Off of pine island with Brad Kaiser

Some of you have asked about the boat, hence i would add some info about the boat. i guess that is why i started a blog, so i could record more info than i would ( or even should be) normally posted on Facebook.

The boat is a 1984 Grady White with a 1986 Yamaha 200HP motor on it.

I picked this boat up in December 2014 for $2,800!! The guy i bought it from was wanting to get rid of it before he left for Asia to find his next wife (seriously). He was going through a divorce in his mid 70’s and had been interviewing about 4 woman from Asia ( I am assuming via the internet). He was traveling there to meet them in person. Do know what actually transpired, but he did leave me a message a few weeks ago about grabbing a beer. Will update if i find out more.

Back to Boat –

My objection before this journey was to find a project to keep me out of the tiki bars during this journey. Well it worked and I could not have asked for a better project.

Bought the boat sight unseen, but did have it inspected to make sure the hull and transom was in decent shape. It was in great shape and it didn’t even have much salt water exposure. Typically on boats this age with outboards, they can have soft transoms. it is fixable, but more of a project than i was looking for. Furthermore, i was looking for something i did not have to throw too much money to. I did spend about $2500 to have the motor rebuilt with new pistons. Given that i wanted to get out in the ocean, i wanted to ensure it was in good running condition. Plus, it would be that much easier to sell with documentation of a rebuild. These Yamaha outboards (1980’s) are incredible pieces of machinery. I have had a couple of them and they are amazing – reliable, very little maitenence and great tourque!

So, upon my arrival to Florida in Feb – I had it dropped in Ft. Lauderdale while I was staying at a friends house. Will go into that at a later time, but i was fortunate enough to be able to stay at Frank’s place right near Ft. Lauderdale beach on the intercoastal. Boat was in the water, right behind the house. Would have been very hard to complete this project in a timely manner with out Frank (and his garage). Thanks Frank!

In short, what I did to the boat –

– removed all trim wood, sanded down and revanished.
– fixed all electrical ( lights, livewell, bilge pumps, dash instruments)
– repaired & replaced bilge pumps
– installed new electronics (Garmin touchscreen GPS chartplotter, Fishfinder & Sonar combo)
– added some blue lights to the interior (had to pimp it out a bit!)
– installed a amplifier and speakers. included a bluetooth reciever to the amp. (no need for head unit)
– installed some cheap carpet.
– and obviously much cleaning

After about 3 weeks, i made great headway. I actually did get up every morning and spent most of the day working on the boat. it worked! i stayed out of the bars (at least before about 7 pm).