Freebird

Older boat but the trailer is a 2018. Tires shouldn't have been that bad but oh well. It was gone over before I bought it. Tilt sensor was replaced. Motor and outdrive are as clean or cleaner than the boat. Haven't taken it out yet but started it hooked to a water hose and it started instantly. Tilt and Trim seemed to word fine. Stereo works well and Hummingbird combo unit seems good too. What amazed me the most was the upholstery. Everything I looked at that was 80's and 90's needed much interior work. Seats were all cracked and a mess. This one doesn't have a rip or tear anywhere and vinyl is still sold and pliable.

Looks like a great fishing boat. I used to have a small Sea Nymph. 17 ft. I think with a 70 HP Johnson. Never gave me a minutes trouble. Sold it and bought a 28 ft. Regal cabin cruiser. Nice boat but weighed about 8,000 lbs. and was a pain to trailer. Finally sold it.

Here are some pictures of the old boat. Not bad for an '86 model.

So what should have been a fairly easy day turned into a pain. I ran across a deal on a really nice old boat over in Akron, OH. Didn't need it but it is super clean so decided to pick it up. Small boat, 18 ft. Wellcraft Elite 180 Classic with a 4 cylinder Mercruiser I/O. Anyway, drove over and picked it up around 11:30 today and headed home. Should have only been about an hour drive. Hit Interstate 76 a few miles outside of Akron and the right trailer tire blew all to pieces. Pulled over and got out of traffic the best that I could. There was a spare on the trailer so after struggling to get the bottle jack from the trunk under the low trailer, I finally figured out a way to get it jacked up and the tired change. Headed on. Was only about 40 minutes from home now. Got almost to Litchfield, OH, still about 20 minutes from home and heard a noise. Looked in my mirrors and saw the tread pealing the left tire. No place to get a tire in Litchfield and it was still holding air, running on the inner plys, so I headed toward home. Held the speed down to 35 or so miles per hour. Got about a mile from home and that was all it would take. It too shredded. I pulled into a farmers driveway and asked if I could leave the boat there while I went to get a tire. No problem. Went to a tire store and they had no 14" trailer tires in stock. Finally went to Tractor Supply and bought two new tires already mounted on wheels. Went back to the farmers house, got the boat jacked up and the blown tire changed. Drove home and replaced the other one and put the spare back where it went. The spare looks brand new but is probably as hold as the other two were. I had looked at the tires before I headed home with it but they looked good and the trailer itself is a 2018 model so I didn't ever consider that they might be dry rotted. To make matter worse, the trailer has plastic fenders and when the tires blew, both fenders were broke pretty bad. I'll repair then for now but probably replace them sooner or later. So, that's what I get for buying another boat. I told myself after selling the last one that I would never buy another one. Of course, I've said that with every boat I've ever bought. The boat looks very nice and well maintained, I hope it's better than the trailer.

He did a nice job. I wouldn't pay the price but do like it.

Yes, I installed them. It wasn't that hard but if I remember correctly, I have to remove the lower lights and/or fairings.

I replaced the pictures but I have no idea what the link was to. It is obviously to a Yamaha parts site but apparently the site no longer exists and I'm not sure what he was posting.

I think that they are both very good cars now. I've owned two Kia Sorrentos and never had a problem with either one of them. I don't presently own one but they would be on my list if I were shopping

Which post?

Well, this was a touch week. As most of you know, I lost 100% of the vision in my right eye about 10 years ago due to cancer. Well, I have pretty much adjusted to living with one eye. Then last Sunday, I was mowing the yard. As I was mowing along the tree line down the side of the yard, I reached out to move some branches out of my way. I moved most but there was one branch, about 1/2' diameter than I missed and it went directly into my good eye before I could stop. Much pain and I couldn't see anything at all. I shut the mower down and sat there for a few minutes. Finally got where I could see good enough to go into the house and wash out the eye. It was hurting, sort of throbbing but I could see fairly well so went back out and finished my moving. It hurt all night and by about noon on Monday, I had a yellow excretion coming from the yet. I was installing a stairlift so finished it and them went to the emergency room Monday night and the doc said that the cornea was badly scratched and was infected. She gave me some antibiotic eye drops and made an appointment for me with the eye doctor the next morning. So I've been to the doctor every three days all week. I've been busy too having installed two custom curved stairlifts and 3 straight one this week. Last time I was at the doctor was Friday morning and then had another install later than day and another on Saturday. Seeing has been a bit of an issue because the eye doctor not only kept me on the drops but also gave me an ointment to put in the eye 4 times a day. It is a thick ointment and make my vision very blurry for a while every time I put it in. It seems to have done it's job though. The pain and redness are finally pretty much gone. I have what should be my last appointment tomorrow morning and hopefully things are back to normal. I've got to start being more careful and start wearing some goggles or something when mowing and other such chores. I can't afford to lose that last eye.

OK folks, I'm not going to say much more on this subject. Sunman is unable to post here so obviously cannot defend himself. I will just report what he told me and that is the end of it as far as I'm, concerned. He sent me a message which I replied to. The message stated that he never sold calendars and that he was never a member of the Venturers. I believe that to be the truth. There was somebody selling Venture calendars and I asked them to please stop but upon thinking back, I THINK I remember now who it was and know for sure that it wasn't Sunm,an. He requested my telephone number so that he could call me and discuss this. I sent it to him and he did call. He was very cordial and said that he had no problem at all with me or VentureRiders but that he had an issue with paying for information on the Internet. I may not have that exactly right but I think that is the gist of it. My answer was that I didn't understand why people in general feel that everything on the Internet is free. Yes, many sites are free to the end user but nothing is free. It is paid for in many ways and in the case of websites, many are paid for by advertising. That is why Facebook and most forums are covered with advertisements. Facebook makes millions of dollars a year by feeding you ads and at least attempting to track what you do. The members here voted long ago to keep our site clean and not cover it with ads. I agree and we have stuck with the $1.00 per month. An additional benefit is that it helps to keep the spammers away. We still get a few because of the free trial but nothing like we would have if it was all free. As for the copying of our tech articles. All I can tell you is what he told me. He says that he has never, not a single time, copying a tech article from here and posted to his board. I don't know him really and can't vouch for it one way or another but it is possble that other participants have copied things from here and posted there. I just have no proof either way. I could join his page and look to see who posted the articles but to be honest, I'm not going to take the time to do that. So that's all I know and really don't care to continue the conversation.

Just a quick note. I misspoke about the calendar issue. Sunman contacted me and said that he never sold the calendars and has never been a member of the Venturers. I'm not sure who I was thinking about but am sure that it wasn't him. I apologize.

Thanks for the observations and kind comments. No, as you stated, I do not run any hidden background software to monetize the site. The only thing I run is an Ebay link thing but it doesn't amount to anything. There are a lot of things I could do to further monetize the site but it has never been about the money. Heck, I could have sold the site a few years ago when I was offered about $30 or $35 thousand dollars for it. I decided that I just couldn't do it. I fight the spammers every single day here. There are hundreds of banned spammers in the database. I wake up every morning and check the registrations. Most are from China but a few from about anywhere else that you can imagine. 99.9% are caught and banned. before they ever post. I still get probably 5 or 6 every day.

Folks, I think there is more to his discontent than he is saying. He got upset when I asked him to stop posting his Venturers calendars for sale on our VentureRider Facebook page. I guess after that he started badmouthing me and our site. I really hadn't paid attention to it and didn't know about much of it until this thread. I don't let that stuff bother me too much but him coming here and copying stuff shared by our members without their consent is another matter. If those same members wish to share it on his page then of course they are more than welcome to do so and not hard feelings from me. It sounds like he just copies and posts it to his page and never asks though. For that reason only, I have banned his IP address from this site. Of course there are ways around that but I'm not going to get into some nonsense feud trying to constantly find and block him. It is what it is.

Too bad. I think that was a great deal. I almost pulled the trigger on it.

Skid, I almost bought one a while back from @seabeetom. I think it's a great deal and even came with a nice trailer. Don't know if he still has it or not.

Maybe later b ut we aren't' taking the long trips that we once did. Probably won't add one.

Sorry, my head wasn't in the game. I have no idea. I was thinking about the RSV and RSTD seats.

The only problem with the Waverunners is that when I get a nice day for a bike ride, Eileen wants to take them out to the lake. She would rather be on them than on the bike.

Finding the time is the hardest part. I'm busy as heck right now. I have some down days though, just never know when or how long it will last. Had installs Thursday and Friday, another one today, and then again on Monday, Tuesday and also Wednesday or Thursday. Plus whatever comes along between now and then.

It is not a direct fit. I think I've read that some people have modified it to work but I'm not sure of the details.

send me one and I’ll put it on.

Well, I'm done adding my touches to this bike. I as pretty happy with it as bought but it did need a few things. I've added the luggage rack with LED light kit, highway pegs, windshield bags, V&H Monster Round mufflers, driver and passenger drink holders, phone holder with wireless charger, KuryAkyn sliding trunk relocation, Clearview windshield. I think that's all. Anything else you see was there when I bought it. I don't like the whitewall tires and was going to paint them but decided it was more trouble than it's worth.

His username is Dingy. You can send him a PM. I don't know if he sold it or not.

Nope, I didn't need it and was giving somebody here a chance before I jumped on it.