Best laid plans...

Sometimes things just go too smoothly don't they?

Last time I just had to plonk Gina on the trailer, strap on the now respectable looking engine and head off, champagne in hand, for the christening and launch - what could possibly go wrong?

Following the 'plonking on', it soon became apparent that in order to get the nose weight on the trailer anything like correct it would need to be about 3 feet longer. Luckily, I have a friend who is not only a welder but also owed me a favour.
He duly turned up, extended the tongue and added some additional bracing to stop the whole thing flexing - bearing in mind this was originally made for a smaller, lighter boat. With the addition of the winch post and the side bunks, the trailer now supports the boat brilliantly - a solid, made to measure fit.

All up it has a nose weight of 50kg, which - as far as I could ascertain - is just about perfect. Obviously not used to the extra payload, both tyres (which had shown no signs of deflation over the previous weeks) decided to lose 10psi a day. Until I get around to replacing them, the daily footpump excercise routine is certainly keeping the thighs muscular...


On with the Sea Horse
I quite like these sorts of jobs - installing the steering gear, routeing the control cables, hooking up the remotes, sorting the electrics etc.
After a couple of days all was as it should be.


The Ultraflex/Teleflex steering works like a charm - as do the electrics and the remotes so it was off to the garage with the fuel cans for the great start-up...


Brmmm Brmmm - or maybe not...
With a tank of nice fresh 50:1 mix on tap and new plugs at the ready, we did a compression test on the cylinders which were fine and everything was good to go. The dustbin was duly filled with water, the leg gently submerged, fuel pumped up and the choke pulled out. A finger on the starter button and it immediately leapt into life - well, the starter motor did anyway. The rest of it showed zero interest in doing anything. After some fiddling about with the mixture setting on the carb and by a judiciously placed finger on the throttle, she finally spluttered into life. I was hoping that soon she would blow away the cobwebs and settle down into a gentle purr, big smiles and down the pub to celebrate.

So did the local hostelry beckon? In a word - No - she spluttered, hiccuped, sneezed, wheezed and finally expired in a thick cloud of rancid smoke.

Initial enquiries of fellow CMBA member and Johnnyrude guru Nick (aka Rapier on the most excellent forum) pointed us in the direction of the carb. This was removed and given a thorough once over by my chum Paul (a man who's good with engines and understands cricket - top chap). Cleaned inside and out, it was duly re-installed and yet again we commenced the great start up ceremony. Looking on the positive side, this time it did actually start and run under its own steam but only for a few seconds before spluttering to a halt.



That's where we are the moment then - still in the shed and not on the water. Staying optimistic (which is admittedly against my nature), this is known to have been a good little unit, so with the help of those more experienced in the black art of lawn mower engines, I'm sure we'll get there in the end.

It's all been a little frustrating and disappointing as the whole trailer/engine business is taking longer and causing more problems than I had originally foreseen - but isn't that always the way with boats? Just hope things are resolved before we reach the end of this glorious 'barbecue' summer...

Engineering

Spent the last few weeks delivering the Invicta Viper to her new owners and attacking the trailer with assorted wire brushes and pots of Hammerite...

The side bunks and winch post will go on after the boat is on top.

Next up was converting the engine from 'short' (aka standard) to 'long' shaft and tidying it up ready for the Broom.

The engine is a 1971 25HP Johnson Sea-Horse and I'm pretty pleased about this as it should have enough 'grunt' to provide some fun, while not being overpowered for our local rivers.
The engine is also around the same age as the boat and even has the added bonus of electric start. I'm no mechanic, but I'm learning these old OMC (Outboard Motor Corporation - Johnson/Evinrude) engines are pretty easy to work on with basic tools and knowledge - also a bonus.

Shaft Conversion

Converting the shaft length is (on paper) relatively straightforward:

1. Disconnect gear shift linkage
2. Undo bolts
3. Pull away bottom of leg with gearcase
4. Replace the water cooling pipe, gearshift connector, drive shaft and sleeve with longer versions
5. Insert a 5" long leg extension piece
6. Bolt it all back together

The first problem was gathering all the bits together, I was lucky enough to have a long drive shaft (an expensive item) supplied as a spare with the engine - the other bits were all courtesy of the CMBA parts store (aaah - the advantages of joining the right club). So armed with all the necessary bits, I called upon the services of a friend to give me a hand. Well that's not true really - he actually did the whole job for me - thanks Geoff! The whole process went relatively smoothly though we couldn't find a long water cooling tube (basically a copper pipe) and an extension to the existing one had to be fabricated. We also took the opportunity to replace the impellor and renew the gearcase oil. Oddly, the most difficult thing to track down was the long bolt to fit the new leg extension piece, in the end I gave up and used a stainless steel stud, cut to length.

Cosmetic Makeover...
Although in overall good shape, the engine was going to look comparitively tatty when hung on the back of Gina, so I decided to give her a quick once over on the cosmetic front. The hood (GRP) was first sanded, then filled, primed, painted and polished. The raised 'Johnson' logo was then picked out using a black wedge tipped permanent marker and lacquered. Finally, new decals were obtained from Nana's Decal Store in Canada - great price and service! Just need a new piece of trim for the bottom and it'll be job done.



The rest of the engine was sanded down - a tedious and thankless task - until it looked something like this:

You can see the 5" leg extension here (the yellowy-green piece)

Everything was masked off that could be - engine itself, prop, grease nipples etc. It was then primed with an etch primer (it was down to bare metal in many places) followed by plenty of coats of 'Ford Tourmaline Green Metallic' - courtesy of Halfords 'rattle-cans'. This was finished off with around 4 x coats of petrol resistant clear lacquer, again - job done!



Maybe not a Concours d'Elegance prizewinner, but at least it's clean and tidy now.

Next job is to get 'Gina' up on the trailer... so watch this space!

Out of Hibernation!

A long wet winter, but here we are back again and pleased to report that things have progressed well...

The carpet is now down and - wait for it... the screen surround is in place! Yes, I finally found someone who could do the job - SLS Fabrication in Heathfield, a local company who (amongst many other things) produces screen surrounds for kit cars. It's a good solid aluminium section and as you can guess, I'm really pleased - cheers Alan!


As soon as I'd finished the job, I got a call from John Broom Ltd. - yup, the original builders (who now operate primarily as a plant hire company).
Apparently, they still do odd restoration jobs on their boats and have been following this blog - so I was chuffed to hear from them. They did say that they could supply many of the original 'pattern' parts, including the screen surround - wish I'd known earlier - hey ho...

More kudos came in the form of getting this restoration featured across three issues of 'Boat Mart' magazine - last one coming up in July I think.

Graphics...
Good weather and the right temperature saw the striping tape and boat name applied. I used Funky Monkey for this and though not cheap, they deliver fast and the quality appears very good. They provide all the necessary instructions and even a free applicator tool.

It was a little challenging to get the stripes to meet exactly at the bow - but I hope you think the finished job was worth the effort.


Outboard, Remotes and Trailer...
All expensive items - and even hunting around during the winter 'off' season, I was having trouble turning up anything suitable within our very limited budget. Luckily, we had a change of fortunes when attending the CMBA opening meet at Basildon Motor Boat Museum (great place to visit by the way)!

A fellow member had brought down his Invicta Viper to see if he could find a buyer.


A 60's era 12' 6" speedboat, it had a rip in the hull and had taken on a lot of water, this necessitated drilling holes through the transom to drain it out.
I noticed that it had a good 25HP electric start Johnson on the back of it, all the steering/control cables, the remotes and even a fresh battery.


It was also sitting on an old, but sound, trailer - complete with good wheel bearings. Before long the deal was done.

I've got a friend who's going to take on restoring the shell and I've ended up with all the missing bits for Gina - a good result all round. The only downside is the outboard is a short shaft, but these old Johnsons are (allegedly) easily extended, so it's a question of taking advantage of the CMBA parts store to see if I can turn up the necessary bits.
So, as soon as I've relieved the trailer of its current cargo, it'll be out with the wire brush...

Still plenty left to do then and hopefully I'll be back to updating these pages more regularly.

Many thanks to all of you who have got in touch with encouragement and details of your own projects and don't forget to drop in at the new CMBA forum - well worth a visit.