Engine mounting advice

dmoore · 02 September 2002, 20:08

Heres a question that someone can help a newbie with.

I have been dismantling my newly purchased rib because it was wired up by Stevie Wonder and a couple of bats and in the process decided to take off the engine and replace the galv bolts for SS.

I noticed that the engine is not mounted on the centre line of the boat but about 50 mm to starboard. Is this correct? maybe some correction for the handedness of the prop or some such? or do I need to fill the holes and start again?

Thanks in advance

Dave

Pete7 · 02 September 2002, 21:55

Yep, thats about right, its so the torque from the prop is cancelled out on single engined boats. At the speeds we are dealing with it works well. Mine is off set even further still with no noticeable effects, neutral steering and good handling.

One suggestion I will make on wiring a rib is you should apply the KISS principal (keep it simple). Hope this helps, regards Pete

dmoore · 02 September 2002, 22:04

Thanks Pete.

Having been a sail boy up until now (still am actually) I have a whole new set of norms to learn. You are right about the simple wiring, I just wanted to put waterproof connectors on some decent cable and route the cables away from the oil tank and fit waterproof switches on the console.

I want to get the boat in good order as I have booked an instructer for my RYA 2 course and dont wqant to be embarrased by someone elses bodge.

Alan · 03 September 2002, 11:40

As Pete says its common practice to offset an outboard - particularly larger ones - to offset the torque effect of the engine. On my BWM the engine was offset by a good inch or two.

RIB wiring is generally cr*p so redoing it yourself is a good idea. One suggestion might be to go for circuit breakers (resetable) rather than fuses.

Cheers,
Alan

Daniel · 03 September 2002, 22:24

Can i suggest fitting a main isolator switch for the battery - many reasons including anti-corrosing, safety, and peace of mind (no instruments left on by mistake), oh and a little bit more security.

Also my engine is about 2 inches to stbd and still torque steers and high revs.

Dan

John Kennett · 04 September 2002, 09:02

Another tip for the wiring is to resist the temptation to tidy it up too much.

Although it is normally good practice to bundle everything into a loom and spiral wrap it, cable ties it and clip it to something solid every few inches, this makes trouble shooting at sea much more difficult! When you install anything on a RIB think about making fault finding as easy as possible -- these things tend not to last very long on RIBs . . .

And don't build anything around it -- see Mike's experience in the gallery

John

DM · 06 September 2002, 13:24

Not to sure about battery isolators. The red key fell out of mine after a bit of wake jumping which subsequently blew the rectifier on the outboard. Also had one fail due to the green growth on the copper terminals inside. I now have the engine leads direct to the battery and every thing else through the isolator. I like the heavy duty twin battery isolators with no key but mounting space is a bit tight. Any ideas appreciated.

Jelly · 09 September 2002, 10:38

Yep the sailing club's I've been involved with over the years have all had problems with the corrosion on the red key isolators.
A few methods seem to work, a good squirt of crosion inhibitor, get the marine isolators not the cheep car ones that seem to get used or as one club does change them out each year a a service item.
Jelly

Daniel · 09 September 2002, 10:59

My local sailing club (where i am in charge of powerboat maintance for my sins!) have an even better solution...

...get pull start engines!!!

In all seriousness i fitted an isolator to my last boat about 5 years ago and all was fine when i sold it 6 months ago and it's one of the first things i did to the new RIB, time will tell 'coz the RIB not only gets more use but gets MUCH wetter!!!!

Think i'll start carrying tools to by-pass it just incase.

Cheers