04 Sportster, new owner, serious thanks are due.

[CMT]

What's up guys, new member here, lurker since June, new owner of an 04 Sportster:

We picked it up right before Memorial Day Weekend, and it's been a blast. It was traded to a local boat dealer that inspected, serviced, fixed and flipped it, and we were lucky enough to be the first to respond to the advertisement. I want to thank the participants of this forum for its awesome content as the information here is absolutely invaluable to a new owner like myself.

We've put about 50 hours on it and so far, so good. The engine runs strong and everything seems to work, and most importantly this boat is a blast. It's fast enough for us, and certainly fast enough for its size and for use on the bay on which we live. We recently rescued a dog who turned out to be a heck of a swimmer, and who loves heading out on the boat every chance he gets.

The rescue organization found this guy abandoned in a dumpster with his brother, and we are doing our best to show him the other, better side of life.

This weekend, after some good forum research, I tore into the gelcoat a bit to try and brighten things up. It all began on Friday when the new registration stickers came in and I used a buffer to help get rid of the ghosting from the old stuff - The two parts I buffed ended up being so much whiter and brighter than the rest of the boat that I had to continue buffing the entire top area above the black trim, but ultimately the pad/product combo I used did not provide enough cut and left things a bit splotchy and uneven in places.

I went back at it today with 3M Super Duty Compound, which yielded great results, and then followed up with Meguiar's 205 and topped with an ample amount of Collinite 845. While I suspect some spots will likely only benefit from wet sanding, I'm still pretty happy with the final results.

Some before and afters:

Finished:

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for checking out the thread, and thanks again for all the help over the past month and a half!

 

[devonte007]

Congratulations on the new boat and welcome to the forum! Looks like you got a nice one which can probably be hard to do down in Florida. I have the same boat and have been very happy with it, the 155hp engine may not be as fast as some of the others but most of the time it is plenty. The engine is also fairly bulletproof if proper maintenance is done and you are diligent about flushing the engine and exhaust cooling system after each salt water use.

You mentioned doing some work to clean up the gelcoat and I will add that I have had great success with starbrite hull cleaner to bleach the white part of the hull that can get a bit yellow/brown from water stains.

I also noticed that you do not have standard seadoo trailer that comes with most of these boats, it looks a bit big for the boat. I see that the bow of the boat is resting on the winch strap which is not a safe way to tow. The bow should be all the way up and resting on the roller near the winch like the picture below:

You might be able to adjust and move the winch arm of the trailer back so it properly holds the bow. This can be tricky because you want to make sure the boat is balanced on the trailer with enough tongue weight to tow straight.

If you ever have any questions about the boat or maintenance I would be happy to help. :thumbsup:

 

[CMT]

You mentioned doing some work to clean up the gelcoat and I will add that I have had great success with starbrite hull cleaner to bleach the white part of the hull that can get a bit yellow/brown from water stains.

Perfect, thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely pick some up!

I also noticed that you do not have standard seadoo trailer that comes with most of these boats, it looks a bit big for the boat. I see that the bow of the boat is resting on the winch strap which is not a safe way to tow. The bow should be all the way up and resting on the roller near the winch like the picture below

You might be able to adjust and move the winch arm of the trailer back so it properly holds the bow. This can be tricky because you want to make sure the boat is balanced on the trailer with enough tongue weight to tow straight.

Again, thank you! The boat dealer provided none of this info and that is exactly how they had the boat on the trailer when we picked it up. I have no doubt that "standard-sized" Chaparral trailer is too big for the Sportster, but it was our only option because the dealer had it laying around and wanted it off their lot.

I will definitely be either loading the boat up farther on the trailer to hit the roller or seeing about adjusting the roller anchor to make it easier to properly seat the boat. The last thing anybody needs is a towing calamity.

Thanks again devonte007, this is critical info and there is zero doubt that it saved our butts!

 

[WaTeRMaNiaC407]

Hey there,

Your boat looks great! I agree with Devonte007 that you should fix the way the boat mounts on the trailer.

I have the 2012 Speedster and I absolutely love it. I am sure that you will have a blast on the boat.

I am in Florida as well. What part of the state are you located? You mentioned the bay, is that Tampa Bay? BTW- Your rescued dog looks like he is so happy! Good Job!

 

[Bca8ball]

You certainly have your boat looking good; I need some of that motivation on my identical 06 .

You will need to use the tongue weight to determine the boat/bow roller location on that trailer.
The tongue weight should be between 150 to 200lbs (I lean towards the 150); I suspect you are too light in the front with the boat that far back.

The bow should be resting on the roller and the keel can touch but should not be fully resting on the trailer's forward cross member board.

They should not have sold that boat/trailer combination without making needed adjustments first!
To be honest, I would consult management there about letting you drive it off their lot like that; it is not safe.
Hopefully, they will work with you for at least the parts to get it right.

I suspect you will need to extend the bunks to the forward cross member; it just takes a couple more bunk support/brackets and longer boards.
That said, you will still have a lot of board/trailer sticking out the back of the boat. The rear of the trailer is where the rear tie holes/brackets are located. With the boat forward you will need to tie it down somewhere closer to the rear of the boat.

Again, I hope the boat dealer is reputable enough to work with, but either way, it really needs to be corrected before you ever need to slam on your brakes or make any quick maneuvers.

 

[CMT]

Got it. "Thank you" cannot approximate my gratitude for first the heads-up and then advice to fix the trailer issue. I'm going to take a look at it tonight when I get back to the house and inspect my options, and I'll be calling the dealer regardless to discuss the obvious concerns that the trailer may not be a fit for the watercraft. As a realist I do not expect much post-sales support since it's a huge yacht dealer that does not normally handle small boats, but I'm a pessimist who enjoys being pleasantly surprised. If I cannot find any help there, I have a few local friends who are well versed in this sort of thing that can hopefully help as well.

I am in Florida as well. What part of the state are you located? You mentioned the bay, is that Tampa Bay? BTW- Your rescued dog looks like he is so happy! Good Job!

Thanks! We are in Destin, on the panhandle. We moved here from Connecticut in November and couldn't have been happier to have avoided last winter in the northeast.

 

[Bca8ball]

With some supports, brackets, and extended bunks you should be fine. Could even use additional frame brackets for new rear tie down attachments.
As far as the "glass half full" goes; having too much trailer is better than to little trailer.

 

[cheappc]

First of CMT love your profile picture, what a great dog, and your boat looks great (I'm a little biased =}).

Welcome.

 

[CMT]

Thanks cheappc, appreciate it!

Bca8ball, I have a call in to a few friends who are heading over on Friday to take a look at the setup before we put it into the water for the weekend. Both are veteran boaters who are confident that they can find a way to properly secure the boat going forward. We are lucky that the launch is less than a mile away from the house on typical flat Florida roads, but if we ever plan to take the Sportster to visit family in SC, which we do, this situation needs to be handled.

I also have an early AM call in to the dealer, and no return call as of yet. I suspect I already know how that side of things will go, but while I'm up for being pleasantly surprised I am also a realist and have already resigned to handle this myself.

 

[Bca8ball]

I hope you got a decent deal; that always makes the little things easier.

In my opinion, you certainly picked the right boat (as far as Sea-doo boats go).
The 155hp isn't the fastest but plenty fast enough on the water with more than enough power to have fun.
It seems that boats will always have something to spend money on, nice not worrying when to rebuild a supercharger and/or one motor verses the other.

 

[CMT]

I hope you got a decent deal; that always makes the little things easier.

We did. Enough so that I'm not really expecting a call back, which has yet to come regardless.

In my opinion, you certainly picked the right boat (as far as Sea-doo boats go).
The 155hp isn't the fastest but plenty fast enough on the water with more than enough power to have fun.
It seems that boats will always have something to spend money on, nice not worrying when to rebuild a supercharger and/or one motor verses the other.

I'm a huge fan. It does everything we need, is a total blast, and seems like a very low overhead boat so far. My biggest concern was learning to maneuver it at low speeds, but it only took a solid hour or so across a few days of practicing to get used to using reverse and a judicious throttle.

Only one issue so far - The bimini top that came with the boat fell off when crossing a particularly choppy part of the bay, and I didn't notice it until back at the dock. I'm trying to find the best value for a replacement option. It's my own stupid fault, too. I saw the mount points weren't perfectly affixed, thought "I'll attend to those later," and promptly forgot.

 

[Bca8ball]

The best (new) prices I have noticed were at iboats...looks like they offer free shipping as well.
I like that they specifically list the boat/model.
There are more non-specific tops available using measurements to ensure the correct fit but their prices aren't really any better.

http://biminitops.iboats.com/SeaDoo...005)_ENDURATop-3675/251193/?cart_id=597444825

 

[Jeff d]

That was an OE bimini on there. Unless you want to drill new holes you'd have to get the same one. Check ebay and JM Campers.

 

[CMT]

Thanks for the bimini help guys!

The tongue weight should be between 150 to 200lbs (I lean towards the 150); I suspect you are too light in the front with the boat that far back.

Check - It's now at 173 lbs give or take, assuming we measured correctly. I should have measured the tongue weight before we changed things, but I forgot to do it.

The bow should be resting on the roller and the keel can touch but should not be fully resting on the trailer's forward cross member board.

Check. The bow is now resting on the roller, with very little weight on the front cross member.

This will come as no surprise, but the two friends that I pulled in to advise on the trailer agreed with everything you said, and we got lucky. Everything was fixed, or at least made substantially more secure, by moving the roller anchor point as far towards the boat as it would go:

While it's not optimal as they said the roller should be lower, it's a lot better. Thanks again for the help!

I hope everyone had a great weekend on the water, I know we did. I brought the telephoto out with me on Saturday and was able to catch this sequence of pics - The girl actually surprised me as she popped out of the water in a spot that I knew was deep, but it all made sense pretty quickly:

It was the first time I'd seen flyboarding close up!

 

[Bca8ball]

Glad everything worked out for you.

I have spent many years on the water in/on many forms of water craft; not once did anything pop out of the water that looked like that.
Did you make the spot on your GPS?

 

[xintersecty]

I am impressed with your photography. A couple of questions. On your doggie pic jumping off the boat, what camera did you use?

Also with the Flyboarding pictures (totally amazing BTW, IMHO) what body and lens did you use? The bocca is just sweet.

 

[CMT]

Glad everything worked out for you.

I have spent many years on the water in/on many forms of water craft; not once did anything pop out of the water that looked like that.
Did you make the spot on your GPS?

Haha, are you kidding me? I've gone back twice already, but no luck so far for a repeat performance.

I caught a bit of guff from my wife when the girl's head popped out of the water and I swung the camera around, but to not have taken those shots would have been a disservice to all. I regret nothing.

I am impressed with your photography. A couple of questions. On your doggie pic jumping off the boat, what camera did you use?

Also with the Flyboarding pictures (totally amazing BTW, IMHO) what body and lens did you use? The bocca is just sweet.

Thanks! The pics taken in the water are with a Fuji XP60 that I purchased refurbished from an online retailer. It took a day or two to figure out the best settings as I'm not used to point & shoots, but when I found the 10 fps sport setting it allowed for a lot more keepers than before.

The flyboarding shots were with my 5D2 and 70-200 f/2.8L IS II with 1.4x extender. I told myself I'd never bring the DSLR on the boat but I knew we'd be out late and wanted the setup for sunset shots.

So far that's about the best I've taken, but I hope for better shots going forward.

 

[xintersecty]

That is very superb photography. That lens and 5D2 is an excellent combination and a small fortune! I had to ask about the doggie shots as most waterproof point and shoots do not have that good color. And that blue is eye popping. I have been looking for a waterproof camera and may have to get that. As carrying my Canon G12 on the ski, while traveling is not the wisest.


I just manage to catch my buddy on his waverunner while going under a rainbow at beautiful Lake Jocasse. I was lucky on that shot.

I have gone with a combination of old school lenses and new body. I have been shooting a Canon EOS-M with FD lenses (yes I am that old). Here is a shot with that setup using a canon 1.8f 50mm.

No it's not a ski, it's a very beautiful ducati. I took that picture at a buddies shop of the south bank in london. Promise no more pictures.

Compliments on the pictures and congratulations on your boat. What a sweet ride!

 

[CMT]

That is very superb photography. That lens and 5D2 is an excellent combination and a small fortune! I had to ask about the doggie shots as most waterproof point and shoots do not have that good color. And that blue is eye popping. I have been looking for a waterproof camera and may have to get that. As carrying my Canon G12 on the ski, while traveling is not the wisest.

Thanks and agreed - I know the feeling and would not want to lose a G12 either! The XP60 is a good compromise. It's water-friendly, has a 16 megapixel sensor with decent sharpness so you can crop a bit for better framing and the colors, contrast and saturation are very good for a point & shoot. Plus, help is just a slider away in Photoshop if needed.

I just manage to catch my buddy on his waverunner while going under a rainbow at beautiful Lake Jocasse. I was lucky on that shot.

I have gone with a combination of old school lenses and new body. I have been shooting a Canon EOS-M with FD lenses (yes I am that old). Here is a shot with that setup using a canon 1.8f 50mm.
View attachment 27126
No it's not a ski, it's a very beautiful ducati. I took that picture at a buddies shop of the south bank in london. Promise no more pictures.

Compliments on the pictures and congratulations on your boat. What a sweet ride!

Thank you my man, you are doing just fine yourself with that watercraft list. I'm a big fan of the 3up Spark and have been strongly considering one myself. Very nice.

Those shots are awesome. The Ducati is killer and I've always wanted to capture a similar rainbow shot. Big fan of vintage machines here - I was lucky enough to have my gear with me one day when a friend's father brought out his 250GT California, but the shots are more of a photojournalist output rather than the art of your Ducati pic.

FD lens! Damn. Total OG - How do they work with the EOS-M? Not that it's critical, but can you autofocus? I'm very curious on that setup as from all reports the FD lenses are super sharp even by today's standards. I've also been toying with buying a 4/3 setup to save space, but I fear it would be a waste of money for me. I use either the 5D or my camera phone, and if I need a more compact setup I remove the battery grip and use the 16-35.

An EOS-M setup with the EF mount adapter would be optimal, I wish I'd jumped on one when they were blowing them out a year ago.

To keep it relevant, some 16-35 Sportster pics:

I love shooting on the water, I just wish it didn't freak me out, gear-wise.

 

[xintersecty]

FD lens! Damn. Total OG - How do they work with the EOS-M? Not that it's critical, but can you autofocus? I'm very curious on that setup as from all reports the FD lenses are super sharp even by today's standards. I've also been toying with buying a 4/3 setup to save space, but I fear it would be a waste of money for me. I use either the 5D or my camera phone, and if I need a more compact setup I remove the battery grip and use the 16-35.

I will PM some personal facebook links so you can see for yourself how does the eos-m work with FD lenses. Personally I think the newer lenses are sharper. There is a bit of softness to these lenses. On a popular bidding site, you can buy an EOS-M body for about 200-250 and the EF adapter about 60-100. I would say get it, as it's a good camera and has a much bigger sensor than the 4/3rds.

This is where I get my FD lens information. http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/
I just have about every lens possible and I use them all.

I manually focus everything. When shooting film, I go back to the auto-focus lenses on that body if I am not running the camera. I use a back magnifier on the view screen to get the best focus. It also helps as it stabilizes the camera. This forces me back to the AE-1 Program days of (focus, aperture, depth of focus) of manual shooting.


As a waste of money, well the EOS-M is a good camera. Too bad that canon decided not push that market more. I plan to pick an extra one then I can do more two camera work. I would add a cheaper mirrorless camera to your setup. After all it's easier to write off 200 bucks for a body than a 3K body. It gives you options. Put a f2 pancake lens on that camera, it becomes an intimate indoor camera with no flash. Very good around parties as it looks like a point and shoot rig and not the giant DSLR with huge lense. And trust me this camera can capture in candlelight with no problem and good colors.