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Sea King

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 6:07 pm
by Rapier
Somehow the appeal of working on the opi has come second to the new acquisition. Started to clean it on Wed; is not an easy job as I can swear there's lichen growing on it - old foam sanding blocks and plastic 3M style potscourers are the best. All feels a bit like deja-vu, + bouyed up with the thought that the standard 22cu. in. Mercs will produce about 30 mph, 1 up in it. Pity we have few rivers that can be negotiated at those speeds & maybe the Mercury Boathouse Bulletins are optimistic, so we shall see.

Have decided to part with 'Sithole', my clean, orange-slug 70s / 80s Zodiac Inflatable. Is on ebay if anyone interested.

Re: Sea King

Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:24 pm
by Rapier
As with all these projects, weeks of activity have passed. Lots of corrosion / salt residue, but now clean, mostly all sanded and the exterior polished. The thwarts are all sanded, bleached and ready to be filled & fixed and varnished. Very pink now... :hmmm: I think they are Oregon Pine, but please correct me..pics show before, 1/2 way through and after. The transom is sound but I hope to replace it with something nicer than B&Q pine flooring. Should be fun..

Re: Sea King

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:48 pm
by Rapier
Jumped a couple of stages here, but filled and faired the holes in the thwarts, followed by 5 coats of epifanes. I replaced the outer transom but kept the tasty B&Q pine inner, Then reconditioned a stiff and 'manky' old Ultraflex inflatable steering system from ebay and made it fit. It will stiffen the boat a bit more too.

Weekend job is to screw the foam bouyancy bins to the wood and remount the seats. Hours of fun is to be had, with drill bits, epoxy, 30 countersunk bolts, nylocs, Duralec primed washers..

Unfortunately is too heavy to cartop now....so the hunt is on for a used dinghy trailer of the Enterprise / Wayfarer sort. Can't imagine the boat will be more than 150Kgs loaded, but gulped at the new prices of the ubiquitous chinese-made jet ski trailers like that used for the Jinx.

Re: Sea King

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:15 pm
by water_buoy
Looks great, looking forward to seeing it on the Thames run if your bringing it?

Re: Sea King

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:28 pm
by Rapier
water_buoy wrote:Looks great, looking forward to seeing it on the Thames run if your bringing it?
Yes, hope so - temporarily rigged the '65 Merc 200 today, BUT looking at the calendar I realised I can't do the 29th though, are you still on for the 28th?

Re: Sea King

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:21 pm
by water_buoy
Yep 28th it is then :thumbsup:

Re: Sea King

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:47 am
by Rapier
Launched the Sea King yesterday - my Mrs popped a bottle of McGuigan in the esky and we were off up river for a few pleasant hours (at 6Knots :wot: )

Was waiting in the water at the slip when these guys pitched up with a rather nice dory fishing boat with an unmarked modern Yamaha 70hp tripple. Try as they might, the motor wouldn't start and this went on for 10mins, chukka-chukka-chukka, try this, try that, not too much, try a bit of choke, squeeze the bulb, etc. so asked if they had a kill cord attached. They hadn't (it was on the guy's spare key at home). I carry a bunch of 10 or so master types as backup, so gave them my yamaha one, with promises that it'd come back to me, which it kindly has. Of course, the motor fired on the next key.

It did occur to me though that manufacturers should make a common cord/clip though..