My Excel and Volaire Experience so far

[Brinormeg]

I couldn’t find much information, pictures, or videos about Excel products and on the Volaire in particular, except some photographs on here from PD and a couple of others, limited pics on Excels website and perhaps a couple of videos on youtube.

I have started this thread so to have some basic info available in one place for any other newbies like myself who come along, and will include videos and photos others might find useful, (these will no doubt be provided by the better half while she masters the gopro and video editing)

Being new to sibbing I have already received a huge amount of advice on here directly, or by studying hundreds of old threads on everything from Vhf radios to Transom wheels.
I will say a disclaimer that these will be MY personal opinions, based on My personal experiences of Sibbing, Excel and the other connected products bought from them, or other suppliers as time goes by.

Everyone one is different and may have different experiences and opinions, and as such I would value others input that might benefit people in the future to

[Brinormeg]

So after years of thinking about it and looking at different options, we decided to buy a quality second hand Sib set up now.
In normal times there would have been plenty of choice, and would have worked out much cheaper than buying new. But unfortunately, this last 18 months have been far from normal, with staycations becoming the norm and lots of people with extra money burning a hole in their pockets. This along with boating supply issues, meant prices had become ridiculous, to the point that people were at times buying old setups from fleabay unseen, for more than the price brand new.

This demand also added to mans natural greed, so created another negative effect with some rather unscrupulous people digging out old Outboards and Sibs, tarting them up a bit, and selling them on with absolutely no consideration for the safety or wellbeing of those they sold them to. ( Who said money has no conscience)

Anyway being new to the world of sibs and ribs, we just couldn’t take a chance to on being ripped off and being sold some kit that could end up losing us lots of money, or worse, endangering our lives or that of our loved ones or others.
After many questions here on the forum, some great advice, and several long conversations, we decided to bite the bullet and buy almost everything brand new.

Next of course was supply problems, which did lead us down a slightly different path from our original one, and onto a Terry Wright of Excel Boats. Obviously buying blind and no way of getting to his store.

So far we have found him to be a decent enough guy with no big annoying sales patter, but who just got down to the basics. “This is what we’ve got, This is what we can get, This is what we would advise, This is what we would charge to get you this if you really want it, This is something you can get cheaper just buying yourself off Amazon”

Not everyones idea of salesman but so far I certianly would deal with him again in the future, and I cant say that for many of the car salaesman I have dealt with over the years.

That was that…..new set up ordered and even more questions on the forum as we started buying all the other items we thought we might need and advised to get from the guys here.
Supply did mean we ended up with a larger, heavier outboard and sib than we ideally wanted, but at least we knew it should be safe and not been abused.

Finally , our Pallet from Excel arrived after which seemed a very long wait, but in reality was only about a month.

Despite injuring my wrist and hand the day before, I rushed home from work a week past Friday to try to unpack it all before the forecast heavy rain materialised.

The order included the Excel Volaire 390, Suzuki 20AS Outboard, Seyvlor Electric pump, Buzzrack P10 towbar carrier, Step ladder thing, 350mm Transom wheels (fitted by excel), Seat Cushion,.

Bloody hell the package was huge, but rain was imminent so had to get it all done A.S.P.

Unfortunately after stripping down the pallet, and removing the outboard from its packaging I suddenly realised that the Outboard Trolley wasn’t there along with the Anchor set I bought.

There was I, stood propping up a relatively large outboard that I’ve never handled in my life….. wondering what the hell I was going to do with it because there was no way I could get it back in its destroyed box myself!

Oh well nothing else for it…..in the lounge it goes!

Now for the sib I thought…but absolutely no way I could move the box two handed…never mind one handed, and with the rain getting heavier I quickly tied a nice thick rope around the box, and with great difficulty dragged it up the steps and into the lounge....much to the annoyance of the better half when she came home.

But with work, the crap weather we've had since, and now the added hassle of an penetration injury to my foot after standing on a rake a few weeks ago, which has gone septic…..its all been left there in the lounge all week until today.

[Brinormeg]

One handed (and now one footed) and with a not too impressed wife, a quick email to Terry on the missing outboard trolley and anchor kit and I got a reply giving his apologies and the explanation they were on back order due to supply issues and would be sent out as soon as possible.

Obviously not ideal, but in my state there wasn’t much I could do anyway.

True to his word, a package arrived this past Friday with an ob stand and the anchor kit within. The anchor is just a standard folding grapnel 3.2 kg with 2 meter chain and 30m of 8mm nylon rope.

The outboard trolley……well on the box and also the picture on the Excel website its states up to 15hp (but on the item description and price it says “up to 20hp/55 kg”)

I’m not 100% sure what the true actual rating of the ob trolley is, but given my Suzuki 20hp is approximately 10 kg less, I wouldn’t want to be pulling anything heavier with it, and certainly not a brand new ob over anything less than smooth ground.

It may be safer and sturdier than it seemed to us, but it did wobble about a bit, and the handle mechanism has quite a bit of play.

But by far our biggest concern was the foam handle grips that are rubbish and slid off while I was trying to control the trolley with the outboard on it around a corner into the shed…

If buying this trolley I highly recommend either replacing, using some glue, or at least tie wrapping the foam handle grips before disaster strikes!

Would I buy this again for a 20hp outboard ?.....Definately not! For a much lighter ob ?....perhaps! I think I would spend a good bit more and get a much more substantial trolley, perhaps something like PD bought below.

I might try and beef this one up a bit and attach wheels and a bar to it further up for getting it in and out the car as well....then it might just do the job for now.

But for storage….I’ll just make a sturdy wooden stand which can be used for flushing out the ob in a bucket as well.

Another project to do..... and another lesson learned.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174641858...53.m1438.l2649

[Steve509926]

Hi Brian, nice 1st write up, look forward to the next installment

I have the same trolley/stand, and I agree it's not the most sturdy thing on wheels! I don't use it as a stand, I never bought it for that reason. I made a wooden stand out of CLS and 4x2 fitted with large rubber casters. It is much more stable and I use that to move the OB to & from the garage to the truck.

I have used the trolley (ie: when transom wheels break ) to move the OB
I find that having the tyres inflated to the max helps to stop it wallowing from side to side. It also helps if 2 pull the trolley, especially up and down a slip, one either side steadying the OB.

[Fenlander]

Great intro to your new outfit... I like a story and bit of detail.

Agree with reservations over that trolley type unless you have a second person to stop it tipping over on the slightest sloping/uneven ground. In the beginning they were marketed by Yamaha dealers and about ten years ago came free with their sub 15hp motors... then they stopped supplying them over some concern. Now they are available as many different brands. The worse versions just have the spade handle with no cross bar and it's virtually impossible to stop a tip once it starts if single handed.

I see their max weight ability is often given as 60kg which is stupid... they aren't up to that... and pretty well every advert says on uneven ground max 30kg so that means a max 8hp 2-stroke or 4-stroke apart from the Tohatsu 9.8 2-stroke.

I've tried but not owned one and have to be upfront saying I'd not risk a 20hp on that trolley on the average waterside surfaces we come across.

[paddlers]

I've had two of these over the years . Yamaha branded . Even resorted to bolting a 2 ft length of 2X2 onto the cross leg . Completely unsuitable for my 20 hp Tohatsu and would actually fall over if you let go off it stationary on level ground .
Seriously unfit for purpose unless you have a very small & light engine and even then I wouldn't trust it not to blow over.

[paddlers]

I've had two of these over the years . Yamaha branded . Even resorted to bolting a 2 ft length of 2X2 onto the cross leg . Completely unsuitable for my 20 hp Tohatsu and would actually fall over if you let go off it stationary on level ground .
Seriously unfit for purpose unless you have a very small & light engine and even then I wouldn't trust it not to blow over.

[Brinormeg]

Now to the Inflation of the beast, and the padded Excel seat we bought in the package,

Had my teenage son over this weekend to help his old temporary disabled dad (that is when we could get him off his phone of course)

Thankfully the forecast was wrong, and the bad weather broke long enough to get a few inflation/deflations done and a chance to try out my pump/battery combinations.
We have no way of getting power from the car to the garden, so this was particularly important for us to get a system working at home, never mind at some launch locations that it might not be practical to have the car near.

We mainly used the Sevylor 12v Electric pump (model 20000014707 15PSI) bought from Excel and an old 12ah battery I had which worked well. It completed 3 inflations and it still had some power left in the battery. It took approximately just over 30 minutes to inflate the Volaire 390 which I thought wasn’t bad.
Pump states 190 litres per minute. 15psi Pressure. It was simple to use….just set the correct pressure, let it do its thing, and it shuts off automatically. Cannot comment on accuracy as we forgot to compare it against the manual pump, but no reason to doubt it was probably quite close to what it stated.

Also tried the supplied Excel manual pump..…..and to hell with that..….enough said!

There are plenty of other options out there, but overall, I am really pleased with the cracking little Sevlor pump and must agree with several positive opinions voiced on the forum.

So would I buy again?.....Yes definitely (with my limited use so far)

Just a few things I was not aware of:
It only come with a cigarette 12v plug ( it does not work with 240v mains as well like I thought it did)
It doesn’t have a deflate setting as far as I could see.
Instructions do warn of maximum 20- 30 minutes run time in one go, but we didn’t really notice any overheating issues during our faffing around.

To keep the warranty we didn’t want to simply cut off the 12v cig plug and add clips, so I bought this simple fused cig socket to croc clip adapter below with the added bonus of still being able to use from the car without any additional messing about with cables going to the car battery etc

Yes we could see the reasons for many to pay more to get the inbuilt battery type pumps or indeed to buy a more expensive higher flow rate pump, but for our needs, including the fact I get free batteries, this is perfect so far.

We might consider buying a second pump as our experience grows to improve set up times, but for now we figure waiting for inflation just gives us a little more time to concentrate on everything else!


We also tried out an old Adventuridge (Aldi) 12v air mattress pump (like below) to part inflate the tubes and then top up with the Sevylor which would work to speed up the inflation of the large tubes and help deflate for packing away as well.
It states 72watt power consumption. Max operating time 30 min. Max air pressure 0.052 bar

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...T3ORL5GT&psc=1
https://www.aldi.co.uk/adventuridge-...00798390367301

[Brinormeg]

So what about the Excel seat storage bag with cushion.

Well for the cost.... I (and perhaps more importantaly...the wife) are quite impressed to be honest.

It has a very large zipped area which almost fills the entire space under the seat, and a few other smaller zipped partitions.
The material and the zips used seem ok quality, and hopefully if looked after with a little bit of silicon grease, should last a while of moderate use.

The seat cushioning is not really that great, but better than nothing, and there is space in the easily opened zipped foam compartment to bulk it out a little with more padding later.

We found they did slide about a bit (but that could be down to bad fitting by us).....but can’t be deposited in the water.....(unless you are having a really really bad day).....because of the way they attach to the seat so no big issue.

We plan to use the little clips in the last post to hold them in position anyway, while giving us a few more tying points. (a tip by pd, jeff or pumkinking in a helpful thread a while back)
https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/opinio...e-86109-3.html

So would I buy again?....Yes if first impression turn out to be correct.

Biggest issue so far is that I didn’t specify a black one, and this came in the dark grey, which although isn’t that noticeable in the pics, doesn’t completely fit with the wifes red and black colour scheme

But as you will have seen from my numerous uncompleted garden projects, I’m not too ocd about stuff

I am guessing that there was no stock of the black to complete our order, but might check with Terry if he can supply it in black later, but on the website all seats etc says out of stock!

So another lesson learned....to better specify your requirements when ordering online.

[jeffstevens763@g]

The black seat bag does discolour Brin and mine is covered most of the time, I’ve silicon greased inside the zips too to help prevent water penetration and lubrication

[TmMorris]

Enjoying your thread. If only to learn I'm not the only idiot who stands on rakes!!'

Re the pump, I was planning on using the car's battery as it's an old car so I can lift the battery out in seconds if I need to set up remotely but someone on here kindly suggested getting a motobility scooter battery. Which is what I've done. It works well and is easy to sling onboard with the pump to take with you.

If it's any consolation, I bought my Excel a couple of months ago now and still haven't had a chance to take it anywhere!

[Brinormeg]

So onto the Suzuki DF 20 AS Outboard

As mentioned in previous threads I had to store everything in the lounge for a week before getting a chance to get them outside and checked over this past weekend.

First issue with the outboard was we noticed a small patch of oil on the cardboard below where it lay.
On closer inspection outside we could see the oil was coming from the oil sump plug.

Thinking back to when the pallet was delivered, the outer ob box did look as though there had been oil on it!

Hmmm I thought! I wonder if the plug had been tightened correctly after the pre-delivery inspection. I only had a small light weight cheap torque wrench I bought from amazon recently but had never used, so thought I would check.

Well, that did not end very well at all...…with the torque wrench internals just breaking when checking for tightness! But it was obvious it was tight enough if perhaps not overtight so that was not the issue causing the leak.

Next, I figured either they might have cross threaded the drain plug or hopefully it might simply be the washer inside could be damaged, perhaps they had even forgot to fit it.

So next step was to try and unscrew the sump plug to check before contacting Excel to complain if need be.

It was on tighter than I would have expected, but having no idea about outboards, I thought I might be wrong and now didn’t have a blooming torque wrench to take the torque pressure to check!

Anyway, it did slacken off ok and came out very easily, (and surprisingly quickly) which at least meant the threads hadn’t been cross threaded or damaged. So all is good I thought!

The only thing I didn’t consider at the time was that although some of the oil may been removed….there might still be a considerable amount of oil left in the engine……
Oh and yes there certainly was quite a bit, as it ran my over my feet, the decking and even on the dog,….with me shouting at my son to get off his bloody phone, and get the bloody plug back in the hole, while I tried to tilt the ob back to stem the flow.

With the oil now all mopped up the best we could, (and the dog in hiding), we did empty the oil into a tub and checked the washer, that was indeed there.

The washer does appear slightly damaged and should have been replaced by them as best practice I would have thought, although would not be a big deal if I had such a thing as suitable spare washer.

Have yet to top the oil back up to the correct level as I plan to contact terry for a couple of washers first, and will only need to drain it out again anyway to fit a new washer, if that is hopefully all that it needs!


Next issue with the Outboard was I noticed it had a badly finished or damaged part if you see the photographs below. It really is quite noticeable and looks like it may have been damaged at the factory, but who knows.

So I am not convinced on the quality control, at least cosmetically along with the slight oil leak.

I realise it is not much, and I’m sure it will end up with more damage as time goes by, and indeed almost did when the foam handle of the ob trolley came off!

But when spending a considerable amount of money to buy something brand new, you do expect it to come in immaculate condition.

What do you guys think?

Oh and is this the standard prop that comes with the Suz 20?

[Fenlander]

Agree a new washer is best with that ridge showing but you could just tap it down smooth. I seem to remember the torque figure for the Suzuki sump plug was quite low... one that would be out of accuracy range for most standard torque wrenches. At the dealer first service of my DF20A they massively overtightened the plug on mine which can actually cause a leak particularly if that seal is then re-used.

Re the finish in general there were several areas on mine where the casting and paint cosmetic finish was poor. I remember the prop looked a cheap casting compared to the Mercury and Yamaha OE ones. But I think it's just cosmetics as folks seem to find them problem free.

Just looking back can I see roller bearings in the wheels? If so that's daft for salt water immersion... plain nylon with waterproof grease is far better.

Re the oil draining I have been in that situation with a car sump unexpectedly containing more than my drain pan with the sump plug out of reach so just putting my thumb over the hole and shouting for the Mrs.

Really looking forward to hearing how this setup goes on the water as this particular SIB is still under-represented on the forum.

[Steve509926]

It defiantly looks like that sump plug has been over tightened. Try a plumbers merchants, they usually stock copper washers.
As for the blemishes /finish, all depends upon where it is and how bad it is. Below the waterline waterline and slight, I wouldn't be too concerned. Smack bag in the middle of the cowl and it would annoy the hell out of me at first, but after a few trips in and out of the back of your car???

[beamishken]

Theres a high probability the sump plug wasnt leaking at all & the oil came from oil spilled inside the cowl as it was filled, its easy done & often takes ages for the oil to drain from inside the cowls especially if the engine is laid down & moved, you tend to get fresh puddles running down the irregular shape of the cowl. Too late now but you'd probably have been better off leaving the sump plug alone and determining for sure where it was from once running instead of calling the dealers ability into question immediately.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by beamishken

Theres a high probability the sump plug wasnt leaking at all & the oil came from oil spilled inside the cowl as it was filled, its easy done & often takes ages for the oil to drain from inside the cowls especially if the engine is laid down & moved, you tend to get fresh puddles running down the irregular shape of the cowl. Too late now but you'd probably have been better off leaving the sump plug alone and determining for sure where it was from once running instead of calling the dealers ability into question immediately.

Agreed, a little oil goes a long way. Especially when soaking into cardboard.

[Fenlander]

>>>Agreed, a little oil goes a long way. Especially when soaking into cardboard.

Agree with that bit but not that its an easy acceptable thing to spill oil when filling. That Suzuki has such an easy filler posn to take a bit of care/pride and not spill oil that would later worry the buyer.

Just noticed the prop question is a 12" the standard. I've seen these motors come out with anything from 10"-12" and the dealer told me they are random from the factory. Mine came with a 12" which I knew was too much for my outfit so I refused it and all the dealer would do was swap it for an 11" he had access to despite me asking for a 10". Even the 11" was too high a pitch so I had to spend about £100 on a 10" which was perfect.

But that was for our SIB and our load.... I think PD has a 11" or 12" on his so perhaps he'll comment. Could be the Volaire is a skimmy hull that will suit the higher pitch.

In any case you really need a small tach to judge running in and prop suitability... did you get one with the order?

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

The black seat bag does discolour Brin and mine is covered most of the time, I’ve silicon greased inside the zips too to help prevent water penetration and lubrication

Yeah I suppose that could be an issue with black in particular fading over time to a grey.....thinking car trim and bumpers etc. But suppose by that time the seats would be possibly knacked. Thats the sell to the wife sorted to cover my mistake anyway

Originally Posted by TmMorris

Enjoying your thread. If only to learn I'm not the only idiot who stands on rakes!!'

Re the pump, I was planning on using the car's battery as it's an old car so I can lift the battery out in seconds if I need to set up remotely but someone on here kindly suggested getting a motobility scooter battery. Which is what I've done. It works well and is easy to sling onboard with the pump to take with you.

If it's any consolation, I bought my Excel a couple of months ago now and still haven't had a chance to take it anywhere!

Been so accident prone lately...tripping, standing on things, and walking into stuff..... my son is always shaking his head at the thought of me out in the middle of the sea in a tiny inflatable, and advised me to get a much better life jacket
I think its may be a small mob scooter my battery came from becauae at 12ah it seems a bit big for any of the stuff I come accross at work which are usually 5 or 7ah at most. But I have wired a couple up in parallel to double the capacity and that seems to work fine for now.
Still need to find a bit of time for a couple more practice setup/take down sessions while we tweak a couple of things, set up the depth/fish finder/transducer and a couple of more mods maybe.
But hope to get out in the holidays for few days towards the end of the month, conditions permitting.

Originally Posted by beamishken

Theres a high probability the sump plug wasnt leaking at all & the oil came from oil spilled inside the cowl as it was filled, its easy done & often takes ages for the oil to drain from inside the cowls especially if the engine is laid down & moved, you tend to get fresh puddles running down the irregular shape of the cowl. Too late now but you'd probably have been better off leaving the sump plug alone and determining for sure where it was from once running instead of calling the dealers ability into question immediately.

Yeah I considered it might just be oil lying around because as pd says it doesnt need much.
But long before touching the plug I kept stuffing bits of kitchen roll in everywhere to catch anything possibly running from elsewhere. But to be honest anything stuffed up inside the cowl came out bone dry. So they had either done a careful job filling up or it had all run out anyway when packaged upright on the pallet.
The only paper that kept getting oiled was the tiny bits I kept sliding in beside the actual sump hole at the side of the bolt. So I am 99.9% sure it was a slight leak due to the washer but it stopped immediately on turning the washer anyway so not that big a deal.
I just would have thought as when draining others oils like a cars, that it would be best pracice to always change the washer but maybe not on a outboard.

Originally Posted by Steve509926

It defiantly looks like that sump plug has been over tightened. Try a plumbers merchants, they usually stock copper washers.
As for the blemishes /finish, all depends upon where it is and how bad it is. Below the waterline waterline and slight, I wouldn't be too concerned. Smack bag in the middle of the cowl and it would annoy the hell out of me at first, but after a few trips in and out of the back of your car???

Overall there isnt much to see, and the cowl plastic areas all look good. Its just a bit of rough casting below the mounting bracket above the anti ventaltion plate which wont be seen much once on the sib as you say, and a few trips out and in the boot will probably do worse in no time
Suppose its like a new car first time it gets a trolley dent in it...then by the 2oth you dont notice any more

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Brinormeg

Yeah I suppose that could be an issue with black in particular fading over time to a grey.....thinking car trim and bumpers etc. But suppose by that time the seats would be possibly knacked. Thats the sell to the wife sorted to cover my mistake anyway



Been so accident prone lately...tripping, standing on things, and walking into stuff..... my son is always shaking his head at the thought of me out in the middle of the sea in a tiny inflatable, and advised me to get a much better life jacket
I think its may be a small mob scooter my battery came from becauae at 12ah it seems a bit big for any of the stuff I come accross at work which are usually 5 or 7ah at most. But I have wired a couple up in parallel to double the capacity and that seems to work fine for now.
Still need to find a bit of time for a couple more practice setup/take down sessions while we tweak a couple of things, set up the depth/fish finder/transducer and a couple of more mods maybe.
But hope to get out in the holidays for few days towards the end of the month, conditions permitting.



Yeah I considered it might just be oil lying around because as pd says it doesnt need much.
But long before touching the plug I kept stuffing bits of kitchen roll in everywhere to catch anything possibly running from elsewhere. But to be honest anything stuffed up inside the cowl came out bone dry. So they had either done a careful job filling up or it had all run out anyway when packaged upright on the pallet.
The only paper that kept getting oiled was the tiny bits I kept sliding in beside the actual sump hole at the side of the bolt. So I am 99.9% sure it was a slight leak due to the washer but it stopped immediately on turning the washer anyway so not that big a deal.
I just would have thought as when draining others oils like a cars, that it would be best pracice to always change the washer but maybe not on a outboard.



Overall there isnt much to see, and the cowl plastic areas all look good. Its just a bit of rough casting below the mounting bracket above the anti ventaltion plate which wont be seen much once on the sib as you say, and a few trips out and in the boot will probably do worse in no time
Suppose its like a new car first time it gets a trolley dent in it...then by the 2oth you dont notice any more

The rough casting is par for the course, stop worrying. I cracked my cowl by being clumsy [emoji849]. I welded the crack up with the soldering iron & put a sticker over it. I’m not half as precious with the SIB as I am with the RIB. They have a harder life.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

The rough casting is par for the course, stop worrying. I cracked my cowl by being clumsy [emoji849]. I welded the crack up with the soldering iron & put a sticker over it. I’m not half as precious with the SIB as I am with the RIB. They have a harder life.

Yeah I know...like a broody mother hen