So I bought my big sparkly boat in October and with 118 hours I figured I would get a little work done on it to bring the peace of mind you need when you're 14 miles from the launch ramp and it's almost dark.

I went to Boatmasters in Livermore to pick up supplies for a 100hr service. Water impeller, spark plugs, fuel filter, gear case oil. I also dropped the coin for Merc boat oil, prop wrench, spare keys, the pump for the gear case oil, a trailer lock, and whatever else I couldn't get through TW.

This all took a couple trips. When I was set I went to Lake's house and we worked on the boat. When we were done, we fired it up and ran like crap and died. The model numbers on the spark plugs didn't match what we pulled out so I called Boatmasters on my drive home and asked if they were the wrong plugs. The guy said they were the right ones. In both cases I said clearly that I had an Optimax ProXS.

The fuel filter was stuck and we couldn't get it off so I had to take the boat in anyway to get that done and we didn't do the impeller because we ran out of time with the spark plug issue. I took the boat in to Boatmasters a few days later for the impeller, fuel filter, and whatever was wrong with it.

Boatmasters is the closest shop to my house and I was interested in establishing a good relationship. I play it pretty laid back on these kind of deals and to be honest I played it like I was pretty dumb too. By that I mean I just walked in like Joe Lunchbucket off the street and acted like I didn't know much about boats. I wanted to see how things went.

The next day I get a call that it was the wrong spark plugs (it was the regular Opti plugs). I asked if they were going to charge me for putting the right ones in since they give me the wrong ones. They said yes. I bit my tongue. When I got the boat back the bill was for $374 which included $47 in labor for the plugs and a $20 tube for the speedometer plus the labor to fix it.

I never asked for the speedo to be fixed and wouldn't have. Boat speedos are worthless and anyone with a bass boat knows it. Now my speedo says I'm going 80mph. That's real helpful. All this went down and I wasn't super stoked but I just shined it on.

A few weeks later I got to the bottom of the issue I was having with my trailer brakes when I realized the line had snapped off at the caliper. I took it in to Boatmasters again. They called the next day and quoted me $1,200 to fix it.

At this point I'd about had enough of their program. I asked for an itemized list of what they planned to do. The guys said he could fax it. I asked him to read it to me. He quoted me 2 new calipers, 2 new rotors, a new master cylinder, a new reverse solenoid, repairing the line, bleeding the brakes, installing flexible brake line tubing and servicing all 4 trailer hubs.

I took my rig there to get the brakes fixed and I told them I was open to suggestion in terms of what it would take to fix it. But I had positively no interest in servicing the trailer hubs. This felt exactly like the speedometer deal - basically trying to hit me for a bunch of unnecessary work. I asked how much for 2 calipers, new master, reverse solenoid, brake line repair, and bleed the brakes. The quote was $845.

Putting my thinking hat on I decided to call the insurance co. to see if this kind of stuff would be covered. It wasn't and I understand why since there was no explicit accident that caused it (though very well something might have hit the line). I did have a great chat with Stan Vandenberg at 800 BASS BOAT. Glad there was that silver lining to this story.

So that night I called to tell Boatmasters insurance wasn't going to cover it and that I couldn't do the work with them. The next morning I get a call and the guy says he noticed that my lower unit is leaking gear case oil... He said something about it potentially being covered under warranty, but at the point my mind went blank thinking about how this just seemed all very wrong.

For the 3 weeks prior the boat had been sitting in my side yard on brand new clean pavers. If a single drop of gear case lube would have dripped out I would have seen it and I never did. 3 drops did drip when I back the boat in later that day and the stain is still there. I told him I'd be by to get the boat in a few hours. When I picked it up they said that for the brake line issue I should have claimed that I ran over debris on the road and that broke the brake line. I guess I'm not a good liar.

When I got home that night I changed the gear case lube myself. Now, flash back to when Lake and I did it the first time. When we did it the first time, there were 2 washers on the drain screw (there should have only been one). This caused us a problem because we didn't see the second one that was stuck to the motor when it was draining (the lube draining out obscured it from view).

Here's a photo I took as we were draining it. I took these photos for the site as part of the boat article. You can see how it is impossible to see the washer up in the hole.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7913-draining.jpg

Here's another photo when we were getting set to do the service. You can see one of the 1 blue washer on the drain screw and the 2 new washers on the paper towel

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7912-gettingset.jpg

Here's a shot while pumping the lube out the top hole. You can see the old blue washer in that hole. Just 1 here as you would expect.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7914-pumpout.jpg

So when we put the screw in after pumping the new lube in, I had a new washer on the screw and it was then that I saw the existing washer on the boat side of things. We looked at it for a bit and decided to just leave the one washer on the boat side since prying it off would have meant allowing fluid to leak out.

We both stared right at it and puzzled over it. There is positively no doubt in my mind that the washer was there when I put the screw in. 100% certain. Now flash forward to me in the back yard doing my gear case oil myself. I pull the drain screw and the washer is gone!

Suddenly I had a real good idea where the leak was coming from. I confirmed after running the boat 30 miles on Pedro yesterday with no leak whatsoever. The interesting angle here is that I don't think the boys at Boatmasters were going after me on the magically leaky lower unit, they were going after Merc to do something on it warranty. I just looked like the right guy to do it on.

Meanwhile I took my rig to a mechanic friend in SJ who I trust. They repaired the brake line, replaced both calipers and bled the brakes. $410 later my brakes work perfectly. I could have gotten away with just doing one caliper (the zerk fitting on one was jacked up and could have been replaced by itself) but I did both for the peace of mind.

This post is going to make a big wave but for the guys getting work on their boats I just can't sit here and not say something. Everything in this post is 100% fact.

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