Charley wrote:
WOW ! It sounds like your money hole has a money vacuum built into it. Mine
has cost me a bunch to keep it running, but so far, not at that rate.


It really has this year for sure, but to be honest and fair, it went quite a few
years without anything but routine maintenance (I bought the boat new 20 years
ago), and only the last few years have required anything more. That doesn't
count the things that you add on like radios (VHF and AM/FM, etc), maybe even a
tv, New custom tires and wheels for the trailer, cup holders, depth finder/GPS,
all kinds of assorted fishing accessories, toys, interior modifications, and on
and on. Not to mention gas now either. Make sure you have enough gas for the
day because if you have to go to a marina to gas up it will cost you. I don't
know what it actually costs now, but I would guess in the vicinity of $4.50 a
gallon for the 87 octane, versus about $3.50 on land.

Now that I think about it, there is (or hopefully WAS) one recurring problem
with the particular outdrive that I have. My boat has the OMC Cobra system in
it. OMC came out with the Cobra in 1986, and made some changes to it for the
1987 model year. Mine is kind of a hybrid being a 1986 1/2 model with some of
the 1986 parts, and some of the 1987 parts. One thing that both years had
problems with was the shift cable. They didn't do a very good job of keeping
water out of it and it would rust out very quickly. Had to replace that cable
every couple of years until they finally came out with their second cable
upgrade. It made for some very "unorthodox" docking maneuvers idling up to the
dock and all of a sudden you can't even get it out of gear, much less into
reverse. :-)

It's just that the hole has opened quite a bit more that usual this year
(someone must have found the switch to the vacuum). But even with all that, I
still would not trade it. My family and I still like it a lot. We have had a
whole lot of fun it it. Going fishing. Just going cruising. Or going out on
the Sacramento River and watching fireworks as they are going off almost
directly over your head. Where I am located I have my choice of going down to
the San Francisco Bay (or even out into the ocean although my boat isn't really
equipped for ocean use), to inland rivers and reservoirs, to mountain lakes.
Thousands of different places to go from a 5 min drive to . . .say . . .4 hours
tops.

And speaking of fireworks, At a place called Mandeville Cut on the San Joaquin
River in Northern California is a huge boat party on July 4 (or so). Might even
see Howard Arneson's jet powered offshore race boat. THAT sumbich is just plain
KOOL!!! Check this out for starters: http://www.deltaboating.com/news3.htm

Guess I have blab'd enough. Whoever reads this, go enjoy your boat whatever
kind of boat you have.

Wayne