johnnyfive

Fitted a China cheapo hour meter tacho device the other day. Went out for about an hour last night, still don't have the nerve to hold it WOT for an extended period of time (because questionable twostroke). Seems pretty happy on the plane at 30-50km/h, did squeak it up to 60 at one point, has more in it, but I didn't have anyone to tow me back to the ramp if it shit itself. I imagine a bit more speed will be unlocked with an efficient pump. Around 4Krpm at 40km/h ground speed (plus or minus a tiny bit for water speed). Seemed around 7Krpm for 60km/h. Bad footage is bad. I still don't know where to set the variable trim on the nozzle at different times, I find myself adjusting it all over the place with only very minor effect felt. Only travelled about 3k out of town, but covered about 26km in total on the return trip. Had to slow down a lot in order not to swamp swimmers/kayakers/rowers/fishermen/ducks. Boat river journey 5-1-21 by John Bell, on Flickr Good fun though, just need more time available, and maybe to carry some extra fuel, it does seem to hoon through a reasonable amount.

Would give you more water up the top too hopefully

Yeah that would be my plan I think. To get under that low bridge, leave as soon as there is enough water to get up there

GPS plotted a path of some of our journey yesterday. Stupid tide running away from us though, there only seems to be a couple hour window where you have useable water depth. boat journey 2-1-21 by John Bell, on Flickr

Also, I think I'm pretty settled on GreenWaste as a name for it, although am still considering TrashBoat. Trash Boat which is fuelled by Bin Juice.

So yeah, after googling what wear rings are supposed to look like, and frowning at the pump from the donor banana ski, yesterday I removed the pump from GreenWaste and had a look. Two pumps on the floor, pretty much identical. IMG_20201231_102856_1 by John Bell, on Flickr I believe this is what a bad condition wear ring looks like, from the donor ski. Cracks and grooves, not toight. IMG_20201231_113413 by John Bell, on Flickr And this is what the Greenboat had in it, note the missing material around most of the diameter. Lots of clearance. IMG_20201231_113456 by John Bell, on Flickr So I figured bad was better than worse than bad, so gooped it up and bolted it back on. IMG_20201231_121347 by John Bell, on Flickr Sploot. IMG_20201231_133309_1 by John Bell, on Flickr Launched it into the harbour this morning and pootled about with VG and Keltik, it still doesn't feel 100%, but its pretty usable now and hooks up and pisses off quick enough for me. I will likely order some bits and pieces to tidy up the original pump and probably swap it back in the winter perhaps. IMG_20210101_104035_1 by John Bell, on Flickr I'm waiting for a China GPS speedo, and need to fit a hour meter/tacho, fit some latches to the hood, attach the paddles in a better way, and I think that'll do for now. What a novelty having a working toy

Not really, I'll try and get a photo at some point, it doesn't have many features if I remember right, aside from many scrapes and marks in the plastic.

The more I look at this thing, it never stops looking awkward as shit. Luckily you can't see much boat when you're sitting in it I guess. God its ugly.

So yeah, as seen above, took it back to the water yesterday and it does run a lot better when its not breathing its own fart cloud. Picture of failed engine mount and V band that needed toightening. IMG_20201228_170634 by John Bell, on Flickr I'm not completely happy with its performance though now its making full more power, it doesn't 'bite' the water like I would expect, if you feed it more power than it can shift water, it nangs out and feels slower than if you were to nurse it up to speed. You can see/hear this in one of the vids. It handles a quite loosely, but I don't have much reference to compare it to, aside from the donor ski which carved corners like a water-skiing cut cat, comparatively. If you do manoeuvres that are too aggressive or any spins it comes off the plane pretty easily and doesn't pop out of the water like the motor seems capable. So next step is to look at the spare jetunit, if its any better pop it on for testing, and I feel I'll probably wind up giving one of the pumps a birthday. Cute IMG_20201228_182945 by John Bell, on Flickr

angery cow moo

This is most excellent news, after this afternoon, I am also ready for another testing outing. Very good, well done.

I was probably about ready to pack it in for the afternoon and start looking for problems, when we realised the engine bay was full of smoke and it started pumping out the vents under the dash. It seems to have an exhaust leak, and I think is struggling to run on its own fumes. An engine mount as also failed so its flopping about a bit in there. I wouldn't say 100%, but runs a whoole lot more consistantly with the ute tray taken off. Filming is hard Built in smoker IMG_20201219_171149 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20201219_171156 by John Bell, on Flickr Also, kinda liking the look of it with the tray/hood off better. IMG_20201219_181107_1 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20201219_181149_1 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20201219_162657 by John Bell, on Flickr

Between filling the intake grate with lake weed, and intermittently running like a bag of dicks, it was a bit lame initially. It would start off strong but get to the point where you got 100% power or a stumbling surging 20%, but run progressively worse the longer you persevered. When it went well it'd skim along pretty well with two of us in it. IMG_20201219_155248 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20201219_155144 by John Bell, on Flickr

Had been referring to this as a green croc (distasteful shoe) up until now. But @Vintage Grumble and my wife made the comparison to a council green wheelie bin the other day. I believe its the same material, So currently thinking about garbage related potential names. Considering branding it with 'NO HOT ASHES', or 'GREEN WASTE' or similar. Lets hear your suggestions. I think its customary for boat names to be weak wordplay so keep that in mind. This afternoon I tentatively buttoned up the wiring, threw the ute tray on the back, rinsed the dust off quickly, and met @Vintage Grumble and @keltik up at Bonniedoon to see how quickly it would sink or otherwise fail.

So yeah, thanks to Mr @keltik we got the new old motor in the hole and bolted down. Spent a little bit of time reattaching the lines for the oiler, fuel etc etc. Because using the entire electrics from the donor ski with a forward mounted motor and different hull, all the wiring was too short in some places and too long in others, spent a while lengthening some bits (and coiling other bits up in big loops). No speedo in this hull as no spinny wheel speed sensor and I CBF mounting it, have ordered an AliExpress GPS one to bang in the dash. Have managed to get both the trim angle, fuel level gauge and oil low light to function. The fuel sender in both of them were not working, did some bodging, soldering wires to the board on the sender to bypass the problem hiding somewhere in some epoxy. I'm yet to confirm if the oil pump is primed and functioning, but as I'll show soon, I think its working in some capacity. Will shorten and tidy up excessively long battery leads at some point also. Boring picture is boring. IMG_20201219_182000 by John Bell, on Flickr

I demand more nang footage

Pretty easy to get, likely this bad boy https://bits4bikes.co.nz/products/spf126312c?variant=29502205296755

M8, minter. Also, never mind 2.75", what about 3.5" http://www.awardimporting.co.nz/product/1841-350-17-4pr-54p-tt-hf313-duro-knobby-motorcycle-tyre

I'm not sure if I'm missing anything, aside from brain function

Oh I have some items here. One trash sack of clothes, including a Fiji bitter singlet. One unidentified side stand One new 2.75x17 shinko golden boy, I'll keep it if no one claims And here's the two pictures I took this weekend. 

Nice work everyone

9am at Caltex Makaraka

Mostly yes?

Is everyone here?

Oh I need to get Bart on his bike for some test laps but maybe he'll be too written off?