Saturday, June 14, 2008

Still not fast enough


huntsman on a bench
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

The Huntsman has seen some development. Spray rails have been fitted using quarter round wood from a hardware store. Using a pair of dividers I marked out the positions relative to the keel. They certainly look nice when sanding sealed and varnished.

On the water they do make a difference with the water breaking very differently at the front. I think they help the lift at the front too.

The bad news is that the motor still smells when running. There's not much power coming out of it either so I think it's toasted and a new one will be required. We're back tot he original 2-blade propeller too as none of the new ones I bought will fit. The shaft appears to be an old imperial size so either I replace it (near impossible) or re-tap the threaded end to suit the new props.

The water cooling gave me grief too. I hadn't realised just how tight you have to do up the retaining nuts and it leaked like crazy on the water. A quick tweak with the pliers did the job so at least one problem was solved. When running water was emerging from the back outlet so I assume it was doing it's job.

For the moment the boat has gone into store as it's stopped being a quick job and now looks like a more involved and expensive project that I have time for right now. Perhaps in the autumn I'll take another look.

No comments:

Post a Comment