Volante 390 has landed.

TmMorris · 26 May 2021, 19:58

Collected the boat this afternoon.

Removed from the boot of the car. Not sure it will generally fit in the boot of this car with the outboard, kit and two children. Suspect this means the tow bar carrier will come in handy.

Set up was pretty easy. It took about half an hour from laying out.

Unfortunately, the gauge on the hand pump that came with the boat doesn't work. It's a dud to be returned which is a shame.

At the same time the Bravo BP12 electric pump doesn't have the adaptor for these valves. Does anyone know if any generic one from Amazon will fit the pump pipe or do I need a specific adaptor?

Jacked up the rear of the boat to have a play with the transom wheel brackets.

By my reckoning these should be fitted as close to the tubes as the corner spray flaps will permit? And in terms of elevation, the brackets fitted to sit just above where the PVC folds over at the base?

Does anyone have any advice on that front?

Plus, the rear floor locators on the inside of the transom push down on the inflatable floor. I assume this is correct and the floor should be up hard against the transom?

The floor also bends with the inflation of the keel. I'm assuming this is because I have not taken any of the chambers up to their final pressures?

All in it seems well made and simple to put together.

Pikey Dave · 26 May 2021, 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by TmMorris

Collected the boat this afternoon.

Removed from the boot of the car. Not sure it will generally fit in the boot of this car with the outboard, kit and two children. Suspect this means the tow bar carrier will come in handy.

Set up was pretty easy. It took about half an hour from laying out.

Unfortunately, the gauge on the hand pump that came with the boat doesn't work. It's a dud to be returned which is a shame.

At the same time the Bravo BP12 electric pump doesn't have the adaptor for these valves. Does anyone know if any generic one from Amazon will fit the pump pipe or do I need a specific adaptor?

Jacked up the rear of the boat to have a play with the transom wheel brackets.

By my reckoning these should be fitted as close to the tubes as the corner spray flaps will permit? And in terms of elevation, the brackets fitted to sit just above where the PVC folds over at the base?

Does anyone have any advice on that front?

Plus, the rear floor locators on the inside of the transom push down on the inflatable floor. I assume this is correct and the floor should be up hard against the transom?

The floor also bends with the inflation of the keel. I'm assuming this is because I have not taken any of the chambers up to their final pressures?

All in it seems well made and simple to put together.

Re. The transom wheels. They need to be set low enough so they don’t foul the underside of the hull when deployed.

TmMorris · 26 May 2021, 20:07

Also did a little bit of a test fit of the cross bar that will form the main frame section of the spray hood.

Not a great picture but you can see the fibreglass rod hoop and each end slots into an 8mm brass T piece that in turn threads nicely into the safety rope between two eyes.

Quite pleased that the first test fit, having been cobbled together before the boat arrived, seems to fit and work.

Fenlander · 26 May 2021, 22:05

Nice early RR! Restored or dusty barn original?

As PD says watch the transom wheels don't rub the underside fabric. So yes as low as possible and set out as far as possible making sure they don't foul the tubes as they swing up.

Yes floor should butt the transom... so make sure you use flush or minimal headed fixings for the transom wheels on the inside or they ill wear through it.

Yes floor will be bowed up by the keel while the boat is on dry land as normally the pressure from the water once launched is more even across the whole floor and tubes.

A generic pump adaptor will do.. get one with the 2/3 spacers/seals and some combination should seal. See my post #126 on the thread below describing getting a generic HR gauge to fit... same goes for the pump adapt. The adapt in my picture is one that was in a small plastic packet in the side pocket of the new 12v Bravo I bought last year... do look in case yours had one you'd never noticed in either hose or wiring pocket... mine was in the wiring pocket.

https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/elling...tml#post835810

TmMorris · 26 May 2021, 22:40

Many thanks. I was surprised there wasn't an adaptor in with the pump as that halkey Roberts valve is pretty common nowadays. I did scour the compartments bit will double check.

The old bus is a fully restored and ruined '72. I built it to have my favourite bits from multiple eras of them and as a result it terrifies LR officiandos

The transom wheel plates look like their going to be an odd one as at first glance the logical position is where the floor retaining blocks are.

Fenlander · 27 May 2021, 00:03

You could take the floor blocks off and mount the wheels spot on for where you want with CSK head screws recessed on the inside then fit the blocks back.

Re the RR back in the late 60s for a couple of decades dad was a high end antique clock dealer/restorer. We had all sorts of folks visit to buy expensive stuff. One evening a buyer arrived in what he called a new Land Rover. It was H-reg and that pale mid blue with bright tan seats. He was a design engineer of some type in the business and said it would be on sale soon and everyone would want one. We'd never seen anything like it and looked round it's somewhat crude Tonka toy looks, large panel gaps, painted bumpers and somewhat garish interior plastics thinking good luck with that. But the rest as thy say is history.

TmMorris · 27 May 2021, 07:13

I suspect that removing the blocks is the way forward.

It would be helpful if any owners of the same/similar model have any images of their set up.

Something I hadn't appreciated was that these wheels don't swing up but unhook to be refitted upside down.

There's something addictive about the old Rangies. I grew up with them but then bought them when I was in My 20s as they cost nothing, you could fix everything yourself and it was basically a van.

And for building your own Frankenstein's wagon, they are incredibly modular with most elements from 1969 up to and including the Discovery fitting.

Small world re your father, mine is/was also a horologist, as was his.

Pikey Dave · 27 May 2021, 09:38

Re. The wheel, are they the Excel supplied ones? If so they should un-hook & pivot. Do you have a photo of the bracket & leg?

TmMorris · 27 May 2021, 10:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Re. The wheel, are they the Excel supplied ones? If so they should un-hook & pivot. Do you have a photo of the bracket & leg?

Morning Dave. They are the 250mm versions of the ones you describe. It's a bracket with a pair of hook slots and the wheel legs spring out completely and you reinstall them upside down.

I've watched videos of people setting the legs so that the wheels are out beyond the transom but to my eyes they want to be the other way around so that when the wheels are down they are forward of the transom so the weight of the engine is acting directly down as well as working with and not against the lifting weight at the bow.

As such, my reckoning is that you want at least an inch and half clearance between the tyre and the hull and for that you need to set the plates about half an inch from the base of the transom but ideally I'd prefer to leave a bit more meat as the leverage on these wheels at times could be quite high especially if pushing the boat down a slipway over the wooden beams that many will have.

It's one of those things where I instinctively know where the brackets need to be fitted but every YouTube video I've watched seems to opt for a different position and I'm not quite seeing why or if I've missed something, what.

TmMorris · 27 May 2021, 10:11

This is how I'm currently thinking they should be mounted:

Any higher and when loaded there is a risk of the tyre scraping the hull.

Any lower and the lower bolt doesn't have much transom material below it.

Any wider from centre and the tyres foul the splash flaps between the transom and the tubes. Even in this position there is a bit of fouling but moving them any close is going to decrease stability will beginning to foul the engine.

Fenlander · 27 May 2021, 10:24

>>> re your father, mine is/was also a horologist, as was his.

Briefly off topic... Well I never. I've gained some experience in the area due to a childhood and beyond surrounded by old clocks so have the skills to basic restore but no wheel/pinion cutting or parts making ability but I have a longcase wheel pinion I need making at the moment for a 1740ish longcase movement. If your dad does this sort of thing can we chat by pm?

That looks about the best posn for the wheel set. But always walk away and return for a double check they're where you want before drilling!

TmMorris · 27 May 2021, 10:46

He's 86. If you had seen the what he did to my lawn when I allowed him to have some fun with the sit on mower then you'd be FedExing your clock to the Arctic to get it as far away as possible.

. I'm still amazed by the pocket watch he had to make as part of his exams though.

There is an antique clock repairer a couple of miles away from here but having dared ask for a quote to reset the mercury in a barometer I've taken to just looking out the window and guessing if it's fair, change, or rain. I'm pretty good at it now.

Thanks for the advice. I'm a great believer in wandering off for a coffee before waging war with power tools.

Pikey Dave · 27 May 2021, 10:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by TmMorris

This is how I'm currently thinking they should be mounted:

Any higher and when loaded there is a risk of the tyre scraping the hull.

Any lower and the lower bolt doesn't have much transom material below it.

Any wider from centre and the tyres foul the splash flaps between the transom and the tubes. Even in this position there is a bit of fouling but moving them any close is going to decrease stability will beginning to foul the engine.

Hmmm! They are different to my 350mm legs, but with the same conundrum. I’ve set my legs the other way around, so that they drag behind. This allows me to set them higher. If you are going to take the wheels with you on your trip, with a view to using them for beaching, consider how you will deploy them once the boat is afloat & you’re fighting the buoyancy of the wheels. I thought that having the offset aft-wards would be an issue, but it isn’t.

TmMorris · 27 May 2021, 11:04

Thanks. Yup, the buoyancy will help when I drop one in the drink! But hinder when trying to fit for pulling the boat out.

You can obviously swap sides so that the wheels point aft if needed which may transpire to be the easiest way to pull the boat out.

Limecc · 27 May 2021, 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by TmMorris

Thanks. Yup, the buoyancy will help when I drop one in the drink! But hinder when trying to fit for pulling the boat out.

You can obviously swap sides so that the wheels point aft if needed which may transpire to be the easiest way to pull the boat out.

Excel have now changed the design. After ripping our arms out of the sockets I felt it was a big mistake pointing them aft. Yes could have emptied gear out of the boat to make it lighter but that would have meant more to'ing and fro'ing. Whoever does that when unloading the shopping bags from the car boot? Good intentions but it never happens, you carry as much as possible in as few journey's.

Fenlander · 27 May 2021, 11:26

>>>He's 86. If you had seen the what he did to my lawn when I allowed him to have some fun with the sit on mower....

Ahh OK my dad is 90 and lost the concentration and coordination to work on them about 10yrs ago so gave up rather than be frustrated.

It's a fair comment from PD re the tyre buoyancy but it is fine with those small wheels compared to say the large Zodiac ones with 35cm dia tyres which are a real fight to submerge.

I have similar size tyres to yours on the Zodiac smaller legs I've just fitted to the Elling and they were ok to remove/fit on the river test run.

Limecc · 27 May 2021, 11:38

I found a big difference between sizes that the 10" wheels sink into saturated sand at the shoreline far more easily than the 12" ones. Plan enough clearance to fit the larger wheels in future if you need. They are cheap enough to buy.

TmMorris · 27 May 2021, 13:18

Thanks.

Should the towing eyes be high or low on the transom?

My thinking is below the centre point as the engine prop will be applying a twist and using the towing eyes of set above the centre point would increase that unnecessarily?

Fenlander · 27 May 2021, 14:06

I'm just about to fit mine today. To be honest I've never been that fussed just set them in a space available between OB pad, transom wheels and perhaps to miss data plate too. The transom on the Aerotec was a good chunk of ply so would have been happy towing with that but the Elling has a thinner transom so the tow would be limited to a canoe or similar or perhaps just holding another smallcraft in posn until larger help arrived.

But on most of my SIBs they have ended up in the upper area between midpoint and a few inches down from the transom top.

chipko · 27 May 2021, 14:52

High and wide would be my recommendation, particularly if wanting to tow toys/boards/etc.