FIRST LIGHT - My (Daddy's) Boat-SPLASHED

[wegcagle]

Great job Robbie. Gotta feel good to splash her huh?

Will

[robbiro]

CL, Jeff and Will
Thanks for the good words. It feels great, but in some ways almost anti-climatic. I will keep doing things to this one, but WHAT do i build next TX-18, FS-12 or 14, Sd-11, or something else . One project leads into another, but who knows.

Keep on Buildin'

Robbie

[robbiro]

New solenoid put on motor, the motor now turns over like it should with no gas going to the motor. There was a little bit left in the carb from the try when I found out the solenoid was bad. It hit for about three revolutiolns . Tomorrow may be the day I try to put her in again and crank the gsas mpotor and run for a bit.

Do you ever finish a boat, or do you always have a PROJECT going on one

Keep on Buildin'

Robbie

[robbiro]

Motor cranked on second try. Had to burn off the fogging oil. Ran well.
Did not seem to get as high an RPM as I would have expected
Carried the nose high. Motor is in the lowest notch?? would a hydrofoil of some type help??
How can you tell if your prop is slipping?
Thanks to any who can give me some info!!

Keep on Buildin'

Robbie

[robbiro]

ADDENDA!!
Some things I figured out since I took FIRST LIGHT out for her first powered run.
1) The nose is running high--Will attach whale Tail, fins, hydrofoil, what ever you call them and see if that makes a difference. The motor is in the lowest notch on the mount. Any other ideas??
2) The front seat mount was about 6 inchees too close to the front trolling motor mount (Did not plan on the trolling motor mount) when I put the seat mount down.) Cut another hole in the front deck, treating a larger piece of 6566 to put under deck as backing and will glue it in place about 10 inches further back and try again. The old mount would be great if I am sitting and running trolling motor, but using butt seat, it was just too close. Will leave it in place for slow, sitting times.
3) Motor cranked very easily and ran well, but RPM's DID NOT seem to get up to what I thought they should. Could this be something that is because of #1 above, could the throttle linkage be not attached correctly, or do I need to check the pitch of the prop????
4) She handled well, tracked true (to my undescerning senses), and
5) Showed me that I have a cracked fitting where the drain for the live well exits the hull!! Have repolacement fitting, will replace it shortly!!
Thanks to any who will give me ideas on problems that I have addressed.

Keep on Buildin'

Robbie

[ks8]

Do some runs with lots of weight in the bow. Pictures of you on a run while at the helm? Side view? Drive by? Might be helpful.

Definitely check the prop pitch. Even if it is not the problem, the more experienced guys here will find that info helpful in the overall troubleshooting.

Great to hear she is launched and leaving a wake!

Happy 4th!

[Cracker Larry]

Robbie, these GF16s do tend to run bow high. A hydrofoil helped mine a lot to hold the bow down and keep it stable. I used a Doel Fin and it worked great. I also kept the fuel tank in front of the front seat, and usually put the cooler up front too unless there was a large passenger.

This pic of my GF16 was taken by Joe H about 6 years ago at Crystal River. We were running 32 mph. TomW is on the center seat and he is a big man, probably 275 or better, and although I think the picture caught us on the top of a bounce, you can see that the bow is still riding high.



The boat likes the engine high, set the A/V plate about an inch above the bottom, and make sure the trim pin is in it's lowest position.



The only way to get the correct prop size is with a tachometer, so you know the rpms you are turning. Tiny Tach makes a cheap little unit that hooks to a plug wire and it work good www.tinytach.com

[robbiro]

1) New Front seat mount installed.
2) Doel fin installed.
3) Found that there is an adjustment to the throttle linkage on the outside of the motor where the cable is attached to the cowl. this might be where the low RPM's were not coming from. Will be the first of the week before I can check this out, do not want to go out and try her on a day as busy as today should be on our local waterways
****This is the largest boat and motor that I have owned and tried to set up. My other ride was a 10' 3" plastic boat with a 3 hp E-rude and trolling motor. If I ask a lot af questions, that is why. I will say thanks in advance and later to all of you. I do appreciate the spirit of this board and the information is well used!!

Keep on Buildin'

Robbie

[robbiro]

1) Front seat mount is about right, I can at least adjust myself to where I need to be rather than feel cramped.
2) Surprisingly no real difference in performance with the Doel Fin in place. Still about 14-15 mph gps. Not much change in ride attitude. Larry, in comparing the area that is pushing spray out in your photo and what I am seeing on mine, you are pushing from the rear of the mid seat to mid rear floor area, mine is from the mid front floor(seriously plowing or advanced hull speed??? )
3) No real difference in the throttle setting, will adjust it more and try that again.

I may try to move the motor up an inch and see if that would help. this may be the quickest thing for me to do to see if that makes a doifference. Will also try to move the throttle linkage more and see if that helps.

One serious plus ,Many good remarks from other boaters when they see FIRST LIGHT. Have gotten good marks from many of my friends who have not seen her in the building stage, but heard me talk a blue streak about her


Any ideas on 2) and 3) above??

Thanks for all Y 'all do to help the other builders who have not had to rig a boat before.

Keep on Buildin'

Robbie