Giving Up the Gas
- Thread starter CaddmannQ
- Start date
dunking them in the lake will blow a bulb.
I always unhooked my lights from the truck connector before launching.
They can still blow that way, but they can still blow if you hit a bump driving down the road, rain spray seeps in there while driving, etc.
I always unhooked my lights from the truck connector before launching.
They can still blow that way, but they can still blow if you hit a bump driving down the road, rain spray seeps in there while driving, etc.
I unplugged the lights, but last time I went fishing it was very hot and the bulbs were just still too hot.
I sealed these tail lights up over 15 years ago with clear silicone sealer.
Until now I've only had to change one light bulb in all that time.
I sealed these tail lights up over 15 years ago with clear silicone sealer.
Until now I've only had to change one light bulb in all that time.
I lucked out and I only had to change one light bulb and glue up a cracked lens. That was the easiest part of the whole week. Putting all these new rails and struts and tubes on the trailer was a lot of work.
I had to make 10 brackets to mount the rails and six were these shorties, while the other four were similar but much longer.
These were made from 2x2 Unistrut and if you look at my picture of the trailer you can see that the new cross rails which they mount to are also made from Unistrut.
It's not as strong as 2 x 2 tubing but much easier to fabricate certain things from.
I also bought this Bimini top kit and you can just see the edge of it in the next photo.
My fishing buddy Bobby:
This is me hiding in the shade under the Bimini.
This one was shot a bit before the lake started getting chopped up by water skiers , sending us back to the dock.
I took my buddy Bobby out to Shaver Lake and we took this boat from one end of the lake to the other and back with no real issues, other than the fact that my buddy Bobby is rather heavy and the boat sit's a little low with him in it. Then there was the occasional idiot on a jet ski who tried to swamp us.
But the weather was beautiful and the lake was beautiful as you can see from these photos and in spite of being 100% exhausted I had a great time.
And I mean it about the 100% exhausted. I finished with the boat and crawled into bed at 2:45 am and by 5:30 Saturday morning I was loading it up ready to go.
Needless to say, today I am taking it easy and trying to recover from the efforts of the previous week.
All in all, the boat ran very well but her sea-keeping is abominable under rough conditions, causing a pendulous action of the motors which requires me to constantly fan the tiller to maintain a heading.
Also Bobby weighs about 120 lb more than my wife and with him in the boat I was a little uncomfortable about the remaining free board under rough conditions. In fact I was turning her nose into any big waves to avoid taking water over the stern.
I had to make 10 brackets to mount the rails and six were these shorties, while the other four were similar but much longer.
These were made from 2x2 Unistrut and if you look at my picture of the trailer you can see that the new cross rails which they mount to are also made from Unistrut.
It's not as strong as 2 x 2 tubing but much easier to fabricate certain things from.
I also bought this Bimini top kit and you can just see the edge of it in the next photo.
My fishing buddy Bobby:
This is me hiding in the shade under the Bimini.
This one was shot a bit before the lake started getting chopped up by water skiers , sending us back to the dock.
I took my buddy Bobby out to Shaver Lake and we took this boat from one end of the lake to the other and back with no real issues, other than the fact that my buddy Bobby is rather heavy and the boat sit's a little low with him in it. Then there was the occasional idiot on a jet ski who tried to swamp us.
But the weather was beautiful and the lake was beautiful as you can see from these photos and in spite of being 100% exhausted I had a great time.
And I mean it about the 100% exhausted. I finished with the boat and crawled into bed at 2:45 am and by 5:30 Saturday morning I was loading it up ready to go.
Needless to say, today I am taking it easy and trying to recover from the efforts of the previous week.
All in all, the boat ran very well but her sea-keeping is abominable under rough conditions, causing a pendulous action of the motors which requires me to constantly fan the tiller to maintain a heading.
Also Bobby weighs about 120 lb more than my wife and with him in the boat I was a little uncomfortable about the remaining free board under rough conditions. In fact I was turning her nose into any big waves to avoid taking water over the stern.
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Well I've been spending a lot of time on the boat. I moved all the forward batteries back and all the rear batteries forward until all six batteries are now amidships.
I built a new seat in the boat there that contains a battery box for all six batteries & the wiring. There is also a plastic fuse box I added to the boat so I would have a main fuse at least on the 24 volt circuit.
I built a new control box and got it all set up and wired. It doesn't quite fit yet but a little more trimming and I'll be done.
I built a new seat in the boat there that contains a battery box for all six batteries & the wiring. There is also a plastic fuse box I added to the boat so I would have a main fuse at least on the 24 volt circuit.
I built a new control box and got it all set up and wired. It doesn't quite fit yet but a little more trimming and I'll be done.
I don't know about full-on custom but it is the only one like it around.
This boat actually never had a name while it was gasoline-powered but I painted this on the stern at 2 in the morning before the first Shakedown Cruise with electric motors.
This boat actually never had a name while it was gasoline-powered but I painted this on the stern at 2 in the morning before the first Shakedown Cruise with electric motors.
Oooooh, look! A big new electric motor!
I paid $900 for this baby and it makes one horsepower continuous on 36 volts.
This should push the boat better than the two Navigator motots I'm running now, which in theory combine to produce only 2 lb thrust less than the new motor (112 lb vs two 55's) but in practice the Navigators are old and worn, and not quite making full power.
Since this motor steers, any other Motors I add to the boat do not have to steer. I'm going to disassemble my homemade tiller arrangement and rebuild the Navigator Motors. I will re-mount them to the boat solidly, in a manner that does not allow them to steer.
I paid $900 for this baby and it makes one horsepower continuous on 36 volts.
This should push the boat better than the two Navigator motots I'm running now, which in theory combine to produce only 2 lb thrust less than the new motor (112 lb vs two 55's) but in practice the Navigators are old and worn, and not quite making full power.
Since this motor steers, any other Motors I add to the boat do not have to steer. I'm going to disassemble my homemade tiller arrangement and rebuild the Navigator Motors. I will re-mount them to the boat solidly, in a manner that does not allow them to steer.
I got this motor on sale but it was a 56" (!) bow mount, and I converted it to a 33" transom mount by cutting 23" off of the main shaft and reversing the tiller head.
Here it was out of the box:
My wife freaked out when she saw me tearing apart a $1000 motor . . .
I started my cut with a pipe cutter and finished it with a small hand saw. The shaft is a fiberglass composite and it's almost half an inch thick. You can see how thick it is in that photo above.
This is going to make a difference. I can tell just by looking...
I also have built a battery box to centralize all my batteries, and it also serves as a seat, and ties the boat together structurally. I improved the wood sliding doors on my storage locker, and reinforced and sealed the framing a bit. I also added some chrome locks & chrome knobs and a locking latch for the battery compartment.
I'll get some pictures of that stuff tomorrow in the daylight . This is as much as I'm willing to do tonight. It's time for a nightcap & a shower.
This motor has the latest generation of controller mechanism, and while ithe motor is slightly more efficient at full power, it doesn't waste power at low speeds like the old ones did.
I've got six big batteries, and I ran three motors on them in various combinations and at various speeds, fishing all day, with plenty of reserve power.
But no telling how long they will last in a straight flat out speed run. I've had it back and forth across the biggest lake I ever intend to fish with this boat, with no battery issues.
The big thing is that higher voltage improves efficiency, so this will actually work better than 12 or 24 volt Motors.
I've got six big batteries, and I ran three motors on them in various combinations and at various speeds, fishing all day, with plenty of reserve power.
But no telling how long they will last in a straight flat out speed run. I've had it back and forth across the biggest lake I ever intend to fish with this boat, with no battery issues.
The big thing is that higher voltage improves efficiency, so this will actually work better than 12 or 24 volt Motors.
Yes, it should be more efficient. But at varying degrees for the amount of use, and speed of use.
I'm just interested in how it holds up to a days fishing. Hopefully with no problems. I just don't like trying to paddle a big boat if I don't have to
I'm just interested in how it holds up to a days fishing. Hopefully with no problems. I just don't like trying to paddle a big boat if I don't have to
Well this boat will never get up and plane, so what will happen is that at some point the boat will stop accelerating because it is pushing a bow wave it can't climb over. I will end up spending a lot of electricity on that last 0.5 miles per hour. This is typical for electric-powered displacement hulls. You use half of your electricity just getting from 6 to 6.5 knots.
Another photo from the way past midnight boat Building Company ...
Out with the old and in with the new :
At some point I got a GPS app for my cell phone that calculates speed in knots from satellite readings. Monday I took my wife out & we managed to hit only around 4 1/2 knots, and yet at that the boat was noticeably faster than it had been with the old Motors.
This converts to 5 1/4 miles per hour, so not quite as fast as I thought we would be going, yet when we were out there it felt fast enough to us.
Well fast enough that we old farts weren't alarmed at how slow it was, you understand . . .
Those Navigator Motors are getting old but it was always my intention to rebuild them and put them back on the boat. Now, however, they will not need to steer.
I tore apart the worst of the two Navigator Motors and found that it had leaked a little bit of water. This was because one of the screws had come slightly loose. At the same time this allowed the bearing housing to cock, causing the bearing to squeak.
The motor is very simple and the bearings and shaft looked fine once I cleaned them up. The commutator is deeply grooved however & the brushes are worn out completely.
It's impossible to get Factory parts for this motor but I had some brushes from an alternator which will fit, but do not have the exact same leads. I'm going to trim the old leads, and solder the new ones on.
I managed to find a new shaft seal at NAPA, & the O-rings appear to be undamaged, so I will reuse them.
This motor has two seals & both are on the prop end, & both showing their age. It also had a seal spacer.
I removed the spacer and put all 3 seals ( one new + 2 used) on the shaft. Hopefully it will out-live me.
Anyhow I have to make the new mount for these motors, which will be fairly simple, but I have to move my tie down bolts on the trailer rails to accommodate these motors when I load the boat on. In order to move the left one I will have to move my fish finder pick up which I had previously epoxied solidly to the hull.
It's Chisel and Hammer Time.
Out with the old and in with the new :
At some point I got a GPS app for my cell phone that calculates speed in knots from satellite readings. Monday I took my wife out & we managed to hit only around 4 1/2 knots, and yet at that the boat was noticeably faster than it had been with the old Motors.
This converts to 5 1/4 miles per hour, so not quite as fast as I thought we would be going, yet when we were out there it felt fast enough to us.
Well fast enough that we old farts weren't alarmed at how slow it was, you understand . . .
Those Navigator Motors are getting old but it was always my intention to rebuild them and put them back on the boat. Now, however, they will not need to steer.
I tore apart the worst of the two Navigator Motors and found that it had leaked a little bit of water. This was because one of the screws had come slightly loose. At the same time this allowed the bearing housing to cock, causing the bearing to squeak.
The motor is very simple and the bearings and shaft looked fine once I cleaned them up. The commutator is deeply grooved however & the brushes are worn out completely.
It's impossible to get Factory parts for this motor but I had some brushes from an alternator which will fit, but do not have the exact same leads. I'm going to trim the old leads, and solder the new ones on.
I managed to find a new shaft seal at NAPA, & the O-rings appear to be undamaged, so I will reuse them.
This motor has two seals & both are on the prop end, & both showing their age. It also had a seal spacer.
I removed the spacer and put all 3 seals ( one new + 2 used) on the shaft. Hopefully it will out-live me.
Anyhow I have to make the new mount for these motors, which will be fairly simple, but I have to move my tie down bolts on the trailer rails to accommodate these motors when I load the boat on. In order to move the left one I will have to move my fish finder pick up which I had previously epoxied solidly to the hull.
It's Chisel and Hammer Time.
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We took these pictures at the lake Monday.
Oh, by the way, I picked up a new propeller for this new motor on Amazon, and it is supposed to improve speed by 1 mile per hour. I will have it within the week and we'll find out.
I'm hoping that by running the new propeller and putting the two Navigator Motors back on, that this boat might reach 6 1/2 miles per hour.
That may not sound like much of an increase but when you have 5 miles to go and your boat only goes 5 miles an hour, having it Go six and a half is a big deal.
Oh, by the way, I picked up a new propeller for this new motor on Amazon, and it is supposed to improve speed by 1 mile per hour. I will have it within the week and we'll find out.
I'm hoping that by running the new propeller and putting the two Navigator Motors back on, that this boat might reach 6 1/2 miles per hour.
That may not sound like much of an increase but when you have 5 miles to go and your boat only goes 5 miles an hour, having it Go six and a half is a big deal.
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My new propeller has not yet arrived, and I have not yet re-mounted the Navigator Motors (which now run perfectly.) Nonetheless we went fishing yesterday at Huntington Lake.
I've decided that I will quit telling people that I am going fishing, and instead just tell them I am going boating. That way I can report how successful I was, instead of reporting the massive and total skunking which actually occurred.
Unfortunately they had to drain Florence Lake to repair the dam, and freezing water has been going in and out of Huntington lake quickly, driving the fish crazy. There was no thermocline and we did not spot a single fish on the Hummingbird. This was the kind of full, freezing cold lake where you'd expect to see hordes of ravenous fish.
But it was, in fact, the most perfect day for boating. Sunny, cool, and calm in the AM, with a light steady breeze in the PM. Huntington is regarded as one of the finest sailboat lakes in the nation, and it's only 90 minutes up the mountain from my place.
While it was 95°F in the valley, we were sitting at 7000 feet elevation in the middle of a multi-million gallon pool of recent snow melt. Brrrrr...My wife always wants to go swimming in the lake but she did not even stick her toes in, as the water was so cold.
The lake was absolutely full; up to the spillway, and would be going over except they were letting water out the penstocks to the PowerHouse below.
Just above us it was hazy from the fires up around Yosemite, and smoke was drifting up the mountain and over Kaiser pass.
So not a single fish all day but what a wonderful day trip, and the boat performed perfectly.
Only one tiny event marred it for us. On this Thursday morning, we never saw more than five boats on the whole lake, yet one Bozo in a catamaran had to cut so close to us that we fouled our trolling gear in a panic turn to avoid him. There was absolutely no excuse for this, even for a novice who should have known to stay well clear of other vessels, and the fact that the lake was nearly empty of tracfic makes it rant worthy.
While on paper, sailboats do have the right of way, we were virtually Motionless, going under 1.5 mph. This guy had a boat four times as big, going six times as fast, and what he did is inexcusable except under emergency conditions.
But people are thoughtless and often outright aggressive. They had to pass a law here that you cannot drive your car Closer Than 3 Feet to a cyclist, because drivers were buzzing them and knocking them off their bikes!
I've decided that I will quit telling people that I am going fishing, and instead just tell them I am going boating. That way I can report how successful I was, instead of reporting the massive and total skunking which actually occurred.
Unfortunately they had to drain Florence Lake to repair the dam, and freezing water has been going in and out of Huntington lake quickly, driving the fish crazy. There was no thermocline and we did not spot a single fish on the Hummingbird. This was the kind of full, freezing cold lake where you'd expect to see hordes of ravenous fish.
But it was, in fact, the most perfect day for boating. Sunny, cool, and calm in the AM, with a light steady breeze in the PM. Huntington is regarded as one of the finest sailboat lakes in the nation, and it's only 90 minutes up the mountain from my place.
While it was 95°F in the valley, we were sitting at 7000 feet elevation in the middle of a multi-million gallon pool of recent snow melt. Brrrrr...My wife always wants to go swimming in the lake but she did not even stick her toes in, as the water was so cold.
The lake was absolutely full; up to the spillway, and would be going over except they were letting water out the penstocks to the PowerHouse below.
Just above us it was hazy from the fires up around Yosemite, and smoke was drifting up the mountain and over Kaiser pass.
So not a single fish all day but what a wonderful day trip, and the boat performed perfectly.
Only one tiny event marred it for us. On this Thursday morning, we never saw more than five boats on the whole lake, yet one Bozo in a catamaran had to cut so close to us that we fouled our trolling gear in a panic turn to avoid him. There was absolutely no excuse for this, even for a novice who should have known to stay well clear of other vessels, and the fact that the lake was nearly empty of tracfic makes it rant worthy.
While on paper, sailboats do have the right of way, we were virtually Motionless, going under 1.5 mph. This guy had a boat four times as big, going six times as fast, and what he did is inexcusable except under emergency conditions.
But people are thoughtless and often outright aggressive. They had to pass a law here that you cannot drive your car Closer Than 3 Feet to a cyclist, because drivers were buzzing them and knocking them off their bikes!