posted 04-16-2006 11:53 AM ET (US)        

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage81.html

posted 04-16-2006 02:14 PM ET (US)            

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/004334.html

posted 04-16-2006 07:03 PM ET (US)            

You aren't going to put all those coolers on that Teak deck are you?

I would like to make a reservation for a boat ride on Gambler!

Well done.

posted 04-16-2006 07:48 PM ET (US)            

I learned at least one thing, too. I always knew what the anti-ventilation plate's name and what it was for. NOW, I have learned about the spray deflector. Always figured it was just something to make maintenance more difficult.

Also have noticed from previous pictures, and these as well, just how CLEAR the water is up there. In Charleston (Chawls-tin), there is always puff mud in suspension in any of our water, and thus it is always opaque. I'll bet your water pump impellers last a long longer, too.

I do hope the E-TECs do well for you, Dave. Enjoy your well-deserved rest from your labors.

WhalerAce

PS I know that Dave has posted before about the teak floor, but have you put together a chronological sequence of pictures and/or narrative for that as well? Could be page 82 . . .

Thanks again,

posted 04-17-2006 11:35 AM ET (US)            

Con -
I initially set out with the jackplate/setback purchase for the 150 Merc.

It was spewing oil and nasty drippings into the splashwell and I thought that a setback would keep the nasty out of the boat. In fact, you can see some of the remnants from last fall in the splashwell in some of the photos here. Generally, an oily film coated the entire splashwell and was very hard to remove and keep clean.

When I made the decision to repower, I simply ordered a second bracket.

The reason I decided to buy a second was the thinking that I’m essentially adding “a foot” to the boat, hopefully providing a slightly better ride in chop. Now that the engines are installed, I’m happy I have the setback distance to keep the rigging out of the splashwell. I’m planning to add a bilge pump in the splashwell sump and regain that area of the boat for gear. As for the ride, well, I’m still experimenting and trying to hang on in a choppy sea. I had her out over the weekend with confused chop on Lake Michigan and the trouble was working on the angle of attack while at the same time trying to sync the engines….and find a good speed. Clearly it will take awhile to learn how to efficiently and effectively run twins.

This year, unless on an overnight trip, I hope to scale back on the amount of coolers aboard for dry storage. Right now, I’m back at two: one in front of the console and one under the leaning post.

Ace –
Re: the floor.

I’ll see what I can do. There are plenty of photos, but many of them are dark because of where the work was done (unheated, dimly-lit hay barn in Michigan). It wasn’t the smoothest of projects…partly because I’m not the greatest craftsman in the world, partly because I didn’t have the right tools for all of the projects, and partly because the temperatures made it difficult to schedule the epoxy work. Remember, the barn is 90-some-odd miles from where I live (two states away), and I can only work on the boat on the weekends. Pretty much every weekend this winter, besides when I was on the road for business, or at family for Holidays, was spent working on the boat. Sometimes alone, sometimes with friends… but it was a long cold winter, let’s just say that.

posted 04-17-2006 12:33 PM ET (US)            

Actually, you are correct. My apologies. The jackplates are 10". Fortunate to still have the receipt for the second jackplate in my "Boat" folder in my bag.

Dave

posted 04-17-2006 03:47 PM ET (US)            

All the best,

posted 04-17-2006 10:04 PM ET (US)            

Dave, the boat and rigging look great, and I love the teak deck. Yours is fast becoming one of my favorite Whalers on this forum.

Did you have any problems getting enough tilt clearance for the SeaStar cylinder because of the jackplates (e.g. can you tilt the motors all the way up to get the gearcases completely out of the water?)

posted 04-18-2006 06:23 AM ET (US)            

Dave, congrats once again. As I have said before, I think Gambler looks awesome and you did an amazing job with the E-Tecs.

posted 04-18-2006 09:44 AM ET (US)            

In some of the photographs taken of GAMBER while the boat was at Lockeman's Boat and Hardware, you may notice that the appearance of the colors of the engine seem to change. This is a result of unusual lighting conditions. The rear wall of the building is painted yellow. Much of the light which illuminates the starboard side of the boat is reflected off the yellow wall. This light mixes with the daylight and causes some unusual artifacts in the color balance of the digital images.

For example, if you compare images 81-01 and 81-02, the color of the painted engine mounting bracket appears to change. This is because the lighting has changed in those two scenes. In 81-01 most of the light is coming from reflection off the yellow building wall, whereas in 81-02 the light is mainly from natural sunlight illumination.

In 81-04 this same odd lighting occurs again. You can see from the shadows that the boat is actually sitting in shade from the building, and the light appears to be coming from a very low angle. This light contains a mix of sunlight and reflected light from the yellow building wall. This again causes some odd effects in the color representation shown.

Viewers should not infer that the colors seen in those photographs are representative of the actual appearance of these Bombardier engines, but rather, they represent an unusual artifact of the indirect lighting with a strong yellow cast.

The hue of the various engine components is very consistent, but the surface reflectivity varies. Some areas are painted metal and some are plastic with an impregnated color. Under various lighting angles it is possible that these surfaces reflect different amounts of light, and this can cause the appearance of their color to change slightly. This variation can also be affected by wetness. In some pictures the surfaces of portions of the engine are wet.

posted 04-19-2006 09:44 AM ET (US)            

The Evinrude PDA diagnostic software operates on the Palm O/S, either v4.x or v5.x - Most new PDA's today are v5.x or higher.

When you install the diagnostic program, be sure to use the version (v4.x or v5.x) based on the version the PDA is using.

The Palm Tungsten E2 will communicate - its a v5.x. It requires a Multi-Connector Cable to communicate with E-TEC and DI engines. PN Technologies (www.pcables.com) offers a cable part number PDCT5-M9-6 which works. A software disk which includes a PDA program called "Power Out" is provided with the cable and it must be installed to the PDA, and "turned on" to communicate with the outboards.

The PDA diagnostic software is p/n 777230 and can be ordered from any Evinrude dealer, although some dealers may refuse to sell it to you. The serial cable to hook up to the engine is p/n 437955. Several years ago Bass & Walleye Boats Mag had an article on how to build your own cable, if you can find it, you could save a few bucks.

posted 04-22-2006 01:08 AM ET (US)            

The video that Jeff shot shows the boat really jumping on plane. If my recall is correct, this was shot on the initial run of the boat when it had the larger pitch propellers on the engines. So, if anything, the boat now jumps on plane even faster than it did in that shot. However, after having watched this movie a few times, I noticed something interesting, and I wanted to call attention to it.

You can see just by eye that the port motor (Castor) is mounted a little higher than the starboard motor (Pollux). The difference is probably about an inch. However, the difference in the wake left by the two engines is quite noticeable.

After the boat is on plane in the movie there is a good view of the wake. The starboard (lower) motor is running deeper and leaves a larger wake. The port motor wake is definitely smaller.

Toward the end of the movie the camera moves closer to the engines and you can see a glimpse of the lower units. The port engine (higher) has less spray coming off the lower unit than the starboard (lower) engine.

Thus even a small difference in mounting height, perhaps only an inch, makes quite a difference in how the engines run through the water. It looks like the starboard motor can be raised to match the port motor. This ought to give a little boost to the performance, too.

Review the video and see if you agree with my observations.

posted 05-24-2006 07:42 PM ET (US)            

See:
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/011482.html

"Castor was famous for taming and managing horses, and Pollux for skill in boxing. They were united by the warmest affection, and inseparable in all their enterprises. They accompanied the Argonautic expedition. During the voyage a storm arose, and Orpheus prayed to the Samothracian gods, and played on his harp, whereupon the storm ceased and stars appeared on the heads of the brothers. From this incident, Castor and Pollux came afterwards to be considered the patron deities of seamen and voyagers (One of the ships in which St. Paul sailed was named the Castor and Pollux. See Acts xxviii.II.), and the lambent flames, which in certain sates of the atmosphere play round the sails and masts of vessels, were called by their names."

...and yes, they are stars in the constellation Gemini.

The thread tied to the "installation" of the motors is here:
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/011652.html
I believe they are mounted on 26 inch centers...which is a little narrower than the 29 3/4 inches recommended by Whaler. Some of the narrative in the article linked above addresses that "mistake" in my installation process. Fortunately, the jackplates keep it from being problematic. The way I read the installation literature, 26 inches was recommended. I do like the look of the motors closer together, however...and it was two less holes to drill and patch in the transom for the installation.

posted 05-26-2006 12:47 AM ET (US)            

2- and 3-cylinder = 22-inches (559 mm)
V4 and V6 = 26-inches (660 mm)
V6 Four-stroke = 27-inches (686 mm)

posted 10-08-2007 12:06 PM ET (US)            

Instead of sticking down from the lowest point (the bottom of the "V", the lower units now stick out from a point above the bottom, because they are off to the side.

The difference is within an eighth of an inch of at the recommended spacing of 29.75" (that's why the spacing is what it is).

So, in short, with twins the lowest point of the lower units sticking below the boat will be 5" above where they would be with a single, if you assume all the lower units are the same size.

That said, twins are generally heavier than a single you would most likely mount on that boat, so while the engines will stick out 5" less, the boat with twins is likely to sit a bit lower in the stern than the boat with the lighter single. I would guess my 22 with twins sits 3 or 4" lower at rest than my first outrage with a single 2 stroke, that sat with the transom chines just touching the water.