now this winter, get your butt over to Westmarine or something similar and get some "bedding compound" and pull all the cleats, railings, and anything else bolted through the 'glass deck and redo them. That is the only way to keep the deck from delaminating.
if you are handy with 'glass (I suggest epoxy) you can drill the holes bigger for the cleats, tape up the bottoms, fill with epoxy and let harden, and then drill through the epoxy to the original size hole. This will guarantee that any water that leaks past the cleat will not cause delamination and rot
Wow, that's a lot different than a "couple of jet skis" or a jet boat".
Sea Rays are good cheap disposable boats though. Which is probably why you got such a screaming deal.
Realize that that boat isn't a long term solution. You'll either use it to figure out what you really want or use it to figure out that boating isn't for you.
In reply to drdisque :
The surveyor who inspected it said it was in good enough shape that as long as I maintain it's current condition it wouldn't deteriorate. There were no moist spots anywhere in the hull, stringers, transom or deck. All mechanical systems are fully functional and there are only a couple things I need to address "soon" (which I was mostly already aware of). He fair market valued it almost $4k more than I paid so when I'm done making it pretty again I might not even lose money if I want out. So, it almost could be as long a term as I want it to be. "Want" being the critical word. That will require some decent, warm weather to work out ... and it might not come until next year at this point in September.
I put 6hrs on it under power over the weekend with the family and the size/power is good for a big lake - plenty of room to move around without bumping into each other as well. It's stable and cuts 5' swells like they aren't there. It's not very responsive/maneuverable at no wake docking speeds so I have to get used to taking more time to angle up to things or gain some comfort doing it at larger throttle angles. It's about the biggest boat I'd want to bring to the lake and put in/out all the time by myself though. It was awkward doing it alone - tying up the ramp lane and dock while I moved the truck and so on. The mrs or kids need to learn to drive the truck and/or the boat to make it easier on my nerves. If it wasn't freezing cold this weekend I expect there would have been a lot more people pissed off at my hogging of all the resources at the public ramp.
In any case, so far so good. The school district's teachers are most likely going on strike tomorrow so I might take a couple days off work and put it thru some more paces instead of having the kids sit around here staring into phones.
Find a soft shore or weed line somewhere and practice your docking. That way when you blow it, nothing gets damaged. As long as that boat is and as deep as the V is, it's going to take some throttle to get it to respond. Probably a lot more than you think.
It looks like a fun one, and the perfect lake cruiser.
T.J.
MegaDork
9/11/17 11:13 a.m.
Recommend that you install some PVC guide poles on your trailer. I find that they make launching/retrieving solo easier.
Yeah, I didn't mean "disposable" in a bad way. I meant it in an EG Civic sort of way. Cheap to buy, easy to sell, not going to cost you a ton even if you screw it up royally, not so nice that you have to keep your balls in a vice worrying about it.
Use to be 40 hp. and 30 mph was good. A lot of waterways have speed limits, if the water gets rough the ride can be very hard and wet. Much over 30 and you will need eye protection. Rain stings like hell.
taken from 18 years on the lake with boats.
Boats can be fun.
In reply to iceracer :
This is 260HP. Should be able to go 50+ but I mostly was tooling around at 3800RPMs which is about 34 on the GPS and it planes nicely and handles well. Going faster made my wife uncomfortable and so I'll do the top speed testing when a more enthusiastic audience is present. Having been a speed freak for most of my life I don't really see boating as a "thrill" type activity. It's more of a relaxation type portable island that pulls tubes and lets me have a relaxing lake vacation without having a lake house. Have a boat slip at a campground? Cheap weekend. It was also my wife's idea and after 20 years of leaving her home when I went racing and lately, motocamping - having her buy in on a toy is refreshing.
I have cool shades with impact protection because motorcycles also have that problem.
I'm looking forward to a day I don't require a wind breaker and knit hat to stay out on the water :)
In reply to Huckleberry :
Speeds on water seem different than speeds on land. The scariest ride I ever had was on a small, read operator only, step hydroplane. I was elected by my brother to test it for a friend. The darn thing was like a deer on ice. It was really hard to keep it going in a straight line. I don't remember the power of the engine, it wasn't a lot. After we took it out of the water I noticed it had no fin or keel strip.
50 on water seems like 100 on the highway.
My 20' Sea Ray would run 54 at WOT. At that speed it's as stable as can be as long as the water isn't too rough. I've been a touch over 70 on the water. In a 20' boat, that pretty quick. It starts to tail dance at those speeds.
I ran from Georgetown to Charleston at 50 the day my Grandmother passed away. That was turning 4200 RPMs. It does burn quite a bit of gas at those speeds but it got the job done.
iceracer said:
In reply to Huckleberry :
50 on water seems like 100 on the highway.
Maybe, but 100 on the highway also feels kinda like that should be the speed everyone is supposed to go. 
FWIW, the internet consensus is that top speed for this boat is right at 50mph with the 5.7L 260HP setup mine has but it's unlikely to see that much because this is the Mrs's idea of "if we can't bring the water to us then we will go to the water". Mrs Huckleberry does not do adventure. She reads and sips wine on the sundeck. We will only be going full speed back to the dock when Mrs Huckleberry is out of wine or needs to pee and the lake water is too cold to use the swim ladder :)
iceracer said:
The scariest ride I ever had was on a small, read operator only, step hydroplane. I was elected by my brother to test it for a friend. The darn thing was like a deer on ice. It was really hard to keep it going in a straight line. I don't remember the power of the engine, it wasn't a lot.
These are fun with only 9hp.
In reply to mad_machine :
Yep. I one I drove/rode didn't have any means of directional control stability.
you know you are supposed to lean forwards over the bow to get it to "dig in" to turn?
Best thing someone told me when I started learning about maneuvering a boat: "It's real easy to approach the dock too fast, but it's nearly impossible to do it too slow."
I second guides on the trailer, the more the merrier. Any time spent on making the boat load straight and easy will pay huge dividends in lowered frustration. Putting some real thought and prep effort in ahead of time greatly simplifies what is probably the worst part of trailer boating.
In reply to ultraclyde :
Loading wasn't nearly the clusterberkeley that unloading it was. Rookie mistakes were made. Lessons learned. Next time I will be smooth and efficient.
It's a bunk trailer so lining them up coming in is pretty easy - I just goosed it forward and coasted onto the bunks, let it slide up on it's inertia, leaned over the bow and clipped the chain then hopped over and cranked the winch to bring it tight. I'm not sure what adding guides would do that the bunks don't - unless I'm misunderstanding the application.
The deep v makes lining up on the trailer pretty easy. I never had a problem with mine. The guides help a lot when dealing with a current. Especially when using a steep ramp. They will keep the ass end of the boat from drifting sideways while you hook the chain and such. This is doubly true with a flat bottomed or shallow V boat. I didn't have guides on my Sea Ray trailer. I do have them on my Key West trailer because of the shallow V.
