Growing up, my dad made sure I could take care of my own car long before I ever owned one. I have even diagnosed engine issues by sound—my party trick, apparently. Chris has lovingly dubbed me “Mechanic Barbie”. I don’t mind working on the boats either; I’ve helped him replace impellers, winterize engines, and tackle all sorts of oddball maintenance.
Our Glastron, though? That boat has been a gremlin from day one. It has never run right. Rough idle, random shutdowns, refusing to start like a toddler refusing vegetables. We even earned ourselves the infamous “tow of shame” on the Oconto River last summer. We tried diagnosing the issue ourselves—multiple times—but no matter what we tried, the boat was committed to chaos.
We finally made an appointment to have it professionally fixed while continuing to research what the issue might be. Right before we were supposed to take the Glastron in to be fixed, in true Chris fashion, he decided we should “give it one more try” ourselves. (Because why let trained mechanics have all the fun.)
We pulled the engine cover off and immediately entered the “archaeological dig” phase of boat ownership. The wires and insulation were brittle, cracked, and disintegrated when touched. That led us down the rabbit hole of even more issues—no surprise for a 1985 engine that still had all original parts. Once we realized the stator and trigger were toast, Chris ordered the parts, and when they arrived, it was my time to shine. My smaller hands meant I got volunteered for all the tiny, awkward spaces, which honestly felt like a personal side quest. The smartest thing we did was take photos of every single step, because nothing humbles you faster than trying to remember where a mystery bolt came from.
We spent the weekend in the garage replacing the stator, ECM/CDI module, rectifier, and trigger. When we were finally done, we tested it in the driveway and our little boat purred. We took it out on the Wisconsin River, and it ran better ever. Now we definitely know what we have in it—because we’ve replaced half of it ourselves.
Working on projects is always better when we tackle them together. Sure, we don’t always agree on the “right” method, but somehow the end result is always stronger when both of us have our hands in it. We’re problem solvers at heart—give us a problem, and we’ll chase the solution until we either fix it or run out of ideas and options to move forward.
The Glastron project was no exception. At one point we even had to buy a special flywheel puller just to keep going. But honestly, that’s part of the fun. Every odd tool, every unexpected detour, every “well… now what?” moment just adds to the story—and in the end, it’s always worth it.
Nauti Hacks & Short Stacks 