First dip in the ocean...

[Stigomery]

Well, thanks to Fenlander's fantastically good advice, I squeezed in a short engine-run-in session today over at Mersea Island... and what a day!

Set off from home about 09:30, arrived at 11:00. Did a quick recce and then brought the van down on to the hard standing. Inflated, kitted out, parked up van and got onto the water about 11:30. Everything was intensely easy although I can imagine during the summer months it's pretty hellish as there's not much space down there.

Highlights:

Boat ran sweet as a nut although the engine cut out twice which scared the bejaysus out of me the first time it happened... my back-up trolling motor managed to somehow disconnect the fuel line from the tank

Sun was shining, Blackwater estuary was like a mill pond. I'd been worried about getting cold, far from it, the sweat was lashing off me the sun was so hot. Out in the open water it was a little lumpy and I got airborne a few times

Fishing: pah - didn't get a nibble (not that I spent more than 5 minutes with my rod in the water)

Stats: about 20 NM and top speed just a smidge over 20 Kts on the GPS (iPhone and Garmin)

Boat performance: all good, however I've read about bowing floors and cavitation around the prop - I experienced the bowing floor which whilst annoying doesn't actually seem to matter... I didn't notice any cavitation or loss of power. One thing that did confuse me, the tacho seems to be reading funny, at WOT it was reading 2946 RPM but since I was doing nearly 20 Kts I assume to be the tacho wrong rather than the engine not doing 5000+ RPM.

I'm also really pleased with my instrument cluster and locating in the middle of the front seat is spot on for me. The 2 12v sockets a must for keeping the phone charged while running the RYA tracker. Also, tiller extension was invaluable!

I can now see why many people cut me down somewhat when I suggested I might like to ferry 4 adults and 4 kids around... once all my kit was on and I was busy making coffee, eating my sandwiches, fishing, etc. the boat felt an awful lot smaller than it does in my living room!

What a great first expedition in my SIB.

[Uncle Nobby]

Looks brilliant. Jealous!

[Fenlander]

Great report Stig... quite a decent outing for first time with the outfit in salt water.

Yes it can be busy in the summer but... as I'm sure I've said... once you know where there is likely to be parking in side streets we do the full assemble there and trolley the outfit to the slip.

That sort of engine cut-out can be unnerving... my last one was with daughter sitting on an over-long fuel line kinking it shut over the edge of the seat.... until you realise it's something that simple you tend to immediately think how far is it back to the launch place.

Great pics... thanks for posting.

I should be about 10 days from the new Suzuki arriving so hope to be hitting the Mersea slip before long.

[jambo]

Great well done bet you feel really good after your day out!! Looks as if you had great wx ideal for what you wanted to do. Here's to many more. Have fun and take care

[Stigomery]

A couple more pics...

And forgot to say that I arrived at about 1hr after low tide and whilst I had to be very careful of the mooring lines all-else was fine for launching at such low water.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Stigomery

One thing that did confuse me, the tacho seems to be reading funny, at WOT it was reading 2946 RPM but since I was doing nearly 20 Kts I assume to be the tacho wrong rather than the engine not doing 5000+ RPM.

Most likely the tacho is set up wrong? What type is it? and how did you configure it for the number of poles on the engine? I'd guess its a factor of 2 out - in which case your tickover revs should be abnormally low as well, perhaps 350-400 ish?

[thestig1973]

Nice sib

Sounds like a fantastic trip out stigomery

[Stigomery]

Originally Posted by Poly

Most likely the tacho is set up wrong? What type is it? and how did you configure it for the number of poles on the engine? I'd guess its a factor of 2 out - in which case your tickover revs should be abnormally low as well, perhaps 350-400 ish?

Ah ha... that could be it...

It was a cheap £8 job off eBay and I don't recall any set-up instructions... will have a look tomorrow - thanks Poly!

Yes, tick-over is about 400 RPM

[Stigomery]

And the video...

Apologies, it was one of these fangled on-line video things that made me do it...

[Stigomery]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

I should be about 10 days from the new Suzuki arriving so hope to be hitting the Mersea slip before long.

Good work, I'm very interested to hear how it goes as I did query the carb vs EFI thing a number of times!

Maybe I will see you down there... although my boss might notice me skiving off more frequently as the summer gets closer...

...having said that, there appeared to be pretty good 4G coverage down there

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Stigomery

Ah ha... that could be it...

It was a cheap £8 job off eBay and I don't recall any set-up instructions... will have a look tomorrow - thanks Poly!

Yes, tick-over is about 400 RPM

So I assume that works the same way as the tiny tachs. There is a setting for the number of revolutions per "spark", rather than "poles" on the alternator. Accessed by holding a button down for a while. The default is 1 spark per rev. I guess your Honda may have some fancy electronics so its only firing every second turn (only when fuelled, not on the exhaust cycle). On a tiny tach you'd set that to 720.

[Fenlander]

Great video... and near flat calm... never been lucky enough to see that at Mersea... great for speed trials.

I'll be getting some sort of tach as I understand the Suzuki 20hp is very quick to hit the rev limiter and I'd like to be able to see a fast cruise just under that speed. The dealers will be able to see the rev-limiter info when they hook it up for service so don't want to be seen to cane it too much.

[Max...]

Well done, great report.

Poly is spot on with the tach (I had one of those - it died pretty early. I think due to water ingress so might be worth trying to waterproof it a bit more) and they do seem to read at 50% - even when I thought it was set up as per instructions you had to double the reading.

If you're getting 5900 at WOT that is beautifully set-up.

[Fenlander]

I guess it's easy to remember doubling in your head as you look at it but wonder if the hours are out too? I wonder about looking at a better/different one? Have you a closer image of your tach Stig or a link to which type it is.

[Max...]

I think they're just the generic, cheap Chinese ones David - work OK for setting up a boat/prop/trim/engine but I would not rely on them for long term hours? The sort of boating we all do I guess it's easy just to note it down.

[Stigomery]

See attached image. As noted it was a cheaply from eBay. There are no buttons so it cannot be adjusted.

Hours are accurate, 5 hours use is about bang on the money for this engine.

RPM 50%

I'll replace it with something more "complete" next time round.

[Stigomery]

This is it: TACH

Although mine was cheaper... there seem to be many of that design...

I wonder if I wrap both HT leads will it give me the correct reading?

[Fenlander]

To best catch the eye of others who might not be reading this thread I've asked here...

http://www.rib.net/forum/f36/best-ti...tml#post707757