May 13, 2005

The 2005 Season has thus far been a bust for fishing. I've yet to hit any river and catch any fish. I've gone out to Miami Whitewater Forest a couple of times, but I was skunked both trips. In all honesty, I've been spending a large portion of my time (and more dollars than my wife thinks wise) working on my boat. I removed the outdrive and replaced all three bellows (shifter, exhaust and driveshaft), the gimbal bearing, and the trim limit switch and sending unit. I also replaced the upper input shaft, bearings and seals. Weather permitting, the boat should be ready for the water the first weekend in June. Oh, and I've done all of this work myself. Which according to Dave at the Drydock Boat Services, I've saved myself about $700.00. Some of the work hasn't been real difficult, but for the most part it has all been very time consuming.

The following three pictures are of the driveshaft bellows and why my boat started sinking out on the river last summer. Keep in mind, the drive shaft bellows about 6" in diameter.