Adding a Wake tower

 decided the boat need more bling, so I purchased a wake tower, and Dad and I installed it. I got it from bulletlines out of San Antonio and it went on ok, but I would change a few things if I had to do over again. These towers are made in china, and they have some fit and finish issues that you must work through. Not a huge deal, but over all a good tower. I like how the tower frames this wind shield. 

Today we took the boat to the local recycler place and had her weighed. We weighed the boat and trailer together, and then dropped her at the lake and drove back and weighted just the trailer. I have to get a title for the trailer, and here is Texas the require a weigh in. So drum roll please... The boat weighed 4440 lbs and the trailer is 1080 lbs for a grand total of 5520 lbs. All of our gear was out of the boat, and I have about half a tank of fuel sloshing around in there. That is less that I thought to be honest.

This is where I had to take the boat for the weigh in. They have large scales just for this purpose.

Water Pump Failure

Our first Oops

I had a little bit of time so I wanted to post some updates. We have been out on the boat every weekend, and we are having a blast. Dad and I have cut the template for the carpet and sent it off to get cut, and I hope to have it back in a couple of weeks. I have to say, cutting out that template was WAAAAAAAAY harder than I thought it would be. It was like wrestling a pig covered in salad oil. After about 4 hours, we finally had it done. Once that was done we had to come up with a color. That took hours and hours with the first mate out in the sun light comparing. We finally chose a grey/silver berber that will pick up the greys in the boat. We plan to eventually replace all the ugly blue carpet with grey soon anyway. So now we wait.

Last weekend we had a little indecent on the lake. As alot of you know, Texas is in a sever drought and our lake is about 4 feet low. I was going through a cut that I use every weekend, and there was a park ranger behind me, and a bunch of other boats in the same cut. Well I went too far to the starboard side and struck a rock at idle. It went from 10 feet to 3 feet in a flash. Once I was through the cut I jumped in to find out what I did, and All I found was two little nicks in the prop that can be fixed. I took off again and felt nothing out of the ordinary and we had fun the rest of the day. About 5 hours of skiing and tubing later the alarm went off... low gear oil. I panicked! I looked around the drive and I could not see any gear oil at all, and I was puzzled. I added more gear oil and we ran around to see if it would eat any more, and it seamed to be fine. Now the expansion tank was a little low already due to an air bubble from the rebuild, (Air gets trapped in the drive when you fill it and will burp for a while) and I had not refilled yet. It had been like that for weeks so all it dropped was about an ounce. I am just hoping that another air bubble popped up and dropped the tank down just enough to throw the alarm. Otherwise I am going to be out a lower unit.

Enjoying the fruits of my labor

I guess it is time for some updates. We had a great weekend on the boat, and have sunburn to prove it. I cleaned out the spark arestor and she ran even better, and used less fuel. It was pretty dirty. I have put a solid 6 hours on her since the splash, and things have been perfect. I still need to fix the gauges, and that has really got me perplexed. The Tach I think is just shot. I have messed with the dial on the back and it is set correctly, but still shows the RPMs to be way off. I will take a picture of the back of the gauge and see if the guys in the engine forum can help. I replaced the Lights last night, and added to guide on pipes to help when loading and backing up the trailer. I also got a new depth gauge, but have net installed that yet. So here are some pictures from the weekend

 Me trying to cool off in 106 degree heat.

I think they are ready to go

Mrs Friscoboater

Re-Naming the Boat!

We had another great day on the lake today, until my daughter hurt herself tubing. She is ok now, but you will see in the video that she hit pretty hard. We decided to come back a little early and then hit it again tomorrow. We did the naming ceremony today, and actualy had to do the de-naming all over again. When we put the paperwork in the glove box last week we did not take out the original interned add that had a picture of the boat with its old name. According to legend, you must do the ceremony again. So we did. Then we proceeded to re-name her, and that went perfect. She now has the new name on her stern. Also yesterday when I took the cover off I discovered that the sun pad had turned a awful shade of pinkish brown. I have no idea what would have caused this. It was pure white last weekend and now looked terrible. I went autozone and got some vinyl paint, and now everything is all good. That stuff is awesome.

Getting ready to re-name the boat

Dad and I

Zachary helping me pour the Champagne

The new Name

Its official

Even the Ducks came over for the party

It looks like I need a tan and to lose about 15 pounds

Splash Day!!!!

Well... She is splashed! I am still in shock that I actually able to drive her! We had the whole family come out and we went through the de-naming ceremony. We will do the naming ceremony next week when I have the letters. After the ceremony we spent about six hours and about a half tank of fuel running around the lake putting her through the paces. We even went out into the big water and hit some big chop. All I can say is WOW, that boat is meant for bigger water. She handles so smooth, and refined, I am still in awe. She is a bit of a dog out of the hole, but I think some trim tabs will fix that. I just really do not want to drill into the transom.

The Corsa system cannot be described. It is the coolest thing I have ever heard. When you hit the throttle it is like a pride of lions all roared at the same time. I just says " I AM IN CONTROL HERE"!!!!!!! I constantly had people throwing the thumbs up and telling me to hit the throttle. it is for sure an attention getter, and at our lake it is all about getting the attention I am afraid. It is not harsh like I thought it would be, but a sweet sweet smooth Big Block Chevy roar. The Side exhaust makes a difference on how the exhaust note sounds. For some reason it softens the raspiness that a transom exhaust has. Don't get me wrong, it is loud, but not enough hurt. To my astonishment, my wife even liked it. The video we took just does not do it justice, and the wind noise is awful. I am actually going to try to borrow a professional HD cam soon with the special mic that cuts the wind noise. You just have to hear what this thing sounds like when you throttle up. The cool thing is that you flip a switch, and it is all gone. It is WELL worth the money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are a few little gremlins that I need to fix this week. The gas gauge is not working, and the only thing that I can think of is the fuel sender is on backwards, and the float is hitting the side of the tank. I replaced the fuel sender gasket, and I might have put it on wrong. Also the Tack is reading wrong. It is about 1000 rpms too high at speed, and I am not sure how to fix that. The last thing is the oil gauge. When you turn on the ignition (not turning on the engine) the oil gauge pegs all the way to 80 psi. So I replaced the oil sender, and it still did it. I ran a new wire, and still had the same issue. So I went to autozone and got a cheap mechanical gauge and hooked the tube onto the engine, and I have really good oil pressure. So I am not sure what to do next besides get a new gauge. I am sure I will get it figured out somehow. 

Now I need to measure for carpet. I guess I will order the template kit this week, and get started on it. For the most part, this gel coat is not slippery at all when it is wet. I was really kinda shocked. 

So anyway, I am kinda sad that it is over. 

Thank you everyone for all your support and advise through these past seven months. It has been a rough ride. 

On to the really fun stuff.

Interior installed and cleaned for launch

My Inlaws and my first mate

Doing the De-naming ceremony. You have to drop a piece of metal with the old name on it from the bow.

Me pouring the Champagne into the water for the gods.

Just Dad and I pulling away from the dock on the Maiden Voyage.

Happy Family!!!

Installing the Corsa Captains Cal system and the FIRST IGNITION!

Now it is time to cut holes in the side of a perfectly good boat.

Here is the pictures of the Corsa system installation.

Making a template for the cutout. I just used a razor to cut up to the opening and then went around it.

I used masking tape all over the area where I cut. It keeps the gel coat from chipping and scratching.

PUCKER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

Wheeew! It fits

I sealed up the Opening with 5200. The kit came with self tapping screws, but I went to HD and got SS through bolts and nuts. I found that mineral spirits cleaned up 3M 5200 easy.

You can see the original marking where I wanted it. After measuring again, it had to come forward

My wonderful family helping out with the cleanup. It took us over 2 hours to clean the inside.

Major progress!

We made lots of headway yesterday. I got done with work at about two and Dad came over to see what we could get done. We wrestled the outdrive up to the boat and by some miracle got it seated and filled with oil. One that was done I ran the wires for the Corsa Exhaust and tested the functions (will make a video of that later). When I cam time to cut the holes for the Corsa we ran into some issues. Where I wanted them to come out originally would not have any "fall" to the pipes. That might allow water to run back into the engine. So we relocated them and then started thinking that they might be below the water line. We packed up and took her to the lake to do out "float test". The tips are going to be perfect in the new location, and the boat looked good in the water. Hopefully we will get a test fire today.

Installing the outdrive

Test fitting the Corsa System

Dad and Zachary looking at where the water sits.

The work starts again.

After taking two weeks off to be with family, and lay my mom to rest, it is time to get back to life, and the boat.


This was one heck of a weekend, and Dad and I got MAJOR progress done, and had one major setback.

1. Deck is gel Coated
2. Gimbal housing is painted, rebuilt and installed
3. Most of the interior is done
4. The engine is about 90% installed. (here is where the setback occurred)

We had to set the engine in place to get the markings for the front mount holes. When we raised it back up one of the little spring washers on the rear engine mount fell off and disappeared. I mean we searched everywhere for this thing. My neighbors, wife, kids and inlaws helped. It was just gone. So I had to buy a rear bolt kit this morning and we will try again tomorrow. The problem is that I have to pay for two more days of cherry picker rental. The only thing about not being able to find the spring is that I hope it is not somewhere that will hurt the engine. The flame arrester is installed, and the only place it could go is the exhaust manifold. It is unlikely though. I think I picked it up and put it somewhere is the mess of a garage I have right now.


Here is my box of goodies.

This is the new steering pin made of Stainless steel.

Here is where I mocked up the rear seating area to make sure it all fit.

My new battery trays. I made them out of one sheet of 5/8" ply and then glassed them to the deck. That way if they rot, I just replace them.

Dad and I painting the deck

Here is the gimbal ring assembled and ready for installation

I put a new seal on with bellows adhesive, and them put a thin bead of 4200 on the seal and installed it.

Routing the wires

Yours truly installing the engine.

This is how the seat posts came out.

I installed the ski locker with 5200. I want to see if it will hold up. I really do not want to screw into the wood.

Bellhousing installed!!!!

The new Corsa Exhaust Elbow

Installing the trim pump

Dual batteries installed.