One year later, trying again.

[wincrasher26]

About a year ago this time, I bought my 26M. Brand new.

My dealer basically gave me a 1 hour orientation and said "see ya!" He was happy to tell me at my pickup he was retiring and had sold the business. So I was his last sale. Nice.

So I took it home and tried to put it together. Mostly successful, with the help of a few forum members. That consumed a few weekends. Then there was problems with my paperwork and getting registration from DNR. That took 3 months. Then work and family obligations interfered. Then winter came. And hung on a month longer than usual.

So here it is April 2013 and I have yet to splash my new boat.

When I picked it up, the new engine had been run in and then run out of fuel. Hasn't been restarted since. They had used their own tank, so my gas tanks are empty.
I got 2 new batteries with the boat. These were turned to off at the perko switch. So hopefully there is still enough charge in them not to be ruined. If they need replaced, then so be it - the cost of being foolish I guess.

So I'm getting the boat prepared to try again in a few weeks. I plan to check out the batteries and get them on the charger this weekend. I'm really worried about the motor. Should I be? All has been stored in my warehouse since last year (out of the weather). Should the motor just be a matter of just fueling it and trying to start it? It's a Yamaha 90.

Hopefully, I can remember how to set up my rigging, lines, sails, etc. The roller furler for the jib is still assembled, so that problem from last year is behind me.

Anything I should check or be concerned with after sitting so long?

[BOAT]

Yeah, plenty.

It's not good to go out with no motor unless you have a lot of experience with your boat. Since it is new, that's not likley. I bet 90% of the guys here could park thier boats right on the dock under a head sail alone and no motor, but these guys know thier boats like the back of thier hands and have years on them. They know when they can get away with rudders up, DB down, motor pinned, un pinned, etc - they know how thier boats behave.

Until you get there do NOT go without a motor. Trying to crash a boat into the dock under sail is no fun.

Go get a hose flusher for your motor. Is attaches to the bottom and lets you run the motor with a hose. Makes sure everything works.
Also - rais the and lower the mast on land a couple of times. Get a good fell for what gonna snag and what hangs up. After making sure the mast goes upo well and the motor runs go have fun -

[Russ]

Charge the batteries. Top 'em off with a 24 hr charge and they'll be fine.

The Yamaha is a 4 stroke right? So check fluids, oil etc. It's probably fine. Check just to be sure.
Add a couple of gals to the tank. Then hook up a hose click here so you can start it with cooling. In fact, learn to do this everytime it touches salt water to flush out the salt junk.

While at home, practice rigging and attaching sails etc.
Check tire pressures on trailer. All electrical systems on the boat and trailer.

Any questions, post 'em here and you will probably find an answer within hours. Great resource.
Stop worrying and enjoy your boat.

[Baerkanu]

And look forward to that first ding, or shroud scrape on the cabintop - after that, you can't put the first ding in it ever again!

I picked up a brand-new BMW R1200GS bike in '05 - zero miles. I had a 300 mile ride to get home. I was in the dealer's lot putting a bungy on a small cooler for the pillion seat, and the metal sticking out of the end of the bungy hook put a big scratch on the right-hand bag. I didn't have to worry anymore on the way home!

- Clay

[BOAT]

Yeah, I cheated - before I discovered the furling jib attachmnet that keeps the furler free of the cabin while stepping the mast I put a nice scratch in the lower racoon stripe. But I cheated, I had some 3M 05928 "Finnesse-It" finishing compound in the garage left over from 20 years ago when I had my old boat and I used it on the scratch and it revoved it. The Fleetwax cleaner and paste made the scratch go away completly.

[Sea Wind]

You can take your batteries to an auto shop (e.g. autozone) and they can check the batteries and do an overnight charge for free.

[Tomfoolery]

You might want to pull the spark plugs and crank it over long enough to bring up the oil pressure before replacing the plugs and starting it. The valve lifters and cam bearings and lobes will still see high loading, but the crank journals, wrist pins, and con rod bearings won't. Get the bearings wet again before starting, in other words. Unless there's a good reason not to do this, of course.

[Russ]

I put a nice scratch in the lower racoon stripe. But I cheated, I had some 3M 05928 "Finnesse-It" finishing compound in the garage left over from 20 years ago when I had my old boat and I used it on the scratch and it revoved it. The Fleetwax cleaner and paste made the scratch go away completly.

Ditto. Put a nice nasty gouge in my brand spankin' new Mac the same exact way. Everytime I see it I get mad at myself.

Made a mental note of your furler line trick to prevent it in the future. I may try that 3M product. It may help remove the guilt every time I go up on deck.

[Russ]

The valve lifters and cam bearings and lobes will still see high loading, but the crank journals, wrist pins, and con rod bearings won't.

Wow! I have no idea what language that is, but it sure sounds cool.

I once saw a video on "indexing" spark plugs on my Suzuki. Apparently they must be "aimed" correctly so the gap faces the valves. I realized this is too complicated for me. I did change the oil.

--Russ

[BOAT]

I put a nice scratch in the lower racoon stripe. But I cheated, I had some 3M 05928 "Finnesse-It" finishing compound in the garage left over from 20 years ago when I had my old boat and I used it on the scratch and it revoved it. The Fleetwax cleaner and paste made the scratch go away completly.

Ditto. Put a nice nasty gouge in my brand spankin' new Mac the same exact way. Everytime I see it I get mad at myself.

Made a mental note of your furler line trick to prevent it in the future. I may try that 3M product. It may help remove the guilt every time I go up on deck.

Yup, it works on the windows too.

Gee whiz - spark plugs! I don't even know how many cilynders there are on my ETEC60 !! (embarrassed) but it sure does work great!

[seahouse]

Wincrasher--

Sorry to hear about your experience , better days are ahead this year!

For the motor, if it was mine, I would pull the spark plugs, give each cylinder a squirt of oil (2-stroke oil) turn it over (by the flywheel) by hand a few times, and put the plugs back in before trying to start it. Reason being that it might not have been properly shut down ("fogged") for storage, so a film of oil remaining on internal engine parts might be nearly non-existent.

The fogging film not only protects from corrosion during storage, but also provides lubrication on startup that otherwise might not be there after a period of time. Of course the squirt only lubricates the upper cylinders, but it's better than nothing, is easy to do, and, is a brand new engine worth taking the risk with? If you didn't do this, and your cylinders were ever found to be scored, your warrantee would likely be void too.

For batteries in the discharged condition yours are, (especially sensitive to any mistreatment) I would do the initial charge only with a "smart" charger. Anything else risks doing further damage to your batteries because old-style chargers cannot adjust the charge rate to what will be needed for your batteries for maximum life remaining. Battery electrolyte levels should be OK, but check them anyway to be sure.

-Brian.

[Tomfoolery]

The valve lifters and cam bearings and lobes will still see high loading, but the crank journals, wrist pins, and con rod bearings won't.

Wow! I have no idea what language that is, but it sure sounds cool.

Ha ha, sorry. If I'm babbling incoherently, just do like the admiral, and give me one of these. "Speak English, dammit!"

[seahouse]

Note : If it's a 4-stroke (as I now assume it is), then tkanzler's technique described above (which won't work well if at all with most 2-strokes) will do a more thorough job than the "squirt" method I just mentioned, which would be more applicable to a 2-stroke engine.
- B.

[BOAT]

2 stroke don't have many parts, right captain seahouse? Is that why they usually don't jam up like the big ones? (I guess that's why the 2 stroks are smokey and loud too). Not much precision stuff going on in there - parts so loose they can pass sand - kinda like the engine on our old toy airplanes. Had a british seagull on my old dighngy like that - putt, putt, putt, putt, pop!, putt, putt, putt . . .

Those 4 stroke outboards are a marvel of engineering.

This ETEC60 they gave me with 'boat' is pretty good! Lot better than I expected! Not very loud at all and I was expecting smoke! Where the smoke!!?? Oh well, I never used the motor much in the old days but I guess I need to get used to turning on the motor more now that I have a MAC. I'm sure the ETEC will start to smell like an outboard after a few years like every other outboard I have ever had.

[Tomfoolery]

You do bring up a very good point, though. Assuming the cylinders weren't fogged when shut down a year or more ago, it's probably a good idea to fog/spray them before turning the engine at all. Regardless of the engine type. Maybe crank it by hand while hitting the cylinders, through 360 degrees, to coat the walls in the gentlest way possible. It's probably pretty tight, too, as it's essentially brand new and not even broken in yet.