New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water! :)

[tyler_bee]

I just picked up a 91 Calibogie 15' which is damn near the same boat as the hobie powerskiff.

I've got a few questions on things I need to do to get this thing launched.

Water below deck:
It has a self bailing deck. There appears to be some water below deck and I have had a steady drip through the drain of 1 drop about every minute.

There are several drilled holes next to the intended drain plug hole. (maby 4) (It's not a normal drain plug, you thread a brass bolt thingy into it.). This is at the very bottom of the "V" on the transom.

Before I do my repair, how much water coming out is acceptable? Have the boat sitting at a high angle and maby one drip an hour or two? Is that a safe indicator that things are dry enough?


Battery / charging system:
The motor is a 97 Honda 45 hp. What kind of battery do I need? I'm okay with something that is good for only a day of running.

Does the OB charge the battery through the leads that run back to it for it's electric start? Currently none of the electrical is hooked up.


Fuel Tank and Hookup:
What fuel connectors work on a Honda? Do Yamaha? I found a nice yama tank setup on CL for $40.

How many gallons of fuel should I have for some bay crusing for a day? I don't run WOT all day, just cruise. Maby 1/2 throttle or more.


Marine Music Radio: (A MUST for launching)
The console has some speakers in it but I'm betting the music radio is shot. Any cheap alternatives? Do I NEED to get a "Marine Grade" one? I will be garaging this boat.


Thanks allot!

 

[towtruck1]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

Da** that looks familiar! Congrats on a great boat. We've had ours since new.

Water Below Deck...
You don't say how you think it got there. Was it there when you bought the boat? Did you stick it in the water for a certain period of time??? Did you get water on deck?

Take a picture or two of the back end for me. I'd like to see the holes you are talking about, as well as the drain & drain plug.

Battery
Check your engine manual for battery recommendations. If you didn't get one with the boat, try downloading one online, or get a Haynes repair manual or something. I just bought one myself. If you can wait a while, I'll tell you what I got. (Must fit under the seat). Properly installed, the OB should charge the battery.

Fuel Tank & hookup.
You'll have to be on your own for that. I've got a Tohatsu. As for fuel usage, you'll have to experiment. Bring a 2.5 gal fuel container for just in case, until you get familiar with your fuel needs.


Radio
Just bought an XR4110 on amazon (google it) for my tow vehicle & I love it. It might be harder to install in the Mighty Calibogie though, as it is not of the old 2-shaft design. For a 2-shaft, see the XC4100.


Hope this helps
Andy

 

[towtruck1]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

While you're out there taking pictures...

Take two of the winch & winch mount for me, one directly from the side at winch height, & one from slightly farther forward You may be able to benefit from some of my experiences in that regard....

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

Da** that looks familiar! Congrats on a great boat. We've had ours since new.

Water Below Deck...
You don't say how you think it got there. Was it there when you bought the boat? Did you stick it in the water for a certain period of time??? Did you get water on deck?

Take a picture or two of the back end for me. I'd like to see the holes you are talking about, as well as the drain & drain plug.

Battery
Check your engine manual for battery recommendations. If you didn't get one with the boat, try downloading one online, or get a Haynes repair manual or something. I just bought one myself. If you can wait a while, I'll tell you what I got. (Must fit under the seat). Properly installed, the OB should charge the battery.

Fuel Tank & hookup.
You'll have to be on your own for that. I've got a Tohatsu. As for fuel usage, you'll have to experiment. Bring a 2.5 gal fuel container for just in case, until you get familiar with your fuel needs.


Radio
Just bought an XR4110 on amazon (google it) for my tow vehicle & I love it. It might be harder to install in the Mighty Calibogie though, as it is not of the old 2-shaft design. For a 2-shaft, see the XC4100.


Hope this helps
Andy

Hey Andy, Glad to see a fellow!

I can't wait to get her out. I've got some pictures of the transom and wench. I'll attach.

That stero looks perfect, is that an input jack in it? on the XC4100? Tell me if your fit, certainly a small space.

The boat is rumored to never have been in the water. I don't know if I believe that but the hull certainly tells a compelling story. No dings or scratches on the keel or chines. I've looked long and hard, and can find no signs.

I believe the small amount of water that made its way below deck is just from sitting uncovered outside. So glad to have rescued this. There was never a stream of water that came out. It I raise the trailer nice and high I can get a drip maybe every two or 3 minutes.

I found a few loose wire leads under the seat and hooked them up to my battery, pleasantly surprised to see all nav and interior lights working after sitting for 10 years.

Good point on the extra 2.5 gallon. I think I'll start with the main as a 8 gallon I have. I don't go out long.

I bought a new stainless style Garboard setup today to replace the old plastic one with some kind of terrible caulk around it. The inside of the hole seemed very dry and the foam I touched was rock hard and not crusty or 'Dusty'.

The garboard and transom hole pics are in another thread:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=430556

Nice meeting ya!

 

[towtruck1]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

Hello again! I replied re: the transom issue on the other thread you quoted. Bottom line.... DO NOT USE EPOXY! ANYWHERE!

The water may have gotten below deck via the holes in the upper deck that attach the center console to the deck, or that allow the cables & wires to go through the deck. We've seen similar stuff with ours, & so we are careful no to use too much water to wash off the deck.

BTW, I don't know why the transom looks like such a mess if the boat has never been in the water. Our hull has no scratches either.... We just take good care of it. I did take a big chip out of the gelcoat on one of the chines, but repaired it myself & you'll never see where!

The XR4110 has a very small chassis. I put mine in my tow vehicle... I think you might have to enlarge the opening to put it in the bogie, but only because it is not a 2-shaft design like we have in our bogie (original radio). But you'll have enough depth (front to back) for it. Do that later though. Concentrate on the more important stuff first.

Thanks for posting the winch pictures. I'll respond separately to that in a later post. Gotta go for now!

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

Hello again! I replied re: the transom issue on the other thread you quoted. Bottom line.... DO NOT USE EPOXY! ANYWHERE!

The water may have gotten below deck via the holes in the upper deck that attach the center console to the deck, or that allow the cables & wires to go through the deck. We've seen similar stuff with ours, & so we are careful no to use too much water to wash off the deck.

BTW, I don't know why the transom looks like such a mess if the boat has never been in the water. Our hull has no scratches either.... We just take good care of it. I did take a big chip out of the gelcoat on one of the chines, but repaired it myself & you'll never see where!

The XR4110 has a very small chassis. I put mine in my tow vehicle... I think you might have to enlarge the opening to put it in the bogie, but only because it is not a 2-shaft design like we have in our bogie (original radio). But you'll have enough depth (front to back) for it. Do that later though. Concentrate on the more important stuff first.

Thanks for posting the winch pictures. I'll respond separately to that in a later post. Gotta go for now!

Yeah, the transom has holes from a transducer I believe and a few smaller ones that they possibly drilled for drainage. I donno. Good point on the hull condition. I would suspect this has been in the water but not for the majority of it's life.

And if there were any chips or scratches and they repaired them that nicely then that says allot about the boat owner too.

I would LOVE to see more pics of your boat. What size battery do I need to get that will fit under the seat? Seems like a tight fit.

Can I get a couple pics of your console and instrumentation too?


I did find that one of the rubber boots in the console, under the seat, was not screwed down flush and tight. Think I'll throw some 5200 on it and seal her up proper.

Thanks for the point about epoxy.

 

[towtruck1]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

"I found a few loose wire leads under the seat and hooked them up to my battery, pleasantly surprised to see all nav and interior lights working after sitting for 10 years."

I figured from this quote that the boat came with a battery, but maybe you were using some other battery...

I'll take some pictures for you today. We're actually going out tonight just to make sure she runs nice before our annual trip to the lake.

BTW, looking at your pictures, it looked like the holes at the bottom came from someone having mounted some of those trim tabs/plates, except those holes are too close together. Are there any more holes more outboard?
http://www.bennetttrimtabs.com/trimtabkits.php
just a guess..

 

[towtruck]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

As promised: Photos of our bogie....
http://s539.photobucket.com/albums/ff352/towtruck07/bogie/


Now... some news you probably don't want to hear. If you want to be able to get your boat back on the trailer, you'll have to spend a bit more money. Remember I asked you for pictures of your winch setup? As I suspected, it is the same as what we had.

Look closely at the pictures you took for me. Notice how on your boat, the winch is BELOW the level of the hardware (whatever you call that thing you hook the winch to)? When you first start winching the boat onto the trailer, all is well. But as you get close to the bow-stop, the winch pulls the bow of the boat DOWN. This makes it next to impossible to get the boat all the way onto the trailer. It used to takes us three guys to put our shoulders against the transom and shove that thing the final half-foot or so. What a pain.

Looking at the pictures of my boat, you'll see the winch at hardware-level. This way, the winch always pulls the boat straight onto the trailer. What a difference! You can't raise your winch any with that wimpy winch-post the trailer came with. You'll have to upgrade. You need a 3" post at least 26 inches high. The following is the best I've found:

http://www.outcastwatersports.com/trailer_winch-post.html
Look for part number PO3400

This is another option:
http://www.easternmarine.com/28-3/4-Galvanized-Boat-Trailer-Winch-Post-43525/

There are others... You'll have to decide what you want to do. I hope this is not too discouraging, but nobody ever said owning a boat was cheap. Do you have decent tires on that trailer??

Towtruck

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I see your point now on the wench. Argh, stupidly expensive for what it is. (Like most boat things) - Thinking I may just have an extension welded onto it. So 26 Inches. Good to know, I'll take a measurement on mine and see what I can come up with. In all actuality, there is a missing tooth on the larger wench wheel/pully and some rust. I May do well to just find a complete replacement.

Thanks for the GREAT pics. I love the sunset one - it'll have to serve as my desktop wallpaper until I can make my own.

Are you in Cali? Lost of mexican fan palms in the background of your photo. I'm in San Diego Area.

I think I may have seen a similar battery to yours at walmart, around $50. My Honda says it would like a 700 CCA but I wonder if I can get away with 650? - Luckily I have the mounting bracket shown in your photo aswell.

My damn garboard plug came yesterday but it's just the nut part without the flange. The site I purchased it from had the flange piece in the photo but I guess it was just for the plug. I got ripped off, $15.00 for the thing.

Think I may just hit up west marine for instant gratification today on that part.

My helm seats are weather beaten and destroyed. The other cushions were kept inside. (Shame the didn't just pull off the seats aswell)

I'm hoping I can buy some walmart $30 specials and mount up the hardware to them. Do most all seats have a wooden buttom to them? I can mount up those sliding hinges you suppose?

The Trailer tires are kinda work but the tread looks good. It actually came with 2 full size spares. I think I'll take all of them to the local tire place and have them all inspected and get the best two put on.


Thanks again for taking the time to take the photos and upload them. (=

Beautiful vessel. It's really starting to grow on me.

 

[towtruck]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I see your point now on the wench. Argh, stupidly expensive for what it is. (Like most boat things) - Thinking I may just have an extension welded onto it. So 26 Inches. Good to know, I'll take a measurement on mine and see what I can come up with. In all actuality, there is a missing tooth on the larger wench wheel/pully and some rust. I May do well to just find a complete replacement.

Mmmm, that post you have now is a C-channel, there's a reason its not any taller... It's not strong enough to handle a load higher up. A good post has a closed section. I think your winch seat is good, but you'd have to attach it differently to a new post. See the picture next to the post I suggested; that's how to assemble it. If you bought a whole new assembly, I'd suggest that one. This is not an easy decision, but its worth doing right, instead of having a mickey-mouse setup. Winches are a dime a dozen.

See # PO3450
http://www.outcastwatersports.com/trailer_winch-post.html

Are you in Cali? Lost of mexican fan palms in the background of your photo. I'm in San Diego Area.

The sunset picture is at the Long Beach marine stadium 2 days ago.

I think I may have seen a similar battery to yours at walmart, around $50. My Honda says it would like a 700 CCA but I wonder if I can get away with 650? - Luckily I have the mounting bracket shown in your photo as well.

I think you'd be okay, but double check with somebody who really knows. Its hard to find a bigger battery to fit under the seat. Even at that size, its a real pain to get in & out, what with the steering cable running through there. Also, make sure you find one with the posts in front, like in my picture. (I think mine was a $47.00 battery)

My damn garboard plug came yesterday but it's just the nut part without the flange. The site I purchased it from had the flange piece in the photo but I guess it was just for the plug. I got ripped off, $15.00 for the thing.

Think I may just hit up west marine for instant gratification today on that part.

My helm seats are weather beaten and destroyed. The other cushions were kept inside. (Shame the didn't just pull off the seats aswell)

I'm hoping I can buy some walmart $30 specials and mount up the hardware to them. Do most all seats have a wooden buttom to them? I can mount up those sliding hinges you suppose?

The Trailer tires are kinda work but the tread looks good. It actually came with 2 full size spares. I think I'll take all of them to the local tire place and have them all inspected and get the best two put on.


Thanks again for taking the time to take the photos and upload them. (=

Beautiful vessel. It's really starting to grow on me.

Seats. Plastic bottom, don't know if they'll hold the screws.I've seen the same thing on the shelf at Kmart for less. BTW, we don't ever use our other cushions at all, except for the one right in front of the console. Too much hassle.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=10118&subdeptNum=10822&classNum=10830

Tires
tread doesn't mean a thing. Most trailer tires time out before they wear out, & yours have been sitting for ten yrs? Be real careful, especially if you go on a long trip.

Good luck getting sea-worthy! & Have fun!
Andy

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I think you'd be okay, but double check with somebody who really knows. Its hard to find a bigger battery to fit under the seat. Even at that size, its a real pain to get in & out, what with the steering cable running through there. Also, make sure you find one with the posts in front, like in my picture. (I think mine was a $47.00 battery)

Good luck getting sea-worthy! & Have fun!
Andy

Just bought my 65.00 Walmart battery, it's 150 amp hour, 675 CCA.
Anyways, after some werestling I got it under the seat and the clamp on. What a pain! I can only think how fun topping off it's water levels will be.

Anyways, My steering has a few inches of play before it engages. After it does engage it's kinda difficult to turn my Honda 45. The tension setting on the motor is at it's lowest.

Have you got into the steering device under the dash behind the wheel? It's where my play exists.

I wonder how straight-forward it is.

 

[towtruck]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I'm afraid I'm a bit out of my league here. We've never had a problem with that. As for the difficulty turning, I would suspect either 1) binding in the cable/pushrod assembly, or just 2) grease that has dried-out or gummed up. We had an issue a couple of times where the whole thing stuck at the motor end, but that assembly is usually part of the engine, so you'll have a different assembly than I do.

You might try opening up a separate thread to deal specifically with that issue. Sorry I couldn't be more help on that one!

AS for the battery, didn't you get a maintainence free? Mine is sealed, no water adding required. Also make sure you didn't kink the steering cable getting the battery in.

 

[Skiffhunter]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I saw your boat in the boatyard at Dana Point. Did you buy it from Rich?

 

[BigB9000]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

You guys know Rich?!

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

lol, yeah that was us..

Yup, rich has been taking really good care of me. Good people..

We took her up the jetty and out along the coast for awhile, she handled and road great..

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I saw your boat in the boatyard at Dana Point. Did you buy it from Rich?

What were you in?

 

[tyler_bee]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

I saw your boat in the boatyard at Dana Point. Did you buy it from Rich?

Lol - opps, I thought you ment you saw us in the water. We were out over the weekend and just got home.

Yeah, I bought it from rich - Did you see the little seafire speedboat there? That was actually part of my trade in. It was fun, but a 2 seater didn't accommodate the fam.

 

[BigB9000]

Re: New Calibogie / PowerSkiff / Center Console Questions, get me on the water!

Rich is my outboard dealer.
That guy gets the best stuff I swear.