Pre-Season Spring Checklist

[Scooter G]

A slow start this year, but the weather has been far from conducive.
There is a lot of storage on these rigs, you don’t realize until you start hucking stuff over the sides.
It’s like a little circus car, the clowns keep coming out.

I put together a Spring checklist, I know I probably forgot something, but I’m sure it will get done in the process. Anyone see anything crucial that I missed?

Pre-season Checklist (non-winterized climate-controlled storage):

• Trailer inspection, light check, brake fluid, check air pressure & spare.
• Sealed bearings, good for a few more years. Brake pad inspection.
• The Fulton jack is getting just a little tight. I’ll give that a little attention.
• Engine maintenance, change oil/filter, impeller change, belt & hose inspection, fuel filter, check & clean intake screen, top off trans fluids, clean spark arrestor, cap & wires inspection. I might change plugs next year or at least inspect and run a compression check for a base line (currently 450ish hours).
• 3 new ballast pump impellers last year.
• A little grease on the rudder zerk.
• Battery charge (been on & off the trickle all Winter), cables inspection.
• Soap blast & power wash trailer & rims.
• I detail the trailer once a year, that means buffer & wax. My least favorite thing to do.
• Gel scratch repair, buff & wax.
• Beverage & chip break x 3.
• Yard sale everything out of the boat. Inventory what you think you have, and what you had forgotten you had.
• Vacuum all lockers & boat. Scrub and rinse interior.
• Clean & condition upholstery.
• Window shine last.
• Inspect & test all components of boat, lights, linc screen, etc.
• Inspect & clean boards, check bindings & fins, surf board pads & fins.
• Slap this year’s reg tags on (Red this year). Trailer tags, good for a few more years.

Hope this helps someone with a jump start to your list of things. Open to suggestions…

~Scooter

[Rednucleus]

Quite a list - you are however missing 2 to 3 mandatory beer & chips breaks!

[BasaltRMK]

Scooter G - where’d all that green grass and sunshine come from? I was out on the sleds to day in a foot of fresh powder! Thanks for the inspiration!

- bob

[MN Ryan]

Nice. I called my storage guy last week--picking up this weekend. I love the pull-through garage!

[bturner]

Most (if not all) of this is on my winterization list. Other than loading the gear back in the boat I'm ready to go.

[Scooter G]

bturner, always have good intentions of getting that all out of the way come shut down time, never happens. We still had vests and towels hanging when I pulled it out into daylight this weekend, lol.
MN Ryan, that pull through took many years to accomplish. My construction buddy said something to the effect. "always dreamed of, rarely accomplished". He helped me make it happen. Great idea, and then one day you bring home a boat that's 2" too tall to clear the door, fetch. I am so jonesing to upgrade to an auto tower, but for now we're really good at lowering and raising. Until the day I forgot - That's another expensive story...
BasaltRMK, Sister lives your direction, you guys got pounded. Nothing better the Colorado Spring powder!
Rednucleus, funny you should mention that. I had to look back at the pictures. Daughter owns a potato chip company, there was a grocery bag that had a bunch of opened stale chips in it laying on the ground. I think the munchkins grabbed it, they don't judge stale. Added to the list

[SilentSeven]

Oh man. My conscience...."buff and wax the trailer". Tips on how you are surviving this? I need to do mine and am not excited.

My last trailer was a box frame and manageable. My current trailer is a C channel and it's nothing but ugly to consider.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[Scooter G]

I start to break into a sweat just thinking about it.
Maybe this year, I grab the portable generator, and the buffer, and dump the boat in the lake. Work smarter not harder, maybe.
Maybe it's overkill, but if you keep on top of it, it will continue to look good. I've got to keep re-sale value at a max man, I want that dang auto tower.
1st World problems...

[bturner]

I do my trailer in the fall. I pull the trailer home from storage a week before pulling the boat for the season and do it with the boat still on the lift. It would be a nightmare with the boat on the trailer. Absolutely agree with Scooter about it getting easier after multiple coats have been applied. I use the Collinite wax. It's easy on, easy off and doesn't turn white when it dries. That and it lasts a long time. I hit the trailer with the foam cannon on my pressure washer, do a quick scrub with a micro fiber wash mitt, rinse and let it dry. Wipe the entire trailer down with the wax then follow that with a micro fiber towel wipe down. Once washed/dried I can do my single axle trailer in 30 - 45 minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N9ZSTQ...8a755e9ea1c943

[Scooter G]

Soap blast & power washer 1st, good call bturner. I might of missed that step this round, cart before the horse. Attention to back side of rims & calipers, where all the grime gathers.
The trailers black, and I use a black formulation of turtle wax, seems to hide some minor imperfections & scratches. With that being said, I'm a sucker for trying new compounds & waxes, I'll give the Collinite a test run...

https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-53...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

[SilentSeven]

No one else has a C channel trailer? Y'all a box frame?

I think I'll try using my high speed rotary buffer with a wax buffing compound. I've had good results with Griot's products - likely use this / https://www.griotsgarage.com/best-of-show-wax/

[Scooter G]

I do like the Griot line up, I buy their normal spray wax by the gallon. Easy to apply, for the quick jobs.

[Scooter G]

Brake fluid hack using a syringe, not a drop spilt.
Reservoir was lower than I like it. I know those reservoirs are small, but where does that stuff go, I have no signs of any leakage, and it's a new (last season) actuator.

[MN Ryan]

Nice! I have a couple 60 cc syringes on hand for tasks like that. Slick.

I picked my boat up on Saturday. Got the battieries charged up and vinyl wiped down. I installed my freshly touched-up prop and cannot find the spare cotter pins that I know I have stashed somewhere. Off to Home Depot this afteroon.

[Scooter G]

Sometimes it's faster to hit the store, then it is to search for an hour.
Fortunately, I am almost there on organization, it's taken years (and getting the kids out the door), to get to everything has a place, and everything in it's place.
With that mouthful, I went on the hunt for something this weekend for 30 minutes, so not quite there yet. Art in motion...

MN Ryan, buy 4