Popular Post keltik Posted October 16, 2020 Popular Post Posted October 16, 2020 So i've purchased my first ever boat, and it's a colossal heap of shit! According to the guy I got it off, its an unknown slapped together by someone. Its got a 11 foot long steel hull, powered by the second finest engine GM ever made, passing a whopping 180ish hp through a two stage Hamilton jet unit. It's fairly untidy for any age boat, but I intend to fix up and modify a few things. A few screen shots from my phone of the ol gal More pics, info and sharns to come once I finish fixing it. Regards, k 20 2 Quote
HighLUX Posted October 18, 2020 Posted October 18, 2020 Vids of doing mooooo squirty things please 1 Quote
nzstato Posted October 18, 2020 Posted October 18, 2020 Everyones getting squirts! Mean.... Thought about re-hulling it? Those Wattscraft kits are pretty cheap. Quote
keltik Posted October 19, 2020 Author Posted October 19, 2020 5 hours ago, nzstato said: Everyones getting squirts! Mean.... Thought about re-hulling it? Those Wattscraft kits are pretty cheap. I think I'm gonna put some more dents in this hull first....then throw the pump on a Thomas Hewitt hull and fit a 1UZ in front of it. But that's a long way in the future by which time my plans will have changed completely. 4 Quote
keltik Posted October 19, 2020 Author Posted October 19, 2020 First job was to get the trailer road worthy. Previous owner told me the lights all worked well and it just needed the plug repaired. So I wired on a new plug and discovered every single LED light was poked. Installed some new ones and ticked that off the list. Second job was to do something about these tyres... Turns out there aren't a whole lot of tyre options for 225/55R12.5 so I popped off to pick a part to get some new 4x114 rims. Went to fit the first one and the hub was flopping all over the place so I took it off and found this... Time to make a new axle I guess. 6 4 Quote
keltik Posted October 19, 2020 Author Posted October 19, 2020 Previous owner also said it had a leak he couldn't find somewhere in the front....there And I also discovered one exhaust was no longer attached at the transom and had flex fatigued itself clean off Time to reinforce the transom with a couple of patches hot metal glue gunned over the top. Will make up some new exhaust skin fittings that spread the load better than just welding straight to the hull. I did manage to fit an air filter and clean all of the dog hair out of the MAF sensor. Also moved the battery from sitting in the bottom of the bilge to an actual battery box behind the passenger seat. Moved the isolator switch from its bracket on the bottom of the bell housing (why the fuck was it put there?!) To the firewall between the seats so it's reachable by driver or passenger in an emergency. 5 Quote
keltik Posted October 19, 2020 Author Posted October 19, 2020 Took the water supply from the jet pump to the sand trap and actually put a bulkhead fitting on the transom to seal it properly. The current method was just water hose through a hole covered in bathroom sealant. Jobs to do in vague order of importance; Reinforce transom around exhaust outlets Make new exhaust skin fittings Patch hole in the bow Vee Install dry storage container for phones, wallets, keys etc Fit emergency manual bilge pump Get some HT leads the right length Replace sparky plugs Replace rocker cover and valley gaskets Fit some positive buoyancy foam...this is probably pointless. A steel hull with a cast iron 3.8 in it would need the Goodyear blimp to keep it from going the full titanic Mount the seats better/securely Make the hull look a little nicer Upgrade steering to actual teleflex cable instead of old school wire rope Fit m90 9 Quote
Popular Post keltik Posted October 21, 2020 Author Popular Post Posted October 21, 2020 Tonight's tool tip. Clamp a piece of wood to your work to act as a sacrificial guide when using a hole saw on metal. You can also use the air duster through the vents on the drill to cool it off quicker when the smoke comes out and its too hot to hold. You always hear AvE complaining about modern tools shutting off with thermal overloads....well this Ryobi just keeps going until the brush holders melt right out of her Keep yer dick in a vice 9 3 Quote
keltik Posted October 24, 2020 Author Posted October 24, 2020 So I removed the RH/starboard exhaust today and stripped back all the bog in that side of the stern. Discovered the exhaust outlet on that side was cracked half way round and the seam between the stern sheet metal and the bottom of the hull had cracked in one place and been buried under bathroom sealant. So I cut out the existing exhaust outlet and what I'm guessing was a previous engine's exhaust outlet next to it. Patches are made up, new exhaust fittings are made up....time to go and see the man with the lightning gun to put it all back together. I also found another poorly repaired outlet hiding underneath all of that filler. I think it probably used to be the engine tell tale or maybe bilge pump outlet that someone has covered up. There's a nice crack around it which has been leaking a little. Feel a bit umm...concerned? Since skimming this thing flat out across the lake the other week blissfully unaware of the hidden horrors. Then again it's a boat. No WOF, no worries. Good enough is. 5 2 Quote
tortron Posted October 24, 2020 Posted October 24, 2020 1 minute ago, keltik said: Feel a bit umm...concerned? Since skimming this thing flat out across the lake the other week blissfully unaware of the hidden horrors. Then again it's a boat. No WOF, no worries. Good enough is. No worries mate, Shit floats 1 1 Quote
Popular Post keltik Posted October 25, 2020 Author Popular Post Posted October 25, 2020 Got the new plates all welded up by my genius engineer friend. Put everything back together and checked to make sure I hadn't fried the ECU or done something silly. Gonna hit the lake tomorrow to see how many leaks are left. 12 Quote
Vintage Grumble Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 My wolves are still glowing from all the UV. P. S. that sounds ace. Quote
keltik Posted October 26, 2020 Author Posted October 26, 2020 Well....testing was a bit of a mixed bag. The exhausts don't leak any more....but a new big leak showed up under the fuel tank....but it was easy to fix with a blob of sealant. For about 20 mins, had some picturesque boating bliss. Then Mr Greer had some power issues and headed back to the shore. So I came to a stop and attempted to restart the engine to check how much cranking it needed, and it wouldn't start. Good thing I invited along a safety boat. Got towed back to shore and spent the next hour trying to figure out the issue while VG futzed with his carburetor. I'm pretty sure it's the usual 3.8 issue of the crank angle sensor being shit. So I'll go back out next weekend with a new one in there and a spare DFI module to swap in if the sensor doesn't change anything. 8 1 Quote
keltik Posted October 31, 2020 Author Posted October 31, 2020 How to replace the crank position sensor on your Commodore v6. Step 1, remove the firewall/engine compartment front cover. Step 2, use the historical artifact Hart Holden genuine GM service tool to pull the harmonic balancer off. Step 3, remove the plastic cover around the sensor, unbolt it and install a brand new Chinese knockoff sensor for $24. Reassemble all components applying some black goop to the crank pulley bolt and tighten to max ugga-dugga with the compressor red lined up to 130psi. Hopefully if the weather plays ball and I can get a safety boat to come along I'll give it a test tomorrow morning. Lessons have been learned tho and I will return to the boat ramp once the engine is hot and attempt to restart it there. 8 Quote
Popular Post keltik Posted November 1, 2020 Author Popular Post Posted November 1, 2020 You'll notice in the previous post, I omitted the step where you start the engine to make sure you haven't fucked anything up. So got to the boat ramp this morning, invited my dad out again as safety boat. Got off the trailer and the engine wouldn't start at all. Not a single fart. Went home, did some actual diagnostic work and figured out the electric box bits weren't getting any juice. Turns out I'd knocked a crappy plastic crimp on terminal loose from the EFI relay. Phoned up the old man but felt super bad asking him to drive another 45 mins over to the lake. So I went to meet him at Ohiwa Harbour since that would only be a 5 min drive for him. The wobbly wheel bearing decided to grenade on the way there. Stopped at Mr VG's house to pick up the axle he had welded up for me and slammed it in there before the wheel fell off. Decided to undersling the axle to fit my new wheels under the guards...Then at the boat ramp discovered the extra ride height means I need to park my Ute mostly in the sea. Anyways I finally got to go boating and the harbour was rough as guts. Steering cable snapped about 200m short of the boat ramp. After sitting there doing donuts at idle for a short while, I climbed onto the engine cover and sat hanging off the back so I could steer the nozzle with my feet. Now to figure out why the cable snapped and sort that out before next weekend. Better flip that axle over too and massage the guards. 12 1 Quote
Vintage Grumble Posted November 1, 2020 Posted November 1, 2020 Is it running all G? Sawnt you guys going way up wiotahi ways. SURE WAS WINDY. Quote
keltik Posted November 2, 2020 Author Posted November 2, 2020 22 hours ago, Vintage Grumble said: Is it running all G? Sawnt you guys going way up wiotahi ways. SURE WAS WINDY. Mate, it goes like a going thing on going day. AND you can turn it off when hot and it will start again. 2 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.