1979 Schiada RC, The Boss

[Toolman]

Check you out! Building tooling and all! Great work!

 

[vdcruiser]

Freaken unbelievable work, you should be proud.

 

[lenmann]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, much appreciated. By the way if you see me doing something wrong, don't hesitate to pipe up, constructive criticism welcomed on this deal. As mentioned above, this is my first time down this trail.

Next up, the prop shaft hole. The hole's location is set by the bushings in the barrel of the strut and a really long hole saw. Assuming I got the strut in the right spot the prop shaft hole should also intersect the imaginary plane through the V of the hull and pop out of the floor on the centerline I taped out.

Not having anybody nearby to borrow a really long hole saw from I made one using my old 1" prop shaft, a carbide tipped 1 3/8" hole saw a piece of 1 3/8" thin wall tubing.

I made up a plywood guide to help avoid any "walking" from the hole saw as the hole started holding it up against the hull with a floor jack. Everything lined up well with the marks I laid out using the laser pointer, so I clamped on the electric drill, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The drilling took less effort than I expected and went pretty quickly.

I don't have my new 1-1/8" prop shaft yet because I needed to drill the hole first and mock up the v-drive location to figure out the length so I can order it from Bergeron. I ran down to the local steel yard and bought a nice chunk of 1-1/8" cold rolled steel (have you seen the price of steel recently?) and after installing the bushings in the strut, shoved the bar up through the floor and the shaft alignment came out pretty close to perfect but you can see the shaft hole walked about an 1/8" to the right. I'm not really sure why. It may have been a little misalignment of the plywood "V", maybe some slop in the strut bushings, or in the interface between the hole saw and shaft. I am pretty sure it will be OK, there isn't anything close to interference with the shaft and the shaft log flange is large enough to assure everything seals up well.

The slug from the hole saw is pretty cool, feels funny cutting out some of glass I put in there not so long ago.

Next up: Rudder stuffing box, blast plate, and the motor rails and million other things...

 

[Toolman]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, much appreciated. By the way if you see me doing something wrong, don't hesitate to pipe up, constructive criticism welcomed on this deal. As mentioned above, this is my first time down this trail.

Next up, the prop shaft hole. The hole's location is set by the bushings in the barrel of the strut and a really long hole saw. Assuming I got the strut in the right spot the prop shaft hole should also intersect the imaginary plane through the V of the hull and pop out of the floor on the centerline I taped out.

Not having anybody nearby to borrow a really long hole saw from I made one using my old 1" prop shaft, a carbide tipped 1 3/8" hole saw a piece of 1 3/8" thin wall tubing.

View attachment 996121 View attachment 996122 View attachment 996123

I made up a plywood guide to help avoid any "walking" from the hole saw as the hole started holding it up against the hull with a floor jack. Everything lined up well with the marks I laid out using the laser pointer, so I clamped on the electric drill, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The drilling took less effort than I expected and went pretty quickly.

View attachment 996130 View attachment 996129 View attachment 996131

I don't have my new 1-1/8" prop shaft yet because I needed to drill the hole first and mock up the v-drive location to figure out the length so I can order it from Bergeron. I ran down to the local steel yard and bought a nice chunk of 1-1/8" cold rolled steel (have you seen the price of steel recently?) and after installing the bushings in the strut, shoved the bar up through the floor and the shaft alignment came out pretty close to perfect but you can see the shaft hole walked about an 1/8" to the right. I'm not really sure why. It may have been a little misalignment of the plywood "V", maybe some slop in the strut bushings, or in the interface between the hole saw and shaft. I am pretty sure it will be OK, there isn't anything close to interference with the shaft and the shaft log flange is large enough to assure everything seals up well.

View attachment 996132

The slug from the hole saw is pretty cool, feels funny cutting out some of glass I put in there not so long ago.

View attachment 996173

Next up: Rudder stuffing box, blast plate, and the motor rails and million other things...

Looks like you nailed it dead on. Good work.

 

[025]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, much appreciated. By the way if you see me doing something wrong, don't hesitate to pipe up, constructive criticism welcomed on this deal. As mentioned above, this is my first time down this trail.

Next up, the prop shaft hole. The hole's location is set by the bushings in the barrel of the strut and a really long hole saw. Assuming I got the strut in the right spot the prop shaft hole should also intersect the imaginary plane through the V of the hull and pop out of the floor on the centerline I taped out.

Not having anybody nearby to borrow a really long hole saw from I made one using my old 1" prop shaft, a carbide tipped 1 3/8" hole saw a piece of 1 3/8" thin wall tubing.

View attachment 996121 View attachment 996122 View attachment 996123

I made up a plywood guide to help avoid any "walking" from the hole saw as the hole started holding it up against the hull with a floor jack. Everything lined up well with the marks I laid out using the laser pointer, so I clamped on the electric drill, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The drilling took less effort than I expected and went pretty quickly.

View attachment 996130 View attachment 996129 View attachment 996131

I don't have my new 1-1/8" prop shaft yet because I needed to drill the hole first and mock up the v-drive location to figure out the length so I can order it from Bergeron. I ran down to the local steel yard and bought a nice chunk of 1-1/8" cold rolled steel (have you seen the price of steel recently?) and after installing the bushings in the strut, shoved the bar up through the floor and the shaft alignment came out pretty close to perfect but you can see the shaft hole walked about an 1/8" to the right. I'm not really sure why. It may have been a little misalignment of the plywood "V", maybe some slop in the strut bushings, or in the interface between the hole saw and shaft. I am pretty sure it will be OK, there isn't anything close to interference with the shaft and the shaft log flange is large enough to assure everything seals up well.

View attachment 996132

The slug from the hole saw is pretty cool, feels funny cutting out some of glass I put in there not so long ago.

View attachment 996173

Next up: Rudder stuffing box, blast plate, and the motor rails and million other things...

Nice work len, I used to call those a tube saw. Hang on to it, they come in handy.

 

[lenmann]

Made some progress since the last update. Spending a lot of time drawing up parts and waiting on machine shops.

I took a page from the @Backlash best selling book "Saving Wood Transoms for Fun and Profit" and wound up some fiberglass tubes for the drain plug and through hulls. I bonded the tube and some glass plugs that were then blind drilled and tapped to assure a leak proof finished assembly. This should do a better job of water proofing than gobbing a bunch of silicone on the fittings and screws. If you have ever lived the absolute HORROR of replacing a rotted, waterlogged transom this relatively small amount of extra effort is cheap insurance. I will do the same for the raw water pickup through hulls once I figure out their exact locations.

Also drilled, trimmed and set the rudder stuffing box, set the blast plate, and got the motor rails drilled and set. As you can see, I went with two pieces of 3/8" aluminum angle as Schiada isn't selling any Z extrusion these days. I think the Z rails are a more elegant solution but the aluminum angle approach will be plenty functional and strong. Note the sooper cool engine plate mounting blocks from @Toolman

Next up, cav plates, motor plates, clamshell braces, and a start at roughing out helm, seat and pedal positions.

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Beautiful work @lenmann

I wish I had done my drains like that. I’ll guarantee if I ever do it again, that’s exactly how I’ll do it.

 

[warpt71]

View attachment 1000014

Im curious, did you drill the stringers, motor rails, and backing plates all at once in the boat or separate on drill press/mill? If done in the hull, how did you keep everything strait and clean?

I have a project that is going to need rails and maybe backing plates but my stringers are already drilled, not that I couldn't plug and drill new holes, but, it will be a new experience for me.

Killer progress

 

[sintax]

You put most full time shops to shame. I have to stop looking at this thread, it’s making my wallet hurt

 

[OkHallett270]

Made some progress since the last update. Spending a lot of time drawing up parts and waiting on machine shops.

View attachment 1000019 View attachment 1000020

I took a page from the @Backlash best selling book "Saving Wood Transoms for Fun and Profit" and wound up some fiberglass tubes for the drain plug and through hulls. I bonded the tube and some glass plugs that were then blind drilled and tapped to assure a leak proof finished assembly. This should do a better job of water proofing than gobbing a bunch of silicone on the fittings and screws. If you have ever lived the absolute HORROR of replacing a rotted, waterlogged transom this relatively small amount of extra effort is cheap insurance. I will do the same for the raw water pickup through hulls once I figure out their exact locations.

View attachment 1000008

View attachment 1000009 View attachment 1000010
View attachment 1000011

Also drilled, trimmed and set the rudder stuffing box, set the blast plate, and got the motor rails drilled and set. As you can see, I went with two pieces of 3/8" aluminum angle as Schiada isn't selling any Z extrusion these days. I think the Z rails are a more elegant solution but the aluminum angle approach will be plenty functional and strong. Note the sooper cool engine plate mounting blocks from @Toolman

View attachment 1000013 View attachment 1000015 View attachment 1000016 View attachment 1000014


Next up, cav plates, motor plates, clamshell braces, and a start at roughing out helm, seat and pedal positions.

@lenmann
So I have a question on the drain hole and glass plugs for the screws. How did you bond those plugs to the gelcoat? Do you have to feather the gel back a little to get them to “bite” and seal up good or do you just epoxy or resin them in place and grind/sand them down flush?

 

[lenmann]

Im curious, did you drill the stringers, motor rails, and backing plates all at once in the boat or separate on drill press/mill? If done in the hull, how did you keep everything strait and clean?

I have a project that is going to need rails and maybe backing plates but my stringers are already drilled, not that I couldn't plug and drill new holes, but, it will be a new experience for me.

Killer progress

Thanks.

I drilled the inside rails first on the mill, locating the holes to avoid the motor plates and blocks. Because my stringers aren't perfectly flat, straight, or plumb I had to "float" them into the correct orientation using small blobs of quick set epoxy, shims, and clamps. Once the epoxy set up I drilled through the holes in the inside rails through the stringers. Then I repeated the same "float" in epoxy blobs process on the outside rails. Once the epoxy set I drilled again from the inside through the stringer through the outside rails. Now both inside and outside rails are oriented correctly, the holes are all match drilled and I can bolt them together. I used mold release wax on the backside of the rails so they will release from the epoxy when I tear it all back apart for anodize. Also, when I reassemble it for the final time I will fully bed the rails in a more complete layer of epoxy to assure full contact with the stringers.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[lenmann]

@lenmann
So I have a question on the drain hole and glass plugs for the screws. How did you bond those plugs to the gelcoat? Do you have to feather the gel back a little to get them to “bite” and seal up good or do you just epoxy or resin them in place and grind/sand them down flush?

They are 1/2" diameter x 1" long G-10 epoxy/glass cylinders bonded in a slightly oversize hole with thickened resin. When I cut them off on the lathe I added some grooves to improve retention and bite. I pre-fill the hole and paint some resin on the plug and when inserted the surplus resin and air squeezes out and fills the gap between the plug and the hull. The plugs finish up little proud of the adjacent transom surface so I carefully grind them flush, drill and tap. The flange on the Teague drain assembly just covers the plugs so it worked out pretty nicely.

 

[warpt71]

Once the epoxy set up I drilled through the holes in the inside rails through the stringers.

I hope that makes sense.

Yup, I follow. Was any jig used to keep the drill square going through the stringer? I have through drilled a stringer once and it didn't end up level

 

[Backlash]

Lenman I am BEYOND flattered that you chose to duplicate my drain plug sleeve dealio! I think that is probably the best way to do it when installing a wood transom. I hope so anyways, or there will be two boat owners who are pissed at the outcome! As always my friend, everything looks INCREDIBLE!!!! Keep up the amazing work and thank you for sharing an update with some pictures!!!

 

[lenmann]

Yup, I follow. Was any jig used to keep the drill square going through the stringer? I have through drilled a stringer once and it didn't end up level

Yes, I just made up a simple MDF jig using a 3/8" drill bushing I had laying around. Inserted the shank of a 3/8 drill bit through the bushing into the existing hole, clamp the jig, remove the bit and drill away.

 

[Brokeboatin221]

Nice nice and nice Len! You’re a talented man!

 

[Toolman]

Yes, I just made up a simple MDF jig using a 3/8" drill bushing I had laying around. Inserted the shank of a 3/8 drill bit through the bushing into the existing hole, clamp the jig, remove the bit and drill away.

View attachment 1000124

Tooling!

 

[Backlash]

"I just happened to have one laying around...."

 

[lenmann]

Tooling!

I am no Tool Maker but I have made some tools.

 

[lenmann]

"I just happened to have one laying around...."

Seriously though, I have this box of drill bushings of all sorts of sizes and shapes. Something I probably scavenged from a job 40 years ago, stuff that got pulled out of tools before they were scrapped. EVERY time I go to that box hoping to find the size bushing I need for some random project that needs a straight hole, there isn't one.

I am going to take as some kind of good omen, that there was one 3/8" bushing in there when I needed it for the Schiada.

 

[ChrisV]

Final coat of Duratec VE primer on and the guide coat applied. More sanding...this time with 180 grit.

View attachment 874551 View attachment 874552 View attachment 874553 View attachment 874554 View attachment 874555

Happy with the way the strakes sharpened up.

View attachment 874556 View attachment 874557 View attachment 874558

Shot 3 + gallons of Dura-Kote Tapeline White gelcoat. The first 3 coats mixed 70:30 with DuraTec Clear High Gloss additive to build opacity and the last two coats at 50:50 to get to a 30 mil thickness. The additive helps the gelcoat spray better, flow out with less orange peel and best of all eliminates the need for an air inhibitor like wax in the gel coat or PVA sprayed on afterward. I used this combination on the finished bilge of the DCB Mach 22 I recently sold and was pretty happy with the results. It laid out smooth enough that I didn't need to sand or polish it. This time I really had trouble getting the gel to lay down and flow out. I used the same gravity feed HVLP gun with a massive 4.5mm air cap but at the 70:30 mix it went down a little dryish and didn't flow well, the 50:50 batches sprayed and flowed better but because the base layers were lumpy I ended up with more orange peel than I wanted that will require some extra sanding. Oh boy! Turns out this gel coating deal has a bit of a learning curve.

View attachment 874563
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May I ask what final sanding paper you used for the primer before gel? Also what gun did you use? Thank you.

 

[lenmann]

May I ask what final sanding paper you used for the primer before gel? Also what gun did you use? Thank you.

The last coat of primer was sanded with 180 grit.

I used this gun:

The Gelcoater GX4 HVLP Gelcoat and Resin Spray Gun with 3.5mm Nozzle

The best, most versatile HVLP gelcoat spray gun you will own! The best of both worlds! High quality, 3.5mm nozzle will allow accurate, high volume spraying.

www.thegelcoater.com

It's just OK performance wise. The gelcoat/Duratec didn't lay down as flat as I had hoped resulting in more than planned sanding. I have heard of guys using Harbor Freight primer guns with a 2.0mm tip, drilling it out to about 2.8mm and getting good results.

Hope this helps.

 

[ChrisV]

thank you so much!

 

[rivergames]

Incredible Work Buddy!

I have used these spiral drum sanders to get a bit more clearance on shaft log holes.

 

[Brokeboatin221]

Any updates Len?

 

[lenmann]

Progress has been a little slow. I have a lot of the machined parts I need in hand but its summertime and I have been spending more time at the lake and less in the shop.

I did manage to get the cavitation plates machined up and set into place. As mentioned in a previous post they are 1/4" thick stainless and tip the scales at about 48 pounds a piece. Just toting them about for machining and test fit is enough to make me feel like an old man. I used the MDF templates I made to scribe the correct shape on the rough sheared plates and then milled the edges to the scribe lines. Surprisingly (to me anyway) the plates are not true rectangles in shape because of the angles of the transom and hull. After I test fit to confirm the shape was correct I was able to drill the mounting holes and pad holes using the CAD model I created of the whole assembly. In a more perfect world I would have had a shop with a laser cut the plates complete including all the holes, but where I live the only available laser with enough power to cut stainless is always busy and I wasn't convinced that the shop would handle the parts in manner that wouldn't screw up the surface prior to polish. I have about 2 1/2 days of work getting the plates to this stage. Under the plastic and tape they are finished to what is called a #7 finish which is about 75% of the way to full mirror polish. Once I get all of the fitting work done it all comes back apart of its off to the polisher.

Of course, just when I thought I was done I realized that the center edges of the plates would hit each other when the plates were moved up, so off they came (again) and I milled enough clearance for about 1" of up plate travel.

Next up: drill the holes in the transom for the cav shaft arms using the backing plate as a template and then fit the blocks to the transom.

As always, thanks for following along.

 

[RaceTec]

Great job! I always figured the plates to be more of a trapezoid shape? I know it is too late for the plates but if you need laser work done I use Lasernut.com they are racers and they are great! We use them for fingers on chuck jaws and they are so accurate that all we do is deburr them and they are good to go! Thanks for sharing the build!

 

[lenmann]

Well, I'm back on the Schiada after a bit of a summer lull.

Made a late July banzai run to SoCal to pick up new fuel tanks at Imco, zipped over to Phoenix to grab my prop shaft at Bergeron, and then up the Havasu to get my new trailer at Adrenaline.

The trailer was supposed to have stainless fenders but after waiting almost a year, I gave up. To be clear, this wasn't an Adrenaline issue but a problem with the company (Rockwell division of Lippert Inc) that acquired Fenders and More, Adrenaline's long time fender supplier. Rockwell moved all production to their Texas facility, shut down the LA operation, and failed to retain any of the people or knowledge required to roll stainless fenders. Adrenaline has committed to swapping out the painted fenders once they can get a set that meet spec and look good.

Mandatory stop at Terribles to load up on energy drinks and junk food for the long haul north.

 

[Brokeboatin221]

Came out nice!

 

[lenmann]

Back on to the cavitation plate set-up.

First up, I needed to get the shaft arm mounting holes drilled through the transom, in the right location, and drilled perpendicular to the transom face. I used the laser cut back-up plate as a drill guide, shimmed it up to the right height, centered it and then clamped it in place to drill the holes.

And best of all, when I moved the plate inside the holes all lined up!

So I mounted up the left and right arms with the shaft leaving the center arms hanging so that once I tightened down the outside blocks I could rotate the inside ones to see how much would need to be trimmed to compensate for any crown or deviation in the face of the transom. The idea here is to have the bores in the arms aligned well enough that the shaft turns freely by hand one all of the arms are bolted down.

So, somehow I got really lucky and all four blocks flipped into place without any machining. Once I pulled the blocks tight I could rotate the shaft easily by hand. Maybe the big piece of channel iron I used when I clamped the transom (back in 2019!) really helped keep things straight!

Next, I was able to bolt on all of the plate pads and pin the turn buckles in place to confirm the CAD model and specifically the hole locations on the shaft. I had to make a couple of small adjustments; I am guessing because the hull might not be exactly 15 degrees at the vee, or the pads might not be exactly 15 degrees at the base, or a little bit of both. In the pic you can see the two innermost turnbuckles kind of splay out at the top. Some of this was just tape I put on the plates to protect the surface but there is some geometric difference between what I drew and the hull in the real world causing some of the splay.

Off to the Bridgeport to drill and spot face the holes for the upper turnbuckle mounts.

And reassembly. Super happy with the way it turned out.

 

[OkHallett270]

Well, I'm back on the Schiada after a bit of a summer lull.

Made a late July banzai run to SoCal to pick up new fuel tanks at Imco, zipped over to Phoenix to grab my prop shaft at Bergeron, and then up the Havasu to get my new trailer at Adrenaline.

The trailer was supposed to have stainless fenders but after waiting almost a year, I gave up. To be clear, this wasn't an Adrenaline issue but a problem with the company (Rockwell division of Lippert Inc) that acquired Fenders and More, Adrenaline's long time fender supplier. Rockwell moved all production to their Texas facility, shut down the LA operation, and failed to retain any of the people or knowledge required to roll stainless fenders. Adrenaline has committed to swapping out the painted fenders once they can get a set that meet spec and look good.

View attachment 1042550

Mandatory stop at Terribles to load up on energy drinks and junk food for the long haul north.
View attachment 1042551

IMO the painted fenders are look way better. Everything is looking awesome! This thread is a wealth of information sir! Thank you for taking us along on this process!

 

[HydroSkreamin]

First of all, badass! All of your previous planning is now paying off, kudos to you.

Second, I’m going to second the motion on painted fenders looking great.

Getting closer…

 

[lenmann]

I started mocking up the seating position, pedals, and steering wheel relationship and find myself wondering what factors to prioritize. While this isn't the first boat I have owned it is my first v-drive cruiser. Unfortunately the only time I have driven it was a 15 minute test drive at Castaic about 6 years ago so I don't have much of a user baseline here.

Some background facts: I am 6 feet tall, 175 pounds with long legs and arms relatively speaking so to be comfortable I usually want to be stretched out a bit.

Here are some questions that are coursing through my brain as I overthink what should be a simple set of choices. I know lots of the inmates following this thread have or have had v-drive cruisers, give me some feedback on the set of choices in front of me.

Seat height: the original seat risers in my boat were 6 inches tall in the front, 4 in the back. I banged together a quick plywood riser and sitting in the seat on it felt like it was way too tall. Looking at pictures I have scraped from the forums and taken at boat shows it looks like more recent versions sit lower, so I built a 2 inch shorter version which felt better.

Question: Is a relatively taller seating height better on this kind of boat? Is there a bunch of bow rise to be contended with? Is there any disadvantage to having the seats as low as possible? For example my Mach 22 had the seats mounted flat on the tunnels, but it had less freeboard and cabin depth than the RC.

Relationship of my knees to the edge of the dash: lots of v-drive flatties have the seat pushed back far enough that your legs will clear (sort of) the dash in the event of an unplanned ejection. Some Schiada's that I have pics of are similar with 10 inch plus long steering columns, pedals very close to the dash edge drip line, and the drivers seat shoved back to the rear bench, if there is one at all. My plan is to have a rear bench and full engine cover btw.

Question: How important is the knees clearing the dash deal here. I don't plan to ever race (ski, drag, or otherwise) this boat, nor to I plan for high speed ejections, but I am guessing the first guy that broke both legs on a dash said the same things.

Steering wheel position: There are a couple of factors here;
- the angle of the wheel. Long steering columns put the wheel pretty high up in the air, so sometimes you see the columns are angled down to compensate.
- the relationship of the wheel to the seat. In my mock ups I can see that getting in and out of the seat may challenging. A tilt column might come in handy here. Imco makes a nice one that will interface nicely with the hydraulic helm I bought from them. Thoughts?

Pedal location: How close to the driver should they be? My DCB had adjustable throttle and trim pedals that worked best for me stretched out so my legs were almost fully extended. This boat will have a throttle pedal on the right and a dead pedal on the left. Is the idea to put the pedals close enough that you use the dead pedal to wedge yourself in the seat? Is a bent knee operating position better than stretched out?

So thats a lot of stuff and as mentioned above I am no doubt overthinking it a bit.

I would appreciate any thoughts you might have on how your boats are set up, what you like, don't like, and if you could change anything, what would you change? Many thanks in advance.

 

[copterzach]

Are you gonna run a back seat? That might get tight if so. I don’t have the answer. But the boat and trailer look amazing. Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HighVoltage329]

In a pleasure boat seat placement is a good place to start considering the back seat. Lowering the seat is a good idea for todays style. I wouldn't think being to far under the dash is a great idea so it's a balance between room in the back and the dash. From there it's really what feels right to you for peddle layout & steering.

 

[Gone_Flat]

Lenman amazing work great thread . Boat211 sent me this today and i just spent a better part of 2 hrs reading and doing my own homework . Cant wait to see the final product as you !! Once again amazing build looking forward to seeing this at shasta soon .. TUNNELT

 

[poncho]

Wow, just Wow

 

[RaceTec]

Simply Awesome! I think @Racey might have made some awesome electric seat mounts? You may want to hit him up, I know he has worked on a ton of Schiada's...

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Obviously, mine is an outboard boat, but I had all of the exact same concerns as you when I laid out my interior.

I really focused on ergonomics, ingress/egress, and windshield protection and view.

Just like you, I felt the original seats were too tall, and dropped them about 7”, so my head is above the windshield but my chest is not, and my arm can rest on top of the gunnel at cruise or no wake speeds. Also, I put just a tick of tilt toward the rear.

I used both a wedge and a tilt helm to achieve ergonomics and ingress/egress capabilities. That’s a really big deal in my interior.

Curious to see your plan here.

 

[Toolman]

Back on to the cavitation plate set-up.

First up, I needed to get the shaft arm mounting holes drilled through the transom, in the right location, and drilled perpendicular to the transom face. I used the laser cut back-up plate as a drill guide, shimmed it up to the right height, centered it and then clamped it in place to drill the holes.

View attachment 1042557

View attachment 1042561

And best of all, when I moved the plate inside the holes all lined up!

View attachment 1042558

So I mounted up the left and right arms with the shaft leaving the center arms hanging so that once I tightened down the outside blocks I could rotate the inside ones to see how much would need to be trimmed to compensate for any crown or deviation in the face of the transom. The idea here is to have the bores in the arms aligned well enough that the shaft turns freely by hand one all of the arms are bolted down.

View attachment 1042562

So, somehow I got really lucky and all four blocks flipped into place without any machining. Once I pulled the blocks tight I could rotate the shaft easily by hand. Maybe the big piece of channel iron I used when I clamped the transom (back in 2019!) really helped keep things straight!

View attachment 1042563

View attachment 1042564

Next, I was able to bolt on all of the plate pads and pin the turn buckles in place to confirm the CAD model and specifically the hole locations on the shaft. I had to make a couple of small adjustments; I am guessing because the hull might not be exactly 15 degrees at the vee, or the pads might not be exactly 15 degrees at the base, or a little bit of both. In the pic you can see the two innermost turnbuckles kind of splay out at the top. Some of this was just tape I put on the plates to protect the surface but there is some geometric difference between what I drew and the hull in the real world causing some of the splay.

View attachment 1042565

Off to the Bridgeport to drill and spot face the holes for the upper turnbuckle mounts.

View attachment 1042569

And reassembly. Super happy with the way it turned out.

View attachment 1042570

View attachment 1042571
View attachment 1042572

I am digging the transom blocks!

 

[lenmann]

I am digging the transom blocks!

Thanks! A little different than everybody else's. It's a little subtle, but I was trying to make them look "forged" so all the perimeter surfaces have 7 degrees of draft about a central parting line. I just need to make sure my polisher doesn't buff the detail away and make them flat!

I will share that the shop that machined them declined to do any other hogged out stainless parts for me. Something about "those f*cking draft angles"...

 

[Melloyellovector]

At 6ft tall seat being lowered will be a non issue for you. As long as you remain primary driver.
females or kids may not be able to see over the bow, bouys, docks etc... but if they’re not driving who cares
In my vector went with true suspension seat that are ride height adjustable. Frickin love them, ride is a back saver

Seat position if rear seat, and not “racing”, put where it feels comfortable in relation to wheel. That relates to helm your using.

Imco tilt helm is awesome and makes it super easy in and out. Helm or distance would be first. Then seat when sitting in, if helm is adjusted parallel to floor. Seat set to where your wrist or just beyond sits on top of wheel. So when driving your elbows are close to 45 deg ( this will give you best control of the wheel )

Pedals set to where you legs are comfortable and with throttle all positions with out feeling funky or cause cramps over long period of holding steady speed. I will suggest do not do straight leg from seat to pedal. If legs are straight and holding you in place and it gets rough. Your knees will take a beating trying to hold you in place while force is trying to push your knees down. Or with your skills do adjustable pedals. That’s what we did in the vector.

Everything about your build and this thread is awesome, great job

 

[Toolman]

Nice touch on the draft angle. I like the fact that you went after something different to give them a different look. But yes, the draft angle makes them hard to hold onto and locate while your machining them. Every facet on a part reflects light. The more facets, the more reflections, the more bling.

 

[Boat211]

My biggest complaint is that I can only like a post 1 time. Some of these post that have cool parts like transom blocks, I want to like 7,000 times. Amazing work.

 

[Backlash]

Lenman your trailer turned out BEAUTIFUL!!! I absolutely love it!! The rest of the posts you've added are also top notch! Very nice Sir!!

 

[Blownbillybob]

Well, I'm back on the Schiada after a bit of a summer lull.

Made a late July banzai run to SoCal to pick up new fuel tanks at Imco, zipped over to Phoenix to grab my prop shaft at Bergeron, and then up the Havasu to get my new trailer at Adrenaline.

The trailer was supposed to have stainless fenders but after waiting almost a year, I gave up. To be clear, this wasn't an Adrenaline issue but a problem with the company (Rockwell division of Lippert Inc) that acquired Fenders and More, Adrenaline's long time fender supplier. Rockwell moved all production to their Texas facility, shut down the LA operation, and failed to retain any of the people or knowledge required to roll stainless fenders. Adrenaline has committed to swapping out the painted fenders once they can get a set that meet spec and look good.

View attachment 1042550

Mandatory stop at Terribles to load up on energy drinks and junk food for the long haul north.
View attachment 1042551

Jus got my fenders from fenders & more !!
Ordered them Feb 1st of this yr !!! Finally got them and they don’t fit ???? Bummer !!!
What size wheels and tires do U have ? The fenders look pretty wide ! 11” ???

 

[lenmann]

Jus got my fenders from fenders & more !!
Ordered them Feb 1st of this yr !!! Finally got them and they don’t fit ???? Bummer !!!
What size wheels and tires do U have ? The fenders look pretty wide ! 11” ???

Bummer on your fenders, its hard to believe how screwed up Fenders and More is currently. I visited Adrenaline 3 times during the build on my trailer an each time they had a new pallet of fenders that didn't meet dimensional spec or had workmanship issues. It had a major impact on their business but appears to be stabilizing recently.

My fenders are 12" wide. The tires are 245/60 R 18 on 18 x 9 American Racing Torque Thrust wheels.

 

[lenmann]

I am a little overdue for an update. Been doing lots of stuff but haven't really "finished" very much. Making progress though.

I am still in the "drilling holes through the hull" mode which leaves little room for mistakes, so lots of measuring multiple times and drilling/cutting once.

The raw water pickups will be on the aft edge of the cav plates with through hulls on the transom. I like the way SchiadaStan runs the hoses parallel to the plates which means the holes need to be drilled parallel to the plane of the plates and not perpendicular to the face of the transom. I couldn't get comfortable with eye-balling the needed angle by hand so I modeled up a simple drill fixture and 3d printed it, clamped it to the transom at the right spot and drilled the hole with a hole saw.

If you look closely in the pic above you will see one of the cav plate bolt holes right under the -16 through hull fitting. Unfortunately when the stringer washer and unlock are on the bolt I can't turn the nut on the -16 hose fitting. Time for a work-around...

I used the 3d printer again to make a fixture to locate the centers of the holes for the exhaust tails. I could have probably just laid these out using a tape measure but the printer is pretty damn easy and the sense of false precision it provides comforts my over thinking-ness. Once I drilled the center hole I used a router and circle cutting jig to cut the 5 inch holes (sorry no pics, router takes two hands).

And now that I have drilled 41 holes through the transom (in all the right locations) I get to sleeve/fill and in some cases re-drill them to protect the wood in the transom from water and rot!

In retrospect, knowing what I know now having gone through the process of sleeving every one of the 41 holes on the transom, I would have used Coosa composite board in the transom instead of marine plywood. It would have cost more for the materials but the labor savings would have been substantial.

Next up: aligning and mounting the v-drive and shaft log. Thanks for following along.

 

[ChrisV]

Did you weld that tube on a positioner?

 

[lenmann]

Did you weld that tube on a positioner?

The beautiful flange weld is Teague's work, mine, while functional aren't nearly that pretty. If I had to guess I would say yes on the positioner though, the spacing is perfect and there are only two starts.