Clear Lake

[niceguy]

I posted over on that other site.... got nothing but crickets.

Anyone been out on Clear Lake since the hurricane? I've heard there is still sunk boats and LOTS of debris still floating around. I want to take the Sonic out soon, but am a little scared.

Anyone got any info?

[gerritm]

I posted over on that other site.... got nothing but crickets.

Anyone been out on Clear Lake since the hurricane? I've heard there is still sunk boats and LOTS of debris still floating around. I want to take the Sonic out soon, but am a little scared.

Anyone got any info?

We have been out. Clear Lake is not too bad. No real reports of anything in the main parts of the lake. I would still stay in the main channels. The channel from Clear Lake to Taylor Lake has several boats sunk in it. I would not go into Taylor Lake just yet. Tommy H. hit a sunken dumpster in his small boat a couple of weeks ago. The tides have been very low, that would be what would keep me from going out right now. Clear Lake is not very deep and with the low tides I would be very careful. I would stay out int the main channels in Galveston Bay. Other than Outriggers no one else has opened up. Top Water is still closed and looks like it may be a while. I think there will be a lot of debris sunk on that side of the bay. Hope this helps and be careful. I know a couple of boats are thinking about going out this weekend. Check out the new Topps website and see if anyone is going.

Gerritm

[niceguy]

Thanks Gerritm. I guess it's gonna be a slow season. I did try to get on the TOPPS site and it made me register, but never sent me an email back. I'll try again.

So where is everyone going to boat this summer? Am I gonna have to trek to Conroe all the time?

[clayinaustin]

Lake Travis is very low, but I still plan to be in Devil's Cove 50 to 60 times this year. :D

[txriverrat2001]

We've been from the San Jac to Clear Lake a couple of times - stayed in the channel and no problems - I wouldn't "sneak" against the west bank headed to Morgans Point from Clear Lake just yet. Cass is taking the 38 out today - not sure where he's headed... probably that way.

Be safe ...

[Joe]

I just sold one of my ski boats and the new owner was out all day yesterday and today - no problems anywhere from West of the 146 bridge all the way to Egret Bay Bridge, including behind my house, SShore harbor, and Davis Road Channel(s).

However, with that being said... If the Skater was here, I still don't think I'd put it in.

Joe

[gerritm]

I am thinking that we are going to spend some time at Lake Travis and Conroe this year. We are already getting the LTPR schedule for their PR events. Even if Travis is low it still is a great lake. A couple of guys went out this weekend and I have not heard of any problems, but they stayed in the main channels. Once Bitten(Keith) has been out in his Whaler and nas not seen or had any problems. But then Murphy's law is my guide. If it is out there, I will find it.

[niceguy]

But then Murphy's law is my guide. If it is out there, I will find it.

This is me too!!! LOL

[BY U BOY]

Ernie, I just finished some stuff on the boat wed and will be putting it all back together this sunday. Should be going out the last sunday of the month.I'll give you a call so we can drink some beer:willy_nilly:

[niceguy]

Ernie, I just finished some stuff on the boat wed and will be putting it all back together this sunday. Should be going out the last sunday of the month.I'll give you a call so we can drink some beer:willy_nilly:

Hell Yeah. Don't forget to call. I am dying to get back out on the water.:26:

[niceguy]

Gonna try again this Saturday. ANyone else gonna be out?

[niceguy]

Well went out and had a spectacular time. Was pretty choppy in the bay, but we hit it hard and even got the boat airborn twice. What an awesome feeling!!! The weather held out for us until about 4:30pm, so we loaded up and went to the bar.

Overall, the boat ran flawlessly... I did a great job driving, docking and loading the boat... and everyone on board had a blast. What a great day of boating. The only thing I would have liked to change is the weather. Sunny all day would have made this a perfect day.

[gerritm]

We thought about going out, even got the boat ready. But the wind looked like it would have the bay too chopped up. We went to Outriggers for lunch and a beer instead. What boat do you have? We watched a few come in to the channel, mostly blow boaters. Are you a memeber of Topps of Clear Lake?

Gerritm

[niceguy]

Yeah we stopped at Outriggers for lunch but it was around 3pm or so. I have a white 31 Sonic and it has a TOPPS sticker on it, but I cant remember if I ever actually joined. LOL.

It was a bit windy and the bay was definitely choppy, but we had so much fun thrashing about out there. I just don't know where to go out there, so we just ran around Clear Lake and made a few trips out to play in the bay. The weather was nice until around 4pm, so we loaded up and went to the bar. LOL.

There were a bunch of sail boats out and I think they got a little mad at us for blowing by them in the bay, but damn... I tried to stay away from them as much as possible. Not my fault they prefer wind power...lol.

Im dying to make more friends with big boats so they can show me where to go out there and just hang out together on the water. I just love being out there in the boat....

[TxHawk]

Anyone going to be around Memorial Day weekend? We are bringing a couple boats down from Texoma.

[niceguy]

Nah TxHawk, I cant that weekend. Wish I could, sounds like its gonna be a blast. We are actually gonna be out the weekend before.

[gerritm]

Anyone going to be around Memorial Day weekend? We are bringing a couple boats down from Texoma.

A bunch of us decided to stick around for Memorial Day weekend. We will be out running during the weekend, not sure about Monday, it gets kind of crazy, probably go raft up somewhere.

Niceguy, catch up with us and join Topps, best way to learn your way around Clear Lake and the Bay. It was rough this weekend. We went to Top Water for our monthly meeting and it was a washing machine out there in the Bay. Our poker run is coming up the weekend of June 19-20. It will be a good time. If any of you guys see us, just flag us down. I have a 42 Fountain Ex, "Perfect Timing", a buddies 30' Super Boat, "Once Bitten", or our mechanics 35 Fountain Ex,"CLPBS.COM". We would like to meet you.:seeya:

[TxHawk]

A bunch of us decided to stick around for Memorial Day weekend. We will be out running during the weekend, not sure about Monday, it gets kind of crazy, probably go raft up somewhere.

Niceguy, catch up with us and join Topps, best way to learn your way around Clear Lake and the Bay. It was rough this weekend. We went to Top Water for our monthly meeting and it was a washing machine out there in the Bay. Our poker run is coming up the weekend of June 19-20. It will be a good time. If any of you guys see us, just flag us down. I have a 42 Fountain Ex, "Perfect Timing", a buddies 30' Super Boat, "Once Bitten", or our mechanics 35 Fountain Ex,"CLPBS.COM". We would like to meet you.:seeya:

Where should we look? I will have my Excalibur and a Black Fountain 34 CC.

[niceguy]

Gerrit, I have tried to Join on the website, but couldnt get it to work. Oh and great news.... we will be out this Saturday. We are gonna launch Sat morning around 11am. Where are you guys gonna be? Your mechanic is from CLPBS? He knows my boat (if it's the guy I am thinking of), he used to work on this boat and I actually met him when I bought it.

Anyways, I'd love to meet everyone. Call me when you know the game plan, I am gonna PM you my number.

Ernie aka Niceguy

[gerritm]

Where should we look? I will have my Excalibur and a Black Fountain 34 CC.

The easiest palce to find anyone is in the Kemah Channel area or around Outriggers Restaurant just before the bridge.

[gerritm]

Gerrit, I have tried to Join on the website, but couldnt get it to work. Oh and great news.... we will be out this Saturday. We are gonna launch Sat morning around 11am. Where are you guys gonna be? Your mechanic is from CLPBS? He knows my boat (if it's the guy I am thinking of), he used to work on this boat and I actually met him when I bought it.

Anyways, I'd love to meet everyone. Call me when you know the game plan, I am gonna PM you my number.

Ernie aka Niceguy


Ed has worked on most boats in the area. He is the best mechanic around. We are all kind of deciding where and when, but we should be around. We have our boats in Clear Lake Marine center, right by the channel going to Taylor Lake or at Endeavour. I will give you a call and pm my number. Here is the Topps page to join or the Topps president has his slip right next to us. He has a 42Sonic with a radar arch and wild paint.

http://toppsboatclub.com/forum/easy_pages.php?p=1

[niceguy]

Ed has worked on most boats in the area. He is the best mechanic around. We are all kind of deciding where and when, but we should be around. We have our boats in Clear Lake Marine center, right by the channel going to Taylor Lake or at Endeavour. I will give you a call and pm my number. Here is the Topps page to join or the Topps president has his slip right next to us. He has a 42Sonic with a radar arch and wild paint.

http://toppsboatclub.com/forum/easy_pages.php?p=1

Looks like I need a sponsor. Can you sponsor me? If so, I just need your full name for the app.

Ernie

[gerritm]

Looks like I need a sponsor. Can you sponsor me? If so, I just need your full name for the app.

Ernie

So, fill in the details. What happened to the motor? Sunday was a bust, unbelievable storm around noon, but Monday was great.

[TxHawk]

We had a great time. We hit the water on Saturday about 11:30 and went straight to Galveston. We ran outside and floated for a bit. Very nice. Sunday we stayed around Galveston until noon, waiting for the storm to pass in clear lake and headed up. We got the boat back on the trailer just in time for round 2 and about 3:30. We will be back.

[gerritm]

We had a great time. We hit the water on Saturday about 11:30 and went straight to Galveston. We ran outside and floated for a bit. Very nice. Sunday we stayed around Galveston until noon, waiting for the storm to pass in clear lake and headed up. We got the boat back on the trailer just in time for round 2 and about 3:30. We will be back.


You were lucky. It looked like the end of the world here by Clear Lake. Several lightning strikes on the water. There were 4 footers and white caps in Clear Lake. How was the run out of the jetties from Galveston Bay to the gulf? Can be kind of rough at times, but makes for a nice run. Glad you had a good time. Did you hit any of the restaurants in Galveston? We ran down to Galveston Harbor Monday morning. Sorry we missed you guys.

[TxHawk]

We ran out of the jetties at 50-55 very comfy, then out and down the beach a bit. We went to Boudreaux's and the Wharf. Weather didnt look good enough to run to Stingaree.

We could tell it was bad up there. We sat at the Wharf watching the radar and made a run for it. Got there just in time to load up and park under 146 for the second round.

We are thinking about a late summer/fall trip. Maybe we will have more time to plan.

[niceguy]

So, fill in the details. What happened to the motor? Sunday was a bust, unbelievable storm around noon, but Monday was great.

Gerrit,
Well we pulled the motors on Sunday and the starboard side completely locked up. We were cruising to Redfish island and got about 300 yards and I decided to slow down and see where to go and that motor lost oil pressure, so I shut it off. Opened the hatch and oil had blown out of the vc and onto the manifold. We added a 1/2 quart and fired it back up... turned around and got on plane and ran at 3k for about 1 min and it lost power and locked up.

When we pulled the intake manifold there was a ton of rust in the intake runners and the camshaft and lifters had rust on them (like they had been sitting for a while)... but this boat hasnt sat long since I owned it, we took it out right up until the storm last year and then I fired the motors off every month or so until early Feb and we started going out then. From the machine shop's POV, they think the motors sat for an extended period of time from the previous owner and one had gotten water in the motor.

Anyway, so the guys at the machine shop are giving me hell saying it was going to be a minimum of 6 weeks to get them back.... I said, OH HELL NO!! I cannot miss the summer season.... I will DIE.

But looks like I am gonna have enough to go 522ci with some AFR's, 10.5:1 comp and some pretty decent sized cams... looking to make about 625-640hp. I am also gonna change the Gil manifolds to something.... maybe lightnings (if they can make them clear side by side), if not I may just use my dry tails on those HM typhoon shorty headers.

I can say, it was a long ride of shame all the way back to Kemah and then through Clear Lake at 5 mph. But I'll be back and even faster than before... hoping for some mid-upper 80's. :drool5:

[gerritm]

Gerrit,
Well we pulled the motors on Sunday and the starboard side completely locked up. We were cruising to Redfish island and got about 300 yards and I decided to slow down and see where to go and that motor lost oil pressure, so I shut it off. Opened the hatch and oil had blown out of the vc and onto the manifold. We added a 1/2 quart and fired it back up... turned around and got on plane and ran at 3k for about 1 min and it lost power and locked up.

When we pulled the intake manifold there was a ton of rust in the intake runners and the camshaft and lifters had rust on them (like they had been sitting for a while)... but this boat hasnt sat long since I owned it, we took it out right up until the storm last year and then I fired the motors off every month or so until early Feb and we started going out then. From the machine shop's POV, they think the motors sat for an extended period of time from the previous owner and one had gotten water in the motor.

Anyway, so the guys at the machine shop are giving me hell saying it was going to be a minimum of 6 weeks to get them back.... I said, OH HELL NO!! I cannot miss the summer season.... I will DIE.

But looks like I am gonna have enough to go 522ci with some AFR's, 10.5:1 comp and some pretty decent sized cams... looking to make about 625-640hp. I am also gonna change the Gil manifolds to something.... maybe lightnings (if they can make them clear side by side), if not I may just use my dry tails on those HM typhoon shorty headers.

I can say, it was a long ride of shame all the way back to Kemah and then through Clear Lake at 5 mph. But I'll be back and even faster than before... hoping for some mid-upper 80's. :drool5:

Bummer, but it gives you a chance to make everything right and better. I broke a drive last summer just outside Galveston Harbor. Talk about a long ride of shame at 7.4 mph. There were pelicans swimming faster than us. To add insult to injury a couple of blowboaters went by us and gave us the thumbs up :ack2:. Must of thought we were going green.

Are you running dry headers. If not make sure you pressurize your headers and check for leaks before you put them back on. Good luck on the rebuild.

[niceguy]

Yeah they are completely dry, so I am not too worried about that. But I will be changing the manifolds to the shorty headers.

[KSims1868]

Are you guys still out here in the Clear Lake area?
I too tried to register for TOPPS...but couldn't seem to complete the registration or be allowed to join.

I'm in League City and spend most of my time in Clear Lake and the bay. Occassionally hauled my boat up to Lake Livingston a few times a year as well. This was my 1989 22' Scarab which I just sold and I'm not talking with Jeff about his 27' Excalibur. Hopefully...I'll be back on the water SOON. Being land-locked SUCKS!!