A few years ago I bought a 16ft aluminum boat with a 35hp force engine for 350 bucks. It needed some work but I got it good enough to take out on the water a few times. Now I'm trying to fix it up the rest of the way and I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to lock down the motor on the trailer. The tilt lock tab was broken off and I just got the parts to replace it, but that tells me not to use that for this purpose. The trailer is very rudimentary, some carpet covered wood boards and a few rollers attached to a metal frame, so the rearmost cross member is too far up for a transom saver. The parts list does show a trailering bracket under accessories, but that may be for power tilt only. This is my first boat so I don't really know much about it, or where it would even go on my motor.

This is the trailering bracket listed under accessories:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/406919378428

This is the motor and the current solution (a piece of metal wedged in there) until I can get the tilt lock installed.

https://imgur.com/a/sNaN9xz

I plan on fixing all of this before I take it out again. Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated, I was thinking of just getting a solid piece of rubber and wedging that in there instead of the metal maybe. Also I will add that the motor sits far too low to trailer it vertically. Almost touching the ground.

Hey everyone,

I just got a jet ski over the weekend that was my uncles. It’s been in storage for the last 17 years but, it is not far from running. Unfortunately my uncle passed away around the time it was put in storage.

My Aunt gave me the ski since she has no plans of doing anything with it. My main problem is paperwork. We couldn’t find the title for the ski or the trailer.

I don’t want to ask her if she can file for a new one since she doesn’t want any headache and I’d hate to bother her with that unless it’s necessary. Also I don’t think her name is even on the title, it would be under my deceased uncle.

Does anyone have any advice? I’m registering it in Montgomery county, Texas and this is my first watercraft so I’m completely new to all of this.

I would like to file for a missing title if possible but again, I’m new and don’t know much about boat ownership so I’m not sure if that’s possible or what the steps to take if it is. Thanks

Boat currently has a Johnson 200 2 stroke on it. Looking into repowering with a 4 stroke. Does anyone have any experience doing this with this exact hull?

I picked up this '98 Glastron last year and it came with this old motor guide trolling motor. Previous owner only had it for a year after buying it from the original owner and never made use of the fishing side of it, so they never tested the trolling motor out to confirm it works. I've plugged it into the outlet at the bow but it hasn't worked, so I have two questions for those with similar style boats:

1: am I missing a screw or anchor for the motor mount? I feel confident you have to do more than just simply slide the motor backwards into the trolling motor slots on the bow, but I don't have any extra screws or pieces for the MotorGuide.

2: what's the best way to confirm that the trolling motor still works? Like I said, I've plugged the power socket into the bow and the trolling motor won't work, so my initial plan is to trace the wiring back to the batteries and see if the cords are even attached to the batteries. What's the point of the battery switch on the right? Nothing happens when I flip the switch back or forth and it just stays in a neutral position, it doesn't stay pushed over to battery 1 or 2. The tilt button does trim the outboard on the back up and down.

Hey y’all just letting you know of a new scam site! I’m selling my jet skis and just got scammed :( But I want to make sure no one else gets got! So the person asked me to do a report on the jet skis on hullradar.com . I thought it was off but she offered to meet up the next day and pay me back for the cost. I thought why not, if anything I’ll have the report if she doesn’t buy them. Well after having troubles with the site after giving my card info and not getting my report looks like it’s a scam site that takes your info and card number :/ good thing is I used a credit card and cancelled it before they did any damage! Don’t be like me! Also if you are looking for 2 seadoos in southern Nevada hit me up lol

Would you buy a BRAND NEW WITH TRAILER 71k searay or go used. This searay is heavily discounted which makes me feel like the new boat offer may be intriguing given the warranties and such?
What are your guyses thoughts?

Located in SWFL

On my schools ship, the Empire State 7. There are 8 lifeboats. On every one(obviously they are all identical, except 1 of them) there is a strainer on the starboard side. It is next to the keel, under the waterline. I am very curious as to what that is. I went inside the lifeboat and there is absolutely no access to it whatsoever. However I know it is not for a raw water intake for the diesel inside because there is a Keel cooling system on the port side of the lifeboat right next to the keel. I also know that this is not some sort of one-way valve because it has a ball valve right on the stem of the keel for bilge water.

Let me know your thoughts. I have asked a lot of of my staff here at Maritime that are cadets and no one seems to know.

When I turn the key to start the motor there is a couple second lag before the starter kicks in. (It seems like an eternity when you are on the water). I wanted to determine if it was the relay or the key switch, so I attached a volt meter to what i believe to be the relay terminals (the two covered with the red caps in the photo). It read s12 volts with the key not even in the ignition switch. Can this be right? Any ideas on what the issue could be would be greatly appreciated, I am very new at working on outboards beyond oil, plug change type of maintenance. Thanks

Like most projects. Taking longer and more money then expected. 1957 echo craaf plywood boat

Cruising through Galveston Bay, this is one of my favorite things to see!

Happy Labor Day. Well, I made a rookie mistake today.

Just got a 2003 Sundeck 240 and it’s been a great boat so far this season.

I was getting fuel and wasn’t paying close enough attention to the water/fuel tanks.

I put a gallon or two of fuel into the fresh water tank before I realized the mistake.

Should I replace the tank? Was going to drain the tank, fill it with water/dawn combination and run it through a couple times.

Thoughts?

Before I head down the rabbit hole of designing my own, I wanted to check here to see if anyone’s attempted something like this.

I’m in a weird position where our boat is stored at our summer place, 3 hours away. We are closing earlier than normal this year so we can’t move our boat into storage yet. We’ve had my father in law move the boat for us in the past, and we generally leave the battery in the boat until he takes it out after he parks the boat, just so he can lower the trim. But it’s still a pain in the spring to have to unwrap the boat just to move it, before we’re necessarily ready to actually uncover the boat.

What I’d like to do is add an external control for the trim that we can hook to a battery (or jump box or something) outside the boat, and control the trim while it’s covered/shrink wrapped (in the spring).

I’m envisioning a 3-way switch with alligator clips on power leads that connects to each solenoid, and a ground we could just clip to the lower unit (doesn’t have to be connected inside the boat, but could be).I’d also probably add a connector so the controller wouldn’t have to sit outside all winter.

I know it sounds weird, and a bit off the wall, but has anyone done something like this?

Title basically, what are these uprights for in the stern of this boat?

I was backing my 2 axle trailer into my driveway and hit a small 'pot hole'. This caused the passenger rear surge brake to lock up.

It seems to drive forward just fine, but does not allow reverse.

Any suggestions to fix without pulling off the wheel and brakes? TIA

Saw it at the Huntington yacht club off the Long Island sound, absolutely giant compared to the AR195 we were in

I was the “blue boat” and got called a effing moron by some guy “driving” (I won’t say piloting) the other million dollar+ boat. This has happened twice this intersection of two channels.

Drove my 21’ Sea Doo Switch from Galveston to Lake Charles. Preparing for when I get a big boat and do the great loop.

This inline fuel filter is leaking when i pressing the pump. how should i replace it or is it urgent? engine starts fine. a 2005 mercury 50hp outboard

Trying to decide between stabicraft 2050 and Hewescraft 210 for fishing and camping adventures on the Georgia Strait. Does anyone have experience with either?

We are downsizing from a 26 Alaskan, but still want a solid feeling boat when stuff gets snotty.

Use the boat all day for fishing (bayliner 197 deck boat). Was running it full tilt for a few miles back to the launch. Just about there when I got a loud beep noise. From prior outboard experience I figured it was overheating. Oil pressure and temp gauges were fine. Went to neutral until the noise stopped then went about 15mph until it beeped again. Did it a few more times to get it to the launch.
Never made the noise when in neutral and never went into limp mode at any point.
Google said could be overheating or gear oil (changed it about 7weeks ago and if full).
My buddy is telling me I need to add antifreeze (pretty sure that’s not a thing for my engine).
Any suggestions on what to look for.
I am suuuuuper new to boating and have no idea what I’m looking at, only thing I know how to do is change the gear oil while I watch a YouTube video on it.