Maintenance Time! '86 Advance

[Daximus]

Dax  is there a wire in your 1.25" hose ?  If not it will collapse
I'll give a shout Monday

Dan T

Not a wire like exists on the old ones. Once I got home and tinkered a bit more I could tell there was a difference. We'll add that to my list, lol.

I have a conference call regarding a big project at 8 cst. I dunno how long it will last, hour...hour and a half, I don't know. I'll call you as soon as I can. Probably around 10am.

Thanks!

[Daximus]

Picture #1: Rebuilt strut seal. Still need's new teflon rope, but at least i figured it out!

Picture #2: Hey at least the tranny oil cooler is clean! Was half expecting a dead mouse in this thing. Happy happy happy.

Picture #3: Pulled out out the crappy muffler for measurements. I got 44 inches end to bend, 2-3/4 inlet, 2-1/2 outlet, and a 45 degree engine side. These measurements were taken after sunday afternoon tequila time (family tradition)...so I reserve the right to change my readings. 

Picture #4: Wake tower installation kit! Bandages not included. I've installed three of these, they suuuck.

[RonT]

Did you say electric fuel pump??? You may want to re-adjust your priorities on this project.

[Daximus]

Did you say electric fuel pump??? You may want to re-adjust your priorities on this project.

Yes, electric. Why?

[Daximus]

Did you say electric fuel pump??? You may want to re-adjust your priorities on this project.

Yes, electric. Why?

Plan on running it switched to oil pressure, for what that's worth.

[Daximus]

We are blessed to have guys like Ron and Dan to help us out. Thanks fellas.

You all have no idea how nice it is to have people so knowledgeable and so helpful (willingly) when it comes to these boats. My last boat was an old Glastron Carlson, great boat, but virtually nobody knows much about them...at least not the way these two guys know these boats. For instance, Ron could tell from my pictures that one of my measurements was an inch off, lol!

Still got some wiring issues to clear up, and some fuel delivery issues to work around, but I'm heading in the right direction. New propshaft, strut bearing, and shaft packing on the way!

[Daximus]

First off I know some of you are absolutely going to hate me for this. Fair enough. It's not the end of the world, just 16 3/8ths holes to fill if I ever decide to be a purest. 

I primarily wakeboard, my friends primarily wakeboard, my kiddo and all of my friend's kiddos try to wakeboard. I bought this boat to pull wakeboarders. A tower is really nice if you are a wakeboarder. Yes, one can definitely wakeboard without a tower, I've seen me do it, but having a tower makes it so much better. Plus with a tower I have a spot to hang some speakers, and speaker holes are much larger than 3/8ths of an inch.   

The way I figure, this boat had been rotting in a garage for the last 7 years. Now, it will be used weekly as intended...towing people around the lake every weekend all summer long for the next 27 years of it's life.

If it makes you feel any better, having this boat has prompted me to buy a slalom ski and give that whole sport a run later this summer, lol.

Sorry for the crappy pictures, getting dark out.

 

[Joel]

Its your boat... you do what makes you happy!  I think that tower looks pretty good.  Most towers look like crap on these boats.  If you dont mind me asking, what brand/make/model and price?  Also, can you mount a bimini on the tower?  One less thing to mount on the fiberglass   

Looking good - keep it up!!

Joel

[Daximus]

Its your boat... you do what makes you happy!  I think that tower looks pretty good.  Most towers look like crap on these boats.  If you dont mind me asking, what brand/make/model and price?  Also, can you mount a bimini on the tower?  One less thing to mount on the fiberglass   

Looking good - keep it up!!

Joel

This tower is from Big Air http://www.bigairpylons.com/

It is their "ice" tower, costs $599, or $775 with two rack combo like I have. (The racks, speaker cans, and such are where the real money is at.) And yes, they sell their own biminis that fit on or under the tower. $1120 would get you a tower, two racks, and one of their rack mounted biminis. Check the combo area of their website.

I can't speak highly of these guys and gals enough. This will be the third tower from them that I have installed and used. Small company out of Oklahoma USA, got their start 16 or so years ago building pylons and such. Great customer service, great build quality, and great prices.

I've called them two or three times with the simplest of questions and they are always super helpful. I stripped out two of the deck mount bolts installing last night. It was totally my fault, I called them this morning and tried to buy a couple replacements...they wouldn't take my money, just mailed out a couple more bolts to me. Gotta love a company like that.

Warning: Opinion to follow!

Most of the time people choose the wrong towers for their boats, aesthetically speaking. You can't install a big, complex tower on a boat with such an understated design as ours....that's how you get into the tuna boat look. On a 22 foot newer I/O you can install some of those big, complex towers (or the reverse facing ones), and they look fine because the boat sits up out of the water a lot and the hull design is busy. For our boats less is more. Keep it simple...old school.

I don't care much for polished towers either. Some boats can pull it off, but if the only thing chrome on your boat is the tower, it's gonna look out of place. My two cents...

Case in point picture #1, simple boat, simple tower, chrome windshield, chrome tower...looks pretty good to me. I went along the same path of thought, only black windshield, black tower.

Case in point picture #2, complex boat, complex tower...looks pretty good though. That tower would look like hell on my boat, and my tower would look like hell in that MC.






 

[Daximus]

Finished gettin the tower installed today. Waiting on a bunch of parts now, everything from a driveshaft to Perfect Pass to an L7. Would have taken some pictures but all I did was buff...from 9 am till 9:18 pm this evening. That sucked, bad. I'm not even done yet. I've literally built engines in less time.

The good news is the boat looks great, aside from scuffs, I have no paint issues. Kick ass.

[Daximus]

It's official, the boat is now obnoxious. Got the tower speakers installed, went with Kicker KMT60s...no Wet Sounds or anything, but then I don't need people a mile a way to hear me...just the guy on the end of the rope. That and I only want to run one amp for the whole system. These speakers over perform for the money.

Somewhat temporarily stuffed a pair of 10 inch Kicker Comps in the bow. Not sure I'm going to leave them there...starting to develop a rear seat frame/speaker box idea that fires them down. It's a work in progress.

Kicker 700.5 amp in route, still running things off my old Clarion 6410. Both are great amps...FYI.

Still need to mount some speakers in the actual boat somewhere. I don't want to cut anything, which makes that a tall order. The speakers on the tower fire backwards....leaving passengers hearing mostly bass. I'll figure something out.

Got my perko switch installed, cleaned up a few odds and ends.

Buffed the hell out of it. She cleaned up pretty well too. I need a proper buffer before I do that again.

Anyways...this is what happens when I'm waiting on parts, lol! Come on Thursday!

[Daximus]

New strut bearing in. New driveshaft and coupler in. New rope packed in the box! We might hit the water this weekend!

Still need to align the engine though. Good news is a have one helluva pry bar now!

I have some more pictures, but the camera is acting funny so I'll have to upload them later. Thanks again to Ron for answering all my dumbass questions...he is a man of supreme patience!

[Joel]

The boat is looking AWWWWWWWEEEEEESSSSSSSOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEE   

[Daximus]

The boat is looking AWWWWWWWEEEEEESSSSSSSOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEE   

Thanks man!

Just aligned the engine, I'm at less than .002! She wasn't out that bad once i got the new shaft and bearing installed. A little to the right and a little low in the arse. Hole in the hull was aligned perfectly, prop sits exactly one inch behind the strut. I'm a happy guy!

Gotta reassemble the rudder, going to go look for a new o-ring locally tomorrow. If I can't find one the old one will work. Cleaned up the mufflers, patched a hole. they still need replaced, but they will hold water for the rest of the season. Steering clamp needs replaced, but like the mufflers I think it will last out the season.

If all goes well, I'll be getting wet tomorrow on the test run!

Pics coming, camera is still pissed off.

[Daximus]

Almost forgot, look what else showed up today! Holy cow this thing is big, that's a standard sheet of paper beside it. Kicker 700.5 Marine (KM), mine tested out at 985 watts. Red Dragons.  It's a 5 channel amp capable of powering a tower setup, 4 in boat speakers, and up to three subs depending n how you wire them. (2 ohm mono sub load, 2 ohm stable on the other 4 channels as well). It will power an entire boat for any normal human being.

Can't say enough good things about Kicker either. I've been a Kicker fan forever, and there is a reason. The KMT60 I installed on the tower sounds amazing, but when installing it a busted one of the cast aluminum rack mounts by over tightening like an idiot. I called, just wanting a replacement...we went through my address and all that etc. When we got done they said "OK, we'll get it on the way". I responded "what do I owe you? What about shipping?" Their response, don't sweat it, must have been a bad casting. (Keep in mind, I didn't have a warranty as I bought it from a non authorized distributor (Amazon). Not many companies like that anymore.

Oh, and when you call, you get a human...from...Oklahoma, not India.  Keep that in mind when you start debating how decent the Boss and Pyle stuff "might" sound. Shop local kids, shop local.

Dax