AmSkier Construction

right with at Bank it don't seam very cheap!

Duane in Indy wrote: pfelgner wrote: Eddie can I ask where you got the SS tube from? Been looking but not much luck. Is it 316 grade or? Thanks Pat search:   {4 exhaust tubing stainless}     on ebay if you want 4"

Good call Duane.

Check this out Pat.
Looks like the same stuff that I got. You just pick the diameter and length. It's only money so make sure that your bank account is covered.
Burns Stainless

pfelgner wrote: Eddie can I ask where you got the SS tube from? Been looking but not much luck. Is it 316 grade or? Thanks Pat

search:   {4 exhaust tubing stainless}     on ebay if you want 4"

Eddie can I ask where you got the SS tube from? Been looking but not much luck. Is it 316 grade or? Thanks Pat

Eddie what did you use for the exhaust pipe and what dia and wall thickness?

8122pbrainard wrote: Eddie, You sure get my approval. You can work on my boat anytime!

Come on Pete, that's not the original construction method for the blower, and therefore it's junk.

I guess I'm just gonna have to come down there again and give you a reason to start over.

Eddie,
You sure get my approval. You can work on my boat anytime!

Looks great. Nice work

So here we are, back for the final installment of this nightmare. I have to say that I'm glad for that. It seems like it's been a long road. Hell, it's been almost a full year since it happened now.
I’ve always wanted to relocate the blower. It has always been mounted to a bracket that was bolted to the starter. There was an inlet hose that dropped into the bilge. An outlet hose then ran to a 3” PVC pipe that was glassed into the hull which ran to the transom. It seemed like every time I did anything on the back end of the engine the blower or the hoses were in the way and I had to remove it which was a PITA. Hell, checking the tranny fluid could be a lesson in futility.
This is an old engine pic showing the blower location.


You can see the PVC pipe between the exhaust and the shaft log. Every time I had to remove the center floor section you can’t help but step all over it which caused twisted ankles, bruised knees and bloodied knuckles.


Ron Tanis knew exactly what I’m talking about and he relocates them underneath the rear floor access between the stringers in his restorations right where that PVC pipe was. I wanted to do the same thing so I removed it and ground out the final remnants of it before painting the bilge.
But how do you put it back in the same place that was a known issue and eliminate the previously mentioned problems? It has to be removable….No, it has to be easily removable. So I can get it out of my way before working back there.


The aluminum flat stock uses wing nuts to bolt it to small aluminum angle brackets that are screwed to the stringers. The blower wiring has quick disconnects right at the stringer so I can remove the whole thing and lay it off to the side with the flex hose still attached in a minute or two. It’s still very functional like this.

So now we’re finally down to what caused this whole mess in the first place. You remember this thing:




When the pylon hit the bridge, the top cable was cut clean up near the pylon. The lower cable of the pylon snapped at the loop down at the cable clamp and that broken cable then pulled through the clamp block. The clean cut shown here is what I did to remove the cable clamp from the turnbuckle. The frayed end is where the lower cable snapped.


I had Rob Bemman put new cables on this. They were 3/16” like the old cable but the sheath was much thicker. I mistakenly thought the factory cables were only 1/4” but they aren't. I wanted to get rid of that POS clamp block. They work but they’re virtually impossible to get adjusted properly and if you’re working with one that was used on another boat the problem is only exacerbated with kinked cable and scathed sheathes from previously clamped cables. Just not a good alternative. I decided to use the same terminations that I used when Steve Kutch broke my boom cables….LOL. (Just kidding Steve). SS turnbuckles, cable thimbles and ferrules properly terminated and plasti-dipped and a couple of quick links. It's so much cleaner this way and it just has to be stronger.











Now the new ones are red sheath too to match my boom cables…bonus.


So all I have to do yet is slide a new shock tube over the turnbuckles to cover up all my work again and this sucker is done. Put an end to this snowballed, out of control repair. I’m out boys. See you on the water…LOL

Eddie, looks superb, as always. You're welcome to come north and clean my bilge anytime!

baitkiller wrote: I'm glad your feeling better Eddie. The boat looks great. Do me a favor though.. If the deck is still off please double clamp those exhaust connections..

Hey John, if you look at the pics the rigid corrugated hose on the elbows is double clamped at each end. The softwall hose is single clamped which has worked perfectly fine for several years.

JPASS wrote: Let's hear that thing running. Post a video if you can.

Hey John,
Go back up and double click on the thumbnail after my last pic for the video. I'm not sure why my videos come out like this. I'll have to experiment with this technology stuff.

I'm glad your feeling better Eddie. The boat looks great. Do me a favor though.. If the deck is still off please double clamp those exhaust connections.
Thanks,

Cam and I will be up to see you this spring after the tourists go home and the water warms up.

Nice work! I do like Gregs idea of bring boats down south for tinkering.. How do I sign up for that?

Eddie,
Fantastic repair. Of course, I never had any doubts!

I finally got healed enough from my second surgery to get stuff put together and fire this bad boy up.
If you go way back to the start of this thread you'll see what the pylon looked like before the disassembly and now the "after". So much better now....


Before I put all the flooring and engine cover back on I took a few pics to show the fruits of my labor. After all I'll be the only one that sees it after that and I'm sure it'll never look like this again.






I fired it up in the driveway to make sure everything was OK and then headed to the lake to get it wet.
I set the shift/throttle linkages, tweaked the idle mixture and RPM, adjusted the shaft packing gland and made sure that nothing was leaking that wasn't supposed to be leaking (like the rudder port????). I was pretty stoked.


I still have to relocate the bilge blower to just underneath the center floor. Then I need to terminate the extended pylon cables to finally finish this off. I'll keep you guys updated.