1st run

[Yardman]

The weather was just too nice. Sneaked over to Lk. Stevens yesterday, with my Dad for a fishing/basking in the sun day. Surprisingly warm through all the layers of clothes. The fishing was good, catching not so. The snow covered mountains looked like a post card! My wife and I are going again this morning. - Ross

[GregJ]

Ross, You have inspired me to maybe get my lazy rear in gear and get out on the water. I was going to wait until the slough run but maybe today or tomorrow I will de-winterize and go for it.

[Steve_Kiesel]

It was a 1st run for me today also. Got the Homelite wet for the first time today on Lake Stevens. Ran into Ross and Sue drowning some worms. Nice chatting with you guys. Sure like how your Bellboy turned out, even looks good with the hardtop off. Also ran into Greg.

The Homelite ran like a champ. Didn't get the speed I was hoping for, some rookie didn't open the gas tank vent. Going to get the tach hooked up this week, and will do some more tests on the Slough Run outing next Saturday. I'll be launching at Coulon and running up to Bothell to meet the slough runners.

[GregS]

What a day

Yep, Jeff and I got caught on Lake Stevens with our Slough Runner. It was a great day out there and the 1965 Fiberform ran great. However, we too did not open the vents which might explain the dissapointing speed, 27.5 mph. I saw Ross out there on the way to the boat launch. Once in the water we made a beeline towards where Ross was. As luck would have it Steve was there as well. Their boats looked a little more polished than mine....a lot more polished! Great day to be out there; man it felt good.

Greg Jr.

[Steve_Kiesel]

That's too funny Greg. When I reported back to Bill about the low speed, that was his first question. As soon he asked, I knew that was the problem. I closed it at the gas station after I filled it up.

Guess this old brain needs a check list to run through before departing the dock. Now I'm chomping at the bit to get back out there next weekend. See you next Saturday.

[Yardman]

Well now, we had a fine day on the water, when we arrived at the boat launch we saw Bruce, and his son with a clean looking Skagit 14, naturally that lead to an impromptu "Boat chat" for a good while. We decided we needed to actually get on the water so we both did.
We were able to cruise along and get some pics, before parting.
Sue and I did some fishing and sightseeing for some time then a boat approached straight on. I was hoping it was someone we knew then I recognized the boat as Steve and his wife in their Glaspar testing the new Homlite. Steve was kind enough to loan us his gps for a speed check. Got to 27.1 mph, but I too in the theme of the day had my vent screwed down tight.
We had a nice "boat chat" going when Greg and Jeff stopped by with a new slew runner out for a test run. Looking good.
Steve, we should have done a zoom in on your run at speed, but it looks like your boat was running pretty flat.
A great day on the water and we didn't have to clean a bunch of pesky fish!!

[Steve_Kiesel]

Three of us in one day with our vents screwed down tight. Ross maybe the Bellboy will hit 30 with the vent open.

Thanks for the shot at speed Ross. It felt a little bow high when running. But it doesn't look too bad there. I'll leave the trim where I have it for now, and tweak some other things.

[Skagitguy]

Say, Look like you guys had a good time. All of your boats look great as well. Chuck

[Skagitguy]

Yep, Jeff and I got caught on Lake Stevens with our Slough Runner. It was a great day out there and the 1965 Fiberform ran great. However, we too did not open the vents which might explain the dissapointing speed, 27.5 mph. I saw Ross out there on the way to the boat launch. Once in the water we made a beeline towards where Ross was. As luck would have it Steve was there as well. Their boats looked a little more polished than mine....a lot more polished! Great day to be out there; man it felt good.

Greg Jr.

Greg, I can't believe that boat floats ! Looks good in the water. What motor is on it ? Chuck

[Tim McCrain]

Wow, you guys are making me jealous. I finally got some time to work on my Homelite yesterday, had lots of fun drilling and tapping the 10 out of 20 bolts that broke off as soon as I put a wrench on them.

Tim

[Steve_Kiesel]

Tim, been there done that. One of the lower shock mounts was broken on mine when I got it. I tried to use an Easy-Out, but the metal was too soft for it to bite. So I ended up drilling it out and re-tapping it.

This is the first one of these I've done. I got the threads off just a tad, now the outer holes on the shock mount don't match up to the yoke to bolt it on. Was able to get one bolt in, good enough for now.

It's always something.

[Tim McCrain]

Yeah, I haven't disassembled the lower yet, hoping that I don't break bolts down there. Overall, this thing isn't too corroded, most of the bolts came out just fine. Where I was breaking them was the water jacket covers, the gaskets had been seeping so the bolts were corroded at the shoulder where they went through the cover plate, above the threads. So I drilled them out with a bit that left the threads in the block and then used a tap to cut / clean out the old threads. Worked pretty good, but was a pain. at least now I'm at the point where I can start painting the block and it can be curing while I tear down the lower half.

Tim

[GregS]

Chuck, that is Jeff's 35 horse Evinrude. Great little motor!