This beautiful 1987 Zodiac c310 has been in my family since I was 10 and a few years ago my Father decided that he was unlikley to use it any more so I could have it. I have used it a little but not as much as I would like as it is arkward to setup and carry.
I recently decided that I would fit some wheels to the transom to aid in launching and so I could perhaps take the boat out on my own in the future (as I have always gone out at least 2 up for ease of launching)
I browsed through the forum here and found a link to some on ebay which a few of you have used so I ordered some. A few days later they arrived. Before I even opened the box I could smell the rubber of the tyres!
This is the first time I have done any modification to a boat, so I was more than a little nervous.
First of all, unpack and inflate the boat
I have bought a Bravo BPT12 which is a definate improvement over the old foot pump!
With the boat inflated, I inflated the thwart and placed it under the transom so I could mount the outboard.
There were no instructions for fitting the wheels but I have seen plenty of pictures. I positioned the wheels so that they would just clear the tubes as they are being raised and lowered and so that the plates are placed on the flat part of the transom (the bottom three-ish inches are recessed slightly to allow the floor material to be bonded and I wasn't about to drill through that!). I determined that the outermost edge of the plate needed to be 30mm in from the point where the tube and the transom are bonded.
I put some masking tape on the transom and then measured and marked a line using a setsquare.
Using double sided tape I stuck the plates to the masking tape so that a) I could eyeball them to make sure it looked right b) I could hold the wheels in place and make sure they clear everything and c) I can use them as a drilling jig.
So now for the nerve wracking moment - drilling the transom! I was very nervous because in my head the boat is still my Dad's boat.
With the holes drilled I did a test fit to see how long the bolts needed to be
As you can see they are far too long. The kit came with some red plastic covers but I didn't like that solution so I measured the amount to be removed and then got out the vice, the hacksaw and the grinder. I cut them to length (using three blades in a junior hacksaw - flippin' stainless!) and then beveled the edges on the grinder to remove any sharp bits and make them look nicer! For my install the bolts needed to be 38mm long.
With this done I did another dry fit and checked the new bolt length.
Much better. Now it is time to remove the masking tape and apply some sealant to the back of the plates, as due to the welds it is possible for water to go down the back and I didn't want that. I was going to buy some marine sealant but it appears that the only difference between regular sealant and marine sealant is the addition of the word "marine" and a multiplication of the price tag.
I applied some blue threadlock compound to the bolts to help stop the nuts vibrating loose, attached the wheels and then sat back to look at my handy work.
I am pretty pleased with that!
I placed the thwart under the port side tube and raised the wheel to see how far I could rotate the outboard before it hits. I almost get full lock.
All in all the whole thing went much more smoothly than I thought and I am very happy with the result.
The next job is to fit a lanyard kill-switch to my outboard, which has no provision for doing so (I can't just replace the stop switch as the new kill-switch would fowl the carb
)
Not a complete idiot - some parts are missing.
