Miss Delmarva

[seabob4]

Yep, Miss D left this afternoon, a sad sight to see her go.  Always great to see Scott and Farley (you guys think we don't like each other, dontcha!), she needed to get down the road a bit to see Bruce.  Sorry, offered them 0 beers, as they had the Veterans/TIA/Howard Franklin passage to deal with, I'm sure they understood!

Hope Scotty likes her, I did my best...

Aaron, thanks for the pic, that's what I like to see.  Tilted the motors up last night, if they had "fallen over" a bit this morn, that would have told me I needed to bleed the steering some more...they didn't.  After the tow down to Clearwater, they are still where they were last night.  Me likes...

[wingtime]

Well, I was out on a job site so I missed seeing Miss D in my shop!  But I did just get back to find a pattern for her cover in my sewing room.

[gran398]

Hi guys, it's been a long couple of days.  Bob you did a beautiful job rigging the boat, it is perfect in every way. Thank you for a professional job.

We are going to splash her today, really excited,  will report back thanks.

[fitz73222]

I wanted to give you guys an update on the shakedown trials yesterday. She ran excellent! Skoot took a bunch of pictures and video so I'm sure he will post them today. The only real initial issue was to determine the cause of the low water pressure on the starboard engine which we took care of here at the house. Visually it was pumping water fine but noticed a lot of water coming out of the mid section drains compared to the other engine; indicating a leak at the water pump or water tube connection. So we dropped the gearcase to check it out. Turns out the fit up of the plastic water tube adapter to the copper water pipe just didn't seem like a tight fit and was leaking at that joint. A bead of RTV around the connection points fixed the water pressure problem and the engine went from 117 degrees back to 90 degrees after the thermostat opened so we were back in business. We launched at our local ramp and took her out into north 20 MPH wind down the ICW. The boat easily jumped on plane and ran a nice 4000 rpm cruise at 27 mph. One of the things I immediately noticed about this boat compared to my original 22-2 is how quiet and more dense this boat feels running into a head chop. I guess I attribute this to the build materials and rigidity of the hull. It felt like a concrete block and very solid. No shaking, rattling or bounce like mine does. It acted like it had more deadrise and reminded me of a CCP ride than 12 degree ride. She obtained 38.5 mph on GPS into a stiff headwind. The engines are slightly under propped with 18 pitch propellers. These engines are rated at 5250 max and we were running at 5400 WOT so a switch to 19 pitch should get her over 40 mph for the record books but at the expensive of mid range load carrying capacity so we may just leave it since Scott could care less about max speed anyway. Still very impressive for twin 75's on a 2300# dry weight hull. Only real issues was helm stiffness, feeling more like mechanical steering than hydraulic steering. This was evident even at low speed docking maneuvers as well as at speed. So there is some suspicion of a check valve issue. This was a used helm we obtained a couple of years ago so its condition is suspect.  I'll let Scott elaborate further on this post this morning and Skoot will up load his photos and video hopefully today. All and all we were wowed about the performance and build quality of this hull.

[jdupree]

Congrats Scott   Glad to see it completed :!:   I don't think you could have had a better 1st mate either   Great job Fitz Glad you guys had a safe and productive day

[bondobill]

   
Good job Fitz    
Sounds like it should have been cause for celebration  
Scotty....how ya feeling this morn  

Bill

[Georgie]

WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!  

Congrats Scotty!  It's been quite a ride!

[CLM65]

Congrats Scott!  Can't wait to see the video.  And good job Bob & Farley, too!

[fishinonthebrain]

I know you will enjoy your new/rebuilt boat and now it's time to go fishing.

[Necessary Evil]

Congrats Scott! I know you are amped to finally get her out on the water!

[Gonzo25]

Congrats...can't wait to see her...it's been a long ride for sure...I've followed it the whole way

[gran398]

Thanks so  much guys!!

First time in three days have been able to sit down and type. The post yesterday was on Skoot's Siri, sorry for the punctuation, etc.

Really pleased with everything. The boat ran like a dream, rode really solid....the motors, which were somewhat of a question mark....Farley has them both purring like kittens.

Splashed her yesterday....70 degrees, wind 20-25 out of the NE off the ocean...didn't stay long. It was cold without a jacket. Forgot the jacket

Had a couple of issues straight off. The Morse control was bound tight...we fixed it today, but tough yesterday in the wind.

The hydraulic steering doesn't work. Had to muscle her around. Eugene surmises the tilt helm head is defective. Not placing blame...they turn OK on the trailer...but at speed....like running twins on Teleflex.

The electrical work/electronics , lights etc are great...a solid 10. Good job.

We spent today trying to ascertain what happened to the deck. Something spilled on it that is impossible to remove. We tried everything...started mild, then more aggressive...finally went to acid....the acid didn't touch it. Tried toilet bowl cleaner, then lacquer thinner.  That didn't work either.

Bob, if you have any clue what is is, when it got on there, how it got on there, how to get it off...thanks. It is tracked all over the deck, along with quite a bit of  yellow spray adhesive foam. That's on the gel pretty bad too, so if you have any idea how to get it off, please let us know.

Bob....not beating on you...please understand. Just need to get all of this stuff off before it's permanent.

Anyhow...she runs great! Up at 5 AM to pull her northbound. Thanks guys

 A special thanks to our brother Farley for his hard work, wonderful hospitality, and great friendship!

[Circle Hooked]

Scott I'm very happy for you  

And now a message From Mr Bob who is busy at camp, it is relevant to the latest postings.

Scott, great to hear that she ran great and there were no issues with the shift/throttles. Wanted to get them set up "out of the box" for you, where you had good idle, as well as full travel at WOT...from what Farley says in his report, sounds like we that was the deal!

In regards to the stiffer than one would expect steering, keep in mind, as I had discussed earlier, the helm pump came off a dual station boat, mot likely with an auto pilot, so it is a larger displacement pump, either a 2.0 or a 2.4 even. With Teleflex Seastar helm pumps, the higher the displacement, the lower turns lock-to-lock, but, along with that, comes a higher steering effort. Your steering comes in right around 4.5 to 4 3/4 turns LTL, IIRC, which would indicate the larger displacement pump. We also know both the helm and the cylinder are used, so that always throws the unknowns into the picture...

The ideal pump for your application is the HH5271, a 1.7 cu. in. displacement pump. But if you want to ease the steering effort up even further, and, as a bonus, reduce your cost, the HH5261 is an excellent choice. The turns LTL go up to between 6 and 6.5, but the effort is a LOT easier. IIRC, the 5261 is a 1.4 cu. in. pump...

Glad you guys had a great outing, hope everything I did held up well...

[Skoot]

Hey guys, sorry for the wait, I had to take care of the Honey do list after being gone for 2 days.  :twisted:

Here are the pics from the Miss D splash and King Neptune.  





King Neptune and Farley


King Neptune getting her all wet












Videos to come, just dont know how to upload them  

[Circle Hooked]

Looks awesome in the water