Badbaggers SeaArk 1872 Modification & Restoration Project

[bigwave]

Ok breath, you know that you have to keep it under 2000 rpm for the initial break in [-X [-X [-X looks like you will be just idling along......you got a good 10 hrs before you can WOT......... 8)

 

[Badbagger]

HAHAHA... NOT with an Etec. Drive it like ya stole it....

 

[Badbagger]

Once I get her back, I've still got a pretty good amount of work to do but it's all down hill now thank the good lord.

 

[Country Dave]

Looks cool all jacked up like that………………………… :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Pweisbrod]

Looks good bro, can't wait to hear how it does.

 

[Badbagger]

Thanks and time will tell all.

 

[Badbagger]

Finally, the day has arrived. Heading out the door within the hour.

 

[Badbagger]

SPLASH

She's been splashed :mrgreen: Where to start... I pulled up to Shields right at about 9:30 this morning and Brett the owner was finishing things up and just had to connect the water pressure hose. Brett is the owner and NOT afraid to roll up his sleeves and go to work and he did a GREAT job and I'm very happy with his work. Truth be told, he rigged the entire boat and did an outstanding job of it. By about 10:30, we rolled the trailer down the ramp. I went through a few things with Brett and cranked up the Etec. First thing I noticed was how unbelievably quite this engine is. These are not by any stretch grandad's old smokey 2 stroker. I've owned a few 4 strokes and a 2 stroke Yamaha over the past few years. This engine is pretty much just as quiet as the 4 stroke 90 Yamaha I had on the G3 1966 and that was a quiet engine. I motored away from the dock through the no wake zone for about 1/2 mile until I got to the channel marker and then I was good to go. I gave it a bit of throttle and I was really surprised how fast it got up on plane. These engines get up and go. I left the tabs up and out of the way on the first run up the channel. The boat itself is a beast. I've owned 3 G3's since 03 and always read how good SeaArk's were but had never ridden in one let alone drive on until today. The boat itself is actually a little lighter than the 1966 I just sold and I'd always wondered how it would run out with the weight always on my mind. I got my answer. The boat is incredibly stable and tracks true and runs straight as an arrow. There was a slight chop with no ill effects on the ride. In my G3, I'd have lost my teeth. Every G3 I owned beat me to death and pounded like no tomorrow no matter what.

On the first run with no tab, once I looked at my speed on my cell GPS I was running about 30 and noticed the boat wanted to porpoise a bit. I ran up river about 2 miles varying speeds etc all with no tab. Right about 30 on each run, the porpoising would start. Not horrible but it was there and worsened slightly as I gave her more throttle. These boats are known to porpoise and I thought it would be worse than it was but now it was time to test the tabs. On the next run, once I reached 30 she started to porpoise so I gave her about 1/2 tab and whoo hoooo. She settled right down and the porpoising totally disappeared. Prior to using tab, I varied speeds quite a bit and was looking for some stern squat with no tab. There was none and that I can attribute a good bit to the prop which is a 4 blade and it really got me out of the hole and pretty darn quick. I've got a LOT of weight in the stern and just forward are 2 more batteries so this had been weighing on my mind pretty heavily and I'm relieved. The steering was tight and it'll loosen up over time and use. When Brett mounted the engine on the Weldbuilt that mbweimer has, it showed 12 hours so the boat itself has a whole 12 hours on it.

Back to engine for a second... as I said, I varied the speed greatly just to see how the boat handled as it's the first time I've run it. While I was really tempted to give it all she had, I didn't. I got up to 3/4 WOT and then backed down through the range and back up several times.
The boat doesn't have a traditional speedo but at 3/4 WOT, the GPS registered 45 mph and I didn't check that until I got back to the dock.
I knew I was going pretty **** fast but just wasn't sure how fast lol. The boat handled absolutely flawlessly and absolutely zero issues.
Through the process I tried to plan it all out step by step and take my time. I believe in doing things once and doing it right and if you can't do that, don't do it at all. It's all downhill from here thankfully and there's still a good bit of work to be done. The SeaDek console pad has been ordered which will sport the name of the boat and that will be disclosed once I receive it.

Snapped a few pics of the business end of the boat and the console. Funny, Brett made the same comment on the Linex that I did. He too imagined a miserable time cleaning up that pretty white interior which got pretty mucked up. He told me "I was really surprised how easy this stuff cleans up"...

Time to rest for a short while and set the plan in motion to finish her up.


With that, Bagger out.

 

[bigwave]

Awesome.......looks very good.....I am sure you will dial that thing in over the next few trips. Time for some fishing. =D> :beer: :beer:

 

[Country Dave]

Badbagger » 7 minutes ago[/url]"]SPLASH


Through the process I tried to plan it all out step by step and take my time. I believe in doing things once and doing it right and if you can't do that, don't do it at all.With that, Bagger out.

That's what I'm talking about =D> =D> =D>

 

[Badbagger]

Thanks very much and a BIG thanks that is, yall have been a LOT of help believe me. I've got to get a few things done over the next couple of days and a planned trip is on the books for Wednesday to see what we can do about finding some Specks and Reds... and maybe Mr. Grouper.

 

[WildCard07]

Looks great man. Glad you finally got her on the water.

 

[Badbagger]

Thanks, been working on mounting the side scan transducer and it's a royal pain in the azz.. going on the jackplate and be glad when I'm done and hopefully that's in 30 mins lol.

 

[Abraham]

Just read the whole thread and love how it came out. Well done!

 

[CountryRN]

VERY NICE =D> =D> . I have been reading this one while working on mine and trying to pick up an idea or two. Have to say that you have done it right the first time. I know its a rewarding feeling to splash her for the first time and I am looking forward to that same feeling soon.

 

[Pweisbrod]

Good work. The engine will smoke even less after a few hours of use. Lol. They really are awesome.

 

[Badbagger]

Thanks very much, slowly but surely and FYI there is NO smoke lol... that's the OLD 2 strokes. This is SUPER quiet. Today I finished up the LSS2 Transducer for the HDS 12 Touch. I've got go fab up a bracket to lower it 5". Right now it will take a pretty picture of my trim tabs lol.
That's next week. Also mounted the door today to hide the crap under the console. John from Florida Marine Plastics made this up for me as well as the top of the console, gunnel rod holders which go on tomorrow and a few other things.

 

[nccatfisher]

What deg. on your tabs do you run to stop the porpoising? I put them on mine and was really surprised at the difference they made. Mine would porpoise bad (fuel tank and all batteries in front) two people sitting on back seat. I could really gun it WOT and just about throttle through the porpoise but just about any wake and it would start back. With one person riding in the front and it would lightly porpoise.

I started out with 5 deg. neg on the tabs and it would plane out almost immediately and no porpoising but it cut 8 MPG off my top end speed. I then played with them some and found out 2 deg appears to be the sweet spot. planes out fast, yet no porpoising and no cut in top in speed.

Crap, after typing all this I just realized you have just ran it one time, and haven't even ran it WOT, well give me a reply later on.

 

[Badbagger]

Hey NC, thanks for your input. Once I've run her a few times, I'll report back. However, they REALLY make a very BIG BIG difference and worth their weight in gold having had my share of boats without them.

 

[Badbagger]

Should mention one IMPORTANT thing. If you're doing a build, buy a DREMEL and a GOOD one. Without my Dremel, this would have been a good bit more challenging. Especially for trimming things up. INVALUABLE tool.