The first launch from the trailer went very smoothly. I still haven't fitted a bowsprit or a split bollard so I used the winch cable attachment point to attach my launch lanyard to.
Once the car & trailer were parked up, Brendan and I boarded the Starfire. I pumped the fuel primer bulb until firm[ish] and held the electric choke switch on while cranking the starter. I believe I flooded the engine, I released the choke switch and moved the throttle to about one third and the engine fired. It ran a little rough at first until the cylinders cleared and it began to warm up. I was initially concerned the battery that came with the boat was shagged, but it took and held a charge OK and spun the engine very well.
I ran the engine for about 15 seconds when we noticed white smoke from under the dash and down by the battery. Uh-Oh..... we were still tied to the jetty at this stage. I switched off the engine and tried in vain to remove the positive battery cable whilst noting which cable was smoking and heating up very quickly. I ended up breaking off the offending wire from the battery, which as it turns out was on the incorrect terminal creating a short circuit via the charging system and ignition switch.
The problem was that at some time in the last 48 years there had been some additional wires aded to the factory harness with no colour coding for positive and negative. trust me to get a 50/50 chance wrong :-/
Of course by now I thought I had done serious damage to the SportFour....but once the offending wire was removed from the battery I cranked the engine again and it fired right up! Awesome! I let it idle for a few minutes before we untied from the jetty and got underway. I noticed that with the engine running the 'IGN' red light was still on, telling me that the battery wasn't being charged-so that meant our testing would be brief indeed.
Leaving the pontoon under the watchful eye of a Roads and Maritime officer in his Steber Craft we headed through the 8kn zone upstream on the Nepean under the M4 Motorway road bridge. Once past the speed limited area I slowly built up speed to get the SS1500 up on the plane. First impressions were, the engine is very smooth for 49 years old and the hull handles very well considering it was designed in the mid Sixties. At WOT the hull planed flat, and crossing oncoming vessels wakes at any speed was uneventful, and sharp cornering was a whole lot of fun!! I have to confess I have fallen in love with the Pride SS1500 Starfire. Let the mods begin! Back to the ramp and on the trailer I removed the bung and about 120 mL of water flowed out. That'll need investigation too.
Once back home I further investigated the damage done by the short circuit. Two wires on the back of the ignition switch were melted together, and the wire that was on the wrong battery terminal had the first 200mm of insulation basically burnt off. I've since learnt the rectifier is the first thing destroyed with a short circuit like the one I caused, so I began the search for a replacement. Found some online at boats.com for about AUD$250 via air mail. Ouch. Lucky the ignition system is 'old school' with no electronics at all to fry, otherwise the $$ would have been substantially more.
I put a post up on one of the Facebook forums I'm a member of, and a fellow member had a GENUINE rectifier for my motor, for only $100. And after searching around the Globe for one....turns out this guy is in a suburb called Werrington, not ten minutes from my home. Well bugger me. What are the chances?
Next day, Sunday and I paid a visit to my local Jaycar electronics store and picked up some new 25 amp marine grade cable in black and REDas well as a circuit breaker that will be fitted inline and mounted on the dash to prevent any further near disasters. I also have some new battery to starter solenoid cabling I'll be fitting to replace the many 49 year old original stuff. I'll be rewiring all the crook cabling next weekend and fitting a couple of waterproof 12V sockets to the dash for on deck LED lighting and mobile phone charging. I'm not bothering with a built in sound system, I'll just use my iPod and a bluetooth speaker I already have. Later in the day I pulled the bung socket from the transom, it didn't look that old[very new in fact]but had been installed with nothing but silicone, and the fixing screws were not sealed either. Very bodgy. I cleaned the internal part of the hole, and gave the bung socket, flange and fixing screws a healthy coat of Sikaflex marine sealant/adhesive. This stuff is brilliant, if expensive. At least now I know how the water got in...
I also had time to modify the mudguards on the trailer to give more clearance with the bigger, wider tyres now fitted. All I did was move the guard from under the mounting brackets to on top of them. Used the existing front mount holes and drilled new rear ones. I also straightened the outside flange on the guards in preparation for fitting some rubber extended flares to satisfy roadworthy requirements.
It looks reckon' ugly but once the rubber is on it'll be OK, and more importantly road legal. Besides, I don't want road debris flicking up off the tyres and taking chunks of gel coat off the underside of the hull.
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