1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

One of the ramps I go to I had the tailpipe of my truck in the water. There really is no way to lower it, other than a new drop axle. The center rollers are as close to the trailer frame as they can be. I'm thinking of getting a folding tounge, at least it would give me a little more length - to get the boat in the water instead of the truck.

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I finally got it running on Fathers day and promptly burned it up. (the water pump anyway) I forgot to turn the darn water on! I ordered a water pump kit and just got it Thursday. I installed it right away and found that the ear muffs I use don't seem to seal up against the lower unit well enough. The overheat alarm went off. I dropped the L/U and checked it out, the impeller survived and while I had it off I put the muffs back on and pushed them against the sides and the water came up into the water pump cavity. Once I re-installed the L/U, I started it and again pushed the muffs tight against the L/U and it started pumping water. I squashed a 55 gallon drum enough to fit the motor in and filled it with water and tried it again, and all seems well.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

There are cheapy muffs that just put water on one side. There are better ones that divide the water into each side and cover better also.

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I put a slight bend in the wire that goes to the cup (on each side), it kind of makes the cups parallel to each other when they are about an inch apart. It seemed to do the trick. As soon as I turned the water on it was coming out some holes around the lower unit (where it should be when working correctly).

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

OK, I think I'm about done. I added some new lights to the trailer, along with new guide-ons. I found a video on youtube about a 90hp Johnson that he replaced a blown rectifier with a really cheap 3 dollar one from Radio Shack. I tried it and viola, my tach works again and the battery is charging again. Hopefully I can take it to the lake tomorrow.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Do you have an update? Maybe some action pics too??

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I did get to the lake and it seems to work pretty good. The motor was idling better than usual and the bog that I was experiencing doesn't seem to be there either. I do have a nightmare of a time loading it on the trailer. I need to do something to get the front of the boat in line with the rollers and keep it there. I kept missing them even when it looked like it was okay. I ended up scraping the gell coat on the bottom of the hull. Now I need to fix that too.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Thanks for the update.

I just picked up a 1971 Bimini for free. She's going to need quite a bit of work. I should be starting a thread within the next few weeks.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Ksmith0110, Would you be able to post a pic of your boat from the bow back to the stern? I'd like to see what the inside of the stern looks like as it appears that the one on my 17 Bimini has been hacked up quite a bit.
Thank you

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I'll try to get one on here tomorrow. I don't have access to the boat right now. Exactly what do you need to see? The motor well or just the back of the boat from the inside?

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I'll try to get one on here tomorrow. I don't have access to the boat right now. Exactly what do you need to see? The motor well or just the back of the boat from the inside?

The back, inside of the boat (splashwell and each side of the splashwell).
Thanks

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Okay,
Here ya go... The post in the center of the boat is just there to keep the cover tented so water runs off.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Okay,
Here ya go... The post in the center of the boat is just there to keep the cover tented so water runs off.

Perfect!
Thank you so much!!

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I did get to the lake and it seems to work pretty good. The motor was idling better than usual and the bog that I was experiencing doesn't seem to be there either. I do have a nightmare of a time loading it on the trailer. I need to do something to get the front of the boat in line with the rollers and keep it there. I kept missing them even when it looked like it was okay. I ended up scraping the gell coat on the bottom of the hull. Now I need to fix that too.

I wonder if something like this would help protect the keel (if that is where the gellcoat is getting scrapped while loading the boat onto the trailer.
http://www.iboats.com/Keelshield-Emerald-Green-6/dm/*******.165336598--**********.792417985--view_id.687178

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Where it was scraped is off to the side, the boat kind of rolled off the roller and to the left and it loos like the bracket for the roller did the damage. I think I'm going to put a couple more bunks from the middle to the front to keep that from happening in the future.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

ahhh I see.

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I got under the trailer today and found that it couldn't have been the roller bracket....I think it was the roller shaft that did the damage.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Okay, new pics from today, I didn't get to work on it yesterday like I wanted, but I had help from my dad today and got the floor in and glassed.

Did you screw the deck down to the stringers? If so, what kind of screws did you use?

 

[Ksmith0110]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

I used a few stainless screws, like 6 of them. I only screwd the back panel of the deck down. the rest I soaked some csm in resin and layed the strips on top of the fiberglass stringers and set the deck in place. I put some weights on it and let it set up over night before messing with it. Then I covered the entire deck with csm/resin and allowed it to go up the gunwales about 6" or so.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: 1973 Winner Bimini 17' Trihull Rebuild

Good Info. Thanks again ksmith0110