Ranieri Revolution 15

[Limecc]

Not had any updates for a while, but was able to close off a couple of jobs today. Felt good being able to work on the boat again, and felt like the first day of spring. Very pleasant.

Since I had the boat I've been troubled with a large amount of steering wheel play, maybe 30° to 40°. Previous owner suffered a snapped cable, wear hastened due to poor routing at the stern making for a tighter bend. He replaced the cable (13ft for Ranieri 15ft) and had them move the exit hole 50mm higher which I would have needed to do to raise the engine, so I was glad of that.

Thoughts of steering failure and having the boat hook is the stuff of nightmares, I'd worried about it on our RIB previously. I've always maintained my boats regardless of cost and decided to fit NFB steering instead over a hydraulic system. Main reason was I wanted to retain 3 turns lock to lock, and most hydraulic systems are 5 turns, a different ratio to keep the steering light on large 100+hp engines.

When I removed the old unit I was a little puzzled that the quick release cable entry was on the opposite side. I feared the steering would be reversed, but after being connected it proved ok. I had to drill a new screw hole in the console to rotate the mounting bracket slightly as the cable was now coming from a different angle. The new steering unit is much neater and well clear of the bilge pump switch spade connectors compared to the old. Most importantly, all play is gone! Mission accomplished. Zero feedback, zero play.

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The second job was to fit a new propeller. The four blade Solas is fine but a little under-pitched when the boat is lightly loaded. I don't particularly want to go faster. What I want is to be able to cruise at 25 knots with a lower rpm so a 15" pitch would be appropriate.

I was very impressed with reviews on Turning Point Hustler props, and combined with the low price, I thought why not give one a try? The place to get them from in the UK is Streamlined Propellers and it cost just £85 including the Suzuki hub kit. The only downside so far is it's not shiny. However they are slated to outperform a Solas stainless so we'll see! I've calculated will be at 5400rpm at 25kn and it will give 30-32kn flat out depending what the slip proves to be, I expect it will still pull max rpm.

I was disappointed Turning Point don't do a four blade for my engine as it has a 3.1/2" gear case. These have an asymmetric blade design so as not to lose any top end compared to a 3 blade and they've got vented barrels that introduce exhaust gas and slip at low rpm's to spin it up to revs where more power is available, supposedly giving a faster holeshot.

We've had unprecedented storms in Feb. Happy with the PVC cover's performance. No chaffing. No flapping.

[Limecc]

2022 update2:

Been busy with various building projects so really refreshing to sneak some boat maintenance into the mix. First up was to tackle some rust stains on the aux bracket and starboard side transom shim.

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There was light rust staining because I used 304 instead of 316 stainless due to supplier availability. Were it not for the fact 304 stains it's actually a better material to use because it's less prone to stress cracking. The staining wasn't universal, just here and there and the port side shim wasn't rusty at all despite being made from the same flat bar as the starboard. To remove rust stains is easy. Any car bodywork iron remover such as Dragon's Breath dissolves iron oxide as if by magic, and it's PH neutral so safe if it drips on the galvanizing of the trailer. Here's the end result:

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Next up was to tackle a build up of white scale on the engine leg.

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I first noticed this after the IoW trip, I think exhaust gas made the leg so hot that when salt water was continually splashing and evaporating on the shaft, it was leaving behind this deposit. Very tenacious! I tried various techniques to see which worked the best, and this was a cloth wetted with white vinegar and CIF lemon. It worked better than T-cut or rubbing compound. I did one side then decided to break out the polishing machine for the other, it was such hard work.

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I've been really happy with the EVA decking which is wearing better than I expected. In fact it's not worn at all, lifted in a couple of places, but the main gripe is how it gets dirty so easily. Mine was stained badly when launching at Hayling Yacht Co, there's a combination of smelly mud, stones, with patches of diesel and grease on the ramp. This was impossible to avoid and settled in the deep tread of our trainers, so was transferred to the EVA. I thought I'd better tread (lol) carefully when cleaning, so used a soft bristle scrubbing brush and Vanish oxi-action liquid stain remover, working with the grain of the teak. I was really happy at the result, it came up like new again. When on holiday I'd tried neat Fairy liquid and was disappointed, I didn't have high hopes. +1 vote for Oxy-action!

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I've mentioned this before, the Ranieri in common with small Ribs like from Brig or Grand have the console set too far back for good fore/aft balance. This is a design compromise to allow a bigger foredeck which is great socially and for sunbathing. The extra stern weight I found is best offset by the use of a hydrofoil which hasn't impacted the top end because I've got the engine height optimised and on the plane it's not in the water flow hence no extra drag. Another way to lighten the stern would be to move the fuel tank forward like I did on our previous boat. The Revolution 15 has a big foredeck locker like the 17' model, and also the 19' I suspect.

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I've been using it to store a second 25L tank and a couple of 5L green cans, but they've been bouncing around because they were not strapped down. Likewise the primary fuel tank in the stern.

I found there was sufficient room for all four tanks in the enormous foredeck locker. But how could I run a fuel pipe the length of the boat if I were to move the primary tank? There's no access to the hull below the centre console like there is on bigger and wider models. The solution came to me. I would add a watertight inspection hatch to the front locker to enable me to thread a fuel pipe to the console, from there the pipe would go in the wiring trunking and all the way to the water separator fixed on the transom.

Moving the main 25L tank shifts another 18kg of weight stern to bow and makes it easier switching to the second tank which can now just stay in-situ. The lighter stuff like ropes and fenders will now be stored in the stern locker. I like having two tanks, when one runs out, change it over and it's time to turn back! My reserve is the green cans.

Using my multi-tool I cut a 140mm hole for a 170mm inspection hatch I purchased from Amazon (cost £10.50). I used a half round file to make the hole perfect and removed the sharp edges. The cut out was only 3 or 4mm thick material so I decided to make backing plates out of some 3mm aluminium sheet I had.

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Used M4x18 stainless countersunk screws and sealed it into position.

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I took some pictures of the inner hull, it was interesting to see the design and assembly technique. Not as dirty as I expected, before fitting the garboard drain I removed some really gungy and oily water. See how they used blue sealant on the stringer drain holes to prevent osmosis, this was pointed out in the factory shipyard video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4vPFmFa0A4
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Here's the view forward

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Here's the view to stern

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Here's the bow locker drain pipe which terminates to the centre console and onto the self-draining deck.

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The fuel pipe threaded through the main conduit fairly easily and I used a 25mm hole saw to fit the 25mm glands which were perfect for the 8mm fuel pipe which has an OD of 15.2mm and the final length of the pipe was exactly 5m.

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Under the foredeck I used some cable trunking as a shield and cable tied it to the bow locker drain pipe which was held in place with some fibre glass matting. Now I had the access I could have threaded the pipe directly to the bilge and fuel filter but this would have left it slapping on the inside of the hull over waves. Using the cable trunking is much neater and the pipe's supported the entire length. I transferred the tank connector from the old pipe to new.

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To fasten the tanks down I used two pairs of 25mm lashing straps, looped through fixing brackets called Footmans Loops. They were difficult to source until I discovered what they are called. I cut some UPVC trim (6x25x300mm) to make some pads for the loops and locate the tanks in position with a rubber door mat as a cushion.

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The green cans wedge in place nicely. Here's the finished result:

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Next up was to take a look at fixing the overheat gradient alarm I sometimes get. In fact it came up first run while running it on muffs and it wasn't even fully warmed up. Seems a common thing on these engines and indeed Chris Parish had the same on his DF50 and left the exhaust sensor connected electrically but disconnected thermally as a workaround. Occurred not as often as his though, only 5 times for me. See here: viewtopic.php?f=86&t=3115&start=69

The thermistor had a resistance that was within spec at 25°C, but I measured it at various temperatures to find the gradient and I compared it to the head sensor which is exactly the same part number. Here are the results:

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I saw from this at 40°C and less they were broadly comparable but at 50°C there was significant difference and lowering of the resistance as if it were reading a higher temperature more quickly. This might trigger the rate-of-change alarm. To test my theory I swopped the sensors over so the iffy exhaust one is now used on top of the head. Watch this space to see if it works!

I connected the laptop to read off the number of hours which was 242 total or 24 hours since we got the boat and the last service. Now I'm not bound by a manufacturer's warranty I'm going to use a variable service schedule rather than a yearly one, I'll service it next year.

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Have you ever purchased any Dyneema? Hugely expensive! But not when buying an end-of-reel length and using sniping software to steal it from any rival bidder! Got some for less than £1/m in 10mm and 12mm thicknesses.

[9-R]

Great write-up! I really like the EVA flooring. I had debated about it for our boat but after reading about the stain and cleaning, I'm glad we don't have it.

Ever since we purchased ours, I've been considering a small backup / trolling motor. I like your design and application.

Wow, are these boats a lot of work or what?

[Limecc]

Hi 9r, nice to see you back! Although the EVA cleaned up, I now see it for sale in dark grey/black which looks nicer than my light grey. Maybe better if I were starting over?

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When I looked at old pics of mine the anti-slip gelcoat also filled with dirt and looked bad, compare and judge for yourself:

For the sake of science I might experiment on an offcut and see how it takes black leather dye I've got.

The aux engine gets you in (or out) of some real shallows if the main is raised. Literally only enough inches to float because the prop's higher than the bottom of the hull V. Poor steering and visibility from the aft quarter though.

I love working on boats, it's therapeutic and doesn't seem like hard work? Depends on the individual I suppose. Wish I could get out more. Now looking for a Sealine S23 (possibly older S24), large enough to live on but light enough to trailer to nice places in Britain. Don't have the bottle to tow a Leader 805, simply too wide. The power of the dark side and flushing toilet is strong.

[Limecc]

Update no2 2022:

If anyone's been following my little adventures in the pictures section of the forum viewtopic.php?f=24&t=4515&start=23
then you'll be aware after the last trip i received official sanction to re-power Bambini. GREAT!!
So how did it go?

To replace it I decided between a 2017 Yamaha F70 with ultra high hours and a new powerhead, and a 2019 Suzuki DF50a that spent it's 90 hours life on the Great Ouse river near Cambridge.

Tried to gauge how much to ask for the old engine. I saw an older DF50 of 2001 vintage with 550 hours on ebay, had a little conversation with the seller (I purchased a new Suzuki GPS receiver from him), and he sold it for £3450 and an electrically dead DF50 in part exchange. I didn't fare as well but had several offers over £3K, one joker who insulted me with £2K, and I eventually accepted £3,250 for a quick sale.

I decided to get the newer A series Suzuki as it was a good price and I could convert it to a DF60.

It came off a 26ft river cruiser owned by a retired sailor and had never gone over 4000rpm, probably because it was over-propped.

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The seller had purchased an electric outboard and invested in a huge battery bank and fitted four solar panels to charge them. You can see it behind the trailer which we loaded the engine on to. It was the public slip at Ely, it worked quite well as I removed the tailgate and backed near to the stern of the boat in the shallow water. The trailer acted as a platform and using a scaffold tube to share the weight between 3 we were able to transfer it from transom to trailer with minimum bother, watched by many onlookers as it was a beautiful day and quite a busy area. Stunning part of the country.

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The DF40/50 models are restricted by the air inlet, rpm limiter and ignition timing. The fuel injectors and every other component are identical and shared. The 'silencer holder' cost just £6.

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I sent the ECU to West Wales Tuning who were able to find a DF60a map to use as a base and modify it to around 70hp estimated.

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I say estimated because it's not proven on a dyno but JB Mechanical get these engines to nearly 80hp on super unleaded. I wanted to be able to use 95 RON in case 98 RON isn't available. A lot of people frown about having an outboard tuned, but I'm ok with it and they are in a relatively low state of tune anyway. Time will prove the wisdom. I changed the 14" pitch for a 17" deciding to go for OEM Suzuki over Solas as the latter was dearer and to be honest I can't decide which would perform the better. Cost was £127. At the same time I reluctantly drilled the AV plate and fitted the hydrofoil, the boat needs it trust me.

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The engine bracket was completely encrusted in limescale and the anodes were shot. I ended up using brick acid to dissolve the scale and things came up like new again. Kettle descaler wasn't touching it.

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I fitted 5 aluminium anodes and the new 72°c thermostat from the old engine. The internal anodes were ok but I didn't want zinc ones. There were some nasty scratches on the cover which I was able to completely remove with 1500 grit wet and dry then T-cut, so I'll live with some minor ones on the lower cowling. Not worth the expense but would have had them done if the cover hadn't come up so perfect. I fitted new decals to reflect the uprated power. Amazingly the old ones came off intact and are reusable for whoever wants them.

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Moving on I removed the analogue gauges from the console.The originals have a textured formica finish that was chipped on a couple of edges.

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I worked on the console to take the new SMG4 multifunction digital gauge. Used a rotary burr so it fitted squarely, blanked the old gauge holes and repaired the gelcoat.

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I have 12v power and USB charging sockets to fit in the space gained and worked out a plan for the console new decals. I used free GIMP Photoshop software and created the new designs which have a carbon fibre effect background. I laser printed them to brushed gold sticky back foil from Amazon. I used white in the image wherever I wanted gold to come through. I'm quite pleased with the end result.

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I was able to modify the GPS receiver base so the cable comes out of the side for a flush mount inside the console but it won't be fitted until last. I covered the base with thick double sided tape so I won't have to make screw holes.

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I tested that the gauge worked and it didn't until I selected the correct protocol (undocumented and wrong protocol was default). I also had to change the harness plug over from analogue to digital output.

The old rigging was gone:

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I blanked off the port rigging hole and opened the other to take the newer style rigging hose.

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The engine collar is made by Yamaha because Suzuki don't sell one for this engine's series. The hose has a tee section to accommodate the primer bulb and fuel line in the same 50mm hose.

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The fuel line will have a protective nylon mesh sleeve (16mm dia). The 12ft control cables were by fluke exactly the same length, so that was fantastic as the former ones were getting stiff. I will fit a second primer bulb in the front locker, better to push rather than pull I think. The new engine came with a fuel tank which extends my total capacity to 75L. Since I only need that much occasionally I will store it empty in the former place in the stern.

A major finding when the old engine was removed was that the two halves of the boat had become separated at the transom.

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This wouldn't gave mattered had the stainless plate above been water sealed. But now any sea or rain water in that area could wet the wood core which would eventually lead to rot. A grinderette opened it up and I used G-flex 655K flexible epoxy and chopped strand glass fibers to bond it back together again. I then applied Flowcoat which was faired back before re-fitting the stainless plate and I used Polyurethane as the bedding compound.

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Last year I used a small hole saw to expose the transom core in the bilge when I saw moisture coming from the engine bolts and the moisture was off the scale of the meter. I assumed it had entered via the engine bolts at the time and resealed them. It dried out over winter to 20% in April, and now the reading was 14% so I used epoxy to fit the plugs in position again.

Trailer had a little work next. The winch post was moved back a couple of inches to reduce noseweight a little. Next I needed a spare wheel carrier but couldn't find anything that I really liked so decided to make one. From an old AlKo axle I cut off the stub which fitted perfectly into the box section (purposely saved from old RIB trailer). Bolted them together, drilled some holes in it for a 70x130mm U bolt, and fitted it behind the winch post:

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I moved it along the drawbar to fine tune the height. When the hitch is near the ground as the jockey wheel allows, it's got full weight and could be used to roll the trailer on soft surfaces as it won't dig in like the jockey wheel might.

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I mistakenly left a small adjustable spanner on the stb side stern EVA and it was rained on and left a rust stain.

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Dragon's Breath to the rescue, it dissolved the stain and now like new again!

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That's all for this update. Was going to make just the one post when everything is finished but it's already quite long and you're doing well if you've kept reading this far. Stay tuned for the next installment and feel free to leave me a comment!

[Limecc]

Update no.3 2022
Slow progress is progress nonetheless!

Managed to hang the engine and thread the cables. Never done it before but there was no drama. Did it single-handed without lifting gear. I hung it from a 6ft work platform using a ratchet strap and fine adjustment was made raising or lowering the jockey wheel. No picture, don't want to self-incriminate with any health and safety geeks.

Transom shims look much better in black:

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I used the full 1m length of the rigging hose and this left the cables a tad shorter than I'd like, so I may shorten the hose which should be easy to do if I find the motivation. I fixed the fuel pipe with a cable tie because it was moving and was going to fret when the engine went from lock to lock.

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Fitted the second primer bulb in the front locker. It works much better pumping fuel than it did sucking from the stern.

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I tidied the cables under the console and fitted more decals I made. I gave them a coat of lacquer and unfortunately it turned the gold into a beige colour. Not unpleasant but at some point I'll print some more and cover them in clear film instead.

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Set up the NMEA2K network and stuck the GPS receiver in position. This allows the SMG4 gauge to determine speed, give trip functions and fuel economy.

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Ran the engine which started instantly. What a lovely light throttle! Had trouble getting it to pump, impeller checked out ok and it worked when reassembled. I put it down to leakage from the muffs. When run up in a Koi tub the tell-tale is good and strong. Still need to fit the steering bar.

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More stuff yet to do! See you on the next update.

[Limecc]

Update no.4 2022.
Final countdown to our Sept hols!

Forgot to mention I replaced the anchor locker clamshell vent that I'd damaged on the bow snubber.

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Rather than get another flimsy affair, purchased a genuine Perko which is chrome plated brass as opposed to one made out of thin stainless. Instead of pop rivets, self-tappers hold it in place and look better.

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To hopefully prevent another aux engine loss I fitted a transom pad. Couldn't find one the correct size so onto the chop saw it went.

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It is stuck in place with polyurethane in addition to the screws.

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After months of indecision, I committed to fit the flush mount isolator. A surface mounted one under the aft seat would have been slightly more secure but way more hassle. On this one the key is removable and it can be reached from outside the boat which is great when flushing the engine through.

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Went around all the vinyl with Autoglym rubber and vinyl cleaner. Pulled lots of dirt out and the plasticiser will prevent sun damage and cracking.

Am I the only person who cleans their boat cover? Went over it with Demon Shine while it was raining and water is beading up on it again, it looks great.

Went around all the grease points with red synthetic grease and fitted the steering bar. Or tried to. This one has a stainless bracket (former engine had alloy bracket) and it was bent and twisted.

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Was able to straighten it but the job took longer due to sorting one of the two studs. A nut picked up on the thread and I didn't have a M10 die with the finer 1.25 pitch so had to resort to a metric thread file. All worked out in the end.

After the Littlehampton pounding, the screen became a little loose, so off it came for polishing and I added a thin O ring to each fixing to give it extra grip. At the same time, re-tightened the grab rail, Garmin and phone mounts.

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The bilge pump was so old the plastic became brittle and the lugs had broken on the base. A 5A TMC pump with 3/4" outlet was just the ticket. It's hard trying to select one based on advertised flow rate, probably a more reliable indicator of capacity is to go by current draw for the respective outlet size.

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I converted the old one for use as a Rydlyme flushing pump.

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The engine had always been used in fresh water and tradition has it that this is the better medium but I'm not sure. It had never been flushed after use and an inspection through anode holes revealed a thin layer of scale which must be as bad as salt. Because I already had a can, I used Wynn's coolant flush hoping it would clean things up. Alas no. It must have done something as the fluid darkened but looking back at the blurb it's acid free and that's what's needed so I ordered in 2L of Rydlyme. Experimentation showed I needed 4L of fluid to fill the pipes and water jacket and my circulating pump not run dry. Here are the before/after pics:

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Lots of crud in the Rydlyme

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Lots of crud after running the engine

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The innards became like new again. Gave it 30 mins but to be honest 10 would have been more than enough. Amazing stuff! I'm converted from being skeptical. Everyone should use this at least once. I removed thermostat and anodes, but deliberately left an old zinc in the solution and the stuff was very kind to it while being absolutely brutal to limescale.

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Found some nasty gouges on the keel so next up was to fit some more Keel Eezy at the stern of the boat. Sanded 400 grit, 1000, 1500 to prepare the surface for the last one metre. I cut two lengths to create a taper from single width to double width (100mm because that's how wide the pad is under the transom).

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Managed to pull in another section of EVA for the bow locker. Getting quite fast with this stuff but it was dark when I finished. Need to clean off biro marks and the older EVA has dirt and stains to remove then I'll get better photos.

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Only job left is to screw down some footman's loops in the bilge for straps to secure the third 25L fuel tank. Next update will be in a couple of weeks when it's out in the Solent!