A few years back when my outdrive was being rebuilt by AADS in the middle of the summer some friends of ours on our dock gave us the keys to their 21’ Yamaha jet boat with twins since they were up in MI most of that summer. They are fun little turds to drive! Just have to get used to the engine noise since they run so high RPM all the time. Would consider one for our local lake if I ever sell out at LOTO.

Spent almost 2 weeks in Gulf Shores .
Ran the crap out the boat exploring in Perdido and Orange beach.
Cost me like $50 in gas a day . Boat handles the waves and wakes great , I was very surprised! Never got swamped once and we hit some big wakes and swells.
Jet drive is perfect for an idiot like me that doesn`t know the area and the fact that there`s sandbars and shallow spots all over and you can never tell where . If I had a propped boat I would have killed many props.Not used to that at all. Lake Michigan there`s no such thing. 10' from shore it`s deep forever.
Running the gulf the kids had a blast riding up and down the swells , smiles the whole time. My son would take over driving and I could relax . Bimini top is great for shade .
I opened the hatch maybe a few times. starts everytime, run it wot forever it doesn`t care . No gauges to watch, just a depth and rpm gauge.
Docking is a bit of a pain , there`s hardly any reverse and it turns extra slow.
Now I want a 25' and I wanna move out of Illinois. Start an HVAC business down there or buy one.


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I really wanted to test drive this bad boy :D




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I thought you did. That’s how you ended up with 2 kids!!!

That whole area is amazing. We try and make it every August when school starts and the crowds thin out. Gulf to Pensacola is the best. Food and endless beaches. Fort Pickens in Pensacola is my favorite place to beach the boat. Where did you stay?

LOL , I set myself up for that :lolhit:

I got a condo with a launch at Lagoon Run but it turns out we ended up going to Orange beach launches because the Lagoon got boring real fast plus again shallow.



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Yep I know where your at. We always stay on the Orange side next to the Flora Bama. Bela Luna I think is the place. They have boat slips but damn it’s hard to find a place to park your trailer.

Wow...that place looks amazing!

Kreed we use to always do the gulf side beaches and most of the time the waves and jelly fish wouldn’t let you really enjoy it. Now we do the bay side and bring the boat and have endless beaches to hangout at. You want peace and quiet or wet t shirt contests at the florabama. It’s whatever blows your hair back.

Would be easy to set up shop down here. Construction absolutely booming.

Yup, Always enjoy the Flora Bama and Tacky Jacks

I enjoy that side because it`s all individual houses and not huge towering condos with tons of people . That makes the beaches way less crowded which works for me since people and crowds are not my thing . That being said there`s always some a hole with his stupid little bastards that won`t stop screaming . When my kids were little I would tell em to shut it so people who go to the beach to relax won`t have to listen to screaming kids but today the parents are as s holes, they just let them scream. I always hope a shark comes by and scoops em up, stupid loud kids.
My only issue is if you don`t eat seafood the food sucks. I didn`t have a good meal till I came back home.

Hey Dan. You gonna give me a ride in your Yama hamma at the Cig Rally LOL!!!

Yeah lets jump some cruiser wakes and see how high we can get

Hey Dan looks like you had a great on the left coast of Florida , I am a Lauderdale person , but it’s all good. . Hey how’s my second favourite flat deck coming along . Yours is nicer but mine is still mine lol . Cheers RG

Nothing new to report, when you depend on someone else to do things all you get is broken promises.
It`s just funny at this point. took 2 month just to get an estimate on drives repairs. . At this point I just have to laugh or I`d have to murder someone.
Looks like I need all new exhaust valves now so the hits just keep on coming.

Sounds like you need to go back to FL with the trusty ole jet boat and veg. out on the beach. Sorry for your troubles Dan, have been following but at the end of the day your 38 is one of the best maintained out there, put a cover over her and enjoy your summer, you'll need something to tinker with this fall and into winter.

Screw HVAC, just do boat work. I can’t even get rigging or upholstery work done if I’m waving cash is their face. 😂😩

Dan, you said you are waiting for an estimate on drive repairs, what happened to the drives, I thought you found some new old stock 6s

Mike I did find new old stock , after I bought these drives. I wanted to sell this pair and pick those up but I didn`t see much interest so i sent them off to get checked out .
The good news is they don`t need much work at all, just a full blast and repaint, plus new bearings, and reseal. (one had water in it and sat for 9 months.) i`m not one to buy anything and take the word of the owner on condition. Everyone is a ****ing liar .
I wanted them opened up and gone thru to make sure all is well. Plus I need em to look like new . It`s a ****ing problem I have. OCD is a expensive!!

I really enjoyed my vacation and that jet boat . Ive been looking into selling my business and getting the hell out of here but it`s not that easy .:(

I sell everything , buy a boat to live on and fix marine AC`s in my spare time for gas and slip money .

Im sure you would be busy...the calls i get with angry/frustrated people that cant find good techs to fix marine AC's are constant! :) And id say 70% of the calls are for stupid things like the pump being mounted wrong by the installer or the wrong size tubing used and choking the pump! When i retire i may just end up doing marine AC's myself! LOL ;)

Sell it all, move to FL, boat all year and do minor HVAC on the side for extra cash as there is no shortage of need in FL for it. My neighbor did just that.

Was full time owner, sold, and now does about 2 to 3 days a week of minor A/C work to stay busy and supplement income. Heck have him coming to check out our place before summer hits

stupid thing is back .


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Moved the boat up due to all the extra weight that will be in the back need more tongue weight .
Bunk supports needed to be moved to support the hull better and prevent a hook .

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What makes so much new weight in the back?

used to have #5`s now #6s on boxes.

Box, 75lbs
transom assembly, 222lbs
Drive, 275lbs

and 12" further back

I just thought of a great name for a boat. 🙂

Somebody needs a tig for Christmas. :party-smiley-004:





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Boat looks great, what did you do in the engine compartment?

Dammmmmm, I wish I could weld for one, and if I could that would be my goal. Beautiful bead !

Looks good. Like a blank canvas. You were saying it cost more than quoted but do you feel like they did a good job?

Dan, I'm really interested to see how your boat runs with that setup.

Glad you got her back. Getting closer to assembly!!! Good luck man.

I think they did a good job, looks all fine to me but what the hell do I know about fiberglass, the holes aren`t sealed with silicone or 4200 or whatever was in there that failed and allowed water in.

I had the inside done in black, tired if trying to clean the white .

The trailers weld came out fine .


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water got thru the exhaust holes among other things


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when we had everything apart…we sealed all the cut-outs with penetrating epoxy. I cut the epoxy down with acetone to help absorb into the wood better.


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I`ll be cutting additional holes so what penetrating epoxy did you use?
For smaller holes, Q-tip and some resin?

When my guy did the Donzi, he drilled larger holes than needed, filled them completely in with some epoxy resin, then drilled the size needed. That way even if it did leak, nothing was getting to the wood. Just a thought.

I used West System Epoxy for my holes when i re-did the transom on my F-302, thin it and use the slow cure hardener...... you will not get water in the wood

The last transom i sealed i used the West System 105 with a 209 extra slow hardener....gives you like 45min of pot life and it takes like 24hrs to fully cure at room temps so its gives it more time to soak in. It helps to heat the area before applying the epoxy as well. I used some heat lamps near the surface to get the area a good 25-30 deg hotter then ambient temps.....if you heat the temps up to 95*F then the stuff cures in like 6-8hrs....higher and quicker it cures....you can thin it out up to 50% with acetone as well to help it soak in too..