New member from Bristol

[LJColeman]

Welcome Aboard @LJColeman
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the world of sibs.

Enjoy the forum,

Martin

Thank you Martin, Much appreciated.

Hoping the weather down south improves so i can get some use out of it.

[LJColeman]

Engine now rebuilt & back together and runs a dream.

Ready for its first trip on the water now

Also recieved my ITIWIT pump which looks like a nice bit of kit, I also purchased an adapter so that I can connect the pump to a battery if needed as well as retaining the cigarette lighter plug

[LJColeman]

Boat blown up for the first time, really pleased with it.

15 minutes from getting out the boat to fully inflated.

[ChrisParish]

Looking good! Be sure to take some pics / video when you get out on the water.

[LJColeman]

Looking good! Be sure to take some pics / video when you get out on the water.

Thank you, I certainly will do. Planning to head down to Christchurch on Saturday as the weather and tides look good

[LJColeman]

Ran the engine up tonight & filled with some fresh 2 stroke fuel.

Looking forward to our first trip out on the boat on Sunday. The plan is to get down to Christchurch early Sunday morning and launch there.

We are then going to Potter down river stour for short while to get used to the boats (my dad is joining us and has dug out his old Zodiac S134 & Johnson 4hp 2 stroke)

We are then going to head back up the river to mudeford and stop on sandbanks beach for some lunch.

[ChrisParish]

Great to see that your engine is back up and running.
I hope you have a great day out in Christchurch. Where will you be launching from?

[LJColeman]

Thanks Chris,

We will be launching from the slip way at mayers mead car park (Christchurch rowing club)

Hoping to leave the house at 06:30 to get down there for 08:30 so should be able to get some good parking spaces. We can then take our time getting the boats set up etc.

I'll be sure to take plenty of pics, the car is all loaded up tonight ready to go.

[LJColeman]

Excellent day out in the boats yesterday, however feeling tired today!

Our journey started at 06:30 Sunday morning where we set of from Bristol and headed for Christchurch. A lovely drive down with very little traffic saw us pull into mayors mead car park at about 08:15.

Unfortunately we couldn't get the 2 spaces right by the slip way so opted for some spaces with grass behind to set up the boats. When we arrived there was 10-15 paddle boarders setting up and on the slip way so we decided to get some breakfast in the near by hightstreet before setting up.

After a spot to eat we began to set the boats up, I was super happy with the Boatworld 330 Pro and it only took about half an hour to get set up, (we were not rushing as had all day)

We carried the boats down to the water, I couldn't belive how much heavier my 330 Pro & Yamaha was compared to my dads zodiak S134 and Johnson set up. We both agreed that we will invest in some launching wheels to make life easier next time.

After getting the boats in the water, we loaded up the lunch & gear and the wife and child and set off. Everything seemed good and the boats were going well.

We got half way towards mudeford and I noticed my engine was steaming a lot and had a lack of power, it was a strange one as it would pump water on idle but under load it was only pumping intermittently. We decided to play it safe and switch it off, Dad gave me a tow back to Christchurch slip way and we decided to have a bit of lunch on the grass and take the engine off to try and find the problem.

I new the water pump side of things were good as I had replaced all of that. We removed the fuel tank and took the thermostat housing off, and as we thought it was completely filled with salt and sand and the thermostat was completely knackered. (I can't belive I didn't think to check this when I had the engine apart) strange thing was when I ran the engine up on a stand it was perfect.

We removed the thermostat competey and cleaned up the housing and all of the water ways. I put the engine back on the boat and hey presto everhthing was perfect.

After some lunch we went back out onto the river and the engine ran faultlessly for 3.5 hours. We decided to head back at around 15:30 as we were all knackered by then.

My little boy loved the day out also, so much so he fell asleep in the boat for about 2 hours whilst we were out!

We packed the boats up and headed into town for some fish and chips,

Safe to say we enjoyed out first trip out and will be trying to get back out as soon as we can (once I've properly fixed the engine!)

Here's some pics from the day, I didn't get as many as I wanted due to the excitement of it all and just wanting to get on the water.

[LJColeman]

New parts have come ready to repair the engine after the weekends breakdown.

I must admit I have been so pleased with the service provided from BHG marine. They always have the genuine parts in stock that I need and delivery is super quick. Excellent updates from them also.