Our first boating experience!

[Blessed]

We purchased the boat used with only 30 hours on it... hooked up the garden hose ear muffs to the motor and fired it up at the original owner's house... ran perfect... the boat was very clean... you could tell it had very little use...older retired couple.

We were so excited! We are a relatively young family... our children...a five month old... a two year old... and a five year old... (we got a late start, gotta make up for lost time!) we picked up the boat early on a Friday morning and headed to the lake... stopped by the insurance company and let them take pics and sign the paperwork... filled it up....42 gallons, ouch!... went to Wal-Mart to stock the cooler and get life jackets... just before the lake we stopped in at a little country store and bought our fishin license....

Back it in the water.... for the first time.... oops forgot the motor prop rod thing (transom saver)... pull back out... back in the water the second time... trim the motor down.... fire it up.... idle it off the trailer... no sweat... ease it over to the dock..... back and forth and back and forth and.... a little tricky at first... finally touch down on the dock... woohoo!

Wife gets on board with the children, baby stroller and necessities... my Dad gets on... everything is going smooth.... piece of cake...

Back away from the dock... put it in neutral and leave the motor at idle.... time to put up the bimini top... push pull and finally hang on the thing to get it latched in.... whew!

Then the motor dies! No sweat.... I think maybe I let it idle too long fighting the banjo tight bimini top and the engine computer shut it off....

Crank crank crank on the motor to no avail.... wind picks up pretty good and the banjo bimini becomes a sail bimini! We drift to the shore up against the rocks just on the opposite side of the dock from the boat ramp...call the guy I bought it from to see if I might be missing something or doing something wrong... nope, he never had any trouble with it...

About twenty minutes or so of arguing and fussing and listening to the horrific sounds that nice new hollow aluminum pontoons make while snuggling against the rocks... a couple of very strange characters in a small flat bottom boat with smoke puffing out of the 20hp???? 2 stroke???? Like a mosquito bomb come puff puff chug chugging along and we ask them for help....

Not sure if they were drunk or stoned... but something wasn't quite right about them...half the time they wouldn't even respond to questions... they would just sit and look at us....it was like being in the middle of a twilight zone episode...

Finally somehow they got the message that we wanted them to tow us back around the other side of the dock so we could trailer the boat.... puff puff chug chug.... here we go...

Miss the trailer a thousand times.... wind is blowing hard.... boat is dragging me all over the loading ramp... in the water up to my chin... in early spring.... water still at the oh why can't I breath temp... knock a board off the trailer... everyone seems to know exactly what I am doing wrong but some how unable to assist as I play lonesome hokey pokey with my new pontoon boat!

Finally get the brilliant idea to pull the boat trailer out..... line up the boat and back the trailer under it! Hey how about that.... that was easy! Why didn't I think of that.... use the winch to crank it up the last couple feet or so on the trailer...

Get it home and spend the rest of the evening troubleshooting the motor... narrow it down to a lean fuel situation... can keep it running by bleeding air pressure off the rail... think/hope maybe the fuel filter could be the issue...

Haul it to the dealership where it was originally purchased... they have been awesome by the way... Tracker Boat Center at the Tims Ford Marina....

Purchase the special tool and fuel filter... not the problem...

Beg them to fix it now... they are covered up.... can't get to it now...he gets to it early the following week... and calls me up... some rubber bushing in one of the fuel pumps... probably caused by ethanol fuel without stabil treatment.... $143.00 parts and labor! I was expecting a lot worse....

Pick it up that afternoon after work.... ramp is a couple hundred yards from the boat center... launch the boat... not one problem since.... we have probably put at least 20 to 30 hours on it this summer and have really enjoyed it... caught a few fish.... really enjoyed the tube / raft and the absolutely beautiful lakes in middle Tennessee... so far Tims Ford is my favorite...

Call the guy I bought it from back to let him know what happened... a couple days later I get a check in the mail from him for the repairs! Halleluiah!

[MH Hawker]

OOO the joys of owning a boat.

[ROLAND]

wow, sorry you had such a bad indoctrination with the new toon, but glad you got it all worked out... and kudos to the people you bought the boat from to send you a check for your repairs... hate to say it but most people would have said Nice to know there are still some people left in the world that do the right thing.........

[Blessed]

OOO the joys of owning a boat.

Yup! We have heard several folks say " welcome to boating"! The manager at the Tracker Boat Center says "it's all about making memories" Which is why we bought it... to have fun and memorable times with the family.... the other favorite quote we hear is... "Do you know what boat stands for? ... Break Out Another Thousand!" All togeather the good memories have so far out weighed the bad...

[Blessed]

wow, sorry you had such a bad indoctrination with the new toon, but glad you got it all worked out... and kudos to the people you bought the boat from to send you a check for your repairs... hate to say it but most people would have said Nice to know there are still some people left in the world that do the right thing.........

I was shocked to see the check for the cost! I was shocked that he even answered the phone...! They were really nice people and chose to sell the boat to us because we have young children and we are both former US Marines.... we got a good deal on it as well... he paid $23,000.00 for it new in 2011... we gave $14,000.00 in 2014 with only 30 hours on it...

[RcgTexas]

The two happiest days in a boatman's life, The day he buys it and the day he sells it! You were happy and he was happier!

[cwag911]

Glad it all worked out and thankyou for your service.

[PlaynDoc]

reading that, it gave me flashbacks to my first few trips out.... and I'm sure, many more people have very similar experiences. i was just lucky - my problems as a newbie were self inflicted, not from motor/boat problems...

welcome to the world of the "most frustrating fun memory maker"... aka... a boat.

[MH Hawker]

I have a some what different definition of BOAT, its best of all times

[Cowracer]

OK. You got the bad stuff out of the way for the year. Tim's {that me} law dictates that you will have 1 bad trip a year, and every 3rd year will have 2 or 3.

Now go enjoy the rest of the season.

To

[Woody]

Tim's ford is really nice. We do a lot of Camping/Boating @ Normandy also. It was awful nice of the previous owner to step up and pay you. I'm sure you will keep fuel treatment in it now (obviously he didn't). I like the Star Tron blue.

[Blessed]

Tim's ford is really nice. We do a lot of Camping/Boating @ Normandy also. It was awful nice of the previous owner to step up and pay you. I'm sure you will keep fuel treatment in it now (obviously he didn't). I like the Star Tron blue.

That first trip was at Normandy... right at the dam... yes I use Stabil Marine every time I add fuel! We might see you guys out there sometime...

[BoatCop]

Blessed,

You may want to call Mercury Customer Service and ask if they'll pay for the repairs, or at least give you a service credit. The fuel pump seals is a known problem and they might help you out. Even though the engine is 4 years old, with only 30 hours they should stand behind it. A lot of engines were sold with a special 5 year warranty period (mine was) and it wouldn't hurt to ask if they'll cover it.

Read Here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19714

[Woody]

That first trip was at Normandy... right at the dam... We might see you guys out there sometime...

Possibly. We camp @ both of the campgrounds near the Dam. We'll probably be there next weekend.

[Bamaman]

You have quite a few lakes close by--Woods Reseviour, Tims Ford, Normandy. I always enjoyed Percy Priest. Old Hickory's another lake within 90 minutes. And Center Hill and Dale Hollow are two other great Middle Tennessee lakes.

If you want to step up to a special lake, pop over the mountain south of Winchester to Scottsboro, and the incredible Lake Guntersville. It is one of the premier fishing lakes in this country with fishermen coming from as far as Canada. The view from the back deck on the Guntersville State Park Inn at sunset is absolutely incredible, as you can see for 30 miles.

I moved to Muscle Shoals for the Tennessee River and Wilson Lake. We're 2 hours from Nashville, Birmingham and Memphis--and have some of the more incredible lake residences anywhere. We also have a city of 140,000 people and all the malls and restaurants 5 minutes from the lake that other lakes don't have. With a 6 mile sunset water view from my screen porch, it's almost like living on the ocean.