rhino89523

I had to do real similar, when I bought my boat they had slammed the dock or something. I got a real good deal on the boat because of this and thought "I can live with some scratches" I didn't even make it all the way home before the OCD kicked in and I stopped at an autoparts store and started test sanding /polishing one of the areas. My wife was flipping out on me when we hadn't even used the boat yet and I am out in the backyard removing all the stickers and have the sides of the boat all wet sanded...which actually looks like crap until after you polish the boat. I basically stayed up half the night polishing the boat with my wife shaking her head and thinking i'd lost my mind. When we used it the next morning she was O.K. the boat I like better without the tribal Avalanche stickers, and the scratches removed I think raised the boat value a good 5g or so...they were deep. I used the same process as infinity...but started grittier.

I like AC plugs in Chevy motors, the number you listed I believe is an AC number and at $6 each I'm betting are iridium . I'd buy them from amazon...I will put money PCM isn't making there own plug so I would not be paying their markup to get an AC box.

Ripping!!!!! @DarksideR

For me filters and oil come from Walmart, impellers come from a local boat shop. They are really cool to me, I make Christmas wreaths at Christmas and bring them one, they go easy on the markup on me for parts...about the same as I get online and they let me drill them in the offseason for advise. I have a local prop guy for props or if I hit something can straighten me out on the shaft or strut. I do all of my own work but try to keep good relationships with local people who deal with stuff. My stupid Christmas wreaths seem to go a long way, 12 packs do as well. I just let these guys know I appreciate them if they help me or hook me up with parts, advise or whatever. I don't know what the magic formula is but it seems like maybe a lot of boat owners in my area are super demanding or tough to deal with. The guys working on this stuff seem to dig talking a little shop with someone who does their own work and understands the struggles they deal with first hand.

I forgot about the whole fuel game, You need to stabilize the fuel...I'll steer clear of the best stabilizer argument and you pick the brand but you need to stabilize the fuel. There are differing theory's on this as well and most of it relates to the ethanol blended fuel being hygroscopic...O.K. my spelling might be wrong but it means it wants to absorb moisture from air. Some people fill the tank because that doesn't allow room for the moisture i.e.water, others go halfway and then take a fresh shot of fuel at the start of a new season. I go with sort of the latter, On my last few runs of the year I make the trip across town and get the blue gas available at one station in my town...this is the non ethanol stuff. I run that on my last few runs and think I probably get most of the ethanol out of there, I go about halfway at the end, stabilize that and take a fresh shot at the start of the season. Fogging is another one, you cant fog down the neck like you could back in the old carb days. I have seen a few different ways to do it and I think PCM and Merc both recommend mixing up a cocktail of gas/stabil and 50-1 two stroke in an auxiliary fuel tank and running that for like 10 minutes or something...last I check I think they were still recommending this for the boats with Cats as well, but I can't imagine a cat would be loving two stroke oil. I run my boat on my freshly stabilized fuel for a bit to get everything warmed up. Then I change all my fluids etc. When I change my fuel filter I add a little elixir in the filter, then install the filter, turn the ignition on and fill the filter, start the boat and let it get nice and smokey, then kill it. My technique is not the preferred technique recommended, it's just what I do and it is not correct. Cruise the internet, there are so many theory's on fogging and storing, and so many arguments on what products to use, pick a lane and go for it...talk to your local dealer or boat shop and see what they are doing. My local shop has been on the seafoam thing for a while and having good luck so that's what I have been using. Full disclosure, I decided to not steer clear of the what product argument, I do not work for seafoam, I don't have any documents or graphs showing anything relevant to anything, I am a total backyard mechanic, I barely graduated high school, All my time in college was focused on football and I never finished my degree, So I'm really just a guy with a bunch of tools and access to google.

http://webcontent.goodsam.com/trailerlife.com/digital_editions/TrailerLifeTowGuide2018.pdf Here is a chart for 2018, not sure if you guys have seen this...or something like it. You have to scroll down to where the chart is for the ratings...I didn't see a half ton that will tow 12,200 but I just took a quick glance. @InfinitySurf

I do all my own service on everything I own, If I owned your boat I would do it, it isn't that hard. I don't know the particulars of your boat but it is essentially oil changes in motor and checks or changes in tranny and drive, water dump or replacement with coolant, dealing with impeller....many go every other year, couple lube points and inspections, wax it up, clean it out, make sure its dry, cover it up, wait for summer. I like doing my own services and maintenance, the only negative I can think of is if something goes wrong I can't go on the internet and rant about my mechanic...I have to look in the mirror and yell at that guy.

If you space turning the pump off it will burn the impeller up. No big deal on the in because you have water running through it and it will just blow out the overflow but when you reverse and pump out if you run it dry you are spinning a rubber impeller up against the housing wall with no coolant. on mine the switch got bumped and I started smelling burnt rubber. Also after a bunch of years those impellers can get brittle and crack.

I'd go 4x4, you could probably get by most of the time with 2wd but 4x4 makes it a sure thing. The MPG difference isn't that huge on the Sequoia as it is with other cars. I think it's only like 3/4 of a MPG between the 2 rated combined mpg.

Going with more pitch on the prop in theory should make it worse. If you are running a 12 pitch going to a 14.25 pitch will be worse. The second number...pitch is essentially how far the boat will move per revolution of motor, for pulling you want that second number to be lower, but 12 is already pretty low, usually somewhere around 10 is as low as you can get....you may have a motor issue or just be too weighted. You may have to do a reduction on the gears in your V-drive depending what gears you are currently running.

From what you are describing it doesn't sound like the wiring is ll that bad. The wire near the V drive may be the reason your V drive light is always lit, I usually hunt around in the area of where the wire is...is it cut? does it have a spade connector or a ring? look for what it might go to. the switch plate in the avy is easy to remove and it's pretty easy to get a look under the dash. My avy didn't have tower lights stock. It depends how you want the tower lights to operate as to where you attach. If you want the tower lights to come on with the courtesy interior lights then yes that's a good switch to attach to. It also depends on what the draw of those lights is, you may want a relay in there for those lights. I'd get a good feel for how those tower lights are wired and a good understanding of their draw. If I wasn't happy with how it was all done I would use the existing wires to pull in my new desired wire design. Not sure this really helps, but with boats I have not had great luck getting a diagram...You can check continuity and get a pretty good idea of what does what. Hopefully Fineline can get you a diagram, The Avy is pre full on computer screen...so it's fairly basic.

I do my impeller every other as well. Extractor works great, really clean.

I can't comment on the heater deal but if it has coolant in it, it is definitely part of a closed system. As far as the oil change goes, you could definitely build a fitting that would attach to the threads and suck it out that way, I just go through the dipstick, the dipstick always goes into the sump part of the oil pan, you can feel the tube bottom out into the pan. If you suck right to the bottom of the sump you are getting most of the oil out. All the oil pan gaskets I have done in my life I have never seen one completely free of all oil when drained. I drain them (in cars) out the oil drain plug when warm and let them go until they are not dripping...then I put the plug back in because there is always some left in there. I change my oil at the end of the season on my boat, we have a shorter season than many, we don't get going until June and we stop in September. I try to use my boat as much as time allows and we do a week vacation in it every year. probably run somewhere around 20 tanks of gas through it....the oil comes out pretty clean. I wouldn't worry too much about the little bit that is left in there whatever method you end up going with. Nice new filter and fresh oil, treat the gas, impeller, couple pumps of grease on the rudder, figure out if it's a totally closed cooling system or deal with draining or pumping in coolant....good time to do your trailer maintenance, park it and wait for sunshine.

I don't have the typhoon, I have an Avy. I run a homemade wake shaper and find it to not be sensitive at all to placement as long as it is somewhere below or in the waterline it works fine. I doubt you will have any trouble getting a shaper to stick.

I have not done one on that particular motor, but I believe it's GM...for all the ones I have done just a standard set of tools, nothing tricky. Pretty much a socket set and a screw driver and some patience and you are all set.