Ocean 6.25 rebuild

[Takson]

The photo phantom is back again!!

[Nasher]

Hey Takson.

I'm a little concerned about the huge cutout in your transom.

My Ocean floats with the rear of the tubes well in the water fitted with the old 200Kg 200HP engine.

With your cutout the powerhead could be almost underwater!

Look how high my engine - XL shaft sits on the transom.
My bottom engine mount bolts are well above deck level.

As you can see from the last image, my XL shaft engine mounted much higher than your bolt holes sits the powerhead quite low to the water still.

The image of my new(to me) engine on it shows a little better how much higher it sits than yours will, but I've not had it in the water with that engine yet.

[GuyC]

In terms of handholds I've fitted one to the top of my console. It works very well, stops you grabbing the GPS antenna and acts as a useful mount for the GoPro.

[Takson]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Hey Takson.

I'm a little concerned about the huge cutout in your transom.

My Ocean floats with the rear of the tubes well in the water fitted with the old 200Kg 200HP engine.

With your cutout the powerhead could be almost underwater!

Look how high my engine - XL shaft sits on the transom.
My bottom engine mount bolts are well above deck level.

As you can see from the last image, my XL shaft engine mounted much higher than your bolt holes sits the powerhead quite low to the water still.

Thanks for the note, it could be an issue!

My etec has a 20 inch shaft which matches the transom as is, so raising it could cause a problem. However it is 190kg, therefore I might have a similar issue.

My fuel tank is further forward and at present I have no rear bench in, so I wonder if the weight distribution will help. Time for some lake based trials before I actually take on the sea I think!

[Takson]

Originally Posted by GuyC

In terms of handholds I've fitted one to the top of my console. It works very well, stops you grabbing the GPS antenna and acts as a useful mount for the GoPro.

Great idea, I think I might copy that one.

[Takson]

@Nasher By the looks of where my antifoul was, I think I may have a similar attitude on the water.

[Nasher]

What length is the 150 ETEC you are putting on it?

When I first brought my Ocean it had a Long Shaft Johnson 150 VRO on it.
It should never have had a Long shaft engine on it, the boat was designed for an XL shaft engine.

The transom had been cut down but not as much as yours:



With a couple of people on board the tray of the engine was just a couple of inches off the water surface at rest, and when slowing down and the wake caught up it was underwater and used to flood the inside of the tray.

Wanting to change the engine anyway I brought a XL shaft Suzuki 200 EFI and raised the transom with a big Aluminium plate:





That kept the prop/anti-cav plate in the same place relative to the bottom of the hull, but lifted the engine clear of the water a bit.

The new engine is XL and mounted in the same way.



If you are going to use the holes that are already in your transom, and that big cutout, the engine tray will be right at the water surface, and unless it's a std shaft engine the prop could be too low in the water.
I'd even be worried about the top of your transom being at or below the surface at rest.

[Nasher]

Sorry Takson, I just noticed you did say the ETEC you are using is a 20" shaft - Long

When you offer up the engine to the boat you may find the prop is too low in the water, even adjusted right up with the mounting holes.
The cutout in your transom is much lower than mine was with the 20" 150 VRO. And that engine was a lot lighter than 190Kgs.
But as you can see from my images it's really easy to put right.

[Takson]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Sorry Takson, I just noticed you did say the ETEC you are using is a 20" shaft - Long

When you offer up the engine to the boat you may find the prop is too low in the water, even adjusted right up with the mounting holes.
The cutout in your transom is much lower than mine was with the 20" 150 VRO. And that engine was a lot lighter than 190Kgs.
But as you can see from my images it's really easy to put right.

Thank you. I have been sent a picture of the boat with a Mariner 200 2 stroke on, sitting with the tubes at or just above water level. Hopefully the weight distribution helps.

However, given the photos you shared I am not worried as changing does look pretty simple.

Did you go Aluminium to keep the weight down for the plate?

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Takson

Did you go Aluminium to keep the weight down for the plate?

I went with 15mm Aluminium plate as that's what a local boat builder who make large Aluminium Fishing CATs used for their outboard powered boat transoms.

The piece I used was an offcut they cut to size for me.

It's sealed to the transom with Sikaflex and is still good after I think about 15yrs.
I took it off last summer to check behind it, which involved a lot of hard work to get it off, and a load more to remove the old Sikaflex.
I wished I hadn't as it really didn't need to come off.

[Takson]

Progress has been a bit slow this week with the wind being too strong to spray outside and the occasional shower.

I did get a second coat on the transom, and switched focus onto the layout and cabling.

The console and seat unit fit nicely, so I have now drilled the through deck holes to feed the cables and pipework.

I'm glad I did a dry fit as the throttle and gear cables I got with the engine are too short. I suspected they would be as the engine came off a shorter boat. It means I will include the 15ft cables in with the Evinrude side mount control which I will be putting up for sale here and on ebay shortly.

I then turned attention to battery and oil reservoir. I'm currently deciding whether both batteries go in boxes under the beat unit with the oil reservoir or whether one will go in the main console on the shelf. There is not really the space for both up front, so for simplicity of wiring it makes sense to have them in the seat unit.

I needed a new main battery shut off switch, so have gone for a Blue Sea with their add a battery control box. It was the same price as the evinrude auxiliary battery cable and means I can charge both batteries safely on the optimate trickle charger when needed.

As for the oil reservoir, it is neater to have it in the seat unit than in a battery type box at the stern. What I need to work out is how to keep it easy to fill/check. I'd welcome any thoughts anyone has.

[Takson]

Finally!

I got the boat up onto the rotisserie, cleaned up and ready for paint.

A clean and a degrease later, the Jotun Penguard HB have been put on.

My spray gun started spluttering towards the end, so in the clean down after I checked the seals. Unfortunately the spray head seal has got a split in it, so needs replacing.

I’ve managed to borrow another gun so the colour can go on after I’ve sanded tomorrow.





After first coat





After second coat.

If I stand well back and squint it doesn’t look like it needs and sanding🤣☹️

Pity it does!

[Takson]

Sanded to 320 and then coloured.

I’m pretty happy with the result given the environment it was sprayed in and my lack of spraying experience, although it is far from perfect!

[Takson]

The wiring is all fed through and the A Frame is back in.








I do think there is something really weird going on. I’m working on a project outside and it is t raining!!!

The end is in sight. On the trailer on Wednesday AM.

Consoles in on Wednesday afternoon and engine going on on Wednesday night.

That leaves Thursday and Friday for working through the final pieces before Saturdays planned lake based test run.

[jakew009]

How did the trial go?

[Takson]

Slightly delayed!

We rigged the engine on Wednesday and realised an evinrude fuel hose was missing, so I took a couple of days off it and tried to find a solution.

Luckily Bob at South Coast Marine came to the rescue so we are aiming for Wednesday this week now.

Finishing the wiring up and steering today.

[Takson]

And it floats!!



All systems check out so far with 2 things to check/action.

The old battery I put in as a house batter is not up to it so will be replaced tomorrow.

The motor seems to hunt or stutter between 1k and 2k revs, but then clears.

It is fine trolling on tick over and anything up to 1k and above 2.

Time to go to the wrec forum and do some searching.

[whiskylee]

Originally Posted by Takson

And it floats!!

Attachment 141163

All systems check out so far with 2 things to check/action.

The old battery I put in as a house batter is not up to it so will be replaced tomorrow.

The motor seems to hunt or stutter between 1k and 2k revs, but then clears.

It is fine trolling on tick over and anything up to 1k and above 2.

Time to go to the wrec forum and do some searching.

The week battery could be your problem

[whiskylee]

Boat looks great, sits nice on the water, hopefully the transom is not too low

[Takson]

Originally Posted by whiskylee

The week battery could be your problem

Thank you.

I have a new 115amp 850cca battery arriving tomorrow and will give it a try.

We took it out on the lake for a quick spin. I didn't want to do too much as the sailing club have some strict rules on powerboat usage due to the houses around and the shared fishing use. We did do a couple of holeshot starts which showed it is not slow out of the blocks. Time to go to Torquay and give it a proper test!