Way2slow

A true story from the past. Back in the late 60's I worked for a prefab housing plant in purchasing for a while after graduating high school. The truss department said they were out of 14ft 2/4s so I jokingly told a co-worker that graduated with me, to go see if he could borrow Culpepper's (a local lumber dealer) board stretcher. About 15 minutes later get a call from a friend at Culpepper's saying they told him theirs was broke and sent on do the mill (about 20 miles away) to see if he could get theirs. I'm laughing my butt off. Well, about 3 hours later, after being sent all of the county, he came back all kinds of p***ed off because of the joke that was played on him. Now the rest of the story. The next day, a truck load of lumber came in and I handed him my measuring tape and told him to make sure the 14' 2x4's were on it and have them sent to the truss line. He goes out the door, and comes back in a couple of minutes saying "you though you got me again didn't you, handing me a 12' tape to measure 14' 2x4's". And to think, this was a high school graduate. Another one that makes you wonder, your bill is $6.45, you hand the kid behind the register a 10 and two ones, so they can give you back a five and not more ones. They had you back the ones and saying it was only $6.45.

Smart, the person that goes through the drive trough and says they want it "to go".

First off, a 12V battery is considered an almost "dead" battery at 12VDC, that's about 80% discharged. Second, a battery that has been left sitting for more 24 hours at a charge level below 80%, 20% discharged starts to sulfate, so if that battery has been sitting for very long at 12VDC, it's probably junk. Connect a voltmeter across the terminals and try cranking it, if the volt meter drops below 10.8VDC, the battery has lost enough cranking amp capacity that it's junk. Also, lets make sure were are talking apples to apples. Cranking means the starter is spinning the motor over. Starting means the motor is running or trying to run. If it's not cranking, that means the starter is not spinning the motor. If it's not starting, that means the starter is spinning the motor but it will not run.

That's a lot of boat for a little truck, two critical areas, the trucks towing capacity and the trucks braking capacity, neither of which are really suited for the much of a load. The day you have to stop quickly and the boat pushes you right on through an intersection, even with trailer brakes, you'll will see the "big picture". Even with most full sized, 1/4 ton pickup, towing that boat at highway speeds is probably going to a bit extreme. A transmission temp gauge should be added and never let it get above 200f, and forget about towing in overdrive. Go to the source for the facts, talking to the transmission specialist at a dealership for the make of vehicle, not someone on this site or someone on line, not a sales person or service manager. The second best option is talk to a specialist at a transmission rebuild shop. This can save you a lot of trouble and money down the road.

Unless you are making long runs, it's almost a sure bet your cranking battery is going to be partially discharged by the end of the day. There have been studies done on professional's cranking batteries at the end of the day during tournaments and on average, their batteries were only approximately 80% charged. That's why most people than know, use onboard chargers with enough banks for every battery on the boat, including the cranking battery. I don't know the year of your motor but in all probability, it only has about a 16 amp charging system, so it's not exactly a power house when it comes to charging the battery. If you want to make sure it is charging, take a voltage reading across the battery terminals with the motor turning at least 2,000 rpm. You should have at least about 13.8VDC

15,000 -20,000 hours on and outboard motor, that would take some serious documentation for me to believe that. That's like a 1/4 - 1/2 million miles on an automobile engine and they are not operated at anywhere near the rpm an outboard is. I also know it's not uncommon to put 1/2 million miles on a car engine, my daughter's 2003 Buick Century with the 3.1 engine has over 430,000 on it and other than the A\C compressor and thermostat, has never had a wrench on anything but the oil drain plug, spark plugs and transmission oil pan. I'm also well aware, the death of any engine is short trips where the engine is going through constant thermal cycling. Get one up to heat and let it stay there, no telling how long one can last, and I'm sure when the Coast Guard starts one up, it stays running a long time before shutting it off again. But! still, 15,000 hours on a gasoline outboard, I would have to see the proof. Also, how often do you start off in your automobile by punching it to the floor and just keep it there, or maybe back off to about 4,500 rpm. Operating conditions for outboard motors are a heck of a lot more severe than an automobiles.

Should have seen the look of fear on the kids face helping me at HD when he asked if there was anything else I needed and my reply was yes, I need 140, 80# bags of Quickrete, and the look of his relief when I said I was just going let them deliver it. 60 mile round trip, my 2500HD gets about 10 miles per gallon and 40 bags is about the most I will haul at one time, the cost of gas alone was enough to convince me I didn't want to mess with it and ready mix trucks won't deliver less than 4.5 yards to where I live,

They told me that 15 years ago. Two years later and enough biopsies that I thought they were going to just remove the prostate with the biopsy needle, and they decided no, I didn't have cancer, maybe they did remove with all those biopsies. PSA still reads on the high side 3.8 and I'm scheduled for another visit in NOV, so we will see what they say then.

JFrancho 3 guys rent a motel room for $21, each pays $7 There was a problem with the room so the manager gives the maid $5 to give back to the 3 guys. Maid figures five dollars is going to be hard for them split, so she pockets $2 and gives them back $3 Since each got back a dollar, that made them only pay $6 each for the room. Well, 3 x $6 = $18 they paid for the room, and the maid pocketed $2. $18 + $2 = $20, where did the other dollar go. They paid $7 each for $21 Each go back $1 so that made the pay $6 each for $18 The maid pocketed $2 so that's only $20

The Kroger's in my area has young boys and girls bag and take groceries out for you and they are not allowed to take tips when they do. If you try to help, most of them will tell you, they've got it.

Manufactures recalls don't usually happen unless forced by the government. Then it pretty much has to be a health or safety issue. That's why these manufactures can make this cheap junk and get away with it. They do what I call consumer engineering. They design something, market it, and let the failure rates paid for by the consumer determine if they have design defects and if they need to make a change or not. If it's too bad, they just drop that model because it develops the reputation as being junk, make the changes they want and just market it under a different model number. The all do it, automobiles, appliances, you name.

The only way out would cause some seriously hard times and probably start a civil war, and since going any further with that would get into politics, I will just leave it at that.

There are exceptions, but they are few and far between. Last fall, I needed some help pouring concrete for a 12 x 20 slab, using 80# bags of quickcrete. I live too far from major civilization to get ready mix delivered in small batches. Going to the hardware store, I saw to young high school boys cleaning up a yard. I stopped and asked them if they would be willing to work for me for four hours and I would give them $50 each. The jumped on it. It was hot and those boys busted their a** mixing (I had and electric mixer) but 100 bags of quickcrete, still had to be lifted and dumped in it two per batch, dumped and spread. We finished the job in three hours, I paid them their $50 each and gave them an additional $25 each for how hard they worked. They lived with their granddaddy about two blocks from me and they said they would be glad to help me anytime I needed them. A couple of months ago, I need some help and went to see if they wanted to work. There was an empty house with a for sale sign in the front yard. I got another teenager to help and he was absolutely useless. Everything I asked him to do. if it required much effort, it was either too hot, or he had some kind of a problem that kept him from being able to do it. After about 30 minutes, I gave him $10 and sent him on his way. As for splitting wood, fire places and fire wood was the only source of heat we had when I was growing up. I was 17 before my dad bought our first chainsaw. So, I am well acquainted with and ax and the art of splitting wood. That's why, when I built my wood fired oven a couple of years ago, I built me a 30 ton, hydraulic log splitter to go along with it.

Definitely will beat paddling, but avoid larger bodies of water and the wind. In smaller lakes and calm water, it will do fine, but the wind and large water can get you in serious trouble, unless the wind happens to be blowing the direction you want to go because you are going the direction the wind takes you if very strong..

Work!!!!!, Most kids idea of work is to drift in sometime mid morning, maybe, if they didn't have a friend that felt like they needed to do something else, hang around and BS with the others, for a while, taking a couple of breaks along the way, go to lunch, for an hour or two, come back, BS some more, again a few breaks along the way, and knock off about three or so. Oh! and expect to make at least $20 per hour and paid for an eight hour day if their schedule was say 8 to 5. The government pays too much for people not to work to expect to find someone that will work.

Don't get too excited just yet. There are several major problems that are going to need resolving. First on is making sure you have the proper paper work. If not, You will need to have the registration number on the boat, and possibly the last decal number, run by the state game and fish to verify who the registered owner is. If not the person you got the boat from, you need to see what they are going to require to register the boat. Trust me, you are not going to like their answer if it was not the person you got the boat from. It's usually a lot easier to deal with both in person if possible. They can also answer you questions on required safety items and if you will be required to have a boater safety course. Even if not required, being new to boating, you need to find one on line or something you can take. Next, you are going to need to check with the tag office and see what they are going to require to register the trailer. Some states make it pretty simple to just register it as a homemade trailer, so you might get by doing that. Now, for the real bummer. If that boat has in the position it's in for a very long time, you may find you have a major problem with the boat. If it's new enough it required floatation foam when manufactured and they used open cell foam, which was common in the 80's and early to mid 90's, it can be saturated with water and it does not dry out, adding a few hundred pounds of extra weight. Also, the subfloor is most likely plywood with a layer of fiberglass over it. Being left nose down like that, it's very probable the plywood has saturated with water and rotted of will rot before long. Walk around in the front of the boat and kind of bounce up and down, see if the floor feels spongy. There should be no movement. Over time and with use, it will totally give way.

That's what Cutter's is made for. Not sure about other areas, but in the southeast, damp areas and tall vegetation is a haven for red bugs, (chiggers), and ticks are just about anywhere you have deer. they seem to be the worst about keeping ticks well distributed. As for the tick in Lowe's, you probably wore him in. I've been in tick infested areas and not find one for a few days. I've hunted areas that are so infested, not only did you spray all your clothing and openings with Cutters, you wore flea/tick collors around your ankles.

So, you're saying theirs are better? I've had more than a few friends and neighbors say they wish they could find a pizza as good as mine. jimmyjoe, I do flat breads with pizza dough that are similar to what you describe. I don't always use a tomato sauce. My wife likes olives, slices of fresh tomatoes, red onions, and other stuffs. After living in Italy for six years, where pizzas are almost a staple. That's their hamburger, you kinda get a pretty good idea what one should really be like.

You can only wish Domino's or Pizza Hut had one this good, and they only take about three minutes.

I've got pictures of some pretty spots also, but wouldn't be allowed to post those. One of my favorite was a volley ball net on a beach in Sicily.

Old saying goes, live hard, play hard, die young. If I have my daddy's gene's, he had six brothers and none of them lived to be 80, so my years are on the short list. Other than the two that were drunk and did something stupid to kill themselves, all died of heart problems, and I've already had one stint put in eight years ago. At least dying from getting drunk won't be a problem, since I don't drink. For the number of alcoholics on my daddy's side of the family, including my brothers, there were so many drunks, I was always scared to take that first drink, and beer taste like it can be poured back in the horse it came out of.

Ga has a lifetime small game and fishing which I bought back in the late 60' seems like it was only about $65 then, but still had to buy the big game for deer and turkey. Plus you had to buy salt water fishing, trout stamps, duck stamps. Basically anything bigger than a rabbit or quail, and other than fresh water pond fish like bream, bass, cats and crappie required additional stamps or license . Since I am now a member of the over 65 old farts club, hunting (even big game) and fishing are free.

They put on a good show, as well as the Thunderbirds. The Golden Knights also can impress a crowd. If you really want to see an impressive flying team, watch the Italian team, the Frecce Tricolori. The problem is, they usually won't fly in the US because of FAA regulations that puts the show center well out away from the crowds and restrict many of the maneuvers they are best known for, that put them flying over the crowds of people. For a number of years, I was responsible for a huge number of public address setups for air shows in Italy, Germany and the US, and a number of other special events, so I got to see more than my fair share areal demonstration teams.

I think I read the motor is as low as you can get it but if not, try going down another inch or more. Contrary to what many think, higher is not always better. On my Javelin with it loaded to the hilt with everything, I have to run a custom tuned 26" Raker that's set for more bow and stern lift, at 5" below the pad to get good bow lift and to keep it from cavitating just as the boat lays over getting on plane. The idea of running the motor higher is generally, that creates less drag and more speed. However, it can also make you run slower if you are not getting full lift and dragging more hull in the water. If I raise mine, I start loosing top end speed because I not getting the lift I get at 5". If I go down to 5 1/2", I get a little better lift still but then loose about 2 mph. Also,, when you use it again, watch your tach. If it's starts increasing RPM at WOT and not boat speed, something is slipping. Also, as I mentioned, run you numbers through a prop slip calculator and see what it show. Anything less than 8-9% would probably mean something is slipping. Anything over 12-13% means you might need to work on your setup and weight distribution. Prop slip calculators are great tools for getting a boat dialed in, use them.

I love some of these responses, a marathon runner justifying spending $300 for a pair of shoes to fish in. I'm not going to be running laps around the inside of my boat. A serious marathon runner can go through a couple pairs of shoes per month, and it would be stupid for them to try using cheap shoes, for the damage they could do to their legs and feet, that's why they try to get factory sponsoring if they are good enough. Then there are those that feel they have to make a public statement, by sporting the logos of all the high dollar brand stuff they have. Me, at 72 years old and with arthritis so bad, it hurts to move most of the time, I have no intentions on running laps around the inside of my boat, or any place else, and could absolutely care less about what loge is on anything I have. Matter of fact, I feel if a company puts their logo so it can be easily seen, they should pay me for advertising for them. I buy a quality item, suited for task I intend to use it for, at the lowest discount price I can find at the time I need the item. When I was working professionally as an industrial equipment mechanic, I paid $1,700 for an IR impact wrench, because of it's quality and power. Today, if I needed one, would I pay that, not just no, but h**l no. So, I will keep right on buying the cheapest, I can find that is of suitable quality for the task I intend to use them for. Like, how many of ya'll fork out $500+ for a rod and reel for bass fishing, and fork out that same amount of money for one to go crappie or bream fishing?