One old guy's outings & kit (Aerotec, Yamaha 15 2T etc)

[Fenlander]

I do regard the river very much secondary to the sea but it's so much closer to us and no planning around tides needed so we made our last trip of the season a freshwater one on a very pleasant day. The grass adj the slip was soggy and covered with duck poo so we chose a car park to set up and yet again were very thankful of the bow trolley on the 5min trundle to the slip.

They'd clearly opened the sluice a bit to the sea more than usual as the level was down and the flow significant adding to the 12mph+ wind in the same direction. So with the recent paddle back at sea in our minds we headed out upstream into the wind so it would just be a steering job to return if lightning struck twice. This was somewhat confirmed when in a narrow section after turning round we were making 5.9kts with the engine at an 840rpm in-gear idle. That was on a section with a 4mph limit. We avoided the temptation to give the Yamaha a bit of a go in the wide deserted sections so never made more than 7kts.

The Yamaha behaved itself despite running on the Tohatsu's 50:1 mix bought several months ago which I wanted to finish up. The Yamaha is a 100:1 motor although I'll go for 75 or 80:1 when I mix up new fuel next season. Once the 50:1 was gone I swapped to my Aspen mix tank for the last 15mins so that's well run through.

Tomorrow both OBs will get a run in the bucket with fogging oil added and that's it for the year. We have other fish to fry through the winter so it suits us to call a certain end to 2023 boating with everything properly stored away.

River pics are never as exciting as the sea but some below. You can see from the angle of the dog's ears he really wanted to go and "play" with the ducks just out of shot. The pontoon said No Mooring so we just chucked a rope over in a way no boater would call properly moored. I'm all for the technicality of a legal argument.

[Steve509926]

Good to see you got a trip out David. How did you find your "new to you" Yam, did it behave itself? Having no knowledge of 2 strokes I presume running a rich 50:1 mix doesn't do it any harm?
I'm all packed up until spring. Work plus Isla's cruciate operation has put paid to any late season trips, although a sneaky trip up to Ullswater on a cold, frosty winters day is very appealing.

[Fenlander]

Yep the Yamaha was OK on the 6mth old 50:1 Quicksilver mix but it didn't feel as good as it will on a leaner mix with Yamalube 2-stroke oil next year. Main thing evident today is how SIBs are not ideal on a river with a good flow in windy conditions. Given their lack of grip on the water often you need to give SIBs some beans to place them or make a U-turn and that's fine at sea. On the river with moored craft close by each side it doesn't go down so well.

It's interesting re the mix as Chipko's clone of this Yamaha runs at 50:1 and he's found that fine. We'll see once ours gets to salt water. Whilst I've never had a 2-stroke motor oil up to the point of misfiring on the river they often never feel totally right to me at 4-6mph. The Tohatsu with its smaller capacity, lower hp and with a lower pitch prop feels better than the Yamaha at these low speeds.

I think portable 2-strokes in particular really sing on the plane at about 75% throttle.

[smallribber]

I run my 9.8 Tohatsu and the Yam 15 on the same fuel which is 50:1 using Quicksilver 2 stroke oil. Have not had any issues

[Fenlander]

Some Nth degree stuff...

In post 86 I mentioned the Yamaha 15 came with an 11" OE prop I knew would be too high a pitch for our load and boat type so balking at the £100+ price of Yamaha props I bought a Polastorm 9.75" pitch for half the cost. It was near enough at that cost but I thought I'll pick up an OE one when there was the opportunity.

By chance that opportunity presented itself today most unexpectedly so I now have an OE Yamaha 9.75" pitch.

Interesting comparing them. There is no doubt the finishing off of the exhaust exit airflow is much nicer on the OE, also the Polastorm is not quite correctly dimensioned where the stepped spacer bush should be a snug fit hence it's a loose. Most interesting, and what I've often said about aftermarket props, is the blade thickness. The OE leading edge is 2.45mm thick but the Polastorm 4.7mm. Similarly the OE trailing edge is 2mm thick and the Polastorm 3.45mm. Small differences but the prop is spinning at high speed through a resistant medium so it may affect performance or any tendency to ventilate. Come next season I'll back to back test them.

[smallribber]

My new Polastorm prop on my Rib performs just the same as the Original Mariner one

[Fenlander]

Another very small job that adds to making OB handling easier.

In post 83 I mentioned my original OB trolley of some 10yrs has always been a pain with tyres going down due to porous tubes, if you need to remove them the tyres are a pig to get off the plastic rims and once there's air in the tubes the valves set to a position where it's near impossible to get a pump on. When the tyres were anything other than rock hard I found with any OB heavier than the 27kg Tohatsu 9.8 you'd get a kind of rocking motion wheeling along that felt like the whole thing would fall over. So enthused by the solids on my new trolley I bought these bargains...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354423858...r=623828728727

For my use on smooth concrete and slabs they are a far better solution. Chucked the old wheels but saved the 35mm-12mm bushes as they are always handy.

[Fenlander]

Well after a somewhat intensive spring of plumbing, wiring and carpentry time to get some air into the kit and ramble through this varied thread some more.

As I put in post 85 above I was left borrowing the Tohatsu's small tach last autumn for our Yamaha trials. For a permanent solution I again sought out my favourite tach usually branded Jayron. It's one that has a sealed in battery (hence about a 5yr life) and an earth as well as trigger lead. As it's sealed with no battery cover it seems more moisture resistant than most and I've observed more stable rev readings with the earth screened cable.

First one arrived from Amazon with a depleted battery. You can see the packaging has been crushed down on the setting button so I think it's been powered down to nothing in storage and transit. Second pic shows the replacement correctly showing 0.00. Last pic the trigger and earth wires.

[Steve509926]

Why have your old ones failed David? Battery run out or is it still water ingress that's causing misting?
If it's the former, can you put the link on here as I need to order another tinytach, and if this one is a bit more waterproof that's the one I want.

[Fenlander]

Made a Shell V-Power (5% ethanol) and Yamalube mix then hauled the Yamaha out today. We've decided to keep to a 12l tank (as I find a full 25l an awkward lift) and carry a spare 10l in my favoured fuel can, the Canadian made Sceptre brand. Good stable base, flat sides helping storage and integral spout make it better than most.

Remembering I'd fogged the Yamaha last autumn I was pleased with a three pull start (full choke, throttle at idle) then settling down to a choke free rock steady 850 or so idle after a minute. This is probably the most well behaved new season start I've experienced and have to wonder if running Aspen mix through it before storage helped?

All it needs is a happy conjunction of opportunity, weather and tide then we may soon get a few Nm on the clock.

[Fenlander]

>>Why have your old ones failed David?

One appeared to have an electronic/display corruption and the other full of water after just that one ill fated Johnson outing.

This is the one I fitted today...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tachometer-...-items&sr=1-23

Of course when I've got used to any motor, sorted out any prop tests and run in the new 4-strokes I had then I move the tach off the tiller to under the hood. I've just two props to try on the Yamaha and get the feel of it at sea then after this next run the tach will be going under cover. There in the dry and warm they tend to last the time I've kept outboards.

Usually like the pic of the Tohatsu below mount them to a bit of crafted chopping board fitted somewhere there are existing bolts or spare threads.

[Steve509926]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>Why have your old ones failed David?

One appeared to have an electronic/display corruption and the other full of water after just that one ill fated Johnson outing.

This is the one I fitted today...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tachometer-...-items&sr=1-23

Of course when I've got used to any motor, sorted out any prop tests and run in the 4-strokes I had then I move the tach off the tiller to under the hood. I've just two props to try on the Yamaha and get the feel of it at sea then after this next run the tach will be going under cover. There they tend to last the time I've kept outboards.

Thanks

[Fenlander]

Always good to have an excuse to add more yellow perils to the outfit. When I pulled the bow trolley out from its winter slumber one tyre was soft and the other flat with the tube ripped near the valve base, must have gone unnoticed at the very end of the final trundle back to the car last season. For reasons like this I hate small pneumatic wheels so off to Screwfix for a pair of yellows.

They also provide a useful small extra lift to the trolley handle height which was still a fraction low even after the upward bend I added.

[smallribber]

I presume those yellow wheels are less buoyant in water than the normal blow up ones ?

[Fenlander]

Yes that is a huge advantage of them, they are almost neutral buoyancy. Certainly compared to the similar diameter fat conventional tyre/tube ones that come on the heavier duty Zodiac and Trem legs they make life so much easier.

[chipko]

Can’t have too many yellow wheels Mr F.
Well you can I suppose, so last time went for orange to match the Kolibri!
For those after a quieter palate, saw some grey/black jobbies on offer at Ross Castors. Will need some different reducer bushes to suit most 20/25mm axles but easily sorted on eBay

https://www.rosscastors.co.uk/punctu...heel-grey.html

[Fenlander]

Yes the standard reducers with the yellow perils I think were 25mm and 12mm and I needed 20mm... but had them to hand.

Screrwfix are local to me but about £25 each... Ebay has them nearer £13. I was in a possible day out hurry though.

Those grey ones at Ross would match my outfit well... am I going to be forced to re-buy?

[Brinormeg]

Blue water pipe comes in 2 diameters….cant remember which, but one fits the Screwfix ones perfectly. Gave a couple of extra mm of clearance to stop tyres rubbing against bottom of the sib too….win win

[Fenlander]

For once opportunity, weather and tides did work out and we had a great ten or so hours at the coast with 3hrs 40min logged running in the SIB. About 25Nm covered in a sea state sufficient to make getting up on the plane too uncomfortable for some of the time.

First pic shows why it's wise to consider what just could be about on a slipway, half an hour later it was under water just waiting for a victim.

We stopped to swap props mid way into the day. I'd started with the fairly usual Yamaha 9.75" pitch and then tried the same spec in a Polastorm. They were very close in performance re speed/revs with just a little loss of grip in very tight turns with the Polastorm. But given the 60% saving of the Polastorm over OE then they are a good choice on this occasion. This is a far better result than the Polastorm vs OE test I tried a few years back so perhaps they have improved or their samples are variable.

I will get a 9" pitch Yamaha prop soon as it would only need a third person for that to suit better.

We carried out two way speed tests with a full load (we even had extra kit yesterday) and were seeing 16.5kts at 5240 RPM.

The yellow wheels on the trolley proved to roll well, a useful upgrade.

Didn't take any pics at sea but trialled the new to me GoPro for a bit hand held and I think I can get some stills from that later.

[Fenlander]

Mentioned a while ago I bought a Ryobi cordless air blower for household duties that also looked suitable for assisting SIB inflation. The Bravo is so good I'll not bother to take the Ryobi on trips but for home inflation to fill the floor and tubes for cleaning or maintenance it's ideal and loads quieter for neighbours.

Its standard taper nozzle goes straight into my floor valves and into the standard Zodiac tube valve adaptor.

Having decided the Yamaha runs well on the 45mm transom lift already fitted I drilled for the OB retaining bolts. Having previously had the same Yamaha fitted I was drilling my old repair dowels out. This time I'm using eye nuts so now I only need one small 13mm spanner and fingers the other side on the eye nuts.