willy
05-19-2012, 06:09 PM
Well Snaggers after a few weeks of hard work a lot of money and aggravation FishBones is finally up to snuff.
After talking with that esteemed Old Coot from South Carolina I decided to put this out here and on another couple of sites I frequent for all to learn from my experiences.
As you know I love my 1997 HydraSport Vector 2250 FishBones. I decided to commit to her and bring her up to date.
Well one of the first orders of business was to get my live well plumbing working well, it has had trouble draining and the pump seemed to pump when it dam well felt like it.
So I got my butt down and there and started to diagnose what could be the problem with that plus my bildge pump which would only work in manual.
So I reached in where I could barely see behind the live well and grabbed a hold of the hose from the drain to the thru hull.
It crumbled in my hand. The part you could see was OK. the bottom half was completely dry rotted.
I started checking further and saw a couple of other hoses that looked like they were rotting also. Had a hard time getting to where I could hit them with a good flashlight.
I tried to get to the bildge pump and see if I could reach it to work on it and it is in a God awful location and I could not do it.
I took FishBones to Seaboard Marine and told the owner Steve, check everything, if it looks like it might need replacing do it.
Well, well well. Get the call a week later come on down Willy and bring your wallet!
Turns out the mechanic who is really good said Will, I started looking at the hoses and I realized you have a problem.
Turns out all the hoses under the floor were dry rotted and crumbling including six (SIX) that went to thru hulls. He had a rather large pile for me to check out. Could not believe my own eyes. Most were literally seeping water and had areas of where the middle re-enforcement mesh was just falling apart.
Very dangerous. So in order to get to them all they had to remove my deck lid over the tank which is about seven feet long, do the work and then go back and re-bed and caulk it.
While they were in there they replaced all my electrical connections and replaced a bunch of wiring that had seen better days. New Rule pumps cleaned and checked all thru hulls.
I was a little floored by my $1500 bill. But it was more than eight hours labor and over four hundred in hose, fittings and clamps and wire and connectors.
I went home and poured myself a little Jimmy Beam and called up the aforementioned Old Coot and co-miserated.
In his typical fashion he set my mind at ease, told me to shut the h@ll up and drink my drink.
So, if you have an older boat, check them hoses, check them well, even where you think you cannot see. I had six thru hulls that were ready to go at any time, and according to Murphy that would be when I am 20 miles out chasing fins.
So, since FishBones is all brand new and better than factory under the floor I decided to splurge on her a little.
Got myself a nice Standard Horizon VHF with DSC, got my MMSI # and now I have got my VHF talking with my seven inch screen Garmin GPS so I can yell for help when needed quick.
Also installed a nice new Guest dual battery charger inside the CC.
And since I can't sing to save my life I went and splurged on a nice Fusion stereo and speakers for FB.
Well all are installed by me and up and running, in 2011 new ETEC, new Garmin electronics, 2012 all plumbing and electrical redone, new pumps, stereo, VHF, new trailer, new leaning post seat and numerous other upgrades.
I do have to redo the bottom paint yet but basically I have a 1997/2012 HydraSport 2250 Vector and the maiden voyage is tomorrow with the CEO and one of my sons and daughters.
After talking with that esteemed Old Coot from South Carolina I decided to put this out here and on another couple of sites I frequent for all to learn from my experiences.
As you know I love my 1997 HydraSport Vector 2250 FishBones. I decided to commit to her and bring her up to date.
Well one of the first orders of business was to get my live well plumbing working well, it has had trouble draining and the pump seemed to pump when it dam well felt like it.
So I got my butt down and there and started to diagnose what could be the problem with that plus my bildge pump which would only work in manual.
So I reached in where I could barely see behind the live well and grabbed a hold of the hose from the drain to the thru hull.
It crumbled in my hand. The part you could see was OK. the bottom half was completely dry rotted.
I started checking further and saw a couple of other hoses that looked like they were rotting also. Had a hard time getting to where I could hit them with a good flashlight.
I tried to get to the bildge pump and see if I could reach it to work on it and it is in a God awful location and I could not do it.
I took FishBones to Seaboard Marine and told the owner Steve, check everything, if it looks like it might need replacing do it.
Well, well well. Get the call a week later come on down Willy and bring your wallet!
Turns out the mechanic who is really good said Will, I started looking at the hoses and I realized you have a problem.
Turns out all the hoses under the floor were dry rotted and crumbling including six (SIX) that went to thru hulls. He had a rather large pile for me to check out. Could not believe my own eyes. Most were literally seeping water and had areas of where the middle re-enforcement mesh was just falling apart.
Very dangerous. So in order to get to them all they had to remove my deck lid over the tank which is about seven feet long, do the work and then go back and re-bed and caulk it.
While they were in there they replaced all my electrical connections and replaced a bunch of wiring that had seen better days. New Rule pumps cleaned and checked all thru hulls.
I was a little floored by my $1500 bill. But it was more than eight hours labor and over four hundred in hose, fittings and clamps and wire and connectors.
I went home and poured myself a little Jimmy Beam and called up the aforementioned Old Coot and co-miserated.
In his typical fashion he set my mind at ease, told me to shut the h@ll up and drink my drink.
So, if you have an older boat, check them hoses, check them well, even where you think you cannot see. I had six thru hulls that were ready to go at any time, and according to Murphy that would be when I am 20 miles out chasing fins.
So, since FishBones is all brand new and better than factory under the floor I decided to splurge on her a little.
Got myself a nice Standard Horizon VHF with DSC, got my MMSI # and now I have got my VHF talking with my seven inch screen Garmin GPS so I can yell for help when needed quick.
Also installed a nice new Guest dual battery charger inside the CC.
And since I can't sing to save my life I went and splurged on a nice Fusion stereo and speakers for FB.
Well all are installed by me and up and running, in 2011 new ETEC, new Garmin electronics, 2012 all plumbing and electrical redone, new pumps, stereo, VHF, new trailer, new leaning post seat and numerous other upgrades.
I do have to redo the bottom paint yet but basically I have a 1997/2012 HydraSport 2250 Vector and the maiden voyage is tomorrow with the CEO and one of my sons and daughters.