So I just bought a Mac X....

[OverEasy]

Hi Drifter

REDACTED

Thoughts and prayers are with you in this stressful time.
Over Easy



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[dlandersson]

Off topic?

[Drifter]

Back to boaty topics...

As i may have mentioned once or twice, my father in law is a little senile perhaps, or just an annoying old goat, but he means well enough and I have some affection for him. After all, he raised a great family, including my wife, and he in his 70s, so I make allowances.

Because I have so often had to push him away and say 'No' to fishing (trailer needs fixing, boat needs painting, ballast valve needs replacing etc etc etc, then rainy season, then fasting month, then the first MCO, then the overheating, then anothe MCO (Movement Control Order)...

It just never ends, so the poor old boy scraped up some money from somewhere and bought a boat. Well, a boat-shaped object.

No trailer, miles from anywhere useful, but I'll save you the long story and we did get it to the local boat club, where it sits on the stupidly-steep ramp, in everyone's way.

So I took a look at it. First thing I checked was the transom, which had a wibbly-wobbly characteristic that filled me with doom.

"This is no good Bapa, cannot use. Bad already."

He looked glum. Then brightened up as he thought of a new lie.. "The chap who gave it to me, he recently replaced it, with belian wood? Do you know belian?"

Yes, I'm familiar with the Borneo ironwood, about the toughest wood on the planet. You need high carbon tools for that stuff. Whatever this transom was it wasn't ironwood. Plywood maybe..? I was also familiar with his story of being given the boat as a gift, though the 2000 missing from his account said otherwise.

Well long story short, I was sweet-talked into letting him try my baby 3.3 Mercury. Except my baby 3.3 Mercury refuses to start. Brand new, ran once, now won't start. I'm told it's best to let them run out of fuel? Seems the tiny carb got clogged.

So having agreed to one engine, I couldn't say no to trying my other spare engine, a 9.8 2stroke from Tohatsu. Also brand new...

It went as well as could possibly be expected really.

Managed to get the engine to the boat, fitted it, settled the fuel tank etc. And started it. OK...

Carefully put it into reverse... we were off!

Very, very carefully puttered down the crocodile-infested river... heading the the big river, with the bigger crocs.. and fish, right?

Well you know how it is, after a while I got cocky and gave it a teeny bit more throttle...

CRACK!

Oops.

Slowed down and spied a crack where the transom fitted in the corner... So we ended up fishing very near the mouth of the little river, me casually bailing out the rising water with my plastic coffee cup, looking around for crocs...

Eventually Bapa caught a catfish (yay!) so I declared it was home time, raise the anchor (yes, mine...) and we crept back.

So, we went fishing, caught a fish, got home safe and I didn't even need to recover the engine; it made it back with is. Win-win!

I'll try and find a link for a video...

[Drifter]

Possible to upload an 8MB video file here..?

Probably not. So i did a Vimeo:



My facial expression at the end sums it up...

[Jimmyt]

You did a good thing, Drifter. You Rock!

[Tomfoolery]

A $2000 catfish. They must grow 'em reaaaally special down there.

Oh, and I've been to Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Jakarta, mostly), but never to Borneo. Big country, from what little I know about it.

[pitchpolehobie]

Good luck out there looks like a nice slice of life

[Russ]

What the heck?

Is that some failed weld now using string to bond together?



Good on you for taking his golden years and providing some joy. Hopefully, Karma will shine down on you for it.

My Brother-In-Law has a small boat like that and tried to attach his small outboard while on the ramp (not wise) and dropped the thing into the drink. So many lessons he learned that day. Of course, he became the spectacle at the ramp. Somehow he got a line on a pole to retrieve the outboard. I told him to go on youtube and search "pickle outboard".

So consider your day a success. Transom remained attached.

[Drifter]

An uppydate!

Finally the tides looked good, MCO relaxed enough that we could go out...

But then when i went to pump up the trailer tires and my truck's rear tires ready for the morning... found someone stole the air compressor from my garden. Tried phoning the boat club to make sure they were open the next day..? No reply. As I checked the tie-down ratchet straps were tight, 2 of them just broke in my hands, destroyed by the equatorial sun.

So that trip was cancelled, leaving my father in law 'Bapa' nearly in tears. And I still didn't know if my repairs (replacement impeller, housing, thermostat and flushing with saltaway) had cured the overheating

But wait, there's more!

So yesterday the tides were right, I'd driven to the boat club and asked in person if they were open, had an able-bodied friend eager to come along, had replaced the compressor, tires were pumped, Bapa was pumped, batteries were charged...

Let's go?

As usual when I have to wake up early I couldn't sleep, but you know, fishing. Would the engine be fixed?

All the connecting trailer to truck, towing, launching, all went fine enough. I even avoided hitting that lane divider post while turning into the boat club, which is a first for me! I'm not the only one who hits that thing; it's always sideways

So.. Into the water... whhhhrrrr Pesky engine wouldn't start..

whhhhhr.. whhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrr come OON! whrrrrrrrrrrbloopglugpop.... whhrmmmmmmm

Phew!

I avoided that post but did managed to get a nasty scratch on the bow while reversing out. Note to self: Rudders down while launching, not just retrieval, or at least loose enough to lower immediately we're going backwards. On the bright side I'm sure my fiberglass hull didn't do any harm to that outboard's stainless steel prop' we scraped against.

So finally we were off, heading towards the coast about 6 miles away, My Precious purring at the familiar 3500 rpm.

At the same point as last time, where I tried full-throttle and Precious almost immediately overheated, I tried 4000 rpm... All OK.

45... heck, 5,000 rpm..?

...

All OK.

6,000 RPM?

...

..



All good.








2 small grouper, 2 decent catfish and a black-spotted snapper were caught, good times were had!

For retrieval I rather nervously tried using the rudders, quite expecting to break them.. I had a bit of practice on the river out of sight of the club and all seemed OK, much more responsive than just the engine. Much stiffer to steer but a small price for actually steering

This time I nailed it, on the 2nd attempt anyway. Could see I wasn't lined up and the current taking me the 1st time, so allowed even more for the current and tried again.. spot on!

Except my able-bodied seaman didn't really understand the winch and the tractor driver just sat there without pulling the boat out of the water a bit to settle onto the trailer, so once again it drifted sideways, this time with the bow-eye already connected. I think that tractor driver hates me?

Anyway, got it more or less lined up and out of the water in the end, and towing home went fine, parking in the garden went fine, everything good.

Pheeew!

[Russ]

AWESOME!!!!

I've been wondering how you have been since no report for a while.

That's fantastic news. So it would appear you've solved your motor issues. And you are mastering docking maneuvers.
Wow!

Thanks for the update.

[svscott]

Man, that's a great update! A successful outing with a WORKING engine. I'm sure Bapa's stoked to get out on a real nice, comfortable boat too!
I too found that the boat is near impossible to control at docking speeds with no rudders or centerboard down. I've been using only one rudder while at the ramp, just in case I mess up and break one off, I'll still have the other to rely on.
Another lesson I just learned is to cleat off the centerboard line once on the trailer, when hauling out. The ramp and parking lot aren't very kind to the fiberglass when dragging the board. I caught it fairly quickly but not before doing some damage. I'll be adding an extra little tab in front of the stock V bunk to keep the centerboard from being able to fall off the trailer again. I'm glad that I used dow Corning 795 to bed the hanger bolt instead of 4200 or 5200 because it'll be really easy to remove!

Have you rigged your mast and hoisted sails yet? I'm looking forward to reading about more Borneo adventures!

[Be Free]

That's great news! I'm glad you finally have a dependable engine. I know you are going to have a great time with the boat.

How is Bapa's transom leak? Did you come up with a dependable fix or was it hopeless?

You may have already discovered this but if the rudders are not down completely it will be much harder to turn the wheel. Even an inch is noticeable. You should have two lines on each rudder; one to pull it up and one to pull it down.

[Drifter]

Glad y'all so happy to hear the update, was looking forward to sharing the news!

Nope, no attempt at sailing yet, and this season is rapidly sliding away so that will probably have to wait until next year.

Bapa's little boat had the transom completely replaced, with the usual claims of belian ironwood which I don't believe, but it does feel good and solid now. I may end up buying it off him, as he needs the money and it's OK for quick trips to the river, when I can't be asked to prepare and tow the Big Mac.

I was tempted to try just one rudder, for the same "if it breaks I have a spare" reason, but figured it wasn't a fair test. I really do need to make the effort, and find the money, to remove the rudders and take them to one of the 2 boatbuilders here, get them to craft spares. The thought of paying hundreds of dollars, plus massive shipping, plus the delays of ordering from America.. Ouch.

As mentioned I do have a couple of little engines but they're both short-shaft 2 strokes, and what I really want is a long-shaft 4 stroke, so I can use the same fuel. If my current client continues and I have the money I'll try visiting a shop I've heard of but not seen, see if I can order one. I know I'll never find one 2nd hand around here, as the locals love their 2 strokes, but it might be possible to order a new one, and wait a while.

For those curious, the GPS on my watch (Garmin 5X) claimed the top speed was 13.99 knots, then later 15 knots, though that was when the tide was changing, so might be with, against or neutral. That's 3 adult men, ice box full to the brim, with full water containers in the head and galley, and all the usual gumph on the boat.

I will be removing some of the stuff from the cabin, such as the 4 raincoats in a sack - it's too hot here really. Rain just helps you cool down

By the way, is it just my boat or is it normal that you can't really stand up under the bimini? If I stand up fully my head is like a tent-pole, and I'm only 5'10"

[Be Free]

The bimini on mine is just tall enough that the boom will clear it. That's much too low for me to stand up.

[svscott]

At the dock, I believe your boat will behave just fine with only one rudder. Honestly, you could probably trace the rudder onto cardboard and take basic measurements just in case. Truly though, I've sailed my 26D for 15 years and have never damaged the rudder. The daggerboard is a different story. Let's just say I've gotten marginally good with fiberglass repair.

As noted, the standard bimini is pretty low. Though I found out this past weekend that when using the helm pedestal mounted boom/mast holder pole to keep the boom raised and centered that the bimini is tall enough to stand under BUT it didn't allow me to pull the bimini all the way forward before it ran into the stainless pole. The below pic kinda shows the bimini and the sunbrella boom tent that I used to cover the cockpit and companionway while on vacation.
I removed the boom tent but kept the bimini up against the pole while motoring and it was fine. I'm 5'9" and could stand with minimal clearance.

Quick ? to anyone who may know... how do I size my pictures so you can actually see what going on when I upload the pic? I know you can click on the image to make it bigger but there's no way to zoom in on the pic I've opened unless you save the image to your device or screenshot it.