Well, we took the hydro out today (8/27/99) and as you can tell from the subject (Repairs Already Underway) it didn't go real well, but it could have been much worse. Here's the whole story.

Cindy had a short day at work, so I met her down at American Lake at 1:00. We paid the $13.00 Parking and launching fee (maybe we should have gone home right then) and backed the trailer down to the water.

As we lifted the boat off the trailer we bumped the trailer with the boat and we heard a loud CRACK! Since my hydro is made out of wood, thin wood, I didn't take this as a good sign. We turned the boat over and there was no sign of any damage, so we determined that it must have been the grid that I made to fit the boat onto the trailer (one of the boards is a bit rotten).

Touch down! The hydro was now in the water! It had been so long and it looked so good! I was really excited. Then we checked for leaks. There was a small one right at the transom, surely nothing my self bailing plugs couldn't handle and I could seal it up when I got home, so on went the motor.

It took a few minuets to hook up the throttle and the steering cables and by the time all that was done there was a significant amount of water in the back of the boat. I still wasn't worried though because it would all run out when I took off. Finally I climbed in and pulled the starter cord.

The motor sputtered on the first pull and roared to life on the second pull. Now is where it got a little exciting. It soon became apparent that we had made a bit of an error when I turned left to head out to the lake, but the boat turned right, right for the dock! That surprised me, but I quickly turned the wheel to the right and sure enough, the boat turned left and missed the dock. I had to drive in a complete circle to get into the right position to head out. Now that knew that left was right and right was left, I figured I could at least go test the straight away speed, then we could fix the steering later. I floored it and the little 25xs let out a howl of glory.

That little engine was revving for all it was worth, but I never got it up on a plane. During the restoration of the boat I installed a 1/4 inch spacer on the transom to lift the prop up a little higher, which should result in higher top speed and better acceleration out of the corners. The draw back is that if it is too high, the prop doesn't get enough bite to get you on a plane. Then suddenly the engine died! I was panicked. Here I was way out from shore, the boat was leaking, and the engine was dead. Once I took a deep breath, I realized that I just hit the kill switch with my knee. I reset the switch and the motor started right up so I headed in to remove the spacer, and fix the steering.

That fix took about half an hour, but we managed to drain the boat in the process. Now I knew I would be able to get on a plane, so I hooked my self in, put on the helmet and let the little Mercury loose.

It took me a few minutes to get on a plane but it eventually got there. At first I started gaining speed slowly, but as the engine got into its rpm band, we started flying! Literally! I let out a yell into the helmet as the bow began to lift out of the water and the boat began sponson walking from one side to the other. This was a feeling I hadn't felt in at least 3 summers and I was loving it! It was pretty rough from all the boat waves were I was, so I couldn't get above 3/4 throttle without being completely crazy, so I made a turn to head for some calmer water.

As I made that turn I realized that water was splashing on my back. That didn't seem quite right, so I looked behind me. Water was spraying out from under the deck into the cockpit and there was water half way up to the top of the transom! I was really panicking now, so I made a high speed right hand turn (not an easy thing to do in a boat that is only designed to turn left) and headed for the boat launch.

I passed those 5 mph buoys going at least 50! I wasn't about to slow down and was actually considering running the whole boat up the ramp, but decided against it. I came down off a plane right at the boat ramp. I yelled to Cindy that I was sinking and jumped out of the boat. She grabbed the front and I grabbed the back and we pushed, but it was too late. The boat sank right there. Luckily it was only in about a foot and a half of water. It was up to the base of the engine and the top of the gas tank. I quickly but the cap back on the breather hose for the gas tank so water couldn't get in the gas. The motor was fine as long as no big waves came. So we set about taking down the throttle and the steering.

Once we got the motor off and back in the Jeep, we tried sliding the boat up the ramp to let the self bailing plugs work. It was too heavy though, so we did it by hand. Once it was light enough to pick up, we carried it up the ramp and then set it on the transom and lifted the bow straight in the air so we could see the bottom. Oh what a site!

First let me say that it is a darn good thing I put those self bailing plugs in or my boat would now be sitting at the bottom of American Lake! There was a 2 inch wide by 33 inch long hole right behind the port (driver's left) sponson! Obviously huge quantities of water were coming into the boat, and if I hadn't installed those plugs to let it run out, I would have been swimming to shore.

It is safely back in the garage now and it is actually going to be a fairly easy fix. I just have to replace one piece. I may be able to have it all fixed up tomorrow. I have pictures of the whole thing. Cindy took a picture of it when it sunk and I took a picture of the hole.

The darn thing ran great though. I was really impressed. The motor seriously ran the best it has since I got it (I replaced a bunch of gaskets and cleaned the insides of the exhaust manifold last summer). I'll get this problem fixed, and give it a go again soon.

Pete

The damage sustained by the adventure above has been fixed. In fact, the boat was ready to run again the next day. One of my neighbors builds and races these hydroplanes, so I gave him a call to find out where I could get some new plywood. He had some scraps, and that is all I needed, so he gave them to me. I reinforced the whole area with some 3/4 inch thick pine, stainless steel screws and epoxy. Then I nailed the new plywood on top and laminated it with epoxy.

A week or two after the near disaster above we took it out again. The boat hardly leaks a drop! Getting into the boat brings in more water than anything else. The boat literally flies across the water. We will have to get some pics of it running smoothly soon.

Pete