Been working on the bottom of the houseboat whenever possible. I'm finished with the steam cleaner... yesterday I started taking to the rust spots full time with a Ryobi angle grinder and some healthy wire wheels. I have one of those small push-carts from Harbor Freight, and it's working perfect as a roll-around chair under the boat. It's the right height, and the push handle works as a backrest. Actually pretty comfy, but the arms get plenty sore anyway...

Put the Bayliner in the water again, only I forgot I had the transom tied down. No biggie, I put it in reverse and it wouldn't leave the trailer, so I immediately knew what I did. BUT, when I pulled the boat out to remove the straps, one of the straps was dangling from the boat, with a bare hook still hanging from the trailer...? The hook just pulled thru the sewn loop! (the stitching failed, not the strap) Now c'mon, given how hard I tried to reverse, a piece of 1/4" nylon rope tied with granny knots would've held! And these straps are basically new! They've only been "in use" for about 8 hours, the rest of the time they're stored under the rear seat. They're actually pretty beefy straps, I'm surprised it failed so easily...so, what to do--take it back and get another like it? My warrantee was up 4 days ago, but I kinda think they'll change it.
... or should I try something else? Who/what to trust?

Weather turned bad, which is becoming irritatingly typical this season, so no boating today. We live at the lake and hardly ever go boating...someday maybe!

Well, I'm filthy, tired, hope I don't fall asleep in the shower!

Stitching on that strap must not have been good to begin with. Several of our scouts bought inexpensive off brand backpacks. All but one have held up great. The one had 2 or 3 straps come loose from poor stitching!

Beginning to wonder if we'll get out this year, too. Between kids activities and other stuff we haven't even made it out once. Planning on this weekend but found out both kids have something going on Sat so it'll have to be a day trip on Sun if we go.

If they change for free then I'd just do the swap. If you have to buy a new one then I'd look for something beefier.

I'm with you FR with the frustrating weather. I got my boat out early from storage this year with hopes of a good early start to the season but with the high water levels on the lake causing it all to be a no wake zone mixed with the crappy weather and my work schedule we have been unable to get out. While I'm typing this I'm looking outside and thinking that today would be a great day to go but I have to work until about 7.30 P.M.

I think I'd cough up the dough for some upgraded straps. Cheap insurance, especially if the strap failure was poor stitching. There's always a good chance that another of the same make would fail as well.

The weather here has gotten colder here in the last week or so. Low 50s seem to be the norm for most of this week. Its supposed to hit 74 Wednesday, so I might see about us sneaking out for an hour or two in the late afternoon.

Weather looks terrible for the weekend -- low 50s and rain.

That's what I'm leaning towards, BUT--If I were just looking "first time" for some straps, and I saw the ones I have, I'd BUY them because they appear to be good straps! (I'll take pics and post later) So if I buy different ones, what do I have to do, buy some that would hold down a battleship just to be sure?

FR - I'd just ask the dealer to swap it out....after you tell them the story, they should happily do it.....since the other strap is stitched properly, it was more than likely an isolated instance....

Do you trailer your boat much FR?

I am beginning to wonder if I am going to boat this year. The boat has been at the dealer for 6 weeks now waiting for them to fix the relay they thought they fixed last year. With the wind and rain we have been seeing, they have not had time to take it out to test. If they wait much longer, I may not have any free time to do anything.

Eng, last year the Bayliner stayed in a slip most of the time, I could fuel it from the houseboat so I didn't even need to take it to a gas station. We took it to another lake on a camp trip with some friends over the 4th last summer, and we spent a week at Flaming Gorge. (thats when the straps got used) Other than that, it only got put on the trailer to clean up the bottom. I took it to a gas station a couple of weeks ago, which is why the straps were still on it...

'dog, 6 weeks? Sheesh...that's bordering on ridiculous. And, I'm just curious, what kind of relay? And don't most dealers have some way of load testing an engine in the shop?

There is a relay that operates the fuel pump until the engine fires. Once the engine fires, it turns off. It will not kick off. Year before last, it caused me a lot of grief. Then the rains kept me from boating until August, and the problem came right back. I finished the year having to bang on the relay to disengage it when I killed the engine, which meant raising the sundeck and then the engine hatch. I suspect that the problem is a bad supplier (probably Chinese), but it adds to my fustration with the lack of free time, and the high price of fuel. They need to test drive it to see it in action, but it has been a nasty boating spring.

If it's a typical EFI fuel pump relay, there's not a lot to it.

Power is applied to the fuel pump whenever the key is in the "START" position. But in all other situations, the relay operates the pump, and will ONLY turn the pump on (A) for about 4 seconds when the power is applied by the ignition in "ON" position, and after that 4 seconds is up, it will only supply power IF there's oil pressure. Once the key is off, OR there's no oil pressure present, the relay will shut down the pump.

--And, your pump isn't shutting down, even with the key OFF?

I find it unusual that you'd have this problem with TWO relays, since hardly anyone has this problem AT ALL...I wonder if the relay closes the POWER circuit to the pump, or if it closes the GROUND circuit? Because if it's the latter, any errant ground connection (loose or bare wire, etc) could cause the pump to run.... I could go on, but I'll stop here for now...

FR,
If you've watched the news...er, weather reports we're supposed to be hitting close to 90 degrees this weekend. Sounds like boating weather to me!!!

The Lady is still in the barn. Am not sure when to take her out...hopefully soon.

LBS

Don't know what I am going to do. Seems like it is one thing after another. They said the boat was ready and wife went to pick it up today. She couldn't find the 6 to 7 adapter, but they found one for her. She didn't get it all the way in, and dragged the 6 pin plug. I guess its time to get a new one. I had hope that the sun would have gotten rid of some of the mold on the vinyl, but it is worse than ever. It has to be inside the seat cushions, so I guess I am going to have to have them all redone/replaced. My thought is that the wood got so saturated that it may have started rotting. The cheap imitation walnut on the dash, plus the console finish have not held up well, so I am going to have to get them recoated, plus the bimimi is ripped, so that needs redoing. Oh woe is me, so forth and so on. It would have been nice to get it paid for before needing all this work. With buying a new car and having to replace the roof and windows on the house, I may just put it in storage other than a couple of short trips this summer. I need to see how much everything would cost so I can decide whether or not to ask my insurance company to cover it over the deductible.

Well that sucks, dog! I know the feeling, it never ends... while I'm busy busting butt trying to get the houseboat steel back in good shape and the trailer finished up, the rubber roof of the Party Cruiser keeps shrinking and splitting, and the brittle rear canvas now has a 15" rip in it, which is going to be near a grand to replace. I'm about 2 days from painting the big boat, and hoping to launch by next Thursday! But no rest for the weary, as soon as it's wet, I gotta take care of the toon. What I'm going to do for money, !

But oh, is the weather gonna be FINE this weekend finally! Going to have to do some night boating I guess!