Starting to regret buying this boat

[RussGW270]

Okay, I am about done with this boat. I am giving it a week and if I cannot get the damn thing on the water by the next week, I am going to get rid of it before I torch it. (Not really)

I bought a manual pump to bleed the dang brakes. Clearly, it is a piece of junk. I plan to go Friday morning and get a pneumatic one as my arms are falling off trying to get the darn air out and yet if you try to remove the nozzle, air gets back in and the stupid wrench will not go over the nozzle to tighten it first.

Now, i have had shore power plugged in for days and I can only assume the dang batteries are dead as the stupid chartplotter starts to boot and shuts down.

Is there a freaking trick or switch to charge? I thought all you did was plug it into shore power.

Sorry, but I am quickly losing my patience with not having a dang tech local that will touch this or give me the time of day since I did not buy it from them....and am an hour away from anywhere to get real help.

 

[RussGW270]

Ok, not getting rid of it, just mad. Everything worked before. I forget, the power dials need to bee set to both while on shore power to charge both, correct? Been too long, I think they were off.

Just hurting. Arm started hurting like hell yesterday and just started again...heh. Friend sent me a photo of fish he caught this weekend. Irked me as he will camp out in my boat if he thinks I am going out but did not come help. Time to make new friends that understand a boat does not make itself ready

So carry on...sorry for the outburst, just want this thing working.

 

[Ky Grady]

Don't want to hear it!!! Put your big boy boat pants on and suck it up. My closest Grady-White dealer is 5 1/2 hours away and my trusted Yamaha dealer is 7 1/2 hours away. I do everything by phone and mail order. It'll all come together and you'll forget about the frustration. Can't help ya on the shore power and charge issue.

 

[Kizuna]

The batteries don't need to be put on both to charge. They can be off. The AC Main switch must be turned on as well as the battery charger switch. The best way to know the batteries are charging is to look at the chargers and see they are lit either red (charging) or green (fully charged).

There is also a circuit breaker that must be on. On my Marlin it's located by the shore power plug underneath the gunnel. Hidden unless you look underneath.

I go through a PIA cycle of having everything off, plugging in boat side, followed by plugging in dock side then switching things on. You don't want to be plugged in on the shore side and have the boat side fall in the water, so secure the boat side first when plugging in and the reverse the process by unplugging onshore first then boat side before tasking off.

Hope you get her in the water soon. Grady's are awesome and worth all the effort your putting into her.

 

[DennisG01]

Breathe... ohmmmmmmmm... this too, shall pass. You get the idea

If wired correctly, the battery switches should make no difference whatsoever in regards to the onboard battery charging doing it's thing. However, you would need to turn on the main AC breaker, along with the breaker for the battery charger (both would be on your AC power panel).

For the brakes... most local garages should be able to help you out with bleeding those brakes. Trailer brakes are an old school design and can be worked on by auto garages. It might be worth some sanity to stop by one and see if they'll do it for you.

 

[Lsquared]

Watch out fr the next step...looks like its gonna be a doozy
I had mine plugged in too and same thing happend to me. Seems like the charles charger is not the best and that side of the charger wasnt charging. The plotter comes off the house bank, so check that side for enough juice.

Hang in there almost done then you will look back and laugh

 

[RussGW270]

Don't want to hear it!!! Put your big boy boat pants on and suck it up. My closest Grady-White dealer is 5 1/2 hours away and my trusted Yamaha dealer is 7 1/2 hours away. I do everything by phone and mail order. It'll all come together and you'll forget about the frustration. Can't help ya on the shore power and charge issue.

Lol I am only venting, no way I am getting rid of the boat, but I can be irked once in a while heh

Oh, Btw, only real issue is time. I just need time to work on it and keep hitting walls and cannot fix it right then but...I will have time end of this week.

Pulled a muscle yesterday and my a/c in the shop sprung a leak, so figured to do something else and then the electrical so, was irked, but I have fixed worse boats than this, heh...but first, must ensure a charge.

 

[Ky Grady]

That was my tough love reply!!

I'm pulling my main fuel tank this weekend, round 2!!!

 

[TortugaBob]

Hang in there, we've all been there, always something to fix or improve, first world problems I suppose.

 

[RussGW270]

Holy cow..lol...just realized the breaker in the cabin has to be on to charge. No wonder. Ok, it is charging now.

Oh, and workshop a/c is fixed.

Arm stopped hurting. Not sure if it was the 3 tylenol and 5 ibuprofen or if I just forgot it was hurting lol
Thanks for listening to me vent. Really want to hit the water lol

I think the main breaker panel has a broken switch. The “on/off” main switch is flush....takes a screwdriver to flip it, others are long toggles. Charger is working now.

Just been a rough month, literally spent more than I should and got to the point that if one more thing broke, I was going to sacrifice a goat lol

The a/c install taking a month to get done did not help things.

I think my buddy going to the coast twice this month and sending me pictures but no invite just pushed me over the edge lol...but, is okay...when I take her out, I plan to send him a photo too lol

R

 

[RussGW270]

That was my tough love reply!!

I'm pulling my main fuel tank this weekend, round 2!!!

Be sure to post photos, want to see those.

I have a full weekend planned. Today was awesome, weather was not above 90 I think, but had to work. Tomorrow is cub scouts so taken. Thursday, telework so can fit in time and then 4-day weekend.

Everyone and their dog asked to go out on the boat when it is ready but either they want to fish and do not realize I plan to shake her down for an hour or two, fishing comes after, or they do not want to fish but are irked I told them they have to have a license because “I” plan to fish and the rules are, one fishes...all have licenses

Eh, is all good. Arm feels better and I accomplished something, just took a little looking around and my glasses are broken so kept falling off lol...been that rough a day heh.

I cannot wait till Friday. Everything comes together starting Friday. I have new life jackets, whistles, lights, new flares, everything new to stow away and find a “system” to load the boat.

The good news is, I was mad, so wife and kids left me alone so I got to work a couple hours straight lol

 

[mmiela]

I don’t know if how many times I have sold my boat in my mind. It can be very frustrating dealing with many issues. Take them one at a time but I can assure you once that boat hits the water and running smooth you will forget all the BS you went through.

 

[Ozz043]

Get on YouTube.....it’s amazing what you can learn off it
My favourite is Dangar Marine...check out his older vids

 

[Legend]

Watch out fr the next step...looks like its gonna be a doozy
I had mine plugged in too and same thing happend to me. Seems like the charles charger is not the best and that side of the charger wasnt charging. The plotter comes off the house bank, so check that side forj juice.

Hang in there almost done then you will look back and laugh

What did you do about the side not charging? I notice the Red and green lights out on 1/2 half of my guest charger yesterday. Mine is wired to a single bank and a pair of batteries wired in parallel. The single bank has the lights out. Checked the fuses to each bank and both good.

 

[seasick]

I have been working on getting "MyOtherBoat" up to snuff. It has been two years or more and this season is first one where I feel relatively comfortable that I wouldn't break down on an outing. I have moved on from the major system repairs to less critical ones and have reached a point where I can now fix something and not find two more issues. I sort of knew when I got the boat that it would need work but I never expected it to have so many issues. It had sat shrink wrapped for almost 2 years before I bought it and prior to that was know to have motor and electrical issues.That wrap in the summer just baked everything. There are also a lot of little oddities about Optimaxes that are generally not obvious and take a lot of research and reading to understand.
Yes, there still are some odd things that I can't explain but hopefully over time, I will straighten them all out. Although I have pretty decent knowledge on Yamis, Merc Optimaxes are a whole different world. Quite complex and hard to work on ( no mater what you need to get to, you have to remove other parts to do so). I am also surprised at how little detailed info is on the web regarding these motors and my boat compared to what is out there for Yamahas. There are web site that discuss Mercs but nothing like the info you can get on Great Grady.

I am sure that over time and with some persistence, you will also get to that point where it's not one step forward and two steps back.
Good luck on your project.

 

[Ky Grady]

I've owned my boat since April of '17. I have worked on or replaced almost everything on it due to age or saltwater damage. I thought I was good to go for awhile after replacing my leaking auxiliary fuel tank last year, but as I found out a month ago in Florida, main tank is bad and in turn melted the float switch. I have worked on mine off and on for the last 2 years. After I install my new main tank next month, and new float switch, I hope I'm done with all the big projects and can just do seasonal maintenance on it and enjoy it. My next milestone is a new 4.2 F250 digital in the future, hopefully next winter if the stars align and don't have any other malfunctions beforehand.

 

[Ratical]

Feel your pain, take a break!!! Go fishing with a buddy..... I rebuilt this jewell from the ground up. Look at it this way, everything you do is a learning experience. Over time you will know the in's and outs of your boat and it will then be your boat!!! It took me two yrs to get all the gremlins out of mine and thought for the longest time someone was pouring water on them bastards. But know she is a fish catching machine. My son and I rewired, replaced gas tank, replaced motor, rigged motor and put in all new electronics. I have a great boat now and got to spend a lot of quality time with my son!!!!

O yea almost forgot the worst part!!!! I replace all the through Hulls.... I gave more blood then a blood bank LOL.

 

[RussGW270]

Yea, I am fine now. Sorry.. was more mad that the folks wanting to fish in it, seem to be out fishing instead of helping heh... so, with all the stuff I am doing, just set me off.

I am heading to Harbor Freight tonight or tomorrow to take back the rinky dink brake pump I got and get a pneumatic one, then the brakes will be fine.

Tonight, going to have fun updating all the software of all the electronics and may reconnect the older VHF as well, albeit I need a mounting arm for it. They made it flush mount and it does not have a mounting arm. I have extra metal so will get creative

The plan is to hit Port A early Sunday. Fallback plan is to spend Sunday cleaning it more if the weather takes a turn or if it is not ready, getting it ready.

R

 

[GW VOYAGER]

Holy cow..lol...just realized the breaker in the cabin has to be on to charge. No wonder. Ok, it is charging now.

Oh, and workshop a/c is fixed.

Arm stopped hurting. Not sure if it was the 3 tylenol and 5 ibuprofen or if I just forgot it was hurting lol
Thanks for listening to me vent. Really want to hit the water lol

I think the main breaker panel has a broken switch. The “on/off” main switch is flush....takes a screwdriver to flip it, others are long toggles. Charger is working now.

Just been a rough month, literally spent more than I should and got to the point that if one more thing broke, I was going to sacrifice a goat lol

The a/c install taking a month to get done did not help things.

I think my buddy going to the coast twice this month and sending me pictures but no invite just pushed me over the edge lol...but, is okay...when I take her out, I plan to send him a photo too lol

R

Change buddies or make a shoreline walker if his boat is ever down.

 

[RussGW270]

Lol, came up with a good “lesson plan”...friend is going to help me tomorrow with bleeding the brakes (tried again today but cannot tell if they are bled or not) and I am taking him first.

I will post photos when we make it out to the water. When my buddy asks when “we can go”, I will ignore it. Then post photos of the next trip, then tell him, “Sorry, missed the text. Had to take these folks out first for helping me fix the trailer” heh.

He’s a good friend, but needs to learn the boat fairies do not show up in the middle of the night and get the boat ready and sending me photos of you fishing over and over while I am needing help getting the boat ready so “we” can go, is rude and gets you knocked down on the fishing list.

R