How to pass Inspection 101

[DougH]

1) Wash your boat and trailer, and rear end of truck. Wash it well.
2) Wax your boat, it's not that hard, I did it, so can you
3) Take ALL of your gear out of the boat
4) Vacuum the buhjeepers out of it, everywhere, wipe the little areas in between compartments
5) make a mixture of 1/4 vinager, 3/4 water and a few drops of dishsoap. Put it in a little spray bottle you can buy at any hardware store. Spray your livewells, bilge and coolers, and scrub them clean. Don't whine about it, my boat is 12 years old, and this was a pain in the butt.
6) Make sure your bilge plug is always out, the bilge should drain completely on your drive home.
7) Re-organize your gear and re-stock your boat.

Now pay attention to this next step as it's the one that guarentees that you get in

put a few clean towels into each livewell. This will catch that mystery drop of water that seems to get people.
I had two different rangers tell me they liked that, it makes it very easy for them to see that you are dry.
9) after you pass your inspection drive in, and smile at hot Ranger chick. (or if female, smile at Ranger dude)
10) when you set up the boat to fish, install your bilge plug, and remove your towels from your live wells.
11) When you trailer up after fishing, remember to pull your bilge plug to start the draining process.
12) Lower your motor during wipedown to drain it completely.

At this point, your boat is clean and you have very little maintenance from now on. You WILL find that you like how clean and organized your boat is now too!

[Rob Cummings]

Nice, that works well in theory brotha. I spent 9 hours today cleaning my clean boat. Everything is out. I vacuumed the parts I vacuumed and scrubbed the parts I scrubbed already. I parked in the yard today with all the compartments open to let the sun and breeze get anything I missed. I vacuumed and wiped around everything..even under the bilge pumps, pulled the batteries to clean under them, degreased my hubs and axles that had no grease on them...I was laying under my boat getting soaked just to be sure I didn't miss anything. The only thing I didn't get done today was vacuum the bunks underneath. I even used swabs to get all the little crevices in the live well and everything else.

The truck was next..there is only so much you can with a truck that has 160,000 miles on it. I never thought I would see the day I washed and armor-alled the spare tire under my truck.

So I'm gonna try it tomorrow..after I re-wipe and re-vacuum every inch of my boat before I leave the house. At least I have a short ride back if I don't make it!!! And I can tell ya...my driveway has never been so clean!!!!!!

[Rob Cummings]

Great post once again..and you know my sense of humor is getting the best of me right now and I can't help but tell you....#9 is killing us out here in the garage man..like I'm gonna pass inspection, then turn around and go home...that's something Oakview Dave would do just to prove a point.

In all seriousness, thank you Doug for stepping up and all that you're doing for the cause.

P.S. Does this mean you don't pee on your boat anymore?

[DougH]

lol, I write a lot of procedure at work. I left out quite a few steps that I would have had to include for gov't work. Things like:
insert key into ignition
8.5) put foot on brake pedal and ensure vehicle is in "Park"
9) turn key to the right until engine starts
10) release key
11) Smile at hot ranger chick
12) enter lake without hitting any guard posts

and so on...

[Lance]

Hey Doug,

Great post and again thank for the info but I have one question.

What is "buhjeepers"

[DougH]

A buhjeeper is one of those small little unidentifiable objects, which could be a grain of sand, a fully dried and hand rolled booger, a crumb from a jumbo jelly donut, etc...
And Rub, thanks, I edited #9 for you, a few times in fact. I had to re-edit cuz poolboy probably would have sued me had I left my original edit..., but you probably can tell what it said.

[Rob Cummings]

Nice fix Doug..I was wondering what you were meaning by hot ranger chick..I was thinking I was going to have to renew my forth coming 28 day ban each and every day...I'd never get in there at that rate.

OH...and Dave already took care of the "hit the pole with your trailer" on the way in trick. He turned that trailer rim into a piece of steel pita bread. Sorry Dave.

[macinckirk]

If I have to go into all of that to fish a lake I'll move or just drive 3 hrs to Havasu

[Rob Cummings]

You could have driven to Havasu..fished two hours...drove back in the same time I spent cleaning today

[Morris]

thanks for the insightfull info lol

[19X]

Great post Dougie..
remember guys, you only have to do the really thorough cleaning once, then it's just maintenance. I made it through today with all my gear in the boat, no problem. One other thing you can do is to use a shop vac to to Blow(RobC) or switch it to Suck(DougH) to dry out your hoses and drains, it works really good. The only thing i had to do when i got home was to blow out the water and i'm ready for launch next Sat. I also store my boat outside.. My .04

[Lane]

Doug, It would be best if the boat was sprayed with 100% vinegar
for a contact time of at least 20 minutes, then rinse. It is going to take more than looking good to pass inspection for this to work,
and keep the lakes open.

[smpboy]

a extra 20 in the live well might get u in also

[buddy brown]

*NM*

[DougH]

Doug, It would be best if the boat was sprayed with 100% vinegar
for a contact time of at least 20 minutes, then rinse. It is going to take more than looking good to pass inspection for this to work,
and keep the lakes open.

Good point Lane, my post was more for the local Casitas guys who aren't taking their boat into infected waters. I highly endorse the vinager treatment to anyone who has had their boat in an infected lake. Big time.

[drew]

Its up to the ranger, not the cleanliness of your boat. If they want to deny you they will. Its impossible to drive any distance and pass the inspection. The boat and vehicle would have to be cleaned or touched up at the entrance of the gate. My opinion is that we are facilitating the implementation of this new procedure or regulation.

[Ben M SCB]

Thanks for the post. It will help alot I spent 12 hours clean my boat, vingar the lot shot. Boats cleaner that it was brand-new 2 years ago. Even the fiberglass dust is out. And I've never been in infected water. Even at Castaic they're asking the questions I'll bet soon they'll be doing physical inspecting. The towel thing will works, good idea.

[oakview]

Good news!!! Rob made it into the lake today.

He usually fishes both days of the weekend on Casitas. But with the new inspection it looks like it will only be one day.

He started cleaning his boat Saturday morning at 7am. He did not get done until 2pm. The boat was cleaner than when he bought it. He was thinking he might go up for the afternoon on saturday but he couldn't, the boat was wet. Remember DRY and CLEAN.

I'm going up there for lunch...just the truck...the boat won't be on that lake until I get back from Texas, sometime in April...Thats if I haven't found a new lake to fish. Hopefully the truck passes.

Good luck to everyone and hopefully we win this fight.

D.

[Rob Hernandez]

I've heard what a pain in the arse this has been. On Thursday I cleaned out the bilge area w/ Simple Green and vacuumed the lockers and let them dry out, but I didnt wash the boat or wax it. I did pull over though before going in. I wanted to make sure all was dry and they let us in no prob! The guy even said that there was one guy they had there doing inspections that might have abused his authority to deny people. Friggin Jerk! But as I see it right now its not like I've heard it to be. Even the blonde lady said all were really looking for is for wet/dirty conditions! So, I said Good thing I did'nt ride with "Nelson or(Mudline) Rini"

[hippie]

close it