OReely

Anything really exiting that caught your attention?

What, we're setting up blind dates now?

Rudders are designed with a certain amount of balance. That is, there is some rudder forward and some aft of the rudder shaft, usually biased aft. Adding surface area aft of the shaft will undoubtedly make for more effort in steering the boat when going forward. You may not feel the added effort due to mechanical advantage of the steering system but it will be there. Most of rudder response in power boats is due to the accelerated water flow over the rudder from the prop. Small increases in surface can result in large increases in steering response. Handling in reverse will most likely not improve significantly. Just compare the size of a sailboat rudder to a powerboat rudder and you can visualize the surface area needed for a rudder in low speed water, i.e. a powerboat in reverse. With all that said, your boat may or may not have enough rudder. You may want to talk to the builder about this before proceeding.

Good luck to you and the future Mrs autobaun. I can remember my last few days as a single man like it was yesterday. I wanted it over and done with. All the pre wedding hubbub was driving everyone nuts. We got through it, no doubt you will too. My wife and I are coming up on our 21st anniversary in a couple of months. Man, time flies.

Looks like the pee stream hitting the spray behind the boat.

When the boat is operating at planing speeds the water follows the contour of the hull and exits at the trailing edge of the transom regardless of how she sits at rest. If you've made the boat so light and so fast that the wetted surface is approaching a max width of engine centers + prop diameter plus or minus then I guess you could have a ventilation problem. On an ordinary twin outboard setup this would mean that only 43-45" of the hull (widthwise) is in the water. The boat would have to be extremely fast for this to happen. Even if that were to occur engine height could be adjusted to compensate. I grew up calling the anti ventilation plate on outboards a cavitation plate. I was cured during a test and tune with a Mercury guy who corrected me about eight times in one day.

Congratulations on getting the boat back in the water. Lots of project boats never see any water other than rainwater. You've done a great job with the rebuild and the documenting of it. I'm sure it will help others who are contemplating a boat project. What's next, 30 something express? 40 odd foot sportfish? Come on, you know you want to.

Heck, if all I have to do is wash the boat, cut the grass, and go fishing, you can adopt me! I'm a couple of years older than you but I think we could work something out. Send picture of boat and lawn mower. Seriously, I think anyone who adopts a child is doing a great thing but I can't understand the overseas thing. We've got lots of kids right here that need parents. Good luck in your efforts.

Looking good. When you get it wrapped up and finally get it in the water I'm sure it will give you a great sense of accomplishment (and relief ). Those bronze thru-hulls are going to turn green pretty quick. Did you have a reason for not using chrome bronze or stainless steel? I know some older boats keep bronze fittings on because they are traditional in nature but your boat is all shiny and glossy with the paint and powder coat, not really in keeping with the classic look of plain bronze.

No, but I almost "harvested" one last year on an I-95 exit ramp last year. It wouldn't move until I got about 30-40 feet away, and then it only went about 10 feet off the pavement. It was about 5-6 feet long. I don't know how it got that big being that stupid.

I've seen them also, first as text ads, now as full color. It sure gets some THT member's knickers in a wad. I'm starting to think IB just might be Wiley's alter ego since they've been running for a while and haven't been yanked.

Surface effect? Water Lubrication? Fins? Air injection? I don't know what the heck he's talking about because the English is wackier than a Nigerian scam letter. Bottom line, this guy is looking for money. Good Bye, no big fish here.

I bet that video ain't pretty! Stumbling backwards and moonwalking are two different things.

Okay, I guess. If you want anyone to understand you then you need to drop the "Hebrew logic" and "poetic English" and put it in plain English because I can read the words but I can't make heads or tails out of what you are trying to say. I already know what ground effect (surface effect, wing-in-ground effect, etc) is. I just don't know what you're saying about it.

What you refer to as cavitation is more correctly called ventilation. Ventilation is the phenomenon of air getting pulled into the water path of the prop. Cavitation is a different phenomenon. You shouldn't have any issue with ventilation of the prop due to the boat sitting higher in the water. The boat could be a little more tender, but I doubt it's anything you would notice.

Is this written with translation software? Is he asking for money in the form of investment capital?

That's a new one on me.

I see what you're doing, trying to flip him over to us so he doesn't land next to you. You won't get anything in PBC in the $250000 range on the water except a condo here and there. If you want to fish offshore, we're good. Also as a jump off to the Bahamas. But inshore, lets just say there ain't much.

Mini Craft can also supply the gelcoat.

Solar panels come in a variety of sizes so you can get one to suit your charging needs. Physical size, more or less, equates to output. Trickle chargers take up a square foot or so. Significant output requires significant real estate. In a multiple battery set up, you could use charging relays that would allow a single panel to charge all batteries while at the same time keeping them isolated to prevent discharge in a failure of some sort. Your boat may already be set up with charge relays. Charge controllers (also called regulators) aren't really needed unless your panel output exceeds approximately 1.5% of battery capacity. Even though they aren't usually necessary, since they are relatively inexpensive some people opt to put them on anyway to more closely regulate the power going into the batteries.. A small .5 amp solar panel can supply more than enough power to keep batteries topped off but it's not made to recharge deeply discharged batteries. They can replace the parasitic drain on the batteries that occurs over time. It will produce, on average 2-3 amps a day as long as it gets full sun. Shade will severely hamper output. If you have small loads on the batteries that need to be accounted for, you might need to up the size of the panel. These energy vampires could include things like monitoring systems, CO detectors, computerized bilge pumps, etc. You'll have to figure out your load requirements to properly size the panel. Two mfg's that I've looked into are Kyocera and Sunsei. A few years ago when I was researching this for a customer, these were considered among the best. I believe West Marine still sells the Sunsei line.

Mango, Like I said, that's up to you. Probably nothing bad will ever happen, but you never know. Brian, What happens if there is a short while the switch is on? Lets say the wire chafes through at the point where it passes through the cowling. you now have a live wire inside the cowling. If it hits grounded metal, the fuse on the engine end will pop but the battery end is still live. There is nothing to stop it from dumping a whole lot of amperage into that metal. It could easily start a fire within the cowling or somewhere along the length of the wire. That could ruin your day. Now, change the scenario to include fuses at both ends. The fuses pop and the worst thing that happens is your battery doesn't charge. As far as the charger goes, ABYC says "each ungrounded conductor connected to a battery charger.... shall be provided with overcurrent protection within 7 inches of the connection point". Exception 1) If the conductor is connected directly to the battery terminal AND is contained within a sheath or enclosure....overcurrent protection shall be as close as practicable to the battery, but not to exceed 72 inches. Exception 2) If the conductor is connected to a source of power other than the battery terminal and is contained...., but not to exceed 40 inches. So, to answer your question, yes, the terminal end of the battery charger leads need to be fused. If the charger wiring meets the one of the exceptions as listed above, then the supplied fuses are all you need. I know the above is kind of doom and gloom, but most of the standards are written based on practical experience. An accident happens and the ABYC committee involved in that area looks for ways to solve the problem so it doesn't happen in the future. Some of the standards are written on a proactive basis, an issue is recognized and worked on before it becomes a problem. ABYC standards are recommendations based on in-depth knowledge of the subject. You can use or ignore them as you wish.

Actually, the cables that go from the battery to the engine are there primarily to start the engine. Charging is a side benefit exploited by the outboard manufacturers. ABYC makes an exception for fusing starting cables. They do, however, require all other power sources to be protected. The fusing of this wire has nothing to do with protecting ancillary equipment, it is for fire safety. The aux charge lead should be fused at both ends. The reasoning is that it could be considered a source from either end, that is to say, in a shorting situation the wire could get power from the battery or the engine. You certainly don't have to follow ABYC standards but they have been well thought out over many years by some of the best in the business. Their primary purpose is to make boating as safe as possible.

I haven't been to Fourth on Flagler in several years. The last time I went was in a friends boat, a 22' bow rider. Wiley is right about the crowd. Lots of boats with lots of idiots at the helm. When it was time to leave you would have thought they dropped the flag at Daytona. We took a couple of wakes over the bow before we could pull the anchor. What a zoo. NPB country club is not as great for fireworks as FoF but it's still pretty good. If you go out into Lake Worth, you can usually see both (downtown WPB is only about 5-6 miles from NPB). Sometimes Lake Park also launches on the same night although this year they are going to do it on the 27th of June. Of course, we also have our local pyromaniacs adding to the display until the wee hours of the morning. Last year, my street looked like the start of Desert Storm.

Is it fused at both ends? It should be.

Resin, as well as gelcoat gives off those odors I mentioned. You'll still need to gelcoat the part before layup or you will have pinholes that need to be filled. Whether or not the paint will seal the odor is another question entirely. I guess you'll have to experiment on that one. Melamine is usually based on a particle board substrate but can sometimes be found with an MDF substrate. It's usually white at home centers, although it can be found in other colors at wholesale supply houses. At the home center, it's usually available in 1/2" and 3/4" thickness in 4' x 8' sheets in the plywood area. They might also have smaller, cut sheets available. You could even buy ready made shelf stock since the project is small.