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The bearing manufacturer SKS says that .002% water in oil can reduce bearing life by nearly 50%. Six percent water can reduce bearing life by 83%. Pumping grease into a bearing pushes out water. If you're near the coast and launch in salt water, rolling elements can rust in hours. Once there...

Random thoughts: A running motor is worth much more than an old boat. Unless the seller can run the motor for you, I would assume the motor is going to the scrap yard and would consider the price to buy a replacement motor in the cost. Even if the motor does run, at a minimum, do a compression...

We have a 1232 flat bottom boat. I'm close to 300 and the boat always felt tippy with me in the back and my son in the front. It never tipped but it sure rolled back and forth a lot - enough that fishing wasn't always fun. Then, last year we got in the boat and it wasn't tippy any more. I...

Nice job. Sharp look. Shame to get it wet.

I've had good luck with the aluminum brazing rod on a couple of worn spots where our jon boat was dragged through the sand for years. I was patching holes that were 1/8" across in good, solid aluminum. I wouldn't use it on cracks. I don't think it would hold up to flexing and would crack again.

Jets are less efficient so you'll need roughly 50% more horsepower. If you need a 25hp outboard, get a 40hp jet. Jets let you run in only inches of water without having to worry about damaging your prop. There are lots of times when I wish I had one.

I run my dry too. Evaporating fuel leaves sticky residue behind that clogs tiny ports in the carbs. I also drain the carb bowls using the drain screw. Just running the motor with the fuel line disconnected might not get all of the fuel out of all of the carbs.

I'm with DaleH. I think something just got knocked loose and if you find that thing you'll be fine. But... "go-fast" boats are sometimes damaged when they hit a wake. When the prop comes up out of the water there is no load and the motor speeds up. When the over-rev'd prop slams back into...

If you can sell 1/10 the parts at 10x the price you made the same money and did 1/10 the work.

Last weekend, we were out in the salt marsh on my boat. I was heading to the bay and traveling close to 30mph as we wound our way around the many bends and turns in the salt marsh creek. I throttled down for a sharp turn and my son noticed a lot of water flow forward to the bow of the boat. He...

If the trex stringers are supported on the bottom of the hull, they should work fine. Either scribe them to the bottom and cut them to fit or add supports that rest on the bottom along the length of the stringer. You may need to add some bridging between the stringers to prevent them from rolling.

Option 4: fix the 9.9 so it runs at idle and doesn't smoke. Switch to a lower pitch prop if you want to troll slower. Trolling motors are nice but not really for trolling. They're great if if you're spending the extra for a spot lock feature or want to control the boat with a foot control...

Using foam to prevent future lost tools is a good idea. Curious what that piece of Aluminum cost you.

Two questions: (1) If you hit a rock hard enough, does your outboard tip up? I know mine is locked down when it's in the down position but I don't know if that latching mechanism is designed to break away at some amount of force or if a hard enough hit just rips the outboard off of the...

I removed the rollers from my trailer and went to bunks because the rollers were putting dents in the bottom of the hull. Distributing the weight across the full length of the bunks is best. Point loads are bad when you're bouncing down the highway.

The zinc anode right above the prop is made to be adjusted to counteract this turning force. This anode has a "trim tab" that hangs down just over the prop. Loosen the bolt holding the tab in place and rotate the rear of the tab toward the direction your boat is steering. Tighten the bolt...

This is what I do. Evaporating gas leaves a sticky varnish behind. I shut off the fuel and run the motor until it dies to get the fuel out of the carb for storage.

I have one that's very much like that soft sided bag except the plano boxes are all vertical. Having the boxes stacked on top of each other means that the one you want will always be on the bottom. Mine is a gander mountain box (out of business now) with the hard plastic bottom and holds 6...

short shaft and long shaft mean different things to different people. Get the shaft length that matches your transom. I have a kicker/backup motor on my boat that has a shaft that's 3" shorter than ideal. It works as a backup but would be awful as a primary motor. Occasionally I use it just...

I don't know what trailer will fit but my trailer has one of these: https://www.towuniverse.com/fulton-fold-away-3-x-3-5000-lbs-trailer-bolt-on-hinge-kit-zinc-finish-hdpb330301?language=en&currency=USD&msclkid=e3f643794290198062971c408f8e4836