" That sinking feeling"

Well I said after our shakedown cruise the boat was running well. I was wro.....mistaken. Greg and Loyd said the out drive sounded loud to them, so I figured I'd change the fluids in the upper and lower units. I drained the lower unit, fluid looked fine. I drained the upper unit and came to the conclusion it should be full of fluids other than pure H2O. We pulled the out drive off the boat, pulled it apart and found every bearing and seal toasted. Also found the water pump housing and impeller toasted. I mean put a fork in it, it's done toasted! I called Keith at N.A.P.A and had him scrounge up all the bearings,races and seals I needed then ordered a new pump assy from e-basic power on line.(Great place for replacement marine parts). I got all the bearings and seals replaced that I could. Greg and Loyd came over and gave me a hand removing a bearing race I couldn't get out of the upper case. Loyd had a slide hammer puller that did the trick quite well. The upper unit is all together now. I'm just waiting for the water pump assy to arrive, (Tuesday) so I can join the upper and lower units and reinstall them on the boat.
Gregs luck isn't much better. On the shakedown cruise he said his wasn't running quite right. He went to install a fresh set of plugs in his 200 hp Evinrude and found water in the number 6 cylinder. OUCH! The head gasket was okay but the exhaust air box gasket was leaking. It scored the piston, but we think,(hope)it'll last this season and we'll fix it in the fall. Things could have been worse. I just wish the previous owner would have made an attempt to do regular maintenance so this shit wouldn't have happened. At least now we know everything has been completely gone thru, so we foresee no more problems. Maybe. Please. I hope.

More photos

The love of my life, Mijah


She loves the boat



Harry at the helm




Ditto





His Highness, Greg Titus

We got'um wet

Gregs Bayliner. Beautiful boat

Mijah checking out the beach.

Me and Dock Holiday

Harry with his girl frie..... Sorry, with a stick

Dock Holiday

Well there you have it. March 20th 2009. A date that will live in infamy! Greg and I got both boats wet today. We ran them down to Pueblo reservoir for their shake down cruises. Our old National ran just fine once I realized the fuel had to be turned on and all the petcocks closed! Greg says he had a hell of a time getting his started and it seemed like it was sucking air but he blew by me like I was tied to the dock! Greg had his buddy Loyd with him and I snagged Harry and my dog Mijah. Damn that dog just loves playing in the water and cruisin in the boat. She whined like hell when she saw Greg but she just wouldn't jump between the two boats. That damn Greg...... he gets all the girls! Well, I guess we just gotta wait for the ice to thaw on the lakes we like to fish. It'll be a couple or three weeks before that happens. Our favorite spots are in the high country and it hasn't been warm enough for long enough up there. Damn, that bug has bitten me hard this spring,

Earl Scheib beware!

Put a fork in'er. She's done!


I like the blue



Cut the bimini top about 14 inch's



I thought the end was near. Darwin has completed all the wood work and it's all been installed. The new side panels are in, the tires have been pumped up, there's gas in the tank. The Bimini top has been cut down so we don't need clearance from air traffic control. We've even picked a name for her, " Dock Holiday ". Pretty much ready to go except for installing one interior light and laying down some carpet, right? WRONG. I had to go and open my mouth saying I wish the stripe on the boat wasn't such a god awful ugly brown. It would have been okay if I hadn't thought out loud and Greg and my buddy Paul weren't standing there. Next thing I know, the three of us and Harry are scraping registration numbers, filling holes and sanding the above mentioned " god awful ugly brown ". We picked a real nice royal blue we found on a NAPA parts box. We did find out the boat was originally registered in Florida and it was the thirty seventh boat ever made by National Boat Corp. ( It might have also been the last!) We even painted the transom and trailer fenders to match! I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I think it looks fantastic! I have to once again thank Greg, Darwin, Paul and Harry for the great help and effort they put forth. I couldn't, ( and wouldn't ), have done it without their help and expertize.

I've been jones'n for fish'n!

New seats and carpet

Home made glove box

Les doin what he does best. Nothing

Okay, I think it's been long enough. If I don't get out on a body of water pretty quick, somebodys gonna get hurt! I've got everything done on the boat other than carpeting the bow, removing those god awful ugly no skid strips, and Darwin is making some really nice bow step plates to match the ones he made for the gunwales. We built side panels, gunwale steps, repaired the windshield, installed a glove box and interior lighting. ( See photos ) I'm running out of stuff to do, and when that happens the ice had better be gone! Every time I'm working on her, I can see my rods and tackle box giving me the evil eye! they want out of the garage too! Les stopped and helped me today, (It's him at the helm ), and brought us a boat ladder. Good. He'll need it if he starts catching more fish than the rest of us and starts to give us shit about it! Of course there could be a mutiny and those s.o.b's could make ME have to us it. Not really, they'd tie the anchor around me AND the ladder and chuck us both overboard!