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Originally Posted by da*****rcury
(Post 3657503)
DR, that one got by me. I will say this, that while i was inspecting the existing battery cables, it was only the ground cables that had corosion. It was so bad I was able to easily twist off the terminals This skater was used primarily in the saltwater environment for three years + 5 more wherever it was stored in tropical florida and then coastal New York. Moisture had been and issue with the hull and no doubt played a role with what I found in the cables.
If I would have been aware of the use and availability of tinned cables before I bought the copper ones I would have gone with tinned. After your qoute, I checked online and the price per foot is not much more than what I paid for copper. I did however have the terminal ends installed professionally along with the shrink tube. If anyone reading this has experience in rigging boats, specifically mercury OB stuff, please feel free to chime in and help me avoid bonehead mistakes. I'm not proud, just probably about ten years behind in the tech curve Have lots of experience, call me anytime. Can help with supplies also. There are some try wrap blocks that are really useful and easy to use. Nicer look than the clamps of old. Plus the do not corrode and bundles look uniform. Come in three sizes. There are also some nicer tywraps available that have stainless steel tabs in them. They do not break if you pull on them. Look forward to seeing this thing run. |
Originally Posted by Double Rigged
(Post 3657609)
David,
Have lots of experience, call me anytime. Can help with supplies also. There are some try wrap blocks that are really useful and easy to use. Nicer look than the clamps of old. Plus the do not corrode and bundles look uniform. Come in three sizes. There are also some nicer tywraps available that have stainless steel tabs in them. They do not break if you pull on them. Look forward to seeing this thing run. +1 more view lol :D: |
Originally Posted by glassdave
(Post 3658129)
do you have a link to the tie wrap blocks? sounds handy.
+1 more view lol :D: Try this. They are Panduit tie blocks. We have a supplier in Fort Lauderdale that sells them. Sure you could find them. They come in white or black and 4 sizes. http://www.panduit.com/Products/Prod...0317%203000829 |
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while i was at it, decided to replace the old wiring harnesses too. I went ahead and and bought four 30 ft harnesses from Mercury
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Originally Posted by da*****rcury
(Post 3659287)
while i was at it, decided to replace the old wiring harnesses too. I went ahead and and bought four 30 ft harnesses from Mercury
Be glad your motors do not use the smartcraft stuff. All you end up with is a lot of extra connections, plugs and split loom that does not look good. I cut all mine off and did a splice. Took some time to figure things out from a service book schematic but turned out nice. |
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Here is shot of the tie block holders I was talking about from Panduit if anyone is interested. Not a bad look.
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Looks great, nice job, tough place to work under the dash.
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Awesome wiring job! Bilge is nice, bright and clean! Wooohooo! . |
Originally Posted by Double Rigged
(Post 3659464)
David,
Be glad your motors do not use the smartcraft stuff. All you end up with is a lot of extra connections, plugs and split loom that does not look good. I cut all mine off and did a splice. Took some time to figure things out from a service book schematic but turned out nice. |
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Thank you David, I'm def game for a ride in a quad 36 Skater! . |
:)yep, you can find buckeye lake off of 1-70 east of Columbus, OH, I'll pick you up at the dock::cool:
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Your gonna clear that lake in about three minutes :D
Are there any bars or restaurants on that lake? Looks like a nice little place to chill. They used to do some kinda hot boat weekend down there on one of these websites, might'a been screan and fly. I always wanted to drag a batboat down there for fun. |
that will be my answer to rising fuel prices this summer. I few short bursts on buckeye ocean and I'll be good:ernaehrung004:
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Man o man.....some great pictures...some beautiful work............
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today I turned my attention to the cooling system, finishing up mounting the water block and attaching the four new check valves that Glass Dave helped me find on Ebay!:cool:
now its time to get the AN fittings and hoses to connect the water block to the sea strainer and thru hull pickups. I've got that Jeg's store nearby that I can buy nylon braided hose and polished fittings |
David,
Skater rigged my 32’ with three 300x motors with three AN16 lines from the manifold to the motors and two AN20 lines from the two lower water pickups to the manifold. Skater also used check valves. My lower water pickups doen’t start working till about 90mph, but I have plenty of water pressure above 100mph (15psi) or more. I don’t use sea strainers, I typically run in clean water. (Lake Michigan) I don’t know about the Merc 2.5’s but Peter was really surprised how much water the 300x motors require. I wouldn’t use any smaller lines. Hope this helps. Carl |
Originally Posted by chardt
(Post 3664285)
David,
Skater rigged my 32’ with three 300x motors with three AN16 lines from the manifold to the motors and two AN20 lines from the two lower water pickups to the manifold. Skater also used check valves. My lower water pickups doen’t start working till about 90mph, but I have plenty of water pressure above 100mph (15psi) or more. I don’t use sea strainers, I typically run in clean water. (Lake Michigan) I don’t know about the Merc 2.5’s but Peter was really surprised how much water the 300x motors require. I wouldn’t use any smaller lines. Hope this helps. Carl I was wondering if you could post some pictures of your water pickups from inside the bilge, water block and where the hoses connect to the outboards. (also what size fittings threaded directly into the engine with AN 16 hoses) |
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the last time that I rigged a merc 2.5 with thru hull water pickups, I had to cut off half of the threads on the AN 12 fitting that goes into the adapter plate under the powerhead. I had to do this because of clearance issues with attaching the 90 degree AN fitting that is attached to the water hose. Is there any other way to go about this problem?
Excuse the sideways view |
David,
Fragola makes a 3/4" pipe to an16 90 degree fitting part#frg482215-bl that I used. I had to lift the powerhead 2" off the midsection to put them on, but they look great. pm me your e-mail and I will send you a lot of picts. You can post them, I just have trouble uploading picts. Carl |
Thanks Carl, your set up looks great, I would like to NOT have to raise powerheads to hook up water feeds. Any ideas out there?
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you might want to try finding a reel short-square 90 degree fitting and see if you can thread it in the midsection without hitting the pan. The picture of the two piece 90 I sent you is what skater put on and they had to lift the powerhead. (the blue and chrome plated one) Good luck.
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Try and find the fittings in stainless and use a good anti-sieze. The anodized fittings will rot and sieze to the adaptor plates and removing them can become quite a challenge. Please dont ask how I know this.
b.t.w. "Awesome" job on the boat. |
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Carl, I liked the idea of the feed lines running across the midsection clamps instead of drooping way down and then up to attach to the fitting in the powerhead adapter plate. Alot cleaner looking.
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Originally Posted by Nice Pair
(Post 3669536)
Try and find the fittings in stainless and use a good anti-sieze. The anodized fittings will rot and sieze to the adaptor plates and removing them can become quite a challenge. Please dont ask how I know this.
b.t.w. "Awesome" job on the boat. |
David,
Skater installed the chrome platerd brass fittings I sent you a picture of. I really wasn't concerned about running aluminum since I don't boat in salt water, but NP has a good point. |
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It was time for me to make the hoses that run from the thru hull water pickups on the bottom of the bilge up to the waterblock located over the tunnel in the back of the bilge.
Since I'm running merc 2.5s I decided to stick with AN 16 size hose and fittings. I'm using Jeg's nylon braided SS reinforced Pro-Flow hose, as its light weight but strong enough. I chose the Jeg's nickel-plated AN fittings for inside the bilge. I saw a nifty tool to help with threading the hose ends after cutting into the fitting. I remember in times past when I would be making hose assemlies that were the stainless steel hoses with the frayed ends, and the difficulty that would arise when trying to insert the frayed end into the fitting. (its called the Koul Tool) |
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the Koul Tool definately made it easier to join the hose to the fitting. I think that with the nylon braid, it was overkill and not necessary. If you are using stainless steel hose though, I'd reccommend it.
After connecting the hose, I used some antiseize on the threads, and a light coating of oil on the insides of the hose. This was a good thing when it came time to thread the two pieces of the AN fitting together with the hose attached. With the 16 AN size, it took quite a bit more effort to tighten everthing snug. I used a wrench seen in the photo that was made to minimize damaging the surface of the fittings |
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after assembling two straight fittings on two separate sections of hose I attached one end each to the respective end of the water block and tightened to snug so that I could get an accurate measurement as to where to cut the hose to proper length. There's nothing like cutting one too short and having to throw an expensive piece in the trash
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next I decided to install the trim pumps up under the shelf directly in front of the transom. Here are some pics of the port side
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I've been putting it off, but now needed to bite the bullet and buy the optimas
31M |
My lord .... Someone needs to start a school .....what about it ... Ryan
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Originally Posted by Spiderman
(Post 3677543)
My lord .... Someone needs to start a school .....what about it ... Ryan
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I decided to use the AN 12 flared fittings for connecting the water hoses from distribution block. because of clearance issues under the cowl I had them machined shorter.
Also, the lower cowl had to be notched so that the 90 degree could fit properly underneath |
Originally Posted by da*****rcury
(Post 3681515)
I decided to use the AN 12 flared fittings for connecting the water hoses from distribution block. because of clearance issues under the cowl I had them machined shorter.
Also, the lower cowl had to be notched so that the 90 degree could fit properly underneath |
I think so.........good idea dave........12's are large
Do you think you may have a water problem with your 90 degree ? |
i hope that I dont have water pressure issues. I know that the 2.5s dont need as much water pressure as the newer larger 2 stroke mercs.
My skater came with the same style 90 degree fittings on it with the triple set up for racing offshore. since then I've eliminated the sea strainers. Spiderman, do you know what effect the absence of the sea strainers will have on water pressure, if any? My thinking is that by eliminating the extra hoses and two sea strainers it might increase water pressure and/or volume. any thoughts?? I'm going to run it and see |
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I've been trying to buy out some time to work on the skater.
I went thru the electrical connections on the three original trim pumps and replaced the solenoids and fuses that were corroded and loose. |
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also, was kicking around some ideas about what to do about running all of the cables and hoses through the opening in the transom to the engines. I didnt like the idea of everything just laying across the transom like that so I had a local shop make an aluminum bracket that help keep things organized
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Wow looks great, the attention to detail will really pay off in the end. When are wanting to get it in the water?
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i wanted to have it in the water by july 4, but not going to happen. Im now targeting labor day
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