I'm gonna go look at this focker tomorrow.....

Can't buy it (wife would mount my testicles on a plaque), but have some freinds looking for a boat... will try to get a decent picture.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/boa/1231999180.html

GT

Buy my Lavey instead!!! Same amount of work to get it to run, less $$$ - What a deal!!! 

Ray,

My brother,

You got it baaaaad   You just said some of the same stuff I have been saying for 20+years (I have yet to buy a boat I could test drive in my life 

Keep it up, there is nothing wrong with us, there is nothing wrong with us, there is nothing wrong with us, there is nothing wrong with us...

Did I just repeat myself

GT

  So true! SO true!

We are all drinking the same batch of koolaid and therefore it always tastes great to us, huh?!! 

Fuggin GO FOR IT RAY!!!! GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!

Based on the #2 Trouble shoot comment they make on their site, check ground wire situation. All of my gage problems have ultimately been grounding issues.

I'm the pot calling the kettle black on this one, but.

Do I remember correctly how the blue boat came into your harem? Didn't you stumble across it and one of the appealing things was it was mostly turnkey?

Are you SURE you wouldn't rather have the family boat be the relatively EZ boat to keep running and the Moo or another hot sled be your outlet for DIY stuff?  (Of course back then your were still up to your elbows in the moo work and now that seems to be pretty much finished - at least as much as boats ever get finished. ) 

Suspended from a cieling with hoist sounds ok if just a hull, but what about if boat is intact, motor and gear? I have seen sailboats and fishing boats blocked up at the yard, but without a lift how can you block it up and still get the trailer out from under. I don't have anywhere I really care to leave the boat in the water for a week or two so also need to block and remove trailer.

I've had this boat off the trailer several times. With and without the motor in it. Note the 4x4's under the joists where the straps are.

I guess when it comes down to it, a boat is just a collection of various petrochemicals. 2,000 lbs of fossil fuel waiting to be converted back into tar and carbon.

An hour or maybe more is plenty of time to screw around and try some kind of hero whupass.

Plan A - use all the fire extinguishers
Plan B - use the bailing bucket (guess I'd better move it to the bow instead of in the back) but only after getting out of the flaming boat and into somebody elses.
Plan C - tow it to shore and scuttle it?
Plan D - if nobody has the balls to tow a boat on fire, then wish I had the magic emergency raft with 40+ ft^3 of air and try scuttling in deep water.

So here's my thinking on fires. Based on the little bit of feedback from you kids, I'd say there are two kinds of fires: The small kind that spook the chit out of you but you put them out with beer or the occasional extinguisher that is still charged.

And the other kind where things go very bad in a hurry and you loose at least the hull and maybe even sink it. These fires probably can't be put out by an extinguisher even if you can find it fast enough. I was looking at Ray's boat and thinking man, what would I have done if that had been me... and would I even have had time to try something radical?

The only choice we have with a bad fire is to maybe scuttle the boat and try to put out the fire that way - but of course then you're sinking your own boat and you don't get the choice of doing it in shallow water. The only goal in doing this is to try and save the motor, pump and other valuable hardware. And not many of us have any foam left to float the hull. I do have foam in the far front of my bow and a little bit in the floor but I just got out the calculator and realized that I probably can't float the whole weight of the boat if I were to try scuttling it. I think I need about 40 ft^3 to keep 2300 lbs from going to the bottom.

I probably won't do anything more than just talk, but I was thinking what if I carried around an emergency life raft or something and kept it under the bow? Then, in the ultimate worst case scenario I MIGHT have time to pull the inflation handle and hope it doesn't puncture on something under the bow. Then I'd slither off into the water and hope I could get to the drain plug and pull it out. And doing all this with a fire going is risky because if there's fuel in the bilge then pretty soon there's going to be fuel around the boat and so I'd be needing to get clear of the hull quickly...

If by some miracle I got all of this done in time, then maybe I would have a dead boat floating with the bow riding out and the fire out and a chance at saving the big $ stuff.

Whaddaya think girls? Plausible? Only in the movies? Better ideas?

Ray's sunk boat due to BIG fire got me wondering whether there is any other kind of on-board fire. I have some thoughts/ideas to share but b4 I do I wanted to hear anyone's experiences with fires.

Here's my categories:

#1 Fire: Have you or someone you know ever had a "small" fire that they were able to put out?

#2 Fire: Have you or someone you know ever had a "big" fire that did major hull/engine damage but did not sink the boat?

#3 Fire: Besides Ray's fire/sinking, have you or someone you know ever had a fire that burned the hull down to the water and sunk the boat?

I was gonna say the same thing. I was thinking Tom said somewhere just a tad north of fitty bucks too! (Thought of putting 4 on the Moo's deck, all pointing in different directions, painted pink with nuttin in 'em, lol)

Ray

Ray you need to wear one of these hats when you drive the Moo boat


and have one of these sittin next to you.

how to I check if the coil is good or bad? IS THERE A WAY.

http://autorepair.about.com/od/troubleshooting/ss/coil-test-ohm.htm

Maybe you have already done this stuff but in case not... here ya go! 

Second question, the angle for the mount is aluminum, but the flat bar bracing on the outside of the stringer is steel (less cash), will this cause a problem due to disimilar metals? We will be using SS bolts.

Technically?... yes those are 3 slightly different metals that after 10 years might have some galvanic corrosion.

Practically? No. There's places on most motors where alum is mating up with steel and stainless sprinkled around here and there. If you wanted peace of mind then slather all the contact surfaces with silicone when you put it together after mock up. That will block both water and air and give you 30 years instead of 10! 

Its a brand new motor and the starter tries but it act as if its to weak to turn it.

I have had several episodes of "weak" cranking with my BBF starter (same location as yours). Every time, it has turned out to be cables/connections. I had fine braided wire for awhile (like arc welding leads) and switched to big coarse gage wire like for using to wire up heavy machinery to the starter panel.

Check over all your connections maybe it will turn out you don't have a big problem!

Or - MAYBE the reason it was randomly stopping was because I had a melted wire (- side of coil) grounding out to the intake manifold.

Saturday I put the boat in the water thinking I was all past my motor stopping and valve clatter days. Never ever had trouble getting it to start on the first crank. This time no start at all. Played and played with stuff, checked fuel, carb, took out my jumper wire and hooked it up - still nothing. Ran the battery low with all the cranking. Got the trailer, went home. 

Sunday morning decided to remove all my wire covers, tape et cetera and completely re-check all wiring. Heck, 2 minutes later and I discover that the 4" of wire that was NOT inside a wire condom was melted and fused to the intake.

So that's all been fixed and now I strongly suspect that the entire time the REAL problem was this wire was rubbing/melting and was starting to short. Then when I stopped or jiggled things it would "mend" for awhile. Now everything is sanno and better job of wire routing.