Crow

Hello all ,after removing a 15 hp Mercury petrol outboard and installing a 25 hp 3 pot vetus , mated to a Enfield leg and a 13x8 or 9 prop in my little 25 ft springer. Would you think 3. kilometers / litre. Or about 2. 5 litre / hr is acceptable or a mile away from what it should be,thanks,Nick.

Then ,transport costs 2 ways.+ a crane. Unless your near a yard. £700 / ft well , labour / overheads and insurance are always going up so is steel plate,plenty of people use him so that means a lot

11 ft extra will not make any difference to engine/ prop/ gearbox, it might even be faster, but having done a small water bug stretch I'd forget all about it do as others have said buy one the length you want,Itl cost more to stretch and fit out than selling yours at a reduced amount to sell quick ,and putting it towards one that's right

Have to agree with you on the speed,I was moored at saxilby last night ,other side of railway bridge as all other moorings were full cooking breakfast was real exciting when large speeding cruisers came past,and another thing why is it that most of the large fibreglass boats want there side of river and 1/2 of mine,sooner or later your going to get a great big pointy end bit of metal right through your second Morgage

When I had a outboard on my waterbug I had a short length of barge pole that fitted into a bit of pipe welded to the tiller,and just put a pin in it to secure it,it needed to come out easy as it blocked access to entry to cabin.i landed up fitting a steering wheel,well worth the £100 odd pounds and time to fit you wouldn't regret it. Mines about 2.75 or 3 :1 ratio as far as I can remember.trouble was the tiller arm had to be fairly long to get some leverage to steer it ,to short and it's hard work on the arms

Pleased you got there ok,the last time I saw you I thought you were being towed down either the witham or fossdyke, you could have borrowed the 4 trak, it's marginally better than a land rover ,well it's Japanese anyway ,have a good trip,

Thank you

What you want to be doing is looking at other people's ideas and designs ,what's good for you isn't good for Fred down the other end of the moorings, if you need to read a book on it I'd proberley try and buy a boat all done to someone else's spec! do what you think is right for you, forget about books you'll spend the rest of your life reading crap that's only good for a minority if your doing that little springer you have a good start ,it's mostly empty,get the plating done first before you put any more stuff inside,then have a night drawing a plan,the first thing I'd do is make the entrance doors to the starboard side you can then have a proper sized toilet on port side ,just think what you want out of it and do it ,it's a bit like handwriting ,a very individual thing,if you want some photos of my much modded springer interior get back to me

just a update on my waterbug inboard conversion for those that followed it ,and assisted . its all done and been running well ,when I eventually aligned z drive to flywheel and got softer engine mountings and a hundred other things,one thing, you remember I was concerned about most cabin cruisers Enfield leg drive rubber gator/ boot being submerged ,well pleased to say mines 5 inch out the water while stationary,it steers real well fwd and Rev ,may be due to extending the keel 30 inches to a knife edge ,Itl go in a straight line with no steering input for 200 yds . prior to the mod with the outboard on ,I was always on the steering wheel correcting it ,z drive needed 5 bearings in the top section, and when I get chance the top bevel gears need shimming,as it clatters and rattles more than I like it to.

I'd have to agree with majictime 100%. After spending hrs and hrs welding and grinding ,fitting ,fetching stuff and buying £600 fridges £1000 rear cover etc etc,I'd have been better off going to work and earning a bit more ,and just buy one that's finished and done,if there is such a thing. I'm in a position that I can work on boat at home and do anything I want to it,but I'd never do another,the best place for a project boat or one thats nearly done ,is in my view best left where it is ,get one that's ready to go , Itl be cheaper in the end ,and you'll have less headaches

Yes that was 18 month ago ,blue star surveys ,we went all over it 2.9 MM was the thinnest we could find ,it sounds thin to you lads with proper boats but he was happy. So am I ,it's been 30 years in and out water and I don't see any reason why it won't last another 10 or 20

if it was round lincoln area ,I'd fully plate it from waterline down for £3000 but who's to say Itl need all doing, mines 30 years old and the only welding it's had done is when I cut it in half and extended it,and I can still fit it on a trailer, v bottom doesn't make diddly squat difference to any decent plater welder ,just means a bit ioverhead welding that takes a bit longer than in the flat or horizontal, 9 k what planet does he live on, I gave 3500 for mine but have extended hull and cabin fitted front deck and doors fitted leg and inboard ,rear canopy the list goes on and on if you want it with a trailer and a Diahatsu 4 trak I'd think about 16 k would buy it and I can't see that ever happening ,

Just a short clip of me bringing it home for outboard to inboard conversion, never again! IMG_3314.MOV

Oh and the prop I was so worried about is fine now I have reduced tickover speed to 850 rpm and removed my twin morse, I have fitted a single lever tx controll and find it Easy in comparison

Well the exhaust in water test went ok. It bubbles like a hippo while stationary , but no ill effects ,when on the move you can't even see it's there , it just mixes with the flow from prop and keel,it's the flex stainless one on starboard ,the other 2 on port are flow and return to my keel cooler rad

Up date on peppermint pig, exhaust in the water is no problem,and the 13x8 prop I was worried about is ok now I've got my engine speed down,and it's more controllable with a single lever controll ,I've managed to fit a lawnmower throttle and cable to the stop controll arm and position it in a place just before the engine stops,this takes all the free play out the pump rack and stops the Engine hunting , and reduces tickover speed as well,I've still got electric stop seloniod wired to key

At least your out my way if I do get it launched ,am swapping twin lever morse to single lever as on a outboard,as i found it hard to use in a hurry ,and I'm not wanting any dramas

Got as far as gunthorpe last year,,,it's nice scenery on the way

If I get my finger out,Saturday , there's more and more jobs to do on it,decided to get a Crx 80 fridge as fed up with messing about with a cool box ,fitting it and altering cupboard space to suit is a challenge in its self

No prob not but when I put in in last week with all that wind my gear cable came off all I had was forward and nothing, that was real exciting only thing I could do was turn engine on/ off and try to let the wind help me,took a bit of getting back on trailer,

cal, if you see me performing Ffs Keep out the way ,I don't want any insurance claims. That old prop is for a bit of a test ii may even pull it on to the fossdyke from the slip,,don't want anymore excitement at that site for a bit

I'm hopefully getting it in water over Easter, I've welded a 40 MM stainless flexy pipe and it's at the he back of the transom,I'm trying it as it is in the water,and I can lift it out to make any mods to it if needed, I've enough length on it to swing it 90 deg then fit another 90 and put a stack pipe on if I have to

I've had to make a little deck so I can play about with props when its in the water,I've acquired a 10 inch and unknown pitch prop to try,it looks like it's had some bad surgery in the past,Itl give me a better understanding on what I need,well it's something to compare to my 13 inch to and I'd sooner it be real low power as there's some expensive boats at burton waters and I want to be in controll of it rather than the other way round

Neil thank you, Any thing will be better than cutting up a brand new one I've only just paid £200 for, tell me what you want for them ,doesn't matter how rough they are I'll weld them up or alter pitch to what I think might work, it's left hand I need, maybe if I turn it round Itl slow things up a bit. Cheers nick