Maiden voyage went off without a hitch! As fun to drive as other tourney boats I've piloted in years past. Solid 4 hours out cruzing and pulling a buddy on the knee board. Great power, sound and times with 100* temps.
A couple minor issue that I will need to attend to, but nothing that will sink me at this point. The temp gauge was not working and in looking on a couple sites suggested it's likely the 39 y/o VDO gauge. The springs break do to all the up & down shocks of being on the water in waves and such. Am looking into a new gauge that is compatible cause the VDO is NLA. A couple of options on the forums exist for <$50 that are plug and play if you can crawl under the dash/bow and reach it... The other thing was the propeller shaft seal is pissing waaaay too much water. They are suppose to leak some to cool the packing of the inboard coupler. Mine was spraying under power, and a constant drip while at idle.. They can be repacked so I will be doing that here soon. Since I replaced the bilge pump it will not prevent other outings before that task.
Ugly on the water...
