Hey all,
I'm new here, but I've been a part of several other online communities. So I know how silly it is when the new guy comes in and says "uhh anybody help me with my new toy that I got and I don't know how to use?" I'm gonna try not to be that guy, so I'll share how I came into my Jet Boat with you and then you guys can give me any advice you see fit or tell me to get lost either way I'm happy.
So it all started about 2 years ago. My friends and I work for a burger chain in Nor Cal and at the time we just got a new area Manager up from So Cal. We'll call him Joe. Well Joe is originally from Romania and when he moved to So Cal and saw his friends with boats he decided he wanted one. So one day he was browsing EBAY and "accidentally" bid on this ugly ass brown 1974 Cobra Jet... well turns out he won the auction and had to drive to Texas to pick up his new found toy. As it turns out Joe has never worked on a car/truck/boat or bicycle for that matter. In fact his motto is "if it doesn't come from Ethan Allen I don't own it" Needless to say he never got the boat running or took it out since he picked it up from Texas.
Fast forward to when Joe moved to Nor Cal and started supervising my good friends that work under him now. When these guys found out that Joe had a Jet Boat with a 455 in his driveway they said "well get it running for you". So they bought a battery, changed the oil, put in new plugs and wires, and fired her up! All good right? Wrong.
Instead of going on the water just the two of them to test her out, they invited their wives, kids, Joe, his wife and infant son to have a grand ole time. They launched and it was going well until one of the kids was splashing about near the back of the boat saying "Mommy look! Theres water back here!" They turned the boat around but by then the motor started bogging down and stalled out. They were about 300 yards from the dock and the men jumped in and started swimming the boat back to the shore. Luckily they were able to trailer the boat and get it back home. Correction they towed it back to my friends house cause Joe wanted nothing to do with the boat.
So there it sat for the better part of a year, in the drive way. Joe even asked my friends wife to try to sell it on ebay/craigslist for him with only one problem IT WOULDN'T FLOAT!! Of coarse nobody bid, and so again the boat sat.
That brings us to early this year. I was on a company vacation with Joe and all my friends and we got to talking about the boat over a couple of drinks. I told him, "you know if you need someone to take that thing off your hands for you I will" I'm always looking for things to take apart and put back together again. So he said he'd think about it.
When we got home I waited a couple weeks and asked him again, and he said "take it"
The next day I drove out to my friends house, picked up the boat and drove it home. I spent some time looking around the thing, figuring out how things worked, fired up the motor, got it timed and running good. I have a lake about 15 mins from me so it wasn't too hard to go to the dock and test the boat. I learned from my friend's experience and backed the boat into the water but left it strapped to the trailer. After letting it sit there for a while I saw no leaks. When I started the motor water came gushing in under the engine.
So I took her home and took off the exhaust and there to my surprise were two missing freeze plugs out of the block. I thought to myself "it can't be this easy". I went to the auto parts store in town, spent $5 on new plugs and tapped them in.
This time I took her to the lake and again started the motor ran good and NO WATER! So I said the hell with it and launched the boat all alone (not to smart, but oh well) I couldn't believe how well it ran (at least in my eyes), it screamed up and down the lake.
I took it home and called my friends. Any one of those guys could have done what I did, and had a free boat on their hands, but they didn't. Joe could have taken it to mechanic for a $100 and had him diagnose the problem, but he didn't.
I did and I got me a free jet boat. I named her "The Root Beer Float" thanks to the God awful brown gold flake paint. Although she's not so free any more. This season called for a new carb, new distributor and some other odds and ends. I had one bad trip (rubber exhaust tubing cracked and boat sunk overnight ) and about 15 awesome trips. I even bought a pylon and towed some of my associates and myself on a wakeboard.
It was a great summer and just recently I pulled the motor to clean some stuff up and do some work.
My question for you guys is, while I have the motor out what should I do? Keep in mind I know nothing about Jet boats other than what I learned this summer (like dont leave the motor running with the ski rope in the water).
Also keep in mind that the boat was mostly free and I can't really mess it up.
Thanks,
Nick
pushingvws@gmail.com
p.s. here's some pics http://picasaweb.google.com/pushingvws/RootbeerFloat#