So as it is getting warmer here in Yuma and the snowbirds, on a much more limited number are thinning out, I have taken on a project I hope bares some fruit and some good times.
As most of you know I love to putz with almost anything that catches my eye and so I have been watching online the Yuma Market, in search of something to keep me busy.
I came across a boat, one might call a puddle jumper as it is plastic and only 8’6” in length. It is the kind of boat that probably has no market in Greater Minnesota with the thousands of lakes one has to choose from. But here in the Yuma Arizona area it has its virtues as the backwaters of the Colorado River accounts for almost all of the wetland around here.
So the boat is called a Sun-Dolphin Sportsman and like I said is is about 81/2’ long. I have not gone to the DMV to get it registered yet as there are a few issues that need to be addressed before the boat will be water ready.
That’s right the boat doesn’t float, there is no trailer, the gas engine has never run under the previous owner and the trolling motor is so old Minn-Kota does not even list it as ever being built. Now for most this would probably be a deal breaker, but for me it seems like a challenge and one I look forward to taking on.
So the owner drug it out from beside his house past a 1/2 dozen other toys in various state of repair and we loaded it into the back of my truck. Yes it fits in the box, so no trailer, no problem. Didn’t want to go to all the work of loading and unloading a boat off a trailer anyway. And so we brought it home.
First things first, stripped the boat down to bear plastic and gave it a good bath with a hose, a brush and a lot of elbow work it came out looking much better. Next day I spent cleaning and detailing the hull and not surprisingly I found that the boat was in much better shape than what first sight had eluded to. After all the cleaning I went back over it a final time using a plastic preservative and I will admit it really looks great now.
Next task mount the outboard motor into a kitchen 30 gal. waste basket filled with water to test it out. Nope won’t start. Pulled and replaced the fuel line then drained something that had no resemblance of gas out of the onboard fuel tank. It was green in color and looked to be several years old. Flushed the tank with fresh $3.00+ fuel and then filled the tank with a fresh mix of gas and oil as this motor is a 2 stroke.
After cleaning most of the crap out of the carb I took a shot at starting the motor only to find the recoil needs a new spring. But I managed to work around that and got the motor running. Although I could not run it long as the water pump rubber impeller had stuck to the side of the pump tearing out the keyway so it needs rebuilding.
Key give away here is that this motor is so old, not a single YouTube video shows an all metal water pump like the one I have. They all show plastic bodied pumps and although I am not sure I don’t think plastic was a thing back when this motor was new……. But hey $10 for the impeller and a new water pickup bushing and a little extra elbow grease cleaning the housing and I have the pump ready for the new parts when they get here.
The trolling motor that came with the boat is a little odd as well. It was built by a major manufacture but was one of their experimental units and other than some electric connection issues and understanding that it is a variable speed motor rather than a stepped speed motor it seems to be working. Although I have no tank that I can really test it out with and until I buy a battery I have just been running it off my solar system for basic testing purposes. But it seems to be in pretty good shape as well.
As someone had removed the two handles in the back of the boat I cleaned up and resealed the bolt holes and installed new handles and as long as I was doing it I also installed two new cleats on both rear sides of the boat. And replaced the anchor rope and will order a new anchor as the one that came with the boat weighs almost 20lb.
Oh yea I almost forgot I also got power running from the stern to the bow of the boat for the trolling motor. Someone had spliced one of the wires and it had broke. Now if I could only find something to clean up the terminals on the plug. Oh well I will figure that out as well.
Until Next Time
It’s Always an Adventure!
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