40 hp 4m rubber duck struggling to plane

[Zircon]

Previous owner mentioned he put a stainless strip on the keel....stating it was for "beaching protection". It was an unsolicited comment. This might be further indication that there is an issue with waterlogging through leakage there.

All people have some kind of "leakage" as well when they sell something that is not above board, no?

 

[willem wikkel spies]

eisch.....

guys, the advise is sometimes completely off!

please take care before you give any advise!!!

1st ly, please post a picture of the buoyancy certificate.
it will state what it has.
is it only inflatable compartments?
or does it have added in the hull itself?

what is the stated weight of the vessel as per manufacturer.
what is the real weight of the vessel.
determine that and then see, if you need to start drilling holes in a vessel!!!

then, 40hp, is still 40 hp, but a 3 cylinder engine does have more torque at certain rpm levels.
so a 3 cylinder will have more torque low down on the rpm range.

overloading a vessel will cause it to sit deeper in the water column, and thus getting onto the plane, will also be different and it will obviously take longer.

props, eisch another aspect!!!
being over propped will cause lag.
under propped, will cause lekker pull away with less top end.

so lets take it step by step and see where the problem is.
we are not going into overloading here lol

 

[Zircon]

I would be careful of buoyancy certs...from what I have seen they are always bog standard and basically "copied" from the previous one. But some good points there.

That being said: it is solved. The Tohatsu has some cabling running around the front which interfered with the manual choke. The choke was off/in, but on the carb it was pulled down by some wiring - so effectively it was on and choking all the time. The curious thing is that it still ran. Most motors die with a choke. Not this one. It ran and idled mostly fine.

The previous owner had set the idle high -presumably because of this issue. Once the mechanic spotted the problem (took him all of 1 minute) he had to adjust the idle down quite a bit.

I took it past Durban Yamaha but quite honestly they were rather useless and were just looking to make a quick buck. Attempted to charge me R2500 for a "service" before even diagnosing the issue - for what - changing a spark plug and cleaning a carb?

The guys who fixed it were Gary and Carl from Boat World in Durban. Most excellent chaps. I really will not bother taking my boat anywhere else but to them in future.

Otherwise the boat goes well. Problem solved! It does not have quite the kick that my old 3 cylinder had, but it is 90% there.

 

[Limpopoking]

Glad to hear you've solved the issue.

But just as an aside, suspecting something (in this case, waterlogged buoyancy foam) is always something that plays constantly in the back of one's mind. I've been busy with a project boat, that didn't start out as a project boat, but because of a number of things that showed up as suspect as I got to know the boat better... It was classic domino theory. Knocked the first one down and the rest just followed. I'm at that stage of a 100% strip of everything mechanical, electrical and the finishes. I've removed the deck, stripped out all the bottles because they were badly installed, removed the bilge pump because it was a disaster waiting to happen... It's basically a great big tear down and rebuild. Oh, yeah... Boat came with a buoyancy certificate... Freshly minted.

And although (as mentioned previously in this thread) I should have been in touch with the original builder for info... Well, the boat building culture in this country is sketchy at best (barring a few outstanding ones). The builder of my little boat went out of business in the 80s. And even the "respected" builders have been found wanting on so many occasions.

I've had no problem drilling, cutting and exposing in order to satisfy my peace of mind. I know that in the bulk of situations, I'll be doing stuff a thousand times better than the "pros"... I'm doing it for myself, not for a buck.

As for the Tohatsu, great motors. I'd buy one any day.

 

[Zircon]

I'll poke into the 10mm hole I drilled tomorrow again. Could not see properly previously.

The guys I spoke to at boat shop and boat builder reckoned no foam in there - it's a duck - but I suppose you never know.

For interest sake I poured in 500ml into the 10mm hole and then collected about 450 mm at the bung straight after. No guarantees but it seems clear.

But yeah, bouyancy cert imo is just an administrative farce, a money making scheme instigated by our current corrup government to punish...people that like to boat. All a bunch of BS. In NZ by the way where I am off to in the next year - no skippers required, no fancy boat certs. You are just expected to get it all right as you are an adult - and if you don't and get caught you get fined solidly.

 

[D5]

Limpopoking wrote:

Glad to hear you've solved the issue.

But just as an aside, suspecting something (in this case, waterlogged buoyancy foam) is always something that plays constantly in the back of one's mind. I've been busy with a project boat, that didn't start out as a project boat, but because of a number of things that showed up as suspect as I got to know the boat better... It was classic domino theory. Knocked the first one down and the rest just followed. I'm at that stage of a 100% strip of everything mechanical, electrical and the finishes. I've removed the deck, stripped out all the bottles because they were badly installed, removed the bilge pump because it was a disaster waiting to happen... It's basically a great big tear down and rebuild. Oh, yeah... Boat came with a buoyancy certificate... Freshly minted.

And although (as mentioned previously in this thread) I should have been in touch with the original builder for info... Well, the boat building culture in this country is sketchy at best (barring a few outstanding ones). The builder of my little boat went out of business in the 80s. And even the "respected" builders have been found wanting on so many occasions.

I've had no problem drilling, cutting and exposing in order to satisfy my peace of mind. I know that in the bulk of situations, I'll be doing stuff a thousand times better than the "pros"... I'm doing it for myself, not for a buck.

As for the Tohatsu, great motors. I'd buy one any day.

I know your frustration . Local boats can be a drum without bottom . Shoddy workmanship coupled with poor design , not all but a lot of them .
It’s a foamed sealed design , where actually nothing is sealed. It starts with manufactures poor design coupled with poor unfinished finishes which later end up in endless patch up jobs . Then beach launching which wrecks the hull and outboards .
I have done so many improvements that I could write a book . Money spent , lost the track . Now with all this experience , I will never buy used boat as No 1 . No 2 If I buy a new SA made boat , before it hits salt water , I will spend time checking and fixing poor workmanship and all poorly sealed hatches ,keel strips and check what’s behind rub rails and how top and bottom hull is sealed together .
Boyancy cert is a total joke and worth a squat . If you buy used boat from anybody - just believe your eyes only and some tools that you should have which can help you to detect foam water-logging, and rotten deck and transoms, the two most costly problems . Outboards - look for more then just hours . Cylinder compression - don’t bother testing this - 95 % die from other problems . 4 strokes are fragile comparing to 2 stroke . They suffer from lot more issues from dry exaust corrosion to easy being hydro locked . If you doing occasional use of boat - get 2 stroke and live with smoke, noise and high consumption . While skipping Opti pops and E craps .
Just my 2c

 

[willem wikkel spies]

you should have noticed the choke on the motor.
one ears are the best, how you missed it we dont know,

but in any case, we are glad you are sorted.

we have great hull builders in RSA.

the foam added strength to the hull, thus the boat builders saw that they could get away with less layers of fiber glass.
and thus weakening the hull.

they still have a problem, proper sealing their boats.
why they struggle is unknown