New to inflatables but not boats.

[Rigaud]

Hello to all,

Great site to share info and found quite a lot of answers to questions I had using the search link. I'm new to inflatables but not to boats since my dad introduced me to boats @ age one. lolll 43 years later I'm still just as hooked on boats or even more than ever. I am in the process of purchasing a friends boat which I know very well and rode in many times in the past 6-7 years.

Boat:

1998 Bombard explorer 600 with center console and all open front deck.
1998 Yamaha V4 115 2-stroke (19" prop)
GPS
Depth finder
VHF
Etc...

The boat was sitting for the last 2 years in a shelter on my property for storage since he wasn't using it and not certain to keep it or not. This spring my friend offered to sell it to me and I jump on it.

Boat itself is in great shape but required some cleaning the ropes along the tubes which are mounted as an accessorie where coming off. I removed everything carefully and now am in the process to go purchase the right glue plus solvents to do the repair/maintenance.

The console is a 24"wide being replaced with a 40" plus a proper double seat which will give me seating for 4 comfortably. 45L fuel tank in back will remain but adding another 68L tank in front console. I get 80-100km per tank @ cruising speed with 4-5 right now so the added tank will allow me to go longer.

Motor started this spring but ran really rough so I suspected he had stored the boat without fuel stabilizer. Opened the fuel pump and yep, full of varnish inside plus the floats in all carbs where really bad. Took everything apart rebuilt and it ran pretty good except top end which lasts 30 secs. Cleaned everything from the bottom of the tank, replaced filters and still same problem. Fuel pump has no leaks but I was told it's the original, guess that's also another part to pick up today.

All in all I love the boat, rides great in any condition and just needs a little tuning. If anyone here has experience with either this boat or motor and know of some issues I should be aware of, feel free to let me know here or by email. As well I'm looking for people withing 300km of my region that have inflatables.

Cheers
John

[prairie tuber]

Welcome John,

Whereabouts are you located? There are 50 other Canadians registered on this website (about 10 registered in the past week, so we're taking over ).

As for specifics on your Rigid Hull, you might be able to get more information from other RIB owners by posting this in the 'RIBs and RIBBING' section on this site. This section focuses on the foldable inflatables. Obviously, there is a lot of stuff that applies equally to both styles of inflatable boats. That Yamaha should be pretty much bombproof once you get the fuel and carbs sorted out.

[Rigaud]

Thanks and your right, I should have posted in the Rib section. If the site administrator could be so kind as to move this thread it would be very much appreciated.

< Whoosh! JK >

I'm located in Rigaud, Quebec which is 50km outside Montreal towards Ottawa. The town is close by the Ottawa river with a really nice municipal boat loanch within 5min of my house. I trailer the boat as well to other locations and plan on doing some long distance trips maybe one or two before the end of the season.

Yeah that Yamaha looks very well built, I always had Mercury's since that was the only choice for my dad and it rubbed off on me.
After having taken all the carbs completely apart and rebuilt on that Yam I can say I was impressed with the quality of parts. I ordered the kit for the fuel pump yesterday, should receive on Monday.

My friend is taking out this weekend a 26ft Baja he purchased used this season with twin 460's and asked for me to assist with my boat. He doesn't know the boat yet and needs to make certain someone is near by in case of towing. lol