That's It! I'm Taking It In!

[Trox]

Took my boat to the shop last week for an electrical issue I was having after adding an EchoMap Ultra, Livescope, and Mega 360 on my own to compliment the Helix on the bow... Was only getting 11.5v to the Garmin graph and after a month of troubleshooting and a re-wire attempt, I still couldn't figure out why, so I threw in the towel and took it into the shop... Well, I got the bird back today and the technicians notes read "All kinds of wiring issues". It was one of those things where all I could do was laugh because I had spent so much time (days) trying to make sure I wired everything correctly, and my effort resulted in "All kinds of issues". 

 

Anyways, I gave it my all just to save a buck and ended up having to spend it any way. With that being said, the boat shop did a bang up job and I am super happy with their quality work, and it turned out to not be as expensive as I was expecting... I'll be taking it in for any future wiring work as well... Anyone else have any similar experiences where they just finally threw in the towel and took it in? Doesn't have to be wiring related!

 

[Bird]

In the midst of similar issues, maybe worse. 

We bought a used bass boat and apon an attempt to rewire a hummingbird graph simply because it stayed in display mode, we lost the fuel gauge and the bilge pump. 

Neither of us are electricians and it's showing. 

Glad to hear your back up and running. 

[gim]

I’m not an electrician or a mechanic, nor do I pretend to be. Anything other than routine maintenance on my lawn mower or snow blower isn’t being done by me.

[GreenPig]

Nope. I've never had a problem with electrical anything cause I've learn to not touch it. I was a Airframe & Powerplant mechanic and spent many years rebuilding/repairing jet engines. When I look at wiring I see a bowl of spaghetti.  

[12poundbass]

Fishing related…..no.

 

When I was 16 I tried installing an amp and a subwoofer in my truck and it didn’t work as it should. I had to take it in and pay like $150 for basically 20 minutes of work to probably ground the amp. Worked great after than and probably explains why 22 years later my ears constantly ring! 
 

[Jigfishn10]

I'm pretty good with electric issues, but don't ask me 1 single question about engine issues. Anything fossil fuel propelled and I'm a Schultz..."I KNOW NOTHING"...or...

[InfantryMP]

Glad you got it worked out. Electrical stuff is so hit or miss. I can wire in new switches and outlets in the house no problem. 

 

I had an electrical issue on my brand new boat a day after I took it off the lot. It ended up being something stupid (in-line fuse was loose), but nonetheless I could not figure it out mainly because I could not see it. 

 

Boat wiring is crazy because there is so much going on in a small cramped space. Not bad on the pricing you got either!

[TnRiver46]

I have a funny one

 

i had a washing machine that leaked a little when I was fresh out of college, ready to conquer the world. I found where it was leaking from, a cracked little plastic elbow. I told my uncle about it, he gave me a flexible sleeve that fit over the ends. So I custom rig this thing back together and put a little JB weld on the crack in the plastic. Turn on the washer and all is well, floor is dry………. Then it switches over to the spin cycle and I can hear Niagara Falls……… the pressure shot the elbow loose, plastic sleeves and all!!! Now there’s a minor flood in the floor……..

 

so I took that little plastic elbow into an appliance repair store. While the door is still making the ding dong sound where I had just walked into the repair shop, the guy behind the counter spotted the elbow in my hand and said “is that off a Maytag?” And i replied yes. By the time I walked 20 feet from the door to the counter he had already found the replacement part and was ringing me up. $4. After several hours of piddling, this guy solved my problem in about 7 seconds. So this is why they have appliance repair stores 

[Jigfishn10]

17 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I have a funny one

 

i had a washing machine that leaked a little when I was fresh out of college, ready to conquer the world. I found where it was leaking from, a cracked little plastic elbow. I told my uncle about it, he gave me a flexible sleeve that fit over the ends. So I custom rig this thing back together and put a little JB weld on the crack in the plastic. Turn on the washer and all is well, floor is dry………. Then it switches over to the spin cycle and I can hear Niagara Falls……… the pressure shot the elbow loose, plastic sleeves and all!!! Now there’s a minor flood in the floor……..

 

so I took that little plastic elbow into an appliance repair store. While the door is still making the ding dong sound where I had just walked into the repair shop, the guy behind the counter spotted the elbow in my hand and said “is that off a Maytag?” And i replied yes. By the time I walked 20 feet from the door to the counter he had already found the replacement part and was ringing me up. $4. After several hours of piddling, this guy solved my problem in about 7 seconds. So this is why they have appliance repair stores 

That part was waaaaay cheaper than This:

[Choporoz]

I head straight to an electrician.   I helped a friend install a car stereo 30 years ago.  Every time he turned on the radio, the dome light came on...LOL

[TnRiver46]

36 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

That part was waaaaay cheaper than This:

Oh man that reminds me of another one . My boss, god bless him, has a water hose from sometime in the 90s. It was leaking like crazy for years. So of course he puts FLEX tape on it…….. then it leaks a lot worse. He just can’t figure out what to do (such as buy a new hose). So I go to wal mart and get a $2 hose mender and fix it in about 5 minutes, totally blew his mind. He asks how much I paid for hose mender, and then says “well that roll of flex tape was $20!!” ?‍♀️ 

[Jigfishn10]

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Oh man that reminds me of another one . My boss, god bless him, has a water hose from sometime in the 90s. It was leaking like crazy for years. So of course he puts FLEX tape on it…….. then it leaks a lot worse. He just can’t figure out what to do (such as buy a new hose). So I go to wal mart and get a $2 hose mender and fix it in about 5 minutes, totally blew his mind. He asks how much I paid for hose mender, and then says “well that roll of flex tape was $20!!” ?‍♀️ 

It's actually funny that not many people know about those hose repair parts. My next door neighbor is in his late 40's and has been in construction since he got out of the marine corp. He was p.o'd that his hose was leaking and I happened to have an extra part. Put it in and he was amazed. "Where did you get that?" he asks.

 

$20 for flex tape...he was about 75% there for a new hose!  

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

It's actually funny that not many people know about those hose repair parts. My next door neighbor is in his late 40's and has been in construction since he got out of the marine corp. He was p.o'd that his hose was leaking and I happened to have an extra part. Put it in and he was amazed. "Where did you get that?" he asks.

 

$20 for flex tape...he was about 75% there for a new hose!  

I laugh so hard when I see people that have bought flex seal products. Everything they make has been made for years for 500% less money and way better quality 

 

but they don’t have bearded dude commercials apparently 

[gim]

51 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I laugh so hard when I see people that have bought flex seal products.

I bought the spray one time to fix a leak in my gutter.  Didn't work.  Still leaked.

 

The issue is that it doesn't hold up very well in a Minnesota winter.  Of course the container had a warning about using in extreme temperatures but I failed to read that part.

[TnRiver46]

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I bought the spray one time to fix a leak in my gutter.  Didn't work.  Still leaked.

 

The issue is that it doesn't hold up very well in a Minnesota winter.  Of course the container had a warning about using in extreme temperatures but I failed to read that part.

I would go out on a limb and say there’s a product on the market, probably been around 40-50 years, that costs way less and will fix your leaky gutter much better. But you won’t see a bearded infomercial for it

[gim]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I would go out on a limb and say there’s a product on the market, probably been around 40-50 years, that costs way less and will fix your leaky gutter much better. But you won’t see a bearded infomercial for it

Oh I’m sure there is.

 

It doesn’t leak anymore because there’s no seams. I went to seamless gutters.

[cyclops2]

I do no preventive maintenance on anything.  I wire everything reliably. 

 

BUUUTTT    ?

 

Marina puts the boat into the springtime water. Acts like a dead battery. 1 quick groan. I drive over To see the boat now on a trailer. Young guy asks when were the battery cables installed ? 1986 I tell him. I tug each of the 4 ends. ALL 4 pull right off. I gave him $ 10 for being so honest. Told the owner & manager about the excellent service.

 

[Bankc]

I'm pretty good with electronics.  In fact, I trust myself more than most "professionals" in my area.  A few times in the past I have taken stuff in that needed electrical work because I didn't have the time or patience to diagnose and fix the problem.  Every single time, and I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME, I get a call back saying either they can't fix it, or they'd have to replace a bunch of parts that I know aren't the cause of the problem.  And every single time, I'd go pick it up, bring it home, and fix it myself.  

 

Motors and transmissions aren't my thing.  While I can almost always fix them, it always takes twice the money and four times the hours of what I thought it would.  And if I think I'm clever and multiply my initial time estimate by four, it somehow takes an additional four times longer than my initial 4x longer estimate.  I get there in the end.  But every time I regret not taking it in.  

[cyclops2]

Bingo Bankc.    

[roadwarrior]

On 2/21/2022 at 11:17 PM, GreenPig said:

Nope. I've never had a problem with electrical anything cause I've learn to not touch it.   

 

 

 

                                     

[FishTank]

My buddy's boat had an issue when he got it. One of the batteries kept draining but the other two were fine. We thought it was the trolling motor battery but it wasn't. It was the one running his electronics.  It was showing low voltage. He took it back to the place he got it and it ended up being the wiring. The gauge they used was too small.

[TOXIC]

If it’s anything more advanced than a fuse or a bad ground, I’m out on wiring.  I have friends that are excellent with that kind of thing so I let them handle it.  Likewise, I can do the simple stuff on my motor, like fluid/filter/plugs, etc., but anything major and it goes to someone who is trained to handle that.  I did have an issue that perplexed me until I took it to the shop.  On my old boat the bilge was filling up and I could not find the cause.  Not the rubrail, not the livewell plumbing, not the drain plug, transom bolts were snug.  I was at a loss and one day after a guide trip and I dropped my client off at his dock, my boat wouldn’t get on plane.  Opened the back hatch and there was water almost over my batteries.  Come to find out the transom bolts had wallowed the sealant out around them and only leaked when under throttle. Shop found that.  Also was consistently losing pressure on my oil injection and having to constantly pull the cowling and go through the process of having the motor pump oil to the remote tank.  All my hoses and tank cap were replaced by me and it was still happening.  There was no oil leak anywhere.  Come to find out I had a small crack in my saddle oil tank on the motor and while not leaking, it allowed the system to depressurize and oil to drain back down to my main oil tank in the bilge.  Sensor was in the saddle tank so it went off all the time.  Shop caught that as well.