Zapcat rebuild

[Allye]

Seems as I’ve got some time on my hands and I enjoy seeing people boat progress I though I’d share mine.

I’ve had a few boats over the years, last summer I had an old fletcher with a DT85 on it, paid £600 and ended up putting a new floor in and refitting the interior. Sold that in September as it was just a tad too thirsty and slow for me!

I wanted a Zapcat for a long time and finally got my act together in January and stuck in a cheeky bid and won it to my surprise for £1300, January advantages I guess! It was sold as serviced and ready to go by a guy who actually deals boats and had previously owned a number of zapcats....

Here a list of things that needs to be done;
-new floor, solid but going in places and change to 2 piece
-half the sponson rope came off in the first use as they had degraded over time.
-all 4 carry handles frayed.
-thorough clean and mould remove
-all 5 foot straps have come half off and frayed
-2 repairs half come off
-engine running on 2

So not quite ready to go, does hold air amazingly well and the trailer is great, apart from very brown grease. Bought it in the dark, it advertised well....!

[Allye]

I carried out a compression test when I got home and all was well there, he said it had new gear oil and impeller recently (not sure I believe it now) and I replaced the plugs. As you may have seen I had issues with it being really down on power. After rebuilding the fuel pump and replacing the coils it was no better, tried a different CDI, no better. Finally stator sorted it out. It’s quite obvious this has been upside down once or twice in its life.

The chap said it had never been raced but the faded sponsor outline and holes for a prop guard suggest otherwise.

(Note the crimp terminals are temporary to get it running)

[Allye]

I’d also cleaned the carbs out and set the mixture screws to factory, I’ve got marine engineer friend who is goes to balance the carbs and check timing when we are allowed out to play again! The is stock apart from lighting/charging coils removed from stator, upgrades reeds and the bike coils. Prop is a 15’ stainless item.

I spend a solid day cleaning it, supermarket mould remover worked quite well but it was Miltons that worked the best at removing black spots - on recommendation from the local RIB repair guy and something I hadn’t read online. Used a rib UV protector product and a coat of car wax, came up very well.

You can see here the damage to the sponson ropes.

[Allye]

I ordered a really heavy duty tarp from eBay, barely flaps in the wind! Some rope and clips underneath and works well, it’s clear it’s been uncovered for quite some time with the damage to ropes and glue.

Engine has the tiller extension and damper, it looks quite clean here but is a tad rough on the leg. I’ll either paint it or get a ex RNLI mariner or Yamaha - if you can find one.

And today I bit the bullet and fully removed the sponson ropes - as we aren’t allowed out to play any time soon. Plan here is to place 110mm patches with D rings in over each anchor point and add new ropes accordingly, I’ve got 20mm ropes coming to replace it. It’s obviously not at sturdy as the originally but I won’t be racing or using in sizeable surf so I think it’ll be fine with the load spread over 7 patches on each sponson. I get paid to helm IRB’s in surf so don’t need to ruin my boat to do that!

[Allye]

And that brings us up to date! Got lots of bits on order, there are a few areas that need repairs, the worst is where the sponsons have departed company from the nose cone.

Where the sponsons Is glues to the nose cone, it seems there is a lot of weight/stress going through that areas, I was thinking about using a stainless spreader plate over the PVC into the fibreglass to help with this. Thoughts?

[Allye]

Forgot to add, trailer came with the facility for a removable light board, by law the lights should be on the trailer not the load FYI! So ordered some galvanised steel and a LED light bar and made one up. Not a fan of the thumb screws these are traditionally secured with so use a bolt and just leave a spanner in the car to remove.

[craig_c]

great looking boat and you got yourself a deal!

Would love a shot of one of these!

[Roflhat]

That came up really well! The Geminis are by far the toughest thundercat brand out there.

I would just reglue the nose cone to be honest, if you're not racing there won't be a huge amount of stress on it, that's mostly at the transom anyway. The newer models only have the ropes on the front half of tubes anyway, could copy that style, saved a few hundred grams!

[Allye]

Originally Posted by Roflhat

That came up really well! The Geminis are by far the toughest thundercat brand out there.

I would just reglue the nose cone to be honest, if you're not racing there won't be a huge amount of stress on it, that's mostly at the transom anyway. The newer models only have the ropes on the front half of tubes anyway, could copy that style, saved a few hundred grams!

Thanks! Pleased how it came up. I’ve ordered all the bits now so I’ll keep the rope full length, it’ll be better for leisure and diving use.

Good to know about the Gemini’s, seems well put together for a PVC boat, it’s really frustrating I fixed the engine just as the lockdown kicked in!

[smiffy422]

Hey Allye,

Dose your boat have any patches on the port side ?

[Allye]

Originally Posted by smiffy422

Hey Allye,

Dose your boat have any patches on the port side ?

Yes it has a large rectangle one which is just coming off to be replaced. I got the boat from Christchurch if you’re familiar with it?

[Allye]

Replaced the cheapy crimp connectors on the coil packs. Also added the bridge earth between each earthing point. No matter what you do you can’t get this wiring tidy. Annoys me but it’ll do.

[smiffy422]

Yes,

This boat raced before I’ll find you the cowling number and name later. I owned it for about a three months ( I’ve had 6 over the years ) I’ll drop you some more info later in a PM but if it’s my old engine the crank is welded

[Allye]

Originally Posted by smiffy422

Yes,

This boat raced before I’ll find you the cowling number and name later. I owned it for about a three months ( I’ve had 6 over the years ) I’ll drop you some more info later in a PM but if it’s my old engine the crank is welded

Ohhh very interesting, thanks I’ll look forward to the information.

[smiffy422]

Some of the old racers will know the boat number 75 L&O meats.

I removed the foam floor and removed the painted branding on the side but left the Zapcat logo.

[Allye]

The only branding outline I can see is “rising star”

Same boat?

[smiffy422]

Pm me your number I’ll send you a photo

[Allye]

Well first ever attempt at PVC repairs went ok. For some reason there was a huge rectangle patch over a 1” scuff with a small hole. As you can see it was hanging off so replaced for a much smaller round patch. Got 5 new foot straps and 4 carry handles coming from Ceasar in SA, you can see the fun I’m having with the old glue.

[Allye]

Got to grips with the glue and got the tubes reattached to the nose cone, really pleased with how that went, they don’t flop about now!

You can see where I’ve fully removed the old black sponson rope lopes, this left a variation in depth where the new d rings would struggle to glue to firmly so I filled each and every one of the 14! D rings have now arrived so glueing all 14 of those in place will keep me busy.

Other repairs include two long patch under the nose cone where the boat has been rammed into the trailer on recovery and taken chunks out. Also looking to cover the plastic rails on the trailer to avoid this in the future and lastly a small slice at at the stern in the hijacker area (not containing air).

[Roflhat]

That's looking really good! Nice work on the repairs