F470 Zodiac Project

Romeo34 · 09 March 2017, 09:49

Just wanted to upload some photos of my Zodiac. It was produced in 1998 and is an ex army craft but it's still in pretty good condition. A little bit of gluing and tube sealant and it's running like a champion. It has a hard floor with both short and long stringers and thrust board in the bow. This keeps everything super rigid even if the pressure drops to around 2 psi. Zodiac should've just done one long continuous stringer to begin with. It has 50hp toaster pushing it along. Really fun boat to drive and super skittish with just one person in it. It needs at least 3 people to make it handle smoothly. Mods to come I think will be a stainless a frame for holding speargun and nav lights (would love to see pics of anyones existing setup)

This site has been a fantastic resource so far and I hope to see more SIB projects up here in the future.

Quick question. Next year the boat turns 20 years old and to be honest I want it to outlast me (it's just so much fun) What can I put on it to keep everything in good condition? Or can anyone recommend me additional maintenance I should be performing? It's stored outside under a tarp with a little pressure in it.

Romeo34 · 09 March 2017, 09:52

Literally every single patch was lifting so I set aside a whole afternoon to reglue. Took a while but it was fairly straight forward. I used to the genuine two part zodiac glue. Nasty stuff that takes forever to get off bare skin.

jeffstevens763@g · 09 March 2017, 11:54

thats a cracking boat mate keep it covered when you not in use 303 protectant for UV protection & keep maintaining it as you have should last a fair while. my little boat is a bit skittish at speed so i have done these mods over winter to distribute weight.

cheers jeff

office888 · 09 March 2017, 14:49

Zodiac tends to try to use stuff from their "parts bin" to keep a commonality of parts between models.

The stringers are the same used for many recreational boats.

There was a company in Florida producing a CMK, craft modification kit, which included solid one-piece stringers, and a transom plate so you could quickly bolt up the ETEC pumpjet if required.

Squid Boat · 09 March 2017, 16:37

Nice boat mate.

Cheers

Brage · 09 March 2017, 19:56

Great boat mate!

And thanks for selling me the aluminium floor!

Cheers

Romeo34 · 10 March 2017, 11:34

Cheer for all the responses lads.

Your very welcome Brage!

I'll definitely buy some 303 and get it nice cleaned up even more over the weekend. I'm actually planning on taking it out so I'll put some more pics up if I can.

Romeo34 · 15 March 2017, 11:16

Took the boat out over the weekend. Was fantastic weather on the Saturday. It was nice and calm in the bay and just an awesome time on the water. Even managed to spot a seal sleeping on top of bouy in the afternoon sun. The swell was actually pretty descent as well near the heads and had a fun time getting air of the peaks.

Decided to try my luck and take the boat out again on Sunday. The weather was average with 30 knot winds but thought stuff it. Got absolutely drenched and even tried to make it outside the heads but with the wind and swell it was near impossible. I was just burning fuel and daylight so I decided to turn around. No sooner had I made the decision to turn around the motor died. I tried restarting it and went through all the fault finding procedures but no luck. It would rev in neutral but would immediately die upon selecting a gear. The wind was blowing me into the rocks and I had visions of my pride and joy and my missus (who was with me at the time) were going to be deep sixed. Luckily I eventually figured out the bow line had slipped out in the heavy seas and I'd run over it and tangled it in the prop. I free'd the prop and fanged it out of there just in time. Once we'd gathered ourselves in the calm of the bay I noticed a police patrol boat hurtling towards us. It seems they'd received a call about a black inflatable with engine troubles about to be swamped. Some thoughtful soul must've seen us and sent the call out. Me being the sheepish egotistical twat I am denied the whole thing when the cops questioned me about needing help. Luckily they used their better judgment and realised I was the one they were looking for and returned back to base without anymore questions.

So lessons learnt:
Makes sure all equipment is stored adequately in anticipation of heavy seas, or any other unforseen event.

Dont lie to Search and Rescue responders because they could risk themselves to keep searching

Don't try to take on heavy seas for no good reason (I've had zodiacs 470's in way way worse conditions, bigger loads, night time, no land in sight but I was also being supported by a much larger mothership that could've rescued everyone with ease if we'd sunk the boat)

All in all I had fun but I felt pretty stupid afterwards. Learn from my mistakes. It cost me nothing this time but it could've been much worse.

Brage · 15 March 2017, 18:44

Nice pics mate! The beaches in Australia....

here in Norway its still snow and a couple of mounts to summer.

You`ve got to take care SIBìng, mate. Wind like that can flipp over your 470 in a sec. I done a couple of mistakes myself, so I know

Enjoy your summer, and stay safe!

Cheers