1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

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AMMO DAWG

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I decided I need to get serious about getting my project boat and get her ready to launch in the spring/early summer and I usually stalk in the background of this site asking for occasional advice, so I'll give this a go and get some more good advice along the way. I have been messing on and off with this boat for over two years and have missing two boating seasons since I acquired it. What I have is a 2000 Rinker Flotilla, Tri-Cat style fiberglass deck boat, hull is in great shape, always been kept in covered storage (until I got it!) always trailered. When I purchased it, it was basically a hull with a Alpha 1 transom shield. The previous owner was going to convert it to an outboard and lost interest. I had a Volvo SX outdrive and transom shield from a previous project and most of a 5.7 Marine Power engine. Did some research and this boat came with both a 5.0 and 5.7 engine. After getting some advice on this site I decided to get rid of the Alpha and I sold my Volvo SX lower unit and decided to install a Volvo Dual Prop with a 1.95 gear ratio and the Marine Power 5.7 to power the Rinker.

This is where I pick up my project; boat is filthy from sitting around, so first order is to get it cleaned up. I will be trying to recycle wherever I can, the budget is tight, so if I get stupid a little kick is appreciated. The transom is in good shape, I find no evidence of rot, poked and drilled around good. The floor is good and solid; advantage to this tri-cat design is I can look down the inside of all three hulls (not sure if that is an accurate description!) and the structure looks good. The two engine mounts are just blocks, been trying to talk myself into taking off a piece of the top layer of fiberglass so I can have a look at the wood below. This boat has three bilge pumps, one centerline under the engine and one in each of the outside hulls. I’m going to reuse the two outer ones (tested them) since they are easy to get at and install a new one center line before engine install. The steering cable was locked up (rack and pinion) so I’m checking it out to see if it just needs a good lubing or needs to be replaced. Upholstery need replacing and I’m going to attempt to do that myself. I have access to an industrial grade sewing machine. With that I’ll get some updates in as I make progress.

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AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

Worked for the most part of a day getting the layers crud removed so I can see white again! After a close inspection I need to rewire the boat; I already had a new engine harness that I purchased to run the engine on the pallet, so I will install that along with some new wiring. The Dash, gauges and switches are in pretty sad shape, so I plan on replacing the gauges, rocker switches and make a new dash. Current dash has cracks and uses breakers versus fuses; I’m going to go with a fuse block. Also made sure it’s good and covered, trees and leaves are not your friend!
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AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

I have pretty much gone through the Volvo transom shield this past year, stripped all the crud and paint, tossed all the old parts and rebuilt it. The lift cylinders were pretty much fused to the pin, after hours of heat and beating I ended up cutting the pin and found some replacement cylinders. Definitely motivation to keep that pin well greased. I took a sample cover to my local auto paint jobber and they matched the Volvo silver/gray and I applied a two part acrylic urethane over an etching and epoxy primer. Seems to have good adhesion, I have limited experience painting aluminum, so again took lots of advice from this forum. Below are some of the before and after pictures of the transom shield. It turned out okay and is ready to install.
Transom Shield 2.jpg
Transom Shield 1.jpg
Steering Arm.jpg
Primer.jpg
Transom shied ready.jpg
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

The engine turned out to be a large project and I’m pretty glad I’m reaching the install part! I wanted a 5.7 Vortex engine for the repower and since I had no engine to start with I needed the whole nine yards. I found lots of new complete engines out there, but unfortunately they were all way outside my budget. I came across a complete (okay mostly in boxes!) 2006 Marine Power engine that had an EFI setup with fresh water cooling. The story the owner told me was that he bought it and ran it for a very short period of time and got rid of the boat. Quick check seemed to look promising, not seized up, had compression, no corrosion and aluminum exhaust manifolds/risers looked fairly new. I figured with all the marine engine components alone that I would have had to buy individually made it an okay deal. My number one priority was to have a good reliable engine ready to go so that is what I messed with all last summer and fall.
I cannot say enough about George and the staff at Marine Power, they have been extremely helpful always responding quickly even though I was not buying a new engine from them. What a great bunch of folks there in Louisiana. I was able to download the complete shop manual for the engine from their website which was a huge help. Most assembly was pretty straight forward; the EFI was a fuel rail system with electronic throttle system on the throttle body (headache!) I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say I spent an excess of 60 hours trying to make that throttle system work. I could get the engine to idle but never could get it to throttle up. While I was messing with that I also noted a slight knock when running at idle so I decided to do a full up compression check. Two of the cylinders had low comparison so the old red flag went up. I decided at that point it was best if I figured out the real condition of this engine. So I tore it down and got it over to a local machine shop I have used in the past and it looked like the head gasket had leaked and let water into number one cylinder and hydro locked the cylinder bending the connecting rod. While he was in there went ahead and had him go through the whole engine, almost zero wear on the rings and bearings, a real mystery why it failed so early. Went ahead and put new bearings and rings, had the head gone through, valves, resurface and pressure checked with a new high pressure fuel pump.
Got the engine all painted and put back together and fired it up in a pallet and still no throttle. Marine Power recommended I have a local vendor they work with run a scan on the engine and I had eight fault codes all related to the throttle and position sensor. Also learned the engine had 61.9 hours on it most of it under 1,000 RPM (33 hours, 15 hours at 2,000-3000 RPM, 5.3 hours at 3,001-4,000 RPM and 1.4 hours at 4001 – 5000 RPM). Technology is something! After a discussion back and forth with my local guy I called Marine Power and asked if they could reprogram my ECU for a manual throttle body. Sent it in and a week or so later got it back, was able to find a manual throttle body locally and the moment of truth arrived. The old 5.7 fired right up and throttle worked outstanding. No more fault codes, no check engine light. Can’t tell you the relief after having spent so many hours on the engine and on the web trying to trouble shoot that throttle. All I can figure is that somehow the software load in the ECU had become corrupt either related or unrelated to the bent rod. When they reflashed the ECU it sorted everything out and order was restored to the world. In the end I am much happier with a manual cable actuated throttle. Attached is a video of the engine firing up after I got the ECU back. It’s finally ready for the install.
Engine 1.jpg
M2U00945 - YouTube
 

jbcurt00

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

A few pix didn't attach up in 2nd post
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

Thanks, I think I got it fixed
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

When I can't get over to the boat I try and work projects at the house when I can such as the instrument panel. I decided to replace the old cracked panel with something new and since I am going to use lots of blue on the seats and top thought I would have a go at Blue Carbon fiber. I made a test sample and like the way it turned out so I did a full size panel this weekend. Since I don't have any means to do a vacuum press I fabricated a clamp up press. The panel I needed is approximately 9" x 31" so I used two 35" pieces of 2" x 12" lumber (sorry for the 2" x 10" dimension in the picture) to sandwich the panel I was fabricating. I used Plexiglas under the carbon fiber so it wouldn't stick and would have a nice smooth surface. I put wax paper under the Plexiglas so I wouldn't get any bonding from the epoxy leaking out as I pressed it together. On top of the carbon fiber I put six layers of 1708 biaxial cloth. I used an ultra clear UV protected epoxy for wetting it out. Below are the steps I followed;

1. Lay out 2x12 and cover with wax paper
2. lay Plexiglas on top of wax paper
3. Apply heavy coat of epoxy to Plexiglas
4. Lay carbon Fiber on layer of epoxy
5. Wet out carbon fiber
6. Six layers or 1708 wetting out each layer
7. Wax paper on top of last layer of 1708
8. 2X 12 on top of wax paper
9. Screws every 2" around perimeter
10. Apply as many clamps as I can find
11. let set up for 24 hours
12. Separate very slowly and carefully

It turned out better than I expected. I will post further updates as I trim and start installing gauges and switches.

Step 1.jpg
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Epoxy.jpg
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jbcurt00

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

no pix again
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

Rest of the pics
Step6.jpg
Step7.jpg
Carbon 1.jpg
carbon 2.jpg
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

Not sure why it keeps doing that, fixed
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

spent the weekend repairing the bunks on the trailer and finished removing the old wiring. No good pictures to post, mostly boring grunt work. I really underestimated how long it would take to replace the bunk bunks and brackets, nearly two full days. The Tri-cat hull means there are two center bunks to support the middle hull and one on each end to support the two outer hulls. I jacked up one side a time, blocked it up for safety and went to work under the boat. This was a priority so I can haul it safety to the driveway and work where all the tools live and have power. Ordered supplies for the electrical so I hope next week to show some real progress.
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

Weekends without rain have been at a premium here in NW Florida lately, between work and weather not much progress on the boat. So I continue to do little projects in the garage as I can to make reassembly hopefully easier. The more I looked at the blue fiber carbon dash I built the more I didn't like it. I went back to square one opting for a more traditional wood grain look. I made a new blank using 11 layers of 1708 wetting them out and putting them between plexiglass and clamping between some lumber. I cut to shape and cut out holes for gauges. I had a couple aluminum plates made at work (waterjet!) for the six rocker switches I'm going to attach with SS screws. I contacted a few companies to get an estimate on water film transfer for the wood grain and they came in pretty expensive. So I thought I would give it a go and try it myself. Got a burl wood film and some activator, put down primer and a medium brown base coat (PPG). I found a plastic container big enough (Wally World!) to dip the part in and had at it. I did do some practice runs on some small parts before diving into it. Like everything else it was harder than appeared on YouTube but overall turned out pretty good. I put four coats of clear automotive Urethane and that is in the garage drying. I painted the rocker switch plate a gloss black. Below are some pictures, I will post some after I rub it out and populate it with gauges and switches. Blank 1.jpgPrimer 2.jpgBrown base coat 3.jpgFilm transfer.jpg
 

AMMO DAWG

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Re: 1999 Rinker Flotilla Partial Restoration

Got some of the gauges and Rocker switches installed. I'll get the wiring I can tackle outside of the boat knocked out next.guages.jpg
 

AMMO DAWG

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Well I’m back, lost my resolve for awhile, but a few trips across the bridge seeing all those folks on the bay and I got my MOJO back again to see the Rinker on the water. One thing that really slowed me down and frustrated me was trying to work on the boat at the storage lot. Had to collect all my tools, gas the generator, drive there to realize I forgot something or ran out of cold water. It wasn’t real productive. So I convinced the SU that temporarily putting it in the driveway was a great idea! Since I moved it I have gotten quite a bit done. I haven’t been posting because there didn’t seem to be much interest, however I think of all the great help I have gotten from this site so if this rookie can help one or two folks I feel like I’m giving something back. Anyway, short post for today, the SU wants’ to go o Biloxi, so off we go. I will get a good update real soon.
Since I converted the Rinker from a Bravo outdrive to a Volvo DP the throttle and shift cables did not match up, I needed threaded rod ends. I bought a pair of Teleflex extreme cables for a Volvo outdrive, but it did not match up with the controller in the boat. So before I bought a new controller I gave a pair of universal cables a go, I manufactured shorter threaded hook-eyes to interface with the controller since I couldn’t find any locally. It seems to have worked great, posted a few pictures of the process.

http://s589.photobucket.com/user/micaela800/library/Boat August 14
 

AMMO DAWG

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Not sure if the Photo Bucket link works so here are the same pics
 

AMMO DAWG

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AMMO DAWG

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AMMO DAWG

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Made quite a bit of progress, transom shield is installed, transom exterior is all cleaned up and buffed out. All transom stainless was replaced and sealed with 3M 5200. New speedo sensor and depth gauge transducer installed and all sealed up. Engine bay completely restored, all new wires and new engine harness installed. Mounted the trim pump that is for the Volvo transom shied I installed. Got 3/4 of the boat wiring done, just need to run wires for the Navigation lights, all else in done. I took a few pictures before the rain rolled in, hopefully they post okay below. I ready to drop the en
 

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AMMO DAWG

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