mrrobalo

My son just bought a 1997 Scout 17" with a 90 YAMAHA . I have searched everywhere for info but none to be found. In running the boat (no fuel in floor tank as it hasn't been used for years) just a 3 gallon tank it seems to ride very flat. Having testing boats as 1 of my jobs while working at the boat company I am familiar with trimming the boat in many different ways but it always seemed to run flat. So if anyone has one or had one please let me know. I know how to properly install a motor on a regular transom but this boat has a step on it. I am going to get the speed tomorrow using a GPS and just installed a new tac so I can help him find that sweet spot. The boat was bought new and the owner got sick soon after, leaving it in a garage. the owner left it to the guy who took care of him. This is the guy he bought it from and they tried to use it once but wouldn't run due to bad gas the said so I cleaned out the tank and removed almost 3/4 gallon of water varnish and other crud. I would be grateful for any info someone might have. Thank You in Advance,

I always carry a heavy rigging wire (120lb )with a loop on one end so I can run up the pee hole if it doesn't look like it's peeing good. I also check the waterseperator regularly and also keep grease on the steering arm (under the motor and it bolts to the motor) as every one of the 6 rusted to the point I had to make one on every one. I would love to find a used pair to put back onto my ROBALO as it's the 7th power on her and am doing a complete makeover on her as I type. If I cant find a pair of 90 Yamahas I will also look for a pair of 70 OMC's . If I can't find them it will be a single 200 OMC or Yamaha. Good luck .

Anytime I have a trailer I use a heavy duty extrication cords for the wiring and also mount them high on the uprights. The ground is 99% the problem most of the time so I use a wire brush on the ground wire area and put the bare wire (I strip about a 1/2 inch of the ground wires and twist together to go on the brushed metal) and use a large S/S washer and bolt. Then continue to the multi plug. I also solder all the ends and use heat shrink barrel splices and eyes connectors. I haven't used LED's yet but will do it once my boats makeover is finished. I have yet a problem doing it this way. I also had a portable set with a 25 foot cords with lights but my son borrowed them once and he sold a boat with them left on.

[ I think as long as it starts next spring no harm done, right?

Well I came across the idea when I saw a app ad . I am in the middle of a complete restoration on my 1969 original 19" ROBALO and using our other 2 boats that have no electronics. I realize I can't get it wet and would sew a waterproof case with isinglass front and Velcro bottom (and call forward my calls to the wifes phone)like I did when the hand held G P S's first came out. PoPs lives on the island in Grant and since the last hurricane rolled through there all the holes we fished for 30 something years must have been filled in. While I have the other boats to explore neither the pontoon or 17 Twin Vee have electronics as we use them for taxiing us to the mainland and fishing the area within about 10 miles. I though that if the wife and I started trolling around in grid patterns we could pinpoint some good bottom for winter fishing as well as running the river at nigh which I do now but it would be easier to jump in the boat and head to Capt Harrams for dinner and have the chart plotter take me home without having to worry about the crab pots all over. Don't get me wrong I use to run the river to Ft.Pierce at night before a tournament but this would be a lot safer even though I don't drink. It was just food for thought and I KNOW it won't replace a chart plotter but it would be a good back-up just like a hand held VHF. I guess too much thinking when I am at home in the condo and nothing to do.

Looking great as normal. Been sitting up in the cheep seats lately reading off my iPhone as been spending lots of time at PoPs on the island helping him as much as I can but with no Internet , He had major surgery back in Dec (3 rods,8 bolts, bone graph) and heck some days he's doing. better than I am LOL Like I tell people ...He's 78,lives on a island ,drinks like a fish and party's like a rock star! Boy I want to be just like my PoPs . Actually doesn't drink like a fish but a Bush and a pack of crackers make a great breakfast on the flats in the morning LOL .. Keep up the great work Wiley,

I was wondering if any forum members have downloaded iNavX Marine Navigation By GPSNavX on there iPhone 4 and use it for plotting out for the day/night.. I was thinking about buying the app ($49.95) and this would be used as my secondary chart plotter for my ROBALO and could also use it on our flats boat in the river. Thinking this way running the river at night in the flats boat in order to hit those spots before dawn 10 miles from the island (PoPs lives on a island and only way to get there is by is by boat), I know the waters fairly good as been there 30+ years but would go out more if it takes the worry out of running aground by missing a marker. The other idea is marking those uncharted holes that will be holding fish in the winter when they stack up in those deep holes. Also it would give me the option to mark out a fishing plan say in the keys on it . Any Ideas or recommendations on others would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for passing on your knowledge about the audio. I am older and like all types of music as my IPod shows. I will do a mock up cardboard box and go from there . As for the height I think I can come down the 9 inches I will need and with that I will just be installing the stereo and vhf up there along with some switches for spreaders ,fwd.,nav light and florescent console light as the boat will be used a lot at night in the coming years. I just want to make sure it is done right the first time and have plenty of time. Again thank you and if I can help you all out just e-mail me.

Thanks for the reply. I will start checking it out. As for the radio box it will be just that a box to hold the stereo and VHF.

If your a handy type captain you can use a piece of tupperware over the switch . Run and attach all the wires running then strait down then out to where you have them attached to the box's wall. BUT before you do anything find a piece of tupperware that tightly slips over the switch. Once that is done drill a hole on the side that faces down that will allow you to run the wires up into the switch. So you run all the wires through the cut hole and attach then to the proper stud. Once all are done run the tupperware up the wires and onto the switch and ty-wrap the wires as closely as possible. Once done use some silicone around the edge of the tupperware to hold it in place and make it waterproof if you countersunk the front of the switch through the bulkhead. I did this on a boat years ago and worked like a champ. A little MacGyver yes but if you use a clear tupperware your friends will ask where you bought it at LOL If the switch is inside the box and the back is against the bulkhead you would do it the same way only drilling the switch mounting holes onto the bottom of the tupperware and a bead of silicone would need to be applied a 1/4 inch around the switch so when you slip the switch into the tupperware it will form a watertight seal around the edge or if longer you could extend the tupperware past the switch covering the exposed toggle . Below is a pic of my bare console and in the middle bottom you can see where I recessed the switch from behind so only the toggle section was exposed and never (20+years) had a water issue and it is stored on a lift. I am covering the back as explained when I finish the rebuild. Just my 2 cents.

My old neighbor from Orlando wanted to take his new boat out of Stuart. I lived in Port St Lucie at the time and said yea just let me know. Well a week later he calls on a Thursday night and says he's coming down Friday night and staying at a friends house and wanted me to go with them. I said he needed to check the weather as it didn't look good . No problem we would just fish in the inlet if not. Cool and told him I'd meet him at the Jensen ramp at 6AM. Get there and there a wind blowing and a small chop on our way to the inlet from Jensen Beach. Meet his 2 buddy's and on the way down he tells me he's going to get his Captains license. WoW,that one took me by surprise, as all his other boats were runabouts. His reasoning was that way I can write the boat off. Mind you it was a new 23 Pro-line walkaround with a hardtop and a 225 on a bracket. He then informed me this is the offshore shakedown trip as all the others were on the St.Johns River. She seemed fine running down the river . As we got near the Inlet I told him it is shallow and there dredging it so let's wait for a little more lite to navigate our way out. Actually I was stalling for time as I could see the breakers crashing the jetty's hard. By now I can see how bad and said to him it looks bad and I think we should scrub the offshore,run back in and get some bait to fish the inlet. NO It fine and he nails it and I'm knocked back towards the transom. I said no but too late we are IN THE INLET passing the rocks. Well we hit a BIG wave crashing through it and slide down the other side and bump the bottom,when he said $%^5 we are turning around , NO WAY AS I grabbed him jerked him out from the wheel and tried to throttle down keeping our heading and as the motor starts bogging down. I managed to straitened her out and Slowly plowing into the waves as the motor is missing. After what seemed like a eternity (probably only 4-5 minutes I have her in the ocean and the waves are big but running 6-7 seconds apart. He asks me what the hell are you doing? As I responded trying to save our lives as well as your boat. The motor starts running better and we are near the buoy now . I time the waves for my turn and luckily I'm able to surf the wave back in. Once in and safe I slowed down and said here take over. Immediately he said no man please just take us back to the trailer I have had all I need today. Well we slowly made our way back as they were pounding away the beers and he says thank you and I said I'm sorry for snatching you out of the helm but you never turn around in a inlet. We actually ended up hanging around the river the rest of the day and talking about him getting his captains license (which he never did as he didn't have the water hours to even try). The wife and friend came and picked up my truck and I drove his rig to his buddy's house as I don't drink BUT almost did after that ride.

When you get to that spot you have been drifting to for 1/2 hour and FWC comes driving up stirring the mud and say hi I need your reregistration,fishing license ECT. I get it all the time not just once. He knows the boat as PoPs lives on a island (30 years) I just don't get it . I know he is looking for fish but after stopping us over 25 times in the last 2 1/2 years don't you think he would get the hint. If I want to keep a illegal fish I can wade out from the house on the flat and get one . I do believe in them checking us it is for our safety but heck I have 6 life jackets on the flats boat and 14 on the pontoon (only carry 8-10people max the 1/2 mile to county dock)ERRRR Check me while running back to the house if you want to check me PLEASE!

If I were to mount them behind the rod holders wouldn't the fiberglass gridded in 1 inch squares and 1/4 inch drilled holes and the speaker sealed with clear silicone to the inside fiberglass be the same as a speaker grid. My thought is if down the road I don't want them there any more it is a heck of a lot easer to just patch the 1/4 inch holes com paired to a 6 inch BIG hole???? I'm in my 50's and like my music but it doesn't have to be earpericing just want to be able to hear it while crusing to that hot spot but mostly while she's on the lift and we are on the dock fishing or working on the boats. I actually thought about those wakeboard arch speakers but I am already have too much on the T-Top now. Plus I don't want the system to be over $400. Maybe some of the electronics guys would chime in it would be greatly appreciated.

Kingair. She looks good. A little trick I do to my trailers is I mount a spare tire mount on it and on the spare tire (I run the trailer long enough to show just a little ware on the tires and swap one for the spare tire. Then I use a 1/2 inch piece of a flat tire plug (the kit you get with the handle and plug strips for the DIY guy) and superglue it on it so it looks like it's almost in the sidewall but still on the treads and I do 2 about 1/3 way between them. So this way it looks like the tires been plugged a couple times and who would steal that one they will go to another trailer on the lot and get ione. I use to tow boats a LOT when worked at the boat co and never had one stolen after I did it. Just food for thought.

There are a couple of guys on our website that are in the process right now. You don;t have to have a ROBALO but you do need to join (free we are not for profit at all just for fun and info) to see the pics (keeps down the spamers) So this way you can see how a novas did it.Check out my sig for web site.