14' 1981 ArrowFlyte

[rbcoomer]

Part 1 - Introduction

A friend towed the 14' back from his parents in Pembroke to 'do up', but decided it was too far gone and brought himself a 15' ArrowFlash instead! Thus I picked up for a song and a bit of web work to save her from that boatyard in the sky...

She - 'Charlie' - needed most things really, but had an engine (30hp Evinrude with hydrofoils) and controls, seats, trailer and a fuel tank - what more could you want? So, we owned our first boat! Well to be honest, a first for me and our son, Edward (7), but my missus had a boat before (that was an easy discussion ).

About £1,000 later, I had tidied up and sourced and fitted most of the essential parts (steering wheel & cable, VHF, working horn and nav lights) and the 'junk' needed for inside (boat hook, fenders, ropes, anchor, flares, life jackets, toolkit, paddles, lifeline, etc) and had the outboard serviced. Once insured we did our first run about 6 miles down the coast with the same friend who bought along his ArrowFlash. We moored up, had lunch, got soaked in a shower and then couldn't start... Dud battery. Wouldn't jump, so first tow too! It transpired that the rectifier pack was dud and battery wasn't that good either! A long saga followed with a few breakdowns and disappointments, but basically I've got to know her now and with a BIG 110Ah battery, and the threat of the 2.2hp auxiliary lurking in the ski-hole, we seem to have reached an understanding...



We've done some river runs on the Teign and Dart, and pottered about Torbay and surrounding area over the last couple of years and whilst I'm reluctant to part with her yet, started thinking on the next step, as you do (read bigger!) and realised we needed to address her limitations and shortcomings...

More room was a must as with 2 adults, a child and grub (plus aforementioned 'junk', we really couldn't move - let alone take friends out for a boating day and picnic. Bigger boat = bigger engine = bigger fuel bill, so a 4-stroke seemed in order. Newer stuff was going to be an issue based on price vs budget, so older inboard seemed a good option and known quantity (have a track record for car engines and V8's in particular... )

I've since diverted energy to the Arrowbolt (see other thread), but will resume this story at a later date when the Arrowbolt gets on the water and this one gets restored... I suspect a few updates will appear in the meanwhile!

R-)

[Capn Jack]

Fantastic....

When you say, he thought it too far gone, then sold it to you, a complete newbie, who didn't consider it too far gone and it seems within minutes has a new.....newish boat....gorgeous by the way, what did you have to do to her?

[rbcoomer]

There's plenty to do still!

The steering was seized and wheel rusted away, engine a non-starter even when jumped, trim hanging off and seats broken free, wiring a shambles, 'horn' was the remains of a smoke detector (!), gelcoat very tired with large white, faded patches, no battery etc. On the plus side, a new tank and cover thrown in.

I was aware of all this and only paid £300 plus a bit of web work. The big difference was that I was under no illusions and love a challenge - plus being very hands on, I'd do most myself rather than pay to have it done. For me that's a big part of it!

Started with a clean, wiring, new horn, fixed nav lights and fitted new teleflex steering & hub/wheel. Then moved on to refitting and tidy up of trim and seats (beyond repair so will need a major rework later). Fitted a VHF & GPS receiver. New hubs and bearings on trailer and adjusted snubber(?) so that jockey wheel actually stayed on the floor...

Whilst doing this, I had taken the old 30hp Evinrude, complete with controls to the marine service guys just up the road. They changed oils, cleaned up rusty shaft, new plugs, impeller and tune up etc. First season was checkered with issues, so having fixed charging (rectifiers) new mounts, new battery, remade battery leads, stripped and cleaned pump & carb - we did much of our running on the Teign & Dart rather than risk the sea. Once we had a few uneventful trips, we reverted to the sea and hopefully that will continue this year - going a little further afield. I realised that I would need to be self-sufficient if I stood any chance of affording to run a boat - thus lots of time on forums, reading boating books and studying manuals...

Not one to get bored, decided that we a) needed a bigger boat and b) that it would be 'educational' to refurb one - after all, what better way to build an understanding? However, I really wanted to build on experience and knowledge at the same time, so made sense to keep Charlie too given the minimal outlay.

Just fitted a new throttle cable, Lowrance Elite 5 (which I will share with the Arrowbolt - just install extra transducer and mount) and refurbished the trailer. All I have to do for season is polish & wax, two new tyres and renew insurance - just waiting for weather like everyone else!

I picked up a bigger outboard for Charlie a few weeks back too - a 'seized' 55hp Evinrude 55hp & controls off eBay for £62 - £13 less than my 'max'. Unused for about 15 years and actually in very good condition. It's now in garage with head stripped and gearbox off - both ok so investigation of crank and flywheel next. Shaft, box & prop turn freely, impeller like new and gearbox oil clean! It's an electronic gearshift version from 1969 which I didn't even know existed! It's now my 'wet weather' project to rebuild and if nothing else, I'll end up with a pile of spares and a good understanding of outboards...

Will dig out, resize and upload some pictures at weekend...

[rbcoomer]

Apologies for delay - a few pictures of 'Charlie' - bit of a hiccup last week as laptop died, so newly refurbished one now!

This was shortly after she arrived


Wake shot from first outing...


...and tow back in after first outing!


General pictures














Seat will need doing soon, frame is shot!




Levitating boat whilst refurbishing trailer...



Ah - cheating...




Trailer before and afters...

[Capn Jack]

rcoomber your skills are exceptional well done.

[JORIDAPILOT]

I must have missed the first posting, read it for the first time today.
Interesting and coming along, it must be very satisfying to get something back on the water, and I must say you are a glutton for punishment in the nicest possible way. My skills don't run to rebuilding, just finding time to get them out on the water is enough.

[rbcoomer]

Thanks for the comments and feedback - much appreciated.

Yes, it does feel good to have saved an 'old tub' from landfill and whilst probably not economical to do up, I still will! Although I've not done anything like this before, I'd like to think I'm pretty resourceful and do my utmost to do the best job I can when tackling something. A crash course in hands-on upholstery is probably next on the list - probably at the end of the summer. Other than zips and buttons, that too will be a new experience. I'd like to clean up all the scrapes and gouges in the hull too, but in reality will have my hands full (and wallet emptied ) with the Arrowbolt for the next 12-18 months - perhaps longer depending on how much of 'wish list' gets implemented. I'll probably wait and then replace floor, check/replace transom, re-engine and re-gel the hull in one go after the Arrowbolt is on the water. It makes sense to flip her over to gel the hull and that in turn is probably best done with bare hull! Although she's quite tired at the moment, I think with a little care and TLC she will keep us on the water for the next season or two...

I have an old 55hp Evinrude I'm planning to rebuild for her - quite unusual I think as it's an electronic gear selection? It's old (1969), but not been used in 15+ years - 'seized', but outwardly in very good condition - a £62 'bargain' off eBay! I've not had much time to look yet, but dropped the gearbox off and oil/impeller look like they were put in yesterday and shaft/box turn freely. I've removed head and cylinders look very clean so will lay on bench and soak in derv for a week or two. If that doesn't free up, I'll investigate the crank and flywheel side, bearings etc. Not in any hurry with the 21' the main priority, but will plod away as a rainy day project when the other jobs can't be done! I'll post up a few pics of this too when I get 5 minutes... Too many projects and not enough time!

[T 15]

great thread & pics........

I too somehow missed the first post........


in the late 60's...... we had a Johnson 40hp Electramatic o/b, single lever & gears worked by electrics, still have the 1963 parts catalog.....


in the early 70's we raced against the Fletcher V139's & then the "new" 14's with T 14.........never saw their transoms before.........but they saw ours........


please keep the pics & updates coming

[rbcoomer]

Hi All,

Thanks for the positive feedback - makes me a little guilty now having spent much time on her of late! As everyone will be aware however the start to the season hasn't been great for boating or working on outdoor projects , but I've made a little progress here and there...

Got Charlie ready for SWFBR 2012, but didn't get a chance to give her a run due to weather and work, but run her on muffs a few weeks prior. She din't idle well, but foolishly I assumed she needed a good blast after winterising... Despite having allegedly having had a service and full carb clean at the end of last year, she didn't want to play on the day and no amount of persuasion got her running long enough to risk the moderate seas. Fault was diagnosed by the engineer who did our talks as a blocked idle jet which had been compensated for by adjustment of the timing and idle during last service... Thus this time (when weather eventually dried enough), I stripped and cleaned the carb myself - headache getting off, but very satisfying when I refitted and she ran like a dream...

Work has been frantic, so very little time to get out, but now I have got some charts and a 'RamMount' bracket for the Lowrance so ready to roll as soon as time permits...

A few pictures to share...





Ahem - a quick tow to the pontoon in order...


At least she made it this year - kinda progress I think...






More rally pics and action shots at http://swfbr.org.uk/2012 - apologies main site isn't up-to-date, the 2012 write-up is on my list for sometime over the next few weeks - and getting site ready for the 2013 event...

[Capn Jack]

Great work, it's good to see so many Fletchers and in good order.

[rbcoomer]

A while since I updated here so here's a quick summary...

As you'll be aware from the posts above reliability has been a significant issue and earlier this year I picked up an Evinrude E50RNLIA off eBay. No PTT and disconnected tilt assist, but cheap so a reasonable upgrade I felt. I don't want to spend loads as this will delay progress on the Arrowbolt project which is already limited by pace of budget.

A quick check revealed that she ran well, but oil was a suspect colour. I fitted to Charlie and removed the lower unit - lacking a bit of paint and wanted to change impeller/oil. I thus gave a quick clean up, prime and paint, new impeller and fresh oil. Absolute horses derriere to get the selection/shaft working right, but eventually sorted in time for SWFBR 2013. Also added a cheap Bimini cover - more as a defense against predicted rain than sun, but hey-ho that's UK boating isn't it? A number of gear selection niggles on the Saturday (18th May) where I was losing forward gear from neutral - a quick blip into reverse and back to forward would then engage so assumed a bit of adjustment was required. Trekked up from Brixham to Exmouth without major issue however and topped out at 30kts. Adjusted selector cable for Sunday and thought troubles were resolved. Reverse was now a bit tricky, but having proceeded around from Brixham to Dartmouth without incident, we headed up the Dart to Galmpton. At Galmpton however there was a clunk and rise in revs - no gears! No amount of adjustment would seem to fix, so we made the decision to recover at Galmpton and get a cab back to Brixham for car & trailer then recover rather than risk a run back around the coast. Upon getting her out, the gearbox was bleeding milky goo!!! Looks like a seal had failed.

Gearbox has now been drained, cleaned and I have replaced the selection cable and the seeping seal. However, no amount of adjustment will reliably enable both forward and reverse gear to be consistently selected. It will work for perhaps 10-20 cycles before either one will not select - almost as if the cable movement is insufficient... Never mind, a project for next weekend as I'm working and visiting family for much of this weekend and weather not too promising anyway...

The pluses from the weekend were a couple of good long runs at a range of speeds - over 65 miles covered and only used around 47L. Engine starts on the button, runs well and consistently and not too thirsty. The 30kts can probably be tuned/trimmed/propped to 35+kts (there was some more to go) and this is more than ample for our needs. Although space is a bit limiting, once I've sorted the gearbox gremlins we can hopefully get familiar with much of the local coastline and build some 'own boat' experience up prior to the move to the 21'.

[Capn Jack]

Those Fletchers have such great hulls. You must have saved many hundreds of pounds possibly thousands on labour.