208 adventure

dixiepoo

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I just acquired a 1997 208 adventure with 175 hp yamaha. can someone please tell me what the levers are for under the seats in the cockpit.
they don't do anything to the seats when I move them. are they supposed to change the height or pitch of the seats?

also, I am a complete novice to boating and the boat did not come with any kind of useful owners manual. i am told the 208 adventure has a gas tank that holds about 70 gallons. does this need to be emptied for winter storage?
It will be stored indoors.

Thanks for any info or advice.

DJ
 
As far as winter storage, unless you plan to Completely!!! drain the fuel so nothing is present, which is hard to do, this is a bad idea, the less fuel the more water will form due to the air in the tank, your best bet is fill her about 7/8 or so, you want some room for expansion, and add star tron fuel enzyme treatment to prevent the fuel from breaking down, the treatment will allow fuel to pass through if some water does break down and not damage the engine, also add a good fuel stablizer, this will give the boat a slight boost of octane and keep the fuel conditioned and safe for next season. I've done it this way for about 20 years and never had a single issue come spring, guys who leave them empty of half full tend to have more issues from what I've seen. Also, fog the engine with fogging oil, remove each plug and spray can directly into cylinder, crank over the engine after each spray just enough to coat the cylinder wall, after all are done, run engine until she bogs down and stops running and your now winterized. Change lower unit oil and filters on the engine in the fall, that way if you see water in the lower unit you have all winter to rebuild or fix it, waiting to the spring like many do can cause you lost time on the water if you find it then as everyone is taking their boats in for service and the waiting lists get long. In the spring, start her up with ear muffs in the driveway and run her a while to get the fogging oil out, and then run her on the water, open her up good the first trip and your set for a great season!! Also, remove the clear plastic curatins off the boat, if you leave them on they will get a foggy film that will not come out ever, and will drastically reduce the amount of time you get out of them before they need to be replaced. Roll them, do not ever fold them, putting wax paper on one side and rolling that direction so the plastic never touches is best, you should clean the plastic with a marine plastic cleaner, anything else will destroy the protective film and reduce itsl life, and salt is just as bad on them. There are various protectants that work very well to both clean and polish the clear plastic so it will last a long time.

The levers under the chains should push up and allow the chair to slide forward and back, the white knobs under the chairs screw loose to allow you to raise and lower the pedastal itself for better chair height if perfered, tighten it down and she will stay there.

you should be able to access owners manuals off the Grady website for the boat, or cusrtomer service can assists you if you call, but the manual should be online for ya.

Best of luck with the boat!!
 
thanks

great grady captain. See you are in Port Monmouth, NJ. I was born and raised in Long Branch, but have lived in midwest for over 35 years. Thanks again!
 
Welcome to the forum!

The adjust screw on the seats tightens a band around the post so they don't turn. I recommend you take the seats off the post and clean and grease them. Then you can cinch them down so they don't wobble, but will still turn smoothly with some pressure.

The other lever is for fore and aft adjust. Same deal, when you get the seats off they may need to be cleaned and greased to work freely.

Gradyfish has good preventive maintenance for wintering. Also get a trickle charger or smart charger and keep your batteries topped up. If it freezes, take them out and store at home, keep them from freezing and charged up. Nothing will ruin batteries quicker than letting them sit in a discharged state.
 
Ok CJ you got me scratching my head. I never take the batteries out of the boat when it freezes. Hope I'm not screwing up. I just hook the trickle charger up once about every 2-weeks during the winter. What's up with that freezing stuff?
 
Tucker said:
Ok CJ you got me scratching my head. I never take the batteries out of the boat when it freezes. Hope I'm not screwing up. I just hook the trickle charger up once about every 2-weeks during the winter. What's up with that freezing stuff?

I'm suprised you didn't find the other thread going on batteries and eastern winters. It's here: http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11597

The OP (original poster) was asking about battery care of batteries removed for storage. My suggestion was a trickle charger like a 'BATTERY-TENDER' to make up for the self-discharge that is natural for wet-cell batteries. However after I did more research I would recant that unless you're using a timer or doing it manually like you describle. If left on they can over-charge and ruin your battery. This whole subject is covered in depth on the faq site I reference below, check out the segment on WINTERIZING.

Another poster there mentions temp levels for freezing on wet-cell batteries, seems to me it was like -75F for a fully charged battery. So it would seem that it is unnecessary to remove batteries for winter storage. The main problem with the duration of time over the winter without any charging is the potential for self-discharge and the battery sulfating. But in cold temps like your winters that should really be a non-issue as the discharge rate at low temps is virtually non-existent. Also seems that the method for the majority of layups backeast just fully charge batteries, disconnect them so there's no draw on them, and let them winter over. And there's always the risks of accicents handling heavy batteries, so that is eliminated too.

The best info I've found on the subject is here:
www.batteryfaq.org
 
Thanks CJ. Good stuff there. Yea, I don't log on here as often as I would like and I missed that post. It sure is nice to pop in now and then during the day. Get's the head of work for a few. Yea, these "automatic" chargers are a crock. I could talk your leg off about guys that toasted batteries with chargers that where suppose to shut down when the battery was fully charged.