WI Inboard Service Department

[nordeast]

Anyone know of a good inboard marine Service Department in Washburn or Burnett County / Northwest Wisconsin. I need a source for my recently purchased 1984 SN. Just trying to avoid having to trailer it back to Minneapolis anytime I want the boat looked at.

[bubba]

Plowman's Marine in Woodruff, Wisconsin. I still think they are 2.5 hours away from you however. I purchased my boat there and they did a great job prepping, etc. Kirk and Kent Plowman were a pleasure to work with. Also their service tech that took us out for our test drive was very knowledgable. Check them out at www.plowmansmarine.com .

[WakeSlayer]

What's wrong with it ?

[nordeast]

Plowman's Marine in Woodruff, Wisconsin. I still think they are 2.5 hours away from you however. I purchased my boat there and they did a great job prepping, etc. Kirk and Kent Plowman were a pleasure to work with. Also their service tech that took us out for our test drive was very knowledgable. Check them out at www.plowmansmarine.com .

Thanks Bubba. Yeah that would be a haul for me. Probably would just bring it home and over Marine Max in Rogers, MN if I had to travel that far. Thats about 2 hours from me. I was hoping to be able to find someone up in the neck of the woods by my cabin when I need them.

Bubba I saw that you had and 84 that you recently sold. We just bought our 84. I love it but also i'm a little intimidated with the whole thing. Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain at times as this is my first inboard.

[WakeSlayer]

Nordeast

Rogers is 20 minutes from you. Secondly, MarineMax is going to be the new CC dealer locally, but I would highly doubt that you are going to see much in the way of service on older inboards, at least for a while. PM me and let's see what we can do about your boat. I live a half hour west of Rogers and have a decent amount of experience working on older boats. Try floating over to Correctcraftfan.com tons and tons of info and help on older CC's there. Lastly, Midwest Watersports in Hopkins can always do the work for you if you want to pay a shop to do the work. There just isn't that much to the older boats that you cannot fix in your own garage.
I am out of town til the 10th.

[nordeast]

What's wrong with it ?

Well I've got a couple of things that I would like to get sorted out. One is that I can smell gas in the bilge area. We ran it for two days at the lake and I always lifted the dog house and ran the blower before starting. Also ran the blower while we were running because we were going at slow wakeboarding and little kid tubing speeds. I can't see any gas leaks, but I don't know what I'm looking for either. I know the previous owner had it in to the shop in 2005 and I saw on the service ticket that they checked for gas leaks and found none. I'm going to send him an email and ask if this was ever resolved but I don't think it was and he is in Iraq so his response my be slow. He saved EVERYTHING that he did on the boat. The family is excited to get back out on it but I want to really make sure we are safe.

Secondly the temp gauge seems to run hot up at times to 180-200 but when I turn off the bilge it will drop down to 160. I don't have the gauges in front of me so i'm trying to visualize what the temps were. Might be off there, but it does drop down when I turn the blower off...Electrical???? Very far from my capabilities. I just don't want to ruin my motor if it is actually running too hot. What is normal operating temp for this boat? Anyone know?

Being that this is my first inboard I was looking to have someone winterize it for me unless it is something that I could do on my own. There again I would rather error on the side of caution and not be the one responsible for jacking our boat up.

Thanks for the help.

[nordeast]

Nordeast

Rogers is 20 minutes from you. Secondly, MarineMax is going to be the new CC dealer locally, but I would highly doubt that you are going to see much in the way of service on older inboards, at least for a while. PM me and let's see what we can do about your boat. I live a half hour west of Rogers and have a decent amount of experience working on older boats. Try floating over to Correctcraftfan.com tons and tons of info and help on older CC's there. Lastly, Midwest Watersports in Hopkins can always do the work for you if you want to pay a shop to do the work. There just isn't that much to the older boats that you cannot fix in your own garage.
I am out of town til the 10th.

Thanks for the info wakeslayer. Yeah I live in Champlin, but we keep the boat in Spooner WI. So the only reason I would be bringing it down is to service it and then hauling back to WI.

[bubba]

I agree with Wakeslayer that these boats are simple, easy and somewhat straight forward. You can do most of it yourself.

[QUOTE=nordeast;145150]One is that I can smell gas in the bilge area.QUOTE]
There is always a smell to these boats when you lift the doghouse (engine cover). The smell should be more of a petroleum smell not a raw gas smell. If you have a raw gas smell I would suggest to start with the simple stuff first. Gas lines and connections. Remove the doghouse, the rear seat, the plywood behind the rear seat and the flooring behind the motor. With all that removed you can now see the entire fuel line from the tank to the carburetor. There is a rubber hose from the tank to a fuel/water separator filter. From the fuel/water separator filter there is a rubber hose going to the fuel pump. From the fuel pump to the carburetor this line needs to be "METAL" for safety purposes. Check all joints and fittings for tightness. Check along the length of the hose for soft spots. Also check your gas tank vent hose vent connections.

[nordeast]

There is always a smell to these boats when you lift the doghouse (engine cover). The smell should be more of a petroleum smell not a raw gas smell. If you have a raw gas smell I would suggest to start with the simple stuff first. Gas lines and connections.....

Thanks for the tips Bubba. I really appreciate it. I will definitely start with your list when I get back up to the cabin.

[caverlyc]

Son watersports

Son Watersports in Ramsey, Mark and Dave will take care of you!!!! 763 422 9800

[bubba]

Son Watersports in Ramsey, Mark and Dave will take care of you!!!! 763 422 9800

Wow am I one minded. Can you say brain fart? Since a Wisconsin dealer was asked for I replied with a dealer in Wisconsin. I completely agree with the caverlyc that Dave and Mark at Son Watersports (they are in Anoka) are the guys to go to in Minnesota and yep they are only a little over 2 hours away from Spooner, WI. If you need any service done I would suggest them, they did me right!!!