Your tax dollars at work.  A friend gave me one of those fancy "your tax dollars at work" signs from some jobsite he was on as I was scrounging used material to make my stereo console.  This wood is TOUGH! It also appears sealed and is really nice. I guess it would be seeing as how the news said they paid $60k per sign. We really gotta vote these idiots out this fall.
But here is my little project...

Spent some time looking at how to posts and did not see anything quite like this.
79 tahiti, bbc, panther logs, thru transom exh. The connecting flex hoses are toast (old) and must be replaced.
- one hose is about 5 inches long, the other about 8 or 9 inches (go ahead, let the
jokes may begin).  Any tricks to get these hoses replaced? I hear the shorter one is going to be very difficult.

Please, try to leave the KY jelly suggestions at PB.

My sciatica is already killing me thinking about this work.

Thought  I would try to gather in one place pics of water line and fuel line install pics. I liked the MOO pictures elsewhere and several others a they showed really clean installs and some ideas on why they ran them that way. I am considering hard plumb (effect on diameter and flow) or going to stainles flex lines (ala my washer at home) as it would seem that a good leak or burst hose might sink my boat if the sump pumps cannot keep up.  After some stories on this site it seems like this might be one of my most important first upgardes for safety/reliability.

Here is what I am starting with...

My 79 Tahiti (20.5ft) 454 bbc/Berk has a trim indicator (not functional) mounted on the dash.  Anybody run one of these or have a good reason to (?) or do you just  watch the rooster and how the boat handles?  It looks like it ran a single wire down to the trim adjuster. Next time I get ambitious I will play with a voltmeter and see if there is a signal still, maybe p/o just disconnected it.

Since this is my first jet, I have ALOT to learn.
 

I see some folks posting they use auto gages, and others saying marine.
My boat is used on fresh water in arizona (hot, not particularly humid).

Any big difference beyond price?

  Hope to learn here on where to go from here on my new hobby. After two runs at the lake everything seems strong. Still correcting little things and will need to buff it out a bit, but overall really happy so far.
454cbb 40 hrs on rebuild (2 seasons ago) 30 over, cam, pistons, rods, manifold, has 650 (?) on it now, stainless tanks, berlekley jet.

Needs some TLC for cosmetic stuff as far as I can tell, plus need a tach, reliable gas gage, and a decent momentart trimswitch.

will post pictures...

Hi-
newbie here. Great forum by the way. I have been looking for something like this site when I started thinking I might buy another boat "someday".. But I digress..
I have a chance to trade out a vintage race bike for a Biesmeyer 21 ft. cruiser  with a zero hour , blueprinted 455 olds, w/berkeley pump  AA impeller, nice clean Tandem axle trailer, new Bimini Top and mooring cover.  My question is- is this a good first jet boat? Its been years since I had a boat (the 70's to be exact) and my wifey is saying it looks like fun. Especially when I see your website and the get togethers you all have.  If the deal is done, I plan to use it for the several local lakes (Roosevelt, Canyon mainly) and hope to make the river and powell some day. Its just my wife and I (and our rottie Loretta) so space isnt that big a deal, but it looks like it has lotsa room anyways. 

Any thoughts on is this a good fit? The guy is second owner, best friend owned it prior for 17 years) the guy takes good care of his stuff.  Being an old prop guy (at best) what should I be asking? what should I be looking for? The dang thing looks clean as a whistle to me. My plan is to get a test ride and look for leaks of anykind a generate a list of gotchas (like the missing pitot tube for the speedo).
Thanks for the help!