Nos4r2
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2004
- Messages
- 1,533
It's been a hell of a busy week doing this. On Saturday I collected the new centre console for the RIB.<br />On Sunday I went to our local chandlers and spent a small fortune on various odds and bits then went down to the RIB's storage.<br />This is what she looked like Sunday.The tarp had leaked and she had a load of scummy water and a lot of years worth of rubbish from the previous owner floating in her.The brown marks on the transom are thick lumps of ancient grease.<br />
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<br /><br />I towed her home and got a full carton of washing powder and the hosepipe out. I gunked the transom then mixed the powder to a paste and scrubbed like mad for nearly 3 hours using the hose to flush it. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the results.<br /><br />
<br /><br />I spent the next day fitting the steering to the console then cutting out and fitting hatches and access panels. It's harder than it looks-I had to spend the equivalent of $50 on a good quality holesaw just to fit the helm. I looked at the bow dodger and decided the rust stains on it were too much so I took a craft knife and removed it. It opened up a load more space and she looks loads better too-I'm glad I did it.<br /><br />On Tuesday I fitted the console. WHAT A HORRIBLE JOB!!! I had black sikaflex all over me, the console, my clothes and I ran out 3/4 of the way through. Fitting it took nearly a full day-but it's in and solid now. <br />
<br /><br />Wednesday-Checkerplated the transom then the engine went on. Another horrible job. Someone had replaced the lower trim/tilt ram bolts with mild steel so they had to come out-then I realised that the guy I bought the engine from had cut all the wiring for the type 1 trim/tilt and had sheared a bolt off in the trip pump mount. The hoses look horrible-gonna try and replace with braided stainless ASAP-but for now until I can set it all up how I want it the trim/tilt has been removed.The battery cables on the motor had been replaced with household solidcore...<br />Made a seat base out of stainless steel sheet with a piano hinge at one end for under-seat access. I can fit both 25 litre tanks under there so I need to access it easily.<br /><br />
<br /><br />Thursday. Made new battery leads from 200amp welding cable. Soldered/crimped new contacts on with a blowtorch. Fitted controls,lanyard cut-out,wired in navigation lights and fitted battery box with cut-out switch. The VHF arrived in the post,as did the GPS/fishfinder combo and the compass. My utterly wonderful girlfriend finished covering the seat base.Realised the reason the engine sounded 'flat' was because the fuel I had left from my last boat was nearly 3 months old and was going stale...I Ran her up-and nearly had a fit. The outboard wouldn't go into forward.<br />I threw a tantrum and was about to buy a new engine on the never-never when I realised that a grey washer had fallen into the gear selector slider during transit and jammed it. 5 minutes later it was out and all seems to be well-just got a minor water leak to sort out round one spark plug , fit electronics and bolt the seat on and she's ready.This was taken just before she went back into storage for the night.It was raining and the tubes had been partially deflated because of the heat.<br />
<br /><br />Hope to have her on the water Saturday... 
