5.4 Searider project / epic trip to scotland

Tim M · 20 August 2006, 23:44

A few people have PMd asking me for some pics of it so here we go. For those who don't know I bought a searider a couple of months ago. Only problem was it was in Northern scotland (and I mean NORTHERN scotland) and I live in Norfolk. Oh well not a problem I thought. In the name of saving the student funds I decided not to book a hotel and overnight in scotland but to do the trip in one go. So...I dragged DaveH up here from Portsmouth, and the next day we set off at 3am to scotland! 27 hours later (of almost constant driving, stopping only when we needed petrol, when the satnav got us lost, and when dave thought he saw a kfc, one person driving while the other attemped to sleep) we were back home with the boat. Dave then confirmed to me that he was a nutter and drove back to Portsmouth (to polish a boat it turned out - that's dedication!).
Things I learnt from the trip:
-Scotland is a long way
-Northern Scotland is even further (even though it doesnt look that much further on the map!!)
-Navman sat nav is rubbish
-The back of a ford focus is not a nice place to sleep, especially when you have to share it with a spare trailer wheel and a tool box (and then a 60hp Evinrude engine on the way home

)
Here are a few pics. The Searider is an 1986 5.4 flooding hull model. It had been used up until recently on a rig somewhere. When we collected it, it had been sitting in a farm for a while. It came with an Evinrude 60 which had seen better days....
1: Stopped somewhere in Scotland for a burger king.....
2: The next bit was a blur up until collecting it cos I was asleep. We got lost finding the farm where the boat was (thanks to the sat nav). In the end I knocked on some random house only to be greeted by the most southern person you could imagine who had only recently moved up there. Just my luck! Anyway having found it we promptly loaded it up and set off for on the 750 miles back to Norfolk......
3: Home at last (thanks to a case of redbull and a packet of pro-plus). The boat in all it's glory.
4: And another....
5: The hull is in good shape - just needs a polish

Tim M · 20 August 2006, 23:48

6: The trailer we took up there was "borrowed" from my other rib neptune. I had spotted a yard trolley on ebay a few weeks before which I won for only 99p! The plan was to transfer the searider onto this. It proved impossible to pull it off, so we tied my faithful old punto to the searider and gave it some revs. What was left of the clutch (having pulled jimbos 585 out of the sea and moved a 2 ton arctic 22) managed to drag the boat onto the trolley.....
7: Job done. Trolley is perfect for the job!
8: A few weeks later after some work. So far I have removed everything from the boat (the console and a-aframe are currenlty being painted in the shed). I was hoping the tubes would come up well with a good TFR treatment but I was wrong. They were in a hidious condition. They held air fine (now I see why people rave on about avon tubes). In the end I decided to paint them with hypalon paint. I was weary about doing this becasue I was worried it would like rubbish. But, after many hours of careful application, it doesnt! Im really pleased with the results. The deck has also had a few coats of paint after some prep. I used international brightside again, after sucess with it on neptune. This is after two coats. A few more needed yet......
Next job is to tidy the transom up, and then compound and polish the hull.

More pics coming soon!

daveh · 20 August 2006, 23:54

Nice one Tim, I could't have desribed the trip as accurately as you! You forgot about the almost running out of Petrol!

For all your boating delivery enquiries please contact tim!!!!!!

Tim M · 20 August 2006, 23:58

Dave dave dave. As I told you at the time, you can go hundreds of miles with the light on! The fact we had already been about 70 with it on was irrelivent! (That was in fact one of the most hairy moments of the trip, made worse by the fact we were only 30 miles from home).

There is no way I'm ever driving that far again in a day. It really was too much.

Edit: According to my maths the above means we could probably have got home

meaning that the 20 minuts we waited outside that petrol station for it to open were wasted!

Simon B · 21 August 2006, 11:42

Timbo,

What's that Hypalon paint like and who make it?

Tim M · 21 August 2006, 12:16

The orange stuff came from IBS. It ain't cheap at about £30 a litre. Its looks and behaves just like any other sort of runny/thin paint really. Its reasonably easy to apply. I experimented with various rollers, brushes and foam things, and the you get the best finnish with a foam brush. The only problem is they dont last long so I used about 50 doing this job.

I bought a small can of black hypalon paint to touch up Neptune. This was a lot thinner than the IBS stuff (it was from polymarine) and acted almost like thinners - it would spread its self all over the fabric and dry very quickly. I think the ISB stuff is more durable though. Without looking very very carefully you really can't tell its been painted.

bedajim · 21 August 2006, 12:49

Hi

Looks realy good

Can we see a pic of the outside to?

Is it possible to spray the tube paint or only brush/roller and what is the drying time?

James

Tim M · 21 August 2006, 12:55

It says on the tin you can spray it on but I don't have a sprayer. That would have been preferable as it would have taken half the time. Its touch dry after about 10 minutes, and hard in a few hours.

Thats the only pic i've got of it painted I'm afriad.