Will it Float???

I have been negligent in my reporting of the sniffing family activities.  In fact it may be a complete surprise to a few of you out there that not only do we have a boat but we have done so for 2 years now.  To be fair when we took custody of the vessel it was with the intention fix and then sell it and the Honda Quad it came with and make a bit of CASH$$ (both were in poor condition).  If your are familiar with this story feel free to skip a line or two otherwise here is a brief summary of what went down.

August 2010 I finagled a deal to purchase both a non running 88 FourWinns as well as a non running 96 Honda 300EX quad for the breathtaking fee of $1500 to fix them both up and sell them for a profit.

By September I had the Quad running for a total out of pocket expense of $100 and after a handful of fun rides around the neighborhood it sold for $750

 

I now had in my possession an 88 ski-boat that was currently a total cost of $850 and my lovely wife casually mentioned that maybe we should keep it!!  This was a new idea for me, good times vs. money, hmmmmmmm what to do? Well we decided to see if it would start after siting for 13 years but as the cold weather was approaching I opted to not De-winterize it until winter was in the rear-view mirror. FF>> to May 2011 and guess what the beauty started.  I was happier than a kid on Christmas!!

Yup it was that bad!!

Thus began the arduous task of restoring the entire interior as it was completely shot.  Fortunately Bro-in-law G. was interested in participating in $ as well as time and by the 4th of July we had the beast on the water. and the rest has been the fairy tale of my love of boating blossoming to a near obsession all in the space of a year.

Starting to move in the right direction.

Greggie Helpie

Now for the FUN!!

Awwww!

Someday I'll get a pic of the finished boat but for now JUST LOOK AT THOSE KIDDOS:)

US!!

It makes me smile

and smile

 Now why do I bore you with this tale? Why to brag of course, but also to let any one who might wonder how you get the oil filter off a engine that has been there for 14 years I have this little nugget of wisdom.  Do not neglect the simple oil filter wrench that costs but a few dollars or you may be forced to create a tool similar to the one below that was created after hours of struggle and the complete destruction of the old filter.  Process... dream it up, chew up a giant wad of bubble gum and press ti onto the hole pattern of the filter without being able to see a thing due to the angle and cramped space, drill three holes in a piece of cut angle iron, insert 3 sections of 1/4 in drill bits, cut them to length and then pray as I inserted it into the filter and fractions of a turn at a time I finally got the mangled filter free of its 14 year bond.  YES I am patting myself on the back because I made it happen.

The problem

 

The tool

Together at last!!

Please, please that is quite enough applause:)