FS17 in Steinhatchee

[thb]

Thanks Cape Man,

After I got the motor back on before Tuesday evening and there is plenty of room to run jack plate full down and steering cylinder has lots of clearance for normal operation. I can tilt the motor up a little more than 1/2 way but will have to raise jackplate a couple of inches to lock the motor full up.

I can now finish up the steering installation when I get home this coming weekend. I am over in Nockatee visiting my brother.

Engine run and fuel hookup next week and then get FWC come to inspect the boat.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[pee wee]

PeeWee,

I am computer stupid so I can not help. I can see the photos.

regards
Tom

I can see them too, now! Nice progress, you're getting close.

[OlivierP]

Looks good !

Out of curiosity, sorry I didn't read through the whole thread, why are you using a jack plate ?

Good luck to the finish line.

[thb]

OliverP

Thanks for the good words.

I am using a jack plate as where we fish in the big bend area of the gulf I sometimes go into really shallow areas. Slow speed of course as I like my props.

Having a jack plate allows you run shallower. I also like to adjust best engine height for performance and fuel economy.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[thb]

I am so close now I can taste it.

Got hydraulic steering hooked up and bled twice. The procedure I followed on bleeding after the written instructions did not work so well was a little different. I hooked up the fill quart and clear fill tube to the helm fitting. I then cycled the wheel hard over to hard over each way and watched as air bubbles came floating up the tube. After 20 to 25 cycles no more air bubbles. Motor was rock solid when I pushed on it.

Hooked up a 3 gallon fuel tank with clean fresh fuel and filled the vessel filter and water separator and pumped on the engine fuel bulb until tight. So I had two fuel bulbs in series on either side of the vessel filter which I located in the left hand rear compartment. No wiring at all in that compartment.

Turned on the water and cranked up the engine. Tach seemed to be off so I checked the pole setting on the backside and set it to 4. I then wanted to see what rpm was displayed on my Garmin echomap which was connected to the engine via the tohatsu cable via the NMEA 2000 backbone.

Now for some reason which I could not figure out no engine data was getting displayed. The Garmin manual said I needed a power isolator on the NMEA 2000 bus between the garmin and the backbone as the backbone was being powered as well. After much troubleshooting and on-line searches I was stumped for several days. Nothing could tell me if any of the other NMEA connections also provided power to the backbone.

Guess what, When I removed the power isolator at the backbone yesterday, I got engine data displayed. Great news.

The tach readings were the same so boat tachometer was set to the correct pole setting.

Called FWC to come and inspect the boat and the same day a very helpful officer showed up and we went thru the paperwork and she went over the boat. She took the approval paper to get her superiors to sign off on it so I can go to DMV and get VIN number and Fl Registration number and pay my fee.

Well the procedures have now changed and she has to submit all paperwork to head office in Tallahassee and we have to wait up to 6 weeks for approval. Bummer, but typical GOVT.

Was hoping to have it launched and motor broken in by start of scallop season on 15 June.

Have been working on some finishing touches in the meantime. All hatches screwed and 5200 sealed. I have 9 hatches on this puppy. I have been thinking about a transom saver but for what little trailering I will do I am not sure it is required. From my house to the boat ramps I usually use would be withing 20 miles and most within 5 miles.

What brand transom saver do others use?????

Also I need Two Bateau Stickers to place on her next to her name.( Kingfisher 2 ). My FS14 was the original Kingfisher.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[cape man]

6 weeks!! That Is a MAJOR change!! The guy signed off at the house for both of mine!

With over a million boats registered in Florida (the most in the Nation) you would think they would stream line the process, not make it harder.

[thb]

My locally based fwc officer was ready to sign off on it the day she came.

I agree this is a major change as now copies of receipts for ply, glass and epoxy had to be sent to Tally. PIA.

Regards
Tom

[fallguy1000]

I am so close now I can taste it.

Got hydraulic steering hooked up and bled twice. The procedure I followed on bleeding after the written instructions did not work so well was a little different. I hooked up the fill quart and clear fill tube to the helm fitting. I then cycled the wheel hard over to hard over each way and watched as air bubbles came floating up the tube. After 20 to 25 cycles no more air bubbles. Motor was rock solid when I pushed on it.

Hooked up a 3 gallon fuel tank with clean fresh fuel and filled the vessel filter and water separator and pumped on the engine fuel bulb until tight. So I had two fuel bulbs in series on either side of the vessel filter which I located in the left hand rear compartment. No wiring at all in that compartment.

Turned on the water and cranked up the engine. Tach seemed to be off so I checked the pole setting on the backside and set it to 4. I then wanted to see what rpm was displayed on my Garmin echomap which was connected to the engine via the tohatsu cable via the NMEA 2000 backbone.

Now for some reason which I could not figure out no engine data was getting displayed. The Garmin manual said I needed a power isolator on the NMEA 2000 bus between the garmin and the backbone as the backbone was being powered as well. After much troubleshooting and on-line searches I was stumped for several days. Nothing could tell me if any of the other NMEA connections also provided power to the backbone.

Guess what, When I removed the power isolator at the backbone yesterday, I got engine data displayed. Great news.

The tach readings were the same so boat tachometer was set to the correct pole setting.

Called FWC to come and inspect the boat and the same day a very helpful officer showed up and we went thru the paperwork and she went over the boat. She took the approval paper to get her superiors to sign off on it so I can go to DMV and get VIN number and Fl Registration number and pay my fee.

Well the procedures have now changed and she has to submit all paperwork to head office in Tallahassee and we have to wait up to 6 weeks for approval. Bummer, but typical GOVT.

Was hoping to have it launched and motor broken in by start of scallop season on 15 June.

Have been working on some finishing touches in the meantime. All hatches screwed and 5200 sealed. I have 9 hatches on this puppy. I have been thinking about a transom saver but for what little trailering I will do I am not sure it is required. From my house to the boat ramps I usually use would be withing 20 miles and most within 5 miles.

What brand transom saver do others use?????

Also I need Two Bateau Stickers to place on her next to her name.( Kingfisher 2 ). My FS14 was the original Kingfisher.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

NEMA messed up royally when they allowed the NEMA to be a power source. I have about 3 days into isolating it so a Furuno monitor won’t turn on if the nema is active.

[thb]

In researching the NMEA 2000 issue I could not see where any of the other items hooked up to the backbone were a power source. Having the power isolator ( 010-11580-00) between the garmin connection to the backbone was preventing the backbone data from getting to the garmin. Messed up instructions from Garmin saying I needed this isolator.

Purchased this expensive isolator for nothing.

The new FWC procedures are a little more complex than when first explained to me. Local FWC office ( Perry ) has to hand carry the package of printed out papers to Regional Office ( Lake City ) who then review it and submit to Tallahassee head office. They then review and send approval back to Lake City who then send approved form electronically to Florida licencing Dept which my local Perry office will have access to. Why this takes up to 6 weeks is beyond me other than papers sit on someones desk for weeks at a time each step along the way.

What I do not understand is what was wrong with the old system where local FWC can approve. What problem were they trying to solve by making the process so complex???

Has anyone else in Florida gone thru this new process and how long did it take?

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

[thb]

Hello,

I have been using the past several weeks while waiting for FWC to give me approval to license and register to do a few things.

Got the cooler seat brackets attached to the floor and the cooler platform width adjusted so that it will fit inside the brackets. This way I can either use the platform or not use it depending on the best way to drive the boat.
I had to narrow the platform width at the bottom about 1/2 inch to make it fit. Reglass the area, add support inside along the cutdown width. Sand and repaint.

Got a 12v plug outlet installed for charging stuff.

Got a smoked windshield ordered and will pick up in a day or so as the seller is local.

Got the boat name "KingFisher 2" decals installed.

Touch up paint here and there. Still need to touch up the blue kiwi grip in a few places.

Next step is to put some fuel in the built in tank and purge the fuel line from it. Will probably change the boat fuel filter after I run it off the on board 19 gal aluminum tank.
Boat should go forever with that much fuel. 12 gallons would have been plenty but the tank was already there when I got the boat. I will start with 10 gallons and check the NMEA 2000 fuel quantity readout.

Regards
Tom In Steinhatchee