She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

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WobblyLegs
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by WobblyLegs »

Lucky_Louis wrote:Great engines (see below), seem to holding up well too.Now if you were heading out to Walvis Bay, that would be a different story...
Cape Town is the 'big challenge'... From my limited experience so far, I reckon I can do it with two tanks, non-stop...
JamesT wrote:Great looking boat and family...

Just one question, i you were to change anything on the boat what would it be?
Thanks - changes? I made the cabin/cockpit bulkhead into a doorway, rather than open according to the plans, which I'm happy with in use.

More importantly, I'd make the skeg under the hull out of a fibre-epoxy mix rather than wood - it takes the brunt of the load when retrieving on to the trailer (my trailer has rollers under the keel, and bunks on the sides) - I stripped about 30cm of it today trying my first solo retrieval - not happy!!

I went out today, solo launch and retrieval (launch was fine, retrieval, see above) and played with the trim while at full throttle:

58.1km/h @ 5500 rpm on my Garmin!!!! Then she started porpoising, but corrected by trimming in again.

31.4 knots, or 36.1 mph (rounded...)

Nice!!!

WobblyLegs
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by WobblyLegs »

Oh, dear. I managed to crash my boat. :(

Still, having built (still building) it, I can fix it - n-o-o-o problem! :)

More in a moment. I know I have two threads running about Three Summers in this section, so I'm going to keep them separate - this thread about using/maintaining/fine tuning and/or fixing any collision damage, while the other thread (link to latest post) will still be updated with continuing building notes...

Last time I used the boat I noticed it was harder to turn left than right (in retrospect, I think I was aware of it all the time, but hadn't woken up to it, if that makes any sense?). The pic below shows the fin on the motor at it's setting as supplied, near mark #2, which I moved to #4.

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I went out with a friend on Sunday, mainly to test the depth sounder and steering, which is now almost spot on, but I'll move it to #5 before I go out again just to see. I've seen reports here about boats pulling left or right, but my no-feed-back system works quite well, and the pull was limited to a difference of effort (not much, btw) required to turn each direction.

Depth sounder is perfect too. I never realised that the river was so deep - over six metres in some places, but on average around three to four metres. Oh, and I never even realised that the sounder gave water temperature and battery voltage reading when I bought it.

Anyway, to the collision (two boats involved) - you can see the damage on the rubrail clearly, and then also a small mark on the hull between the spray rail and the blue part of the hull.

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The hull is just a scratch really, with some paint chipped off down to the fairing. I can't see any cracks in the fairing or glass under it, but I'm going to put some epoxy over the chip just to be safe. Repainting can wait until I replace the keel.

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The rubrail on the other hand took most of the impact, as you can see. I guess it did its job :)

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And this is the damage to the other boat - you can see that the rubrail caught the hook, and has actually bent it over a bit, pulling the right-hand screw out of the gunwale. Crunch. That's wood from Three Summers still lying there.

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Now the embarrassing part - they're both my boats! It happened while towing Three Summers into the boatyard, a.k.a. my back garden, and I was looking where I was driving, not where the boat was going. The other boat is Platanna (local name for African Clawed Frog), my newly acquired business in the tourism industry, doing river cruises. She's out the water at the moment 'cos the steering mechanism was totally jammed up and had actually stripped the gears in the helm. That problem is now sorted out, and I just need to put all the bits back together again - then we're in business.

There are worse jobs, you know...

Have fun.

Tim.

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Cracker Larry
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by Cracker Larry »

Not too bad Tim, as far as collisions go it sure could be worse :help: No telling what my rub rail would look like by now if it wasn't 2" of solid rubber :lol:
Completed GF12 X 2, GF16, OD18, FS18, GF5, GF18, CL6
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Lucky_Louis
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by Lucky_Louis »

As ouchies go Tim, that's pretty minor - I'd say you got off cheap :wink: On the rub rail, I'd sand through the finishing glass on either side to a feathered edge, lay in a new piece of the same glass soked with epoxy, then stretch a piece of visqueen over the wet repair rolling over the top and bottom edges. A bit of edge feathering on the patch and the rub rail is good as new. Don't forget that your paint is epoxy based too so I wouldn't worry too much about pre-epoxying. I would do the same thing there - clean/scrape the damage, dabble on some new paint and immediately seal with some shiny plastic sheet stretched in all directions held with sticky tape. Some wet sanding and machine polishing, you'll never see it. Good to hear you found work that involved messing about in boats. I had a pretty quiet summer up here, only got out 3 times. Did finally add a bimini to get out of the sun or rain a bit.
Image OB17 Splashed June 2007

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Cracker Larry
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by Cracker Larry »

Tim, running river cruises every day she's going to get beat up. Tour boats take a beating. I'd put a big rubber rail around it, or you'll probably be patching it every week :help:

Image
Did finally add a bimini to get out of the sun or rain a bit.
LL, do you get much sun in Western Canada?
Completed GF12 X 2, GF16, OD18, FS18, GF5, GF18, CL6
"Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made." -Robert N. Rose

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Lucky_Louis
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by Lucky_Louis »

The rubrail for Tim would be an excellent idea Larry!

As to your weather question, I'm not sure what 'much' is... never enough for me! That's why i go hide in Yuma, AZ for a month every November. Here's what the officials say -
The climate in Powell River is moderate all year long. In the summer, temperatures range from 18 to 30 degrees Celsius (between 65 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit). The average temperature year round is 9 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). Powell River enjoys between 1,400 and 1,900 hours of sunshine every year, and it has an average annual rainfall between 101 and 120 cm (45 to 47 inches).
Compared to Seattle or even Vancouver (BC), yes we get a lot of sun.
Image OB17 Splashed June 2007

WobblyLegs
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by WobblyLegs »

Cracker Larry wrote:Tim, running river cruises every day she's going to get beat up.
Larry, the river cruise boat isn't Three Summers - its the other boat/business I bought a couple of months ago and is built like a tank. On the river here there isn't much to bump into at gunwale level, mostly the scratches come from running the boat onto a muddy river bank.

Louis, a rubber rail makes sense, but once I'm finished with her, she's the 'show boat' for future builds, so I want to keep the wooden appearance; and I have had enquiries already... ;) :) :)

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fishingdan
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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by fishingdan »

Been there and done that. I always laugh a little bit when I read about some builders targeting the perfect finish. I don't mean any disrespect, but boats get cuts and bruises with normal use.

My first damage was very similar to your in the end. I, however, hit a big giant green channel marker that no human should miss. I hit it at about 6 knots while fiddling with the gps. :oops: Hit it just to the starboard side of the bow and ended up with nearly identical damage. Rubber rubrail went on the boat before the following season!

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Re: She floats - C17 ~~~~SPLASHED~~~~

Post by Dan_Smullen »

Great name for a beautiful boat!

I hope she’s still treat you well!

Best.
Dan

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