A boat a motor and a trailer

Discussion in 'Boatbuilding' started by Dave T, Nov 9, 2011.

  1. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Good grief, look at the dog's laser eyes in post 119 !

    Sooo... Dave, what fish is there in the river, lets see a few pictures of them as well.

    Nice stretch of water. So if you go on holiday you hit the river and come back in two weeks time ?
     
  2. LP
    Joined: Jul 2005
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    Location: 26 36.9 N, 82 07.3 W

    LP Flying Boatman

    There are some who do the loop. Down to the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, up the East coast, Erie Canal or the St. Lawrence, Great lakes to Chicago to the Illinois river, back the Mississippi river. Two weeks might not belong enough and I think I would want something with a cabin. :cool:


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop
     
  3. Fanie
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Colonial "Sick Africa"

    Fanie Fanie

    Sounds awesome ! I wish we had water like that.

    Sailing should be more cost efficient than motoring, now where's the fish pictures :D
     
  4. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    70 horse merc tuneup

    Decided to give the merc a tuneup. I ordered two carb kits and a fuel pump rebuild kit from Mastertech marine. These guys are real good to deal with and I would suggest any body needing parts for older outboards check with them. www.maxrules.com The carb kits were only $12.00 each and the fuel pump kit was only $6.00 and I got them in two days shipping was $8.95 and they give free shipping on orders over $100.00. I started working on the outboard and found that it had some problems with some of the wiring. The insulation had deteriorated on a few of the exposed wires, this is common on old outboards. I managed to fix a couple of them by cutting back into the looms and splicing on new wires but the wires from the rectifier to the stator are bad all the way inside there loom so now I'm going to have to pull the flywheel and hope the wires will have enough good wire up close to the stator to splice to. I've got to get a merc flywheel puller. I found one on E bay for $27.99 and $6.50 shipping I'll get it ordered today hopefully I won't have to replace the stator.
     
  5. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Got the flywheel puller and pulled the flywheel and removed the stator. The wires were bad all the way into the stator. I spliced on new wires but I'm afraid now that they may be shorted together at the stator. I reinstalled the stator and flywheel and was going to start it to see if it was going to work but the motor didn't have fire to number three cylinder so I switched the coils from number one to number three and then I had fire on all three. This indicated it wasn't the coil but something else. The next day I checked it again and it didn't have spark to number three again. I switched the wires from the switch box to the coils from number three cylinder to number two and then I had fire on three but not two so I was pretty sure it was the switch box or the trigger. I checked the resistance through the trigger and it showed ok so I was pretty sure it was the switch box. To make sure I switched the trigger wires on two and three and it still didn't have spark to number three. I ordered a new switch box from Wholesale Marine as they had the best price $156.00 with free shipping and also gave you a free $20.00 gift card and points to use on your next purchase. I think this has been a problem with this motor, most of the time it has ran real good but once in awhile it was real hard to start and would die when you opened the throttle and seemed to be getting worse at the end of last season I thought it was a problem with fuel but now I think it was losing fire to number three cylinder part time. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying a new stator, I'll know when I get the new switch box and get it started because it probably won't have AC to the rectifier and the tach won't work if the wires are shorted.
     
  6. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Installed the new switch box and had fire to all three cylinders. The tach worked so it is getting AC to the rectifier. I tried to check the voltage from the stator to the switch box and rectifier but my digital volt meter wouldn't work so I ordered a new meter. I still may have to replace the stator, won't know for sure until I can check the output, the motor seemed to misfire around 2000 RPM. After I got it back in the shop I decided to go ahead and clean the carburetors and install the new carb kits. It's a lot of work just getting to the carbs and I found some more bad wires going to the starter solenoid and choke solenoid I repaired these and now all the wiring should be OK. This motor is 36 years old and who knows what kind of care and how many owners its had. It has good compression and most of the time ran OK and never let me down on the river just needs some TLC. My wife is getting me a new fuel tank and fuel lines and some other goodies for the boat for Christmas.
     
  7. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Getting ready for Summer

    Pulled the boat out of the shop and fired up the Merc. It seemed to run better after I cleaned the carbs and repaired all the wiring. Won't no for sure till I can get her back on the River. The weather has finally warmed up s'posed to be in the 60's this weekend. Put her back in the shop and stripped all the weight I could off. I'm planning on turning her over and adding a layer of 1/2" marine plywood and more glass to the bottom. Running over those stumps in the river last year took a lot of the paint off. I got the device I built for turning her over underneath and partially strapped in. Have to get some more lumber for bracing and then I'll find out if it works or not.
     

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  8. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    The Julie Ann upside down

    Turned the boat over and started working on adding the 1/2" marine plywood. With help from some of my boating buddies and about 15 beers it worked pretty good except for the device I built that goes on the front of the skid loader wasn't strong enough and the 6" channel twisted and the tube that went into the 3" pipe under the boat also bent some, it was a piece of schedule 40 2" pipe with a 1 1/2" schedule 80 pipe inside. Before we turn the boat right side up again I'll straighten it up in my 50 ton press and brace it up by putting a 1 1/2" solid shaft inside the tube and a couple of pieces of grader blade on each side of the 6" channel and maybe some more bracing. Ive weighed each piece of plywood and it looks like I'll be adding about 80 lbs. plus the weight of the epoxy and the glass probably a little less than a hundred pounds altogether. When I built her I was planning on powering with the 11 horse Briggs outboard so I was trying to make her as light as possible. I wish I would have just used 1/2 or 3/4 plywood on the bottom to start with then I would only be repainting. Removing the paint down to bare epoxy is going to be the worst part. Does any body have any quicker ways of doing this such as a chemical stripper that will remove oil based paint but won't hurt the epoxy or some other method faster than sanding?
     

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  9. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Sanded off all the paint down to the epoxy on the bottom and about three inches up all sides, about twenty hours. I'm sure glad I didn't build this boat any bigger. My random orbital sander gave up when I was about finished so had to run to Wal Mart and pick up a new one, only $29.00 plus tax. Got most all of the new plywood cut and ready for epoxy. I wish I had more time to work on the boat but this is our busiest time of year with the start of the new racing season and people getting their income tax refunds.
     

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  10. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    All the plywood on with 164 1 and 1/4" triple plated deck screws and a lot of epoxy One hull is ready for a prime coat of epoxy and then glass and more epoxy. Should be able to finish the project in about three more weekends depending on how much time I can sneak in when I should be working on customers orders and making a living, I'd much rather work on the boat.

    Dave T :)
     

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  11. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    103 years ago today the unsinkable Titanic sank. Three years ago today the unsinkable Julie Ann made her maiden voyage. She's still upside down in the shop almost ready for glass and epoxy hope to have her ready for paint by the end of next week. I would like to thank all the contributors on this forum, those that have posted on my thread and all those on other threads that I have read. Ive learned a lot especially about working with epoxy and boats in general.

    Dave T :):)
     
  12. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
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    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    All the epoxy and glass on ready for a final sanding and painting. I'm going to use top coat and primer this time from Menards. The same paint I used on the top side of the boat as it seems to hold up real well. I'll see how it holds up after being submerged off and on this summer.
     

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  13. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Julie Ann ready for water

    finished the painting, turned her right side up and put her back on the trailer. after bracing up the device that went on the front of the skid loader and some help from my beer drinking buddies it went pretty good. Reinstalled the motor and all the other stuff. She just needs fresh gas and she's ready for water. Probably won't take her to the Mississippi this coming weekend as their predicting rain and highs in the 60's.
     

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  14. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Just got back from vacation I rented a slip and left the boat in the water for 10 days the paint seems to have held up OK. The 4th of July was marred by tragedy, a little three year old girl drowned at Wappington beach about two miles down stream from our campground. The grandparents are our neighbors at the campground and were present as well as her mother when it happened. She wasn't wearing a life jacket. This will probably ruin there boating and camping for quite awhile probably the rest of there lives. Maybe it will wake up few people but I doubt it. Other than that we had a great time, drank a lot of beer and just relaxed. This weekend with help from my buddies we're building a permanent awning for my camper.
     

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  15. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    Location: Eustis, FL

    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    A damn sin Dave, but we get reports like this way too often down here in sunny Florida. Why a 3 year old is in the water without wings or a vest just seems insane, but we take for granted our ability to swim, sort of like walking.

    We've also seen a rise in shark bites and keep asking why. Well, sharks like to feed in shallow water, between sunup to sundown. People like to go to the beach and swim (in shallow water), between sunup and sundown. Sharks are most active around sunup and sundown. People like to get to the beach early, before it's too hot (sunup) or when it's got a romantic sunset. Yeah, it's not hard to figure out, fortunately, sharks tend to just bite, as they don't like the taste of humans. They clamp down and taste our stringy, greasy butt, then spit us out. Unlike gators who think we taste like chicken and if one gets a hold of you, he's going to have you for lunch, maybe save you for a late night snack or at least roll over several times and rip that arm right off, taking his prize home to show off to moma.
     
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