 seasons. I was then able to sell the lift for about 1/2 of what I had in it and the net overall cost was actually lower than painting... plus I still have the nice clean unpainted fiberglass hull.

I was also

[Nailer]

Sweet!!

[Duraflame]

Only took about 2 months of not having bottom paint on a boat I had up in Ludington before I had it painted. Ludington/Pere Marquette is a whole lot cleaner than Saugatuck/Kzoo river . Power washing at the car wash required lots of scrubbing with a stiff brush and by the end of June the slimey algae growth was heavy enough to need cleaning every two weeks or the boat was a lot harder to get on plane. It amazed me that the stuff didn't come off when cruising at 30 mph in a nice 2' chop, but it didn't. A key to a good bottom paint is to have a barrier coat paint applied first. Keeps the water out of the gellcoat and also makes applying new bottom paint easier.

When I moved to St. Joe and got the SeaCat, I didn't want to paint the bottom to prevent the gellcoat from blistering, so I bought a boat lift instead. Made it easy to keep the hull clean plus made it easier to get on board with fluctuating water levels (high in spring, low in summer/fall). When I calculated the cost of the lift compared to bottom painting and maintenance it was cheaper after 4 seasons. I was then able to sell the lift for about 1/2 of what I had in it and the net overall cost was actually lower than painting... plus I still have the nice clean unpainted fiberglass hull.

I was also

OK, well I did some more research and spoke to the head mechanic at my marina, and I've decided to get it painted. I'm getting three coats of barrier paint, and two coats of SR-21 for $1300. From what I researched online, it appears to be a decent price. At least I'll have some peace of mind now. Plus they are installing my kicker mount and engine, which is one less thing on my to do list, for an additional $80, I'm providing the parts. Next time I see my boat, it will be in the water in about a week. A full 20 days ahead of schedule.

[Duraflame]

It feels so good to see the boat in the water. I took it out last Saturday and cruised around the icebergs, it was a really neat thing to witness. It was like a scene from the movie "Orca"

Update on the upgrades:

- Kicker is installed, decided to have the marina mount it, as I didn't have the time or energy. Only problem is that the cable I was going to use to tie it into the hydraulic steering won't work, so I have to figure out how to steer with the kicker.

- I picked up the Traxstech and I'll be installing it this weekend.

- New Scotty electric down riggers should be arriving in a few days

- Installed new 5' VHF antenna

- Halfway done installing the new VHF radio

- Still need to get spreader lights and a stereo

Should be ready for fishing in a couple weeks, just in time for ice out.