I purchased a couple sheets of this BS 1088. Was it a mistake? I guess we will see what the builders over at Bateau have to say.

1/10/10 - Update: The wood was taken back to Wood World of Dallas. It was not the Okoume I was wanting but still would have worked out fine on the boat. Since I want to stick with Okoume I plan to order from Bateau. Wood World was helpful and credited back all my money. I then picked up a couple Jet clamps for the build. They have quite a nice selection and I wanted to give them some business for being so helpful.

The progress on the push pole platform is coming along quite nicely. Here are some of the pictures below. The top is made marine plywood and the rim that supports the top and creates an ascetic boarder around the platform is also made up of three layers of marine plywood. All layers go different directions to give strength and rigidity.

To determine the height of the boarder I followed my father’s advice of using the 2/3rds rule, 2/3 thirds wood revealing 1/3 aluminum. Since he is a very accomplished architect I figured he would know best. The first picture is of the mock up I made to determine the thickness of the boarder. The following pictures show the progress of the top and the boarder and the last picture shows the router table I will use with a template bit to cut the boarder flush with the top (template bit not shown). I plan for that to be my next post and it will show the new bit I picked up at Woodcraft for routing the template. Oh yeah… and pray I get to feeling better. I have the flu. It is going around here in Texas. My little boy has it too. Thankfully my wife does not.

I purchased two Duralast Gold batteries for my Excursion almost 3 years ago. The engine had a sluggish start so I went up to AutoZone and they tested the batteries.

As suspected, one went bad. They looked up the purchase in their system and fortunately for me there was a few months left on their warranty.

The manager said replace them both. Based off his experience once one went bad the other was soon to follow. One of the employees even installed them while I went with my wife to eat Italian food across the street. I tipped him twenty bucks for the hard work and the great customer service.

A couple of weeks ago my little nice got baptized in Oklahoma City and accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. Summer and I drove up from Dallas to see the event and while there I had the organization that installed the tires on my Excursion do a little work.

I had the tires rotated and balanced and an alignment on the front end at Hibdon on the Northwest Expressway. It has only been about 6,000 miles since I purchased the tires but they were already starting to show some uneven wear. The alignment was $59 and is good for a year so I plan to take the Excursion back in 11 months or so and have them do another alignment. I could feel the improvement with the handling immediately after hitting the road.

Hibdon wanted $130 before tax to put on new brakes in the rear, which seemed reasonable, but I felt I could save some doe if I did it myself. I also prefer the idea of purchasing brakes that can easily be returned for new ones at O’Rilly’s. High performance, lifetime guaranteed rear brakes cost less than $50 bucks with tax and we had them swapped out in about 30 minutes. Below are the pictures.

I started with using a jack and a jack stand. The jack stand is a must for safety. Never rely on just the jack. Loosen the lug nuts before jacking the wheel off the ground or else the vehicle rocks or the wheel rotates. Also make sure the parking brake is released. Once the wheel is removed there are only two little bolts to remove and then the caliper can be forced off the rotor. I rested the caliper on the jack so it did not hang by the break line. Using a c-clamp and the old brake pad I forced the hydraulic plunger open as wide as it would go. I then replaced the pads, two per rotor, and bolted the caliper back into place. Each wheel took about 15 minutes and we were back on our way to Dallas in no time. Swap out brakes at your own risk and always double check with an expert.

I try to change the oil in my Excursion every 7,500 miles and use Schaeffer’s Synthetic Oil. Schaeffer products work very well. I saw some product tests done in my office at my old company that were very impressive.

In between oil changes I replace the oil filter to keep things nice and clean. So I end up purchasing two filters per oil change. Some people will use their Schaeffer oil much longer between changes and do this by sending in a sample of the oil for analysis. Schaeffer then reports on how the engine is doing based off the metals found in the oil and then lets you know when the oil needs to be changed. I have heard that some people are getting as much as 25,000 miles per oil change!

If I drove for a living then these tests would be very helpful in keeping my oil costs down. A person who drives a truck for a living can rack up 25,000 miles in no time. Since I don’t drive for a living I simply change it out every 7,500 miles, which for me is not all that often.

You will need an oil filter wrench to pull off the filter and a 2 gallon bucket to catch the oil that spills out of the old filter. They make two basic sizes of filter wrenches - one for smaller filters used on cars and one for larger filters used on trucks. Sometimes you can manage loosening them off by hand but you will want to tighten it up with a wrench. The one I purchased was less than $10 from O’Rilly’s.

Once the old filter is off and the new has been installed, you can put the oil back into the engine that overflowed out of the filter. The new filter will catch any debris. I would avoid shaking the oil out of the old filter because you don't want to shake any of the junk back into the bucket.

While I was under the hood with the battery cables off for the glow plug repair, I cleaned up the terminals and did a little preventative work to keep them working properly.

Batteries oftentimes corrode because of electricity passing through dissimilar metals or the acid working its way up to the terminal, the clamp and the copper wire connection.

The best way to prevent this is to loosen the terminal clamp and clean the terminal, the clamp and any exposed copper wire with a metal brush. After tightening the clamp, coat all the exposed metal with silicone or petroleum jelly. Check it every 6 months or so and keep the clamps tight and clean. A loose cable can stop you dead in the road on a nice trip to your favorite vacation spot.

My friend John and I fished a pond owned by Forest Glen Camp Ground near Huntsville, TX. Here are some of the pictures. Had we have had more time to explore and maybe a sink tip line we might have hooked into something much larger. The camp director said there has been bass up to 8 pounds caught in this little lake. Congratulations goes to John - this was his first day to catch a fish on the fly-rod.







Here I am with my largest bass of the day.

A flats boat is unique to most other boats. Like a canoe it will draft in very shallow water yet has a large enough beam to be very stable. Like a bass boat it will quickly get up on plane but has a much shallower V in the hull, thus allowing it to traverse over very “skinny” water. It is unique because of the tall platform that rests just above the motor. This poling platform is sometimes seen on Pangas. However, a quick Goggle search resulted in my finding only one Panga with a platform on it. I fished in Belize with one of my best friends for 6 straight days on a Panga with a platform. All of my other flats fishing experiences have been on traditional flats boats with this kind of poling platform. The platform allows the angler’s partner, or guide, to push the boat quietly through the shallow water with a long pole. It also aids in the spotting of cruising and tailing fish.

I was fortunate to find the platform back in 2006. A marine store in Michigan sold it to me via eBay for about one eight the cost. Flats boats are typically used in the Gulf or the Caribbean so this item was quite a long way from home. I think its location added to its low cost – I mean who is going to take a flats boat out on Lake Michigan with a poling platform? It appears that one of the legs is out of alignment and will need some adjusting. I should be able to straighten it up with a mig welder. Nothing appears to be damaged, just out of alignment.

Poling Platforms of this kind, made by Blue Point Fabrication, usually sell for around $950, but I picked this one up for only $99! What a blessing! The seller wanted more for shipping than they did for the product. They wanted $150, which was no surprise considering its awkward size. I asked them to hold onto it for me while I shopped around for a lower shipping service. Greyhound was the ticket. This company shipped it to the local station for only $56 bucks! Keep that in mind next time you purchase something awkward in size.

The only problem I can see with this platform is that one of the legs seems to be welded on a little crooked. This may be another reason why I picked it up for so cheap. Once I get a little closer to its install on the deck I may try to re-weld the original seam just under the top platform with my dad’s new Lincoln Electric mig welder. I will soon upload another post documenting the construction of the wooden platform that bolts on top of the aluminum frame. It is coming along quite nicely… so stay tuned!

Right after I replaced the glow plugs the water pump started leaking. It is unrelated to the last repair and it is located on a totally different part of the engine.

The repair went pretty well. I first drained out all the antifreeze/water out of the engine and took off the overflow tank. I then removed the belt and the hoses attached to the pump. A c-clamp works well for removing and installing the hose clamps.

The hard part was removing the fan. The first fan removal wrench set that I rented form AutoZone, consisting of a pulley holder and a wrench, were too small. I took it back for the correct size and proceeded to remove the fan. It is not like working on a normal car. I have to get up onto the engine and sit directly above the fan in order to get enough leverage to twist on the wrench and pulley holder.

This second wrench was not working at all. After it slipped twice, and started to smooth out the edges of the nut, I backed off and was very irritated at the part manufacturer for making such a poor quality wrench. (see photos)

I think God was teaching me a lesson in patience because the very next day, after purchasing a set of wrenches large enough to do the job, the nut was totally loose. I did not even need the wrench to take off the fan nut. That is how loose it was. Maybe the second time the wrench slipped it was actually loosening. I doubt this because I tried to use the rental wrench to tighten up the fan nut so I could take the new wrench set back unused. No go… it simply slipped again. The opening of the wrench was just too large to grab hold of the nut. I ended up using the new wrench to install the fan. It worked like a champ.

After the fan was out of the way I tackled the removal of the pump. Once the pump was off, I stripped it of its good parts and installed the new water pump on in very little time. Using a torque wrench I completed the job and reattached the hoses.

I flushed the radiator a few times and filed it back up with ½ antifreeze and ½ distilled water. I test drove it last night and it worked like a champ. The heater and AC both work fine and there were no leaks. I am very pleased.

P.S. Antifreeze is highly toxic. Wear latex gloves and dispose of the liquid properly. Do not put it down the drain or into the street gutter!!!!! That is not cool.

Awhile back the Check Engine light came on. I pulled a code with my scanner and it said the #8 glow plug was bad. I then verified this problem with a code scanner from O’Rreilly’s. It pulled the same code.

After doing some research on how to complete the job. I swapped the old glow plugs out for new ones and the check engine light went back off. Success!

Here was the basic procedure of what I did. If this is your first time to do this kind of repair then I suggest allocating 5 to 6 hours. If you are somewhat familiar with your engine you can probably do the repair in less than 4.5 hours.

I encourage purchasing the Chilton Total Car Care Manual for your vehicle before tackling any jobs from your home garage. I picked mine up about half way through this repair. Fortunately I was on the right track. The manual will make most repairs easier and is full of good information.

First, I removed the stainless steel air tubes to get them out of the way and placed a plastic bag or a latex glove over the openings to keep any junk form falling in the system. I did not wash my engine before hand but I highly recommend it. I also backed the serpentine belt off with a break over bar to free up more space.

I then removed any other little items out of the way of the valve covers and took them off the engine. Under the valve covers are the glow plugs located next to the rockers and the injectors.

Next, I popped off the glow plug electrical connectors. After loosening the glow plugs I used a model airplane fuel line to slip down over the glow plug and back it out. They are in quite deep and if you back them out all the way with the long socket, the rocker gets in the way. New glow plugs were then installed and torqued* to the correct tightness with a traditional torque wrench. I used the model airplane fuel line to tighten the glow plugs all the way in before using the deep socket to torque the glow plug tight. The glow plug has numerous threads and this makes it very easy to install them before using the socket.

The 7.3 Power Stroke has 2 valve cover gasket that the electrical connections run through, connecting the wiring harness from the computer to the glow plug and injectors. I replaced both gaskets and carefully reattached the wires and installed the valve covers, again using the torque wrench. After putting the air ducts back on and installing any other little things that were removed, I fired the engine up and the check engine light did not come back on.

* I encourage getting a simple torque wrench, not a complex torque wrench with an internal torque adjustment. I purchased one of the more complex torque wrenches and almost damaged the threads in the engine. The internal torque adjustment failed. The more simple torque wrenches are only about 10 bucks and are quite easy to use. They have a gage down by the handle.