Ray you are probably on to something there about talking nicer to her. 
We had an extra day of sun. So I went for round 2 of leak test and that morphed into sea trials. Got all but 2 cooling water leaks stopped and know where the last 2 are. Made the command decision that these were not a safety issue. Looked around the ramp area for a boat that could come get me if I broke down and went all the way in.

Looking 20/20 hindsight I know now that all I had was about 1/4" too much incorrect adjustment in the reverser of my new Place Diverter. Thought I had checked it all out in the garage but guess not. So I was having trouble getting to medium throttle. Idle was OK but throttle lever would stick at mid throttle. But I was having fun anyhoo. Came into the dock to start figuring out what was up and realized I wasn't going to be able to ease her up to the dock like I used to. Came in HOT.  Oh well least nobody saw me munch the dock!! Heh heh.

Went back out for one round of rooster just to put my scent mark on the river. Came back in, got the trailer, loaded up the boat and went to goose her up just about 3" more so I wouldn't have to strain my old fart muscles.. Again, didn't have the reverser linkage QUITE RIGHT.... was thinking like the boat was BEFORE the new diverter install...Wham hole shot up the trailer and gotta new dent in the back doors of my suburban with a little yellow paint too.

Got home and started troubleshooting. Saw immediately that the reverse bucket was just going up too fast/early. Made a quick adjustment (that I thought I already had done) and moved the clevis 1/4" higher (shorted the cable length) and - worked like a champ.  Why did I not notice this during the 4-5 days I put into hooking the new cables and diverter up?

So I call that a basic boating day at least for me. It was a draw. The yellow girl gave some and got some.

Update:
Got the little bitch into the water just for a leak test about 5pm tonight. The test was successful - there were leaks! Nothing major. I think I can get all of them snuffed out tomorrow. We may get 1 more day of nice weather. 

If so, then I can get her out on the water tomorrow and try the new diverter and cables.

Yeah GT I figured out the grade 8 HT thing during the nap. I probably even dunked it in water after the weld.  But now those two welds are entombed inside a billet puck under 500 lbs of motor and it was time to revert to a big hammer and more bondo.

Today is the third of three days in a row of nice weather here in Stumptown. I'm also about three days behind in my plan to have my dozen winter boat projects wrapped up so I could leak test and maybe cruise around in da boat. Up here 3 days of unused weather opportunity is like pissin 5% of your boat season away. 

So I'm about 4 steps from done just now - I know the weather ain't going to hold for tomorrow. I've spent the morning dropping the motor back in and doing a bunch of little sheet blah blah. I go to tighten the nuts onto the two large 5/8 stud bolts I have in my forward motor mounts. These studs are "improvements" I made to my homemade engine frame over the long cold winter. First side goes great. Second side is just getting snug and... tink! I hear a little noise and the nut and stud suddenly spin free.

WTFO, my grade 8 stud cracked right off of the weld I made. Course to re-weld it will mean pulling the whole motor again and a delay of many days.  I just rolled onto my back on the floor of my little bitch boat and lay there for 20 minutes (cause I'm kinda an old fkr now). During the nap, I carefully compared my options. Either do it right and spend another few nights with her yellowness and away from the family, or.... Hillbillytime (rural Oregon equivalent of ghetto).

So I mix up some epoxy resin and dunk the end my leetle bolt in it and shoved it down in my frame. It's kicking while I write this. This old boat sheet is all about staying loose on your standards of excellence! Whenever she throws a curve ball at you, just take it like a man and figure out a way to respond that shows her whos still the idiot boss.

Besides, SCJB's repoman is from Oregon, which automatically makes him honest. Up here, our tap water is cold and clear, our politicians less corrupt, our women a little less skanky, our beer a whole lot tastier, our airports WAY better than that POS at OC and best of all... no sales tax! 

Of course we don't actually have an economy or very many people, but that's besides the point. 

Haulin Rump

Bovinator

Cow-a-bunga

Hells Cowbells

You might contact one of these guys. I haven't used either of them but they claim to have a lot of OEM templates as well as lots of experience fabricating custom windshields.

http://www.wayneearl.com/default.asp

http://www.updplastics.com/

AlamoJimmy - here's a rebound boat fer ya

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/1075915698.html

I just tried everything to pull mine out to hit the zerk on the other side with a couple of shots of grease, and preceded to twist the head right off it (brass) Assuming I ever get it out, are the hex ones brass too?

Stainless: http://www.mcmaster.com/#4464k561/=10pnag
Aluminum: http://www.scpraceparts.com/circle_track_racing_parts/1-8-aluminum-socket-pipe-plug.html

I am a recovering rule #1 breaker too. Don't forget to:

give the trailer a hard look. if it's got brakes, figure out a way to check that they actually work. If it is a surge brake style, then when you backup does it have a lockout pin and does it work or do they bind up in reverse? Look at the spring shackles that they are tight and no missing bolts/nuts. That the wiring is not all hillbillyed up. Does it have a tongue jack and if so is it straight and works. Are all the lug nuts on and the same size? Do the trailer axles or any of the frame cross members show any signs of major road hits or encounters with stationary objects?

On the boat - how much gear comes with it? Anchor, safety horn/flotation chit all the stuff that will nickel and dime ya to death after you bring it home.

And good call on the bow wear. It's not bad to have beach marks on it, but if it gets down to the cloth then water can wick it's way into the most amazing places.

Crawl under the dash and check how sano the wiring is or is not. Same dealio back in the engine area. How many generations of cut and splice?

Play devils advocate. Pretend you are rain water and you landed on this boat when it wasn't tarped well or not at all. Where would you run to? Look there for signs of mold, dryrot, silverfish, pill bugs, or basic skank.

And $7500 is in George W Bush dollars, not failed economy dollars.

a dam in front of my front motor mounts but before the seating area to keep dirty bilge water from coming into the seating area or onto the carpet. I thought about doing this as soon as I saw the boat but have not got to it yet, but when I had the boat at a local lake two weeks ago it did happen. Not much water at all but who wants that dirty water on your carpet?

Nick if you do decide to glass in the bilge water dam then you can put a scupper valve in it. Let's any water from the seating area drain back into the bilge but not the other way round.

What I'm going to say won't sound very good because it's full of risk... but you're really low on options with the original screw almost flush and now a super hard drill bit hangin out inside the f-d up screw. I had my 4th bolt on the rock grate do the same thing. I hope someone else has a better idea, but here's the best of the worst:

Get 3-4 real high quality Ti coated drill bits all the same size. Real small like between .060 and .100 dia. Do not get the kind with the built on hex shank because I think they like to break off. Then drill a ring of small holes down the side of your frozen screw. It won't be pretty... You are trying to drill away the original alum threads. Change out to a new bit if the one you are using even looks like it's getting dull. Use cutting oil and take a LOT OF TIME. At some point during the ring drilling the broke bit and maybe the whole screw carcass will come out. But what I am saying is full of risk and if you break one of the tiny bits doing the ring then you will hate me.

And then you will have a butt ugly big jagged hole in your intake. Now you can either drill out all 4 to a big bad 9/16 clearance or bigger or, try a weld and re-drill or even bondo and re-drill. But for sure bag the tapped holes in the casting. Go to thru holes and bolts and nuts like everyone will tell you.

Topic: Can't get off my rock grate!

You have to play with it, then stroke it slowly top to bottom, repeat in reverse order, slowly at first and faster towards the end. Or so I'm told

Ray

And talk to it... help it know who is daddy and who is going to make it feel real speshul 

Thought I'd ping the members and see how useful are they?

I've used mine 1X in 12 years. (OK so the boat has only ran 3 of those 12  ). Sucked a ski or anchor rope just like a noob. Mine is on the inside of the hull. Anybody use theirs on a regular basis?