Page 2 of 3

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:05 am
by ROLAND
Rockhound... she looks really good... great job my friend... enjoy your day on the lake...

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:37 am
by badmoonrising
:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:30 am
by rockhound
We had a good day despite some bugs in her

right toon is taking on water, the new prop is too deep in pitch (so much for mercruiser's prop calculator) could onle get 3500 rpms out of the motor

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:06 pm
by curtiscapk
awesome job but sucks on the prop.. what size did you get?

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:15 am
by rockhound
It is a 16 x 14 extra cup

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 8:23 pm
by rockhound
ok so the first trip out did not go so well.

the po did not transport the boat properly, probably ever (translated that means hauling the big i/o motor unsupported) there are two stress cracks at the aftmost deck support where it is welded to the toons. I reinforced the area using a new aluminum piece and some marine sealant, the repair was riveted into place and appears to give plenty of support to the affected area. however the sealant did not seem to take and the port toon was uncomfortably full of water.

fast forward. the repair was removed from both sides and a new sealant was installed and sandwiched between the toon, the deck support and the new reinforcing piece of metal. the second outing was mostly a success. the port toon was completely dry and the starboard toon had minimal water in her.

in addition i installed two new 12 volt self priming bilge pumps, one for each toon. My toons do not have sealed chambers, they drain all the way out the aft end of the toons, i removed the rear most topside plugs and with the proper plumbing fittings was able to feed 5/8 inch poly tubes into the rear chamber of the toons, those lines run under the deck and above the skins to the drywell that houses my battery, in the well i installed 2 bilge pumps that will self prime up to 12 feet above liquid level and are capable of drying the toons if necessary, they are sent across the engine bay and exit with the standard through hull fittings. i was afraid of creating a vacuum in the toons so at the next plug i installed check valves that will allow air in should the pumps create too much vacuum, they are setup up so as to stay clear of any water intrusion. this will prevent the pumps from causing the toons to suck more water as they are being pumped out. hopefully we will never test this system other than on the trailer :)

the toons are mostly polished, although they need more work

i am confident the boat will float

the po was probably the worst at keeping a boat maintained that i have ever seen, the second outing we have discovered more deferred maintenance so this week i will be tearing down the gimbal and replacing bearings, bellows and trim senders. the lower unit appears to be usable for the season, but come winter she will get rebuilt also.

I have come to the conclusion that the boat has been neglected almost to death. the renovation will go deeper than i had planned.

The toons are not worth installing strakes or making performance enhancements. they will work for the season, but i will not be keeping them very long.

the deck and flooring was planned for the winter rebuild, new toons will be be also added to the list.

I had thought about buying a chassis and transferring everything over to a whole new boat, but we will weigh the cost and benefits of that. I have a quote of $10,000 for a tritoon that will hold my i/o and be usable, seems that new outer toons and a waterglide might be more cost effective.

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:23 pm
by rockhound
The new propeller came in and I got the chance to test her, 4400 rpms we are getting there, top end on the I/O is 4800-5000

completed the gimbal bearing/bellows job,
was not as hard as i expected, next time should be a breeze.
discovered a few things along the way such as the gimbal has been taken apart before.

Here's a thought, when you take the gimbal apart, I would suggest re-installing all the seals. The PO did not bother to do that, I am not sure how long the gimbal bearing has been bad , but it has been a long time.

new bearing in place:
Image

here is just one of the missing seals: there is supposed to be an oil slinger type seal on that shaft right at the water pump housing this was one of at least four that were missing, the other were more critical, but i was too greasy to get photos.
Image


some of you may have read the thread about this anti-ventilation plate that was made for the PO. I am not an expert (ok maybe I am a little) but the anti-vent plate is supposed to keep water on the prop, I am not sure of the plan here, but the plate is opened up over the top of the prop (how does that keep the water on the prop?), also the plate sat way out in front of the lower unit creating drag.
Image

I removed this POS and ran the boat one day without it. I forgot the GPS, but seat of the pants I am thinking 3 mph top end easy and the hole shot was greatly improved. I am sure a new gimbal bearing did not hurt the top end either. The boat does vent now though, and without the pos plate the setup is finally running at WOT, 4900 rpms

I took the POS plate and redesigned it....
now it sits the way it should ie: over the motor and nothing out front to create drag, hole shot is way improved, I am confident that i could start a skier, no problem, unfortunately i failed again to bring the GPS so i don't have any new top end numbers, all day at the lake the prop may have vented three times, nice improvement, we were using her pretty hard pulling the tubes around
Here is the new vent plate:
Image




Image

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:29 am
by margaritaman
I think the original plate was installed backwards.

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:54 am
by rockhound
that thought did cross my mind.
seeing as it was custom made, not an off the shelf factory jobber, i have to believe they installed it as intended, still a drag inducing POS as installed.

new design works very well,

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 6:55 pm
by rockhound
well this has been a long two years since she was in the water. We put probably fifty hours on her since i first repaired her.

Kind of dry docked her due to a home move. had to build a new shop. and get the new house up and running...

so after a year and a half under a cover i finally have a new shop and time to kill.

the old heavy i/0 is coming out this week. a few electrical connections are all that's keeping me from unbolting her.

the new shop is a bit bigger, so i have room to really tear into her. sourcing a new transom or third tube now, sourced a newer mercury efi 150hp out board
have arranged for the stress cracks to be tigged over with new patch
leaning toward a full length center toon with transom mount.

planning our first trip to LOTO this june, so i have a few months to get her ready.


time to go
[IMG]http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii46 ... 152233.jpg[/IMG]

new shop
[IMG]http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii46 ... 144149.jpg[/IMG]

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:07 am
by rockhound
cant seem to get the photos to load this time, sorry
double checked the formatting, linking is exactly the same as the other photos coming off the same slideshow?

ill figure it out.

the engine pod is ready to come out, easy peasy
i will have to take part of the deck apart though to remove it cause the previous owner or the manufacturer siliconed the crap out of it. need new crossmembers across the transom anyway so not such a big deal.

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 12:48 pm
by rockhound
looks like its the size of my pics that is the issue.

Ill make adjustments and get some posted, the boat has been at the local welder to have the minor damage from the old I/O patched, I bent some aluminum and made him templates of what i wanted, he reworked some 5250 to match. i should be able to pick it up today,

the donor motor is out of the donor boat, new transom with integrated feul pod is here as well as the new console, new binnacle throtle, switches, gauges were sourced from the donor boat as well as the entire wiring harness,

still debating whether to pop for the hydraulic steering.

ill resize and post photos later tonight

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:53 pm
by rockhound
so summer is here and my project is back in the water

the upgrades include a 2001 mercury efi 150 (less than 100 hours on it), in place of the old i/0 that she came with, new hydraulic steering, new 300 hp transom fuel tank combo, dual batteries, new console gauges and switches, new decking and additional crossmembers, repaired the damage from the old owner trailering her without supporting the motor pod, new controls etc etc etc

had her in the water last week, she needs less prop and the motor needs to be lowered (already done and will retest next week)

i won't bore you with the dozens of photos i took but here are a few:

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:15 am
by curtiscapk
wow that's great!

Re: MY RIVIERA CRUISER

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:10 am
by haganjeff
Great job. You certainly have some skills!