I've been using the boat quite a bit. With my family being out, I've been working quite a bit out of the cabin and spending a lot of time fishing in the afternoons. Learning a lot about boating, and getting more comfortable with it all. I was really nervous about launching it by myself - so I watched a few youtube videos, picked up some pointers, and the whole thing is a none issue at this time. Backing up with the trail still needs some work, but is also not very difficult.
I did have an "issue" with the motor over the long weekend - essentially the water that cools the engine stopped cycling through (there is a discharge, commonly called "the pisser", through which the water that is taken in at the bottom of the motor is expelled after cooling the engine). So the pisser, was not pissing any more, and instead the water was leaving through a different spot all together. You shouldn't run the engine while this is happening, as this is the only way that it gets cooled. I first checked the oil in the "lower unit" - where the water pump is located and noticed it was low and quite milky - I drained that. Because of how little there was in there and how milky it was, I thought some gears were grinding without lubrication and the water pump died. I replaced the oil, and because I felt this job was too much for me I took the boat to a local marina.
As I was dropping the boat off, I was expecting a large repair and told them if the bill will be over $500, to first give me a call before doing anything. They called me a day later and said the boat is ready for pickup. The issue? the pisser was plugged. Dammit. My first instinct was exactly that - but I started looking into the more difficult places and after finding the milky oil I immediately thought it was something else...oh well, live and learn.
Total repair bill: $21 and some change ! so in the meantime I found a marina that I feel will treat me fairly in the future should I need their services. I'm sure there are other places that could have stretched the truth and tell me that what I needed cost just below my max.