Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

While I did not have a chance to put it in last weekend, I got my boat unpickled from winter storage.

The Good News:

• After pumping up the primer bulb, she lit off within 2-3 seconds of cranking.
• Trailer tires were all aired up.
• I found my favorite sunglasses. (Musta left them on the boat last fall)

The Bad News:

• She's filthy. The rear seats have a bit of crap... I don't know if 'mildew' is the right term... on them. It wipes off easy with water, but I will take a Magic Eraser lightly to all the seats this Friday. Will anything help prevent this next year?
• The carpet by the rear ladder is a nice shade of green, which sucks because its supposed to be beige. That is the low corner of the boat when parked in the storage lot, and it's just happens to get the least amount of sun. Any suggestions on cleaning it. I'm gonna hit it with the pressure washer and see what happens, but is there a good SAFE chemical or cleaner that will help?
• It is really hard to move the shifter in the reverse direction. I know in motorcycles that when a clutch cable needs lubed, it gets real stiff. Do you think I can use a cable lube thingy on the boat shifter cable?

Overall, I learned that I need to take just a bit more time when I put it up, but I am happy that everything looks like it rode the winter out in decent shape.

Tim

Cowracer
I enjoyed viewing the pics of you're cabin build. Very nice. We kept our Landau in a covered boat storage at the lake for 14 years. The building was open so I kept the mooring cover on even in the building. Was worried about things walking off. Each year when we took it out we had mildew on the vinyl. We used cleaners with bleach to clean the mildew off the vinyl, plastic and metal. Never had mildew on carpet. We know have our own place at the lake and don't have to cover the boat and mildew is no longer an issue.
I would think a cable lube tool would work. Only problem is the length of the cable may take a while to force the lube the full length.
2015 Bennington 22' SCWX 150 hp Yam

Well...

Spent a hot, hard day working on the boat. I used some spray carpet cleaner and the pressure washer with the 10 degree fan tip nozzle, and it cleaned the green crap on the carpet right up. I wound up doing the whole carpet. It looks like brand new. I used the magic eraser on the seats. It cleaned everything off the white and tan parts of the seats, but did not get all the crud off the brown accent pieces. I'll have to get some sort of cleaner. I hesitate to use a bleach based, but it may come to that. While I was feeling productive, I replaced my broken white anchor light and got all my nav lights working.

I also fiddled around with the control cables a bit (I.E.: I looked at them and wiggled them with my fingers), but I didn't do anything to them yet. I have determined that its not the throttle cable as it works smooth in both directions when I use the throttle only button. Forward gear goes in smoothly, but reverse is very stiff with the motor off. But with the motor running, it goes in easier. Is this normal? I did buy the stuff to lube the cables, but I was just too hot and miserable after working on the seats and carpet, that I didn't feel like messing with it.

Tim