BrianCinAz

The only way to diagnose a failed thermostat is to remove it and place it on a pan of water then heat it to 170˚. If it opens, then it is good. Since it is only a $10 part, I would just replace it as a preventative maintanence item. Impellers are supposed to be replaced every 200 hours or 2 years, whichever occurs first. If you are unsure as to the age of the impeller, then change it now. These are normal wear items and they are cheap enough that you should replace them if in doubt.

I just sold one of my boats via craigslist 2 weeks ago. I had it listed for about 4 weeks. We are just beginning our boating season here (95˚ last week, 85˚ this week). There are a lot of idiots on craigslist. Be prepared. You should be very descriptive in the ad. 5 or 6 pictures should be enough to let them see the general layout and condition. Be prepared for the lowballers. Several people will offer you half of your price just to buy it so that they can relist it themselves for a profit; that practice is common on CL. Just ignore those idiots. The other idiots will drive out to see it then whine about every little detail. Again, just ignore them. (I told them to go pay $20k more for a new one if they want showroom new) Be patient, the ad is free, but you pay for it with your time dealing with the idiots. The guy that bought my boat called from 200 miles away, said he would take it if I would hold it for 3 days. I did and he did. Easy transaction.

I test drove a 2011 in Oct 2011. The backing in the upholstery (seats) was warping due to the ehat from the sun. The dealers excuse was that they forgot to put on a mooring cover while they had the boat up at Lake Powell the week before. My question was "What about when we are using the boat? How will we protect the seats from warping?" They replied, "No problem, we will warranty them." I was less than satisfied with that reply. Strike one. I noticed the rear access panels had a lot of flex to them while opening and closing them. The same backing board was used in those panels. It was barely 1/2" thick and was not stiff enough. Also, some screws were already stripping out. Strike two. They brought the boat out to the lake for us to demo. The owner/salesman was trying to hide an overheating issue. He would rev up to 4500 RPM for about 15 seconds, then slow down to idle. After 15 minutes of this occuring and him not letting me drive the boat (strike three), I decided the Tige wasn't going home with me. I talked to other Tige owners, the upholster on some years was hit or miss quality with stitching coming unravelled. Obviously, not all Tige boats have these issues, but it does point to a quality issue.

The way to avoid the CA fees is to have a friend in Az register the boat ($34) and title the trailer (Under $100 with transfer) then a few months later, you register it in CA. In Az, we can file the affidavate of non use AFTER the fact. Then the buyer simply pays for his/ her new registration.

I have owned a couple of aluminum fish n ski type boats, so I don't understand why you guys talk like aluminum is not a viable material for boat construction. A 19' aluminum ski boat will always weigh less than the fiberglass equivalent. Fiberglass requires more layers and stringers than aluminum to provide a comparable level of strength and rigidity.. Aluminum does not breakdown with age as does fiberglass, ask experienced sailors with boats from the 80's, they'll tell you how much old fiberglass weakens and stress cracks. Both of my boats were welded and rivoted, never had a leak and there were no soft spots near the welds as was suggested by someone earlier. There was a huge difference in the ride, aluminum boats do have a more harsh ride due to the lack of weight. Heavy boats will always have a smoother ride compared to light boats. The only time it was an issue was when the winds were stiff and the waves were over 12". But most guys aren't skiing in those conditions, so it really would not be a negative. The wake was much flatter behind both of my aluminum boats compared to my Axis A-22, but the Axis weighs over 1000lbs more.