New Boat!!!! 1986 Sea Nymph Fishing Machine FM-161

[BoatDawg4120]

Still trying to figure out how to kill the motor with the key switch. I have an unused Magneto Wire that used to go to the old switch and then through the kill switch on the way back to the motor. I know this is going to be my issue but I cannot figure out how to wire it to kill the engine as there is no post on the new ignition for this wire. I made progress on the frozen throttle though. I removed the cable from the motor end where it snaps onto the linkage and the cable would move freely with all the same bends so I moved onto the engine side of the linkage and fount that I could not rotate the linkage without a pair of channel lock pliers. So I removed the linkage from the engine and found the plastic bushing was gummed up with some old grease that had turned into a tar like substance from age and use and such. Cleaned the bushing out and the spindle that slides into the bushing with some purple power and fine emery cloth. Put some new marine grease on it and slid it all back into place. Turns by hand now with a little bit of pressure. Reattached the cable and operated the controls both idle to full throttle multiple times to ensure it had nice smooth operation. Rear deck is secured. New Rod box door is secured. Only thing left is to attache my auto bilge float to the desired location and glue the bilge pump into place. Rerouting my fuel lines through the splashwell. Need to finish securing my wiring and she will hopefully be on the water this afternoon for her first test under power. I still need to mount my trolling motor and Mount a battery tray in the front for both group 31 batteries that will be powering it. I put in two 2LED lights to give me some light at night. One is mounted on the side of the console to light up the floor area and the other is on the bow storage panel where the old TM plug was previously mounted. I will not be using the TM plug, I wire mine direct to the batteries with a breaker inline. Less connections equals less possible fail/problem areas later. Will be posting finished product pictures within the next week or so. There will be a front casting deck added at a later date but for now I just want to fish.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Well...... She went into the water on Monday morning. Quick 15 minute run. 23-25mph with me and a buddy in the boat. She ran good. Few fuel supply issues at first but got it taken care of. Pulled her back out and went to the house and installed the trolling motor and both batteries. Loaded up the fishing gear and took her back to the lake. fished for a good couple hours. No fish on the boat unfortunately. But This story is not all good. On the way back to the ramp she spun the prop. I knew it was going to happen. Called around today and got a quote of $75 to balance paint and rehub the prop. Went online and ordered a brand new 10.5X11 prop with a hub already set and ready to go. $70.92 plus shipping. I couldnt justify rehubbing a prop for the same price as a new prop. Next week I will be a fishing machine. Woot woot!!!!!!

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Well, The prop is set to arrive on Tuesday. I went ahead and pulled the spun prop of and determined it is SS not Aluminum as I had previously thought. Could tell immediately by the weight of it. So I plan to buy a replacement hub and use the tools available to me here at the shop I work at and press the new hub myself. Ill be using the same technique we use to set our steering knuckle kingpins here on the trucks which is to throw the hub in the freezer for a few days to a week then press it in. I will still be using my Aluminum prop that I ordered for the time being though. But it never hurts to keep a spare on board incase such a failure would happen again. I added a little shelf under the console and mounted my radio pod and wired it in. Radio is fully removable so I wont have to worry about theft or damage from weather. Where it sits and the pod I have for it will protect it for the most part but here in FL we get those afternoon Hurricane like storms whipping up 75-80 winds daily lol. The lakes have come up the shore about 20ft in the last 3 days due to all the rain we have had and every canal i pass over driving daily shows signs of running water pushing out into the lake. It really sucks to know my boat is water ready and cant use it for another 4-5 days. I havent taken any recent photos yet. There are still tools and wire ties and connectors all over the floor near the console because I am still adding in a few things here and there since it is still down. As soon as I complete the wiring and get it all tucked away nice and neat I will get it vacuumed out and have some tin porn to share with all.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJF14l0tAQ

A short Youtube video I uploaded of the test run with me and a buddy on the boat. 23-25mph. Not too bad.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

New prop came in Last Tuesday around 1PM and It was in the water by 130. I had it wet every single day last week. Corrected a few wiring issues on the ignition and replaced the fuel pump. Here she is on the water. Cannot Describe the amount of pride I have in this boat and how happy I am with the results.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Quick update: Boat is running great now. Had a few engine and wiring issues for about a week. It was an off and on issue that I had to really take time to track down. I had wired in an old Tohatsu Ignition switch and it worked great. Would start the motor right up. Push to choke would engage the Electric primer system with no issues. Then one day the starter just stops working. Not a big deal as the motor starts up after 2-3 pulls even when cold. Then it would be running along full throttle or 90% most of the time, and after the engine got warmed up after 15-20 mins of running it would start coughing and you could hear and feel a cylinder drop out. After pulling plugs and checking plug wires and ignition wires and fuel delivery and even replacing the fuel pump due to a small leak on the other it still would continue to drop a cylinder. Well I finally found the cause of the cylinder loss. I had it at home and had pulled the plugs one day and pulled the lead wires off the coil packs that come from the CDI. The lead wires from the CDI connect to the coil packs with a post similar to the plug wires only smaller. Its a small post with a round clip on the wire that just snaps onto it. The connectors on the wires were old and you could see they were really thin. On the posts you could see charring and eveidence of arcing. So my theory was that after the engine got warmed up the heat would soften the clips up just enough that they were not keeping a solid connection and losing the current transfer before it got into the coil pack. Replaced the connectors on the lead wires with some new ones and snapped them down on the posts and she has run all day since with no problems. I have only taken the boat 3 blocks from the house to ramp due to the hubs and bearings and not knowing what condition they were in. Friday I replaced the hubs and bearings and seals. Took it on a 25 mile test drive Saturday. Hubs slightly warm just where they need to be. Ready to start taking it to my favorite holes.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Well, Shes going back into the construction phases. I Have been holding off on the front casting deck and finising the bench for the passenger seat to be added due to the fishing still being good down here but this last cold snap has put me off fishing for a bit and with the wife carrying one in the oven I need to be home a little more often now anyways. First a most important mod will be the raised front deck. It drives me nuts when I am by myself fishing and standing at the front of the boat. I dont like being down low in the boat. The rear deck is fantastic. Sits up level with the top rail of the boat and theres nothing in the way to pitch and flip or skip lures with low roll casts. The front deck however puts you about 16-18" lower than the top rail and its a pain. My buddy that usually fishes with me is always up front and when I first told him the plan about raising the front deck he was against it. Now, he keeps begging me to get it done. Well today after work even though its freaking cold, I will begin framing the deck out in aluminum and get it ready for the plywood. I will have full use of the front deck as storage area. The trolling motor batteries will be up front for now but I may end up repositioning them to the rear once its decked and I see how the boat handles with the added weight. I did actually get an upgrade on the powerplant. I did some work for a business acquaintance a few years ago restoring 2 pontoon boats and he owed me $1200. I was having lunch with him a few weeks ago and we went back to his shop and he was getting ready to pay me and I noticed a newer looking 40hp Mercury 2 stroke ELPTO sitting at the back of his shop. You could tell it had a few years worth of dust on it. So I asked him about it and he said he had gotten it a few years ago on a boat he bought to restore and that he could never get it running. Hes not very engine savy which is what our business agreement was actually based on. He restored the boats and I would repair the motors for him. Anyways, I told him to give me the motor and $300 as payment and at first he was against it but after some talking and infoming him that the $900 he was basically giving it to me for I could end up spending in parts alone, he decided to go ahead with the deal. So I headed home with my new 40 horse. I got to the house and put it on a stand. Checked everything over and it all looked good. Hooked up the water and a battery and fuel tank, added some oil to the injection tank and turned it over. It turned over no problem but wouldnt crank. This is where it gets good. I begin running through my processes for eliminating the issue. KISS right? First thing I look for is the kill switch. Directly under the ignition is a little cover which simply states "RUN" with a little sideways slot in it just the perfect size for.... huh, a key. So I take the key out of the ignition and slide it down in and hear the switch click. Put the key back in the ignition and turn it over and it immediately fires up. The water jet was weak and after dunking it at the ramp and running it pulling water on its own power determined the impeller had failed. $20 later the engine was on the boat running like new. 30mph me and another on the boat. All gear and of course the necessary cooler full of beer and ice. It does however need a new prop. You could see where it had hit either a submerged stump or rock at some point and did some major damage to the fins. 2 of the 3 fins are missing pieces off the ends the size of a quarter the other missing a piece about the size of a dime. All in all though it runs perfect. Couldnt be happier with the deal.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

New motor and some fishing pics.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

OH, and the boat has been named, "Marriage Counselor" Wife hates it. I think its fitting lol.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Well the construction of the raised front deck officially began lastnight. Got home from work and broke out the shop lights and went to work. Ive drawn the framing up multiple times and been very particular on the details. Measuring multiple times before marking the aluminum then multiple times again before cutting. I want to maximize all my storage options with the new deck. I will be raising the deck 10.5 inches and will have three hatches. There will be a 12"x 30" hatch at the very front and a 15" x 24" hatch on each side. Each compartment will be enclosed and separate from the other compartments so that I can keep different things stored separate from the others. Framing will be all alluminum. Wood decking on top and the walls separating the compartments will also be wood. It was nice to see it start to take shape as the framing starts to come together. I will get pics up as soon as i can.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Pics as promised. The deck is extremely solid. I surprised myself with how well the job has turned out and how fast it's going together.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Quick update photo of this mornings progress. Been at it since 9 so the last 2.5 hours has been spent checking measurements two or three times then cutting hatches and gluing and wrapping the carpet.

 

[gillhunter]

gluing and wrapping the carpet.

Looking good! Gluing carpet is not my favorite task :LOL2: .

 

[WPS]

Nice job on the deck!

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Thanks guys. I don't mind gluing. I've done enough to make it a quick painless task for me now. I wasn't able to get a good pic with the hatches in place before it got dark. I'll get some tomorrow after work. Gotta put the rear section of decking on still but ran out of carpet glue. Wife is picking up another quart for me while she's out tonight. So far Ive used a full gallon. Not too bad tho. Hopefully I'll get the new seats I wanted for Xmas from her. I dropped a few subtle hints. You know. Pics to her phone. Stuck to the fridge. The mirrors. Her car windshield. Lmao. Not that bad. She knows what I want.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Well. Here she is guys. All the decking is complete on my build. Very happy with it. Can't wait to get on the water. I have a few more braces to secure but all in all she's done. Looks awesome. I only have two pics but will get more monday when I'm actually near it during daylight hours. Sat and sun I am at work from dark til dark lol. The pics make it look smaller than it actually is. Deck measures 53" from front to shortest point on the back side. It's 63" from front to the console where I decked to. Front is 43" wide. 63.5" wide at the back side of the front deck. Every inch of space under the deck is usable storage. Happy as a fat kid eating cake right now.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

The wait is killing me. I want to get on the water so bad. Im off tomorrow but gotta family day planned at the Disney parks. Will be a good day for charging my trolling motor batteries back up tho. I have relocated the batteries to the rear of the boat. The boat runs 1000 times better with the weight in the back. The weather looks to be perfect for fishing this next week. Great thing about working the weekend is that it leaves the fishing spots wide open for me to hit during the week. Im excited about all the free space that having the storage is going to allow me to have. No tripping over tackle boxes or the trolling motor batteries. The raised deck allows me to move the trolling motor pedal wherever I need it on the front deck. The cable length left me extremely limited as to where I could position the pedal with the deck being set down so low. I will get some better pics and update everyone on how it does in the water in use.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Ive taken the boat out a couple of times now. My only issue no is that there is now too much weight at the back of the boat. If I am by myself or just have me and my daughter on the boat it jumps up and planes out very quickly but as soon as I add another adult to the weight it doesnt want to plane out for a while. Once it does plane it moves just as fast as it did before I moved the batteries to the rear. Now I am trying to determine how to better balance the boat.

 

[BoatDawg4120]

Been some time since I last posted. Boat has gone back into rebuild and modification status within the last few weeks. Rewiring and replumbing. Also adding some much needed accessories. Marine radio new bilge and the old bulge pump will be used as a back up I have a new switch panel and fuse block coming in. Entire deck is being redone once again. Sitting outside under oak trees with no cover took a toll on it. Not to mention my livewll plumbing started to leak I. Multiple places and would make the boat take on some water when out fishing. Pics will be incoming of the progress shortly. Here's a few with the deck ripped back out again.