My before and afters
 

What a difference a year makes

Do you always buy a new boat every year?

I would love to but I will stick to working my @$$ off on the one I have, the price was right when I bought and even with everything I have bought it still isnt near what a new one would cost me. I figure in 3 years I will have it better than when it came off the assy line :heybaby:

those are two different boats, right?

Look a little closer......... at the trailer! :wiggle:

No sir !! New Loadmaster trailer and 250 Suzuki. I am pretty handy with a buffer and sander :hihi: And if your wondering it is a 99 model year boat

Looking good. You get her in this weekend? ....... docks in yet?

Is there an advantage to not having bottom paint?

you bet, no painting scraping painting scraping painting scraping painting.

Vector,
Why the new trailer?

What hp was the evinrude and why did you change motors?

Link I have not been in just got the boat on the trailer Sunday, no docks when I drove by this a.m.


The new trailer is the result of the dealership putting too light of a trailer under my boat, I bought the boat from a broker and they wanted $ 350.00 to drop it in my yard on stands so I figured I would just get a trailer from them and could tow home myself, once I hit the scale I was freaked out that I was only 20LBS under my total GVW with no fishing gear coolers,water,etc etc.

The motor was a 225 Ficht I had a lower gearcase go which was no big deal, although it took 4 weeks to get my boat back, and then I blew an injector which took another 4 weeks to get, the dealer milked it and I was boiling about my boat spending July/late august early september in the boat yard for easy @$$ repairs. I bought the new Zuke got 6 years warranty and told Evinrude they could kiss my @ss :jump:

lookin Good
 

Lenny!!!! you da Man, I saw it on the trailer this afternoon and it looks sweet! Now you gotta take her out and get some blood & guts on her,,,,Cod????Macks????just no DOGS! I'm on Vaca the first 2 weeks of May, I've got mine almost ready, just need to stow the gear on her.

YES definately need to get some fish parts all over her!! I am hoping for a nice day this weekend, would like to get out and jig up some cod somewhere. We gotta hook up soon, that vacation you have in May sounds intriguing will you be fishing for Striped Bass perhaps?? I hope you get good weather pray to calm wind gods. I was working down by the canal today and couldn't believe the wind :bc:

Looks great Vector, new power :drool:
The suzuki warranty seems to be the best out there (I hope you never get to find out). Good Luck!!

Engine warranty
 

I just got a 7 year warranty on a evenrude E TEC.

VF, nice job on the finish. You have a sharp rig there! I'm interested in what you used and the process you went through. My Hydra-Sports needs the same treatment....bad. If you feel like sharing your notes, I'd be most grateful.

I too like to add stuff to my boat every year. I've thought about a new motor but haven't pulled the trigger on that yet. I have a a 96 Johnson 175 which runs very good but is very bad on gas. The main reason to change is to go to a direct inject and get more miles on a tankful and of course the general increased reliability that goes with a newer engine.

Some of the add ons I've made to my HS include:
-electric downriggers
-beamer spotlight
-6 rod holders (2 clamp on, 2 gunwhale mount, and 2 hardtop)
-anti-skip stereo CD
-Fuel flow gauge (what a job that was)
-custom splash board

Always looking for more ideas. What else have you done to your boat that you really like?

You're welcome to take a trip on my HS some day this summer if you'd like to check it out. I'll be on sebatical the entire months of August and September and fishing as many days as the weather allows.

Tight lines!

I looked long and hard at the E-TEC nice motor, the deciding factor came down to who was going to give me more and which motor had been out in the publics hands longer. The Zuke was obviously out longer and for what I bought the Zuke for including sales tax, new cables, side mount control, SS prop, install, and a couple of new gauges was well under what they wanted for the E TEC and there price was to reuse my old gauges,cables, etc. I said no thanks and couldn't be happier to date.

Vectorfisher,

Finally got those pictures of the splashboard for you. Please excuse the dirty appearance, I haven't quite scrubbed everything up yet for the new year.

Material is starboard.

I see, that is simialr to what I have now except the top of my has a cutting board and cupholders, my transom is a bit different than yours. Thanks for the photo's :kewl: By the way I noticed you had mentioned a spotlight, did you mount this on the T Top? I had heard from someone that mounted up there it blinds you with glare??

My spotlight has two settings,spot and flood. When on flood there is some shine on the front of the boat that does affect vision. It's much better when on spot. Th elight also rotates about 300 degrees and can light up the entire port side if bringing in a fish at night. I also wanted it for safety in case I had to look for something or someone after dark. My light is mounted on the hard top on the port-bow quarter.

Hey Vec-

What year was your Rude????

Mine was a 99 same year as boat

'99, I getcha...

Was hoping one of the newer ones hadn't given you problems. Those Suzukis are one sweet engine, good luck with her.