Blazer VL100 The Forgotten Pocket Bass Boat

[rojoguio]

Ran the boat today and what a difference. Cruising without the need for trim adjustment. At 30mph I lifted the Jackplate just to see what happened and I picked up 5mph without touching the throttle (going straight). It slalomed a very winding bayou effortlessly, I tightened the turns to see what would happen and she just turned tighter. It's going to be interesting to air it out with the engine up, still waiting for the right time and location. Using the Mercury Racing App today every time I plugged in the numbers up to 5000rpm with the engine all the way down the prop slip came back 9.46 or less. That's what Blueprinting the hull gets you.

[rojoguio]

Made 2 pulls today WOT 5600rpm, Solas 19P-4Blade HR4 Prop, 2:1 Gear ratio 52mph. Seems this is fast as it will go with the 4 blade without me raising the engine further out of the water but with Blueprinting the Hull the prop slip calculations are down to 8.38. I'm sure the 3 Blade 23P or the Ballistic 3 Blade 23P it will go faster but I'm settled in with how the boat handles, pops out of the water, cruises on plane at 35-40mph, and carries a load (another angler). I strongly recommend Blueprinting the Hull in a full restoration. The actual prop pitch measures 21 inches.

[rojoguio]

So I have had a water leak since wetting the project boat. Always the same amount, Auto Bilge took care of it when the bilge sump had enough water. I sealed the Rub Rail all the way around since the other Blazer VL100 I have leaked horribly behind it's, didn't fix it. I picked up the boat off the trailer and inspected the bottom the full length for a screw hole thinking I must have drilled thru somewhere but no. I plugged the Livewell Drain and Overflow holes with a deck plug thinking it may be leaking there, filled the Livewell with water, no leaking. Could not see any water leaking around Transom Bolts, Transducer Cables, or Livewell Pump. Well the drain plug, a Attwood Stainless Drain fixture, something I install in every boat I own, had a little sand in the threads so I removed it to clean the threads out and add a little grease. After starring at the Drain Plug for a bit knowing something was wrong it dawned on me the O-Ring looked kinda small. Turns out the O-Ring was on so tight it was stretched almost half it's diameter. I went to the Hydraulic shop up the street and bought a new, larger O-Ring. Water Leak problem found. In the picture is the new O-Ring not the defective one. I hope this keeps someone else from chasing their tail.

AttwoodmStainless Drain 1.jpgAttwoodmStainless Drain 2.jpg

[cwilt]

Is your drain plug mount base cracked? Looks like there is a crack at the Phillips screw hole on the right.

[rojoguio]

cwilt, good eyes! No that caught my eye also but it is Black 5200 that has not been cleaned off yet. I hate to see the marine manufacturing industry suffer from quality control issues but my favorite Drain Assembly just was shipped with a poor O-Ring installed instead of waiting on the correct one. Yamaha is shipping engines to the US with broken Cowlings, missing lower units, etc. It's a crazy time to be a Supplier but not the manufacturer in most cases. Contract private label orders placed Offshore are suffering Quality Control issues everywhere. I will still install this drain assembly in every project because I love it but going forward I will check the O-Rings Before installing.

[paulrodbender]

Good find sir...... I like using the brass drain plugs and base but I developed a small leak from an old plug that ended up wearing down the threads from a lot of use. Put in a new plug and no more leak.

[rojoguio]

Paul I would use a straight Garboard drain but I hate needing a wrench to remove and tighten. Other than that, especially on the Saltwater boats I worked on, a brass Garboard drain is the only way to go. As you stated, you Do have to tighten them to prevent a leak.

[rojoguio]

Just a heads up on a new Arch / Bimini Top for the project. I'm getting roasted by this heat fishing so a design is finished and a couple of things need attention elsewhere but then I will start posting. Since I mainly Crappie fish this Arch/Bimini this top frame is designed without any straps. Also the design will allow quick Removal / Tilting as needed or when the Top is not needed at all. Since I still have 75 or so Rod Holders of various shapes leftover I will add some on the back of the Arch for Trolling.

[paulrodbender]

Keeping busy I see.......... Post some pics when done, i'm sure it's going to look great.

[rojoguio]

Keeping busy I see.......... Post some pics when done, i'm sure it's going to look great.

Thank you Bud. I've custom fabricated enough T-Tops and Arches that figuring out how to minimize the jig pole interference was the challenge.

On a different note; switching to the 4 Blade Solas HR-4 really Lists the boat to Port at slow speeds. With only a 68in Beam the Prop Torque really shows itself. Once I put the Pad to work the boat levels out. I talked to one of my buddies the Prop Guru he said that Blueprinting the hull made it more sensitive to weights and Forces. His Race boat had a 12# weight mounted under his seat. Depending on the Lake conditions he would move it fore or aft. It had 18 inches of travel. He said no matter the conditions they were racing in that was enough to make his boat race.

[rojoguio]

So I'm installing the HVAC in the big building finally. Should be setting the Unit itself tomorrow. I cut the Arch Bases for the boat today. One of the first obstacles I had to overcome was how to fasten securely the Arch to the Hull. Big problem without access to thru-bolt the Bases. I decided Uplift and Shear loading would work as long as it was Bedded properly. The 2 pieces of Angle Aluminum will provide purchase for the 5200 bedding compound but it will be a problem keeping the 5200 on the vertical surfaces. Mounting the Arch base with screws and 5200, some screws installed perpendicular to the load will lock the Bases permanently.

Squaring Up Arch Bases.jpgSquaring Up Arch Bases 2.jpg

I have this hardware leftover from other jobs and after checking the difference in weight of 1-1/4in and 1in Sch40 Aluminum pipe the length of 1-1/4in pipe is only 3#'s more than 1in the same length. For 3#'s I will not need to put near as many braces as I would with 1in pipe. Aluminum 6063 alloy pipe bends easy. I would not be able to run any speed if I use 1in pipe. Also I would need to double the 1in all the way where I can return the 1in into the 1-1/4in before the bends. Using 1in I may end up with a heavier Arch. Since the Beam is so narrow I will not angle the Arch Uprights inward as it will make walking around more difficult.

Arch Quick Release Tilt Fittings.jpgArch Quick Release Tilt Fittings 2.jpg

As a goal, a Bimini Frame un-bendable by the wind so most likely I will use 7/8in Stainless Tubing. I have enough of that on hand too. 3 bows with a locking stanchion so no straps are needed. We'll see what kind of Rabbit I can pull out of the Hat.

The Bimini Top I made for the other Blazer VL100 I have is not Tapered and it works great. I will paint the entire frame assembly Gloss Black 2K Urethane when complete.

[rojoguio]

Update on props. I couldn't stand it so I ordered another prop this time a Solas Hydro 4-1/4 gearcase 13-1/8 diameter 22 Pitch. Ran the boat 3 pulls this morning but only picked up 2MPH. The boat leaps out of the water with this new prop, the blades are small, not a lot of Rake, cupped enough to hold well on my boat in turns, the description says its for a lighter boat hull. I'm here to tell you it ran on my boat like a custom built prop. I slowed down when approaching 54MPH due to the hull starting to Chine Walk. None of the other props got it going fast enough to make it chine walk. I posted the line to Solas website page. I think for 4-1/4 gearcases this is relatively new in 22in Pitch.

https://solaspropellers.com/index.ph...cts/item/hydro

[Charles Prestridge]

That is great news on the new prop. Great feeling having good hole-shot, lift, cornering, and topend.

Thanks again for sharing all your work, knowledge, and experience.

[rojoguio]

That is great news on the new prop. Great feeling having good hole-shot, lift, cornering, and topend.

Thanks again for sharing all your work, knowledge, and experience.

It a pleasure when you know others are enjoying your posts. I was out of throttle, didn't get anything out of more trim, tried to lift the engine but that was what started the wobble on the second pull. I think I have the engine as high as possible without cavitation in turns. Rigging the engine height I'm looking for maximum lift height on the Jackplate for Marsh fishing or way back up in the swamp backwaters. Its a fishing boat not a race boat but with Prop Slip Calculators staying in the 7.04 to 7.56 range across 3 different props there is not much more improvement that could be done to the hull. I had this engine on the other Blazer VL100 and didn't break 50mph if I remember correctly. I would have thought with all the Blueprinting to the hull it would have had a larger spread between the two hulls.

[Charles Prestridge]

I agree with the low prop-slip, you are limited in further gains.

Low and mid range handling trumps max speed for almost everyone.

I hope the heat breaks soon and you have a great fall fishing alot.

[rojoguio]

I agree with the low prop-slip, you are limited in further gains.

Low and mid range handling trumps max speed for almost everyone.

I hope the heat breaks soon and you have a great fall fishing alot.

Fishing is fixing to start my friend. NIP Tide is Sunday, Monday, Tuesday here, great time to prospect new locations. I have a few miles of river to Sidescan as numerous trees are gone. My wife heads to Alabama to a Quilting retreat so I plan to play at least 1/2 days each day while she is out of town..

[rojoguio]

Way, way, way, too much going on around here with Auto repairs, HVAC Installs, HVAC repairs, Trailer repairs, this Drought (I have over 80 varieties of fruit trees here) and have not been able to get back on my Top Arch. Well I scratched out a little headway the last few days. A hour here, a hour there, so here we are. I'm not about to strike a TIG Arc in my boat after 3 years of work (and I just got it propped out) like I do when custom fabricating a T-Top. After very careful measurements I screwed together a Aligning & Tacking Fixture. It matches the Gunnels perfectly so I can tack everything up, clamp it all down, and weld it out without worry of the Aluminum drawing up on me. I used a Steel Ruler to take the measurements and used the same ruler to cut out and screw together the fixture.

Taking Precise Measurements for Fixture.jpgTaking Precise Measurements for Fixture2.jpgWelding Fixture for Tacking Up.jpg

The 2 bases were squared then their locations marked on the fixture before laying out the mounting holes. The perpendicular or Uplift mounting holes will be laid out with the Arch resting in place and screwed down temporarily. By using the Aluminum Angle I at least have a chance to prevent any damage by only screwing down on top. All the glass is too thin to hold a screw well enough for the Load Applied. Having Shear Angle Fasteners, properly bedded, it will not come off unless real effort is used.

Laying Out Arch Base.jpgLaying Out Arch Base 2.jpgArch Bases Drilled.jpg

This will be painted Black and where the Pin Base lands will be determined in the morning. So when you are using a hinge system it absolutely must be aligned as perfect as possible so it does not bind. All 4 Pin Bases have to be cut off below the weld puddle relief before tacking up. The measurements on the table were for fabricating the ductwork for my HVAC (I bought it 3 years ago and just now installed it). I made the Ductwork out of 1/8in 5052 Marine Aluminum sheet, double insulated it, screwed it to the unit and the building so it never moves without a fight.

Fwd Arch Hinge Ready To Cut.jpgHinge Base Pin Cut.jpgLocating Where to Weld.jpg

These pictures are how I align hinging Pins. I use a long Pipe (used shorter ones and my work suffered) to align as I tack for as perfect a fit as humanly possible.

Using Pipe to Perfectly Align Hinge.jpgUsing Pipe to Perfectly Align Hinge 2.jpg

No welding tired, I will tack up both sides tomorrow morning, fresh. Here is a picture of my Unit and Install. Also I have this trailer to recondition, both timbers are toast, a picture of the new 3x12x12ft 2.5 Marine Treated timbers I will replace with.

New HVAC for my Shop.jpgTrailer to Recondition.jpgNew 3x12x12ft Trailer Timbers.jpg

[rojoguio]

Well I had to try this as the forward looking sonar transducers I like just seems to start freezing around 200 hours. My last one started freezing at 7 months of service. So what I am experimenting with are older Legacy Equipment (name given by mfg industry). Paying $1500+ for a Live Sonar View for looking at Structure only seems too high a price for the application I use them for. Also since we are running 2D Sonar it can be rigged with a transducer selector switch. Two or more transducers can be used simply selecting the particular transducer you want. Getting in the weeds a bit, you can't as far as I know switch between 3D transducers without a added Sonar box. The Legacy Humminbird equipment can be rigged with a Humminbird Sonar Switch. Also Humminbird makes Y - Cables so you can split your sonar signals between 2 transducers like a 2D (looking forward) and a 3D (looking down like on the trolling motor). No switch is needed for that just selecting the correct view on the Display.

Here are 2 photos, the first I turn the transducer away from the dock and second I point the transducer at the dock. I'm using a Humminbird Trolling Motor Transducer TM-9-20T or something like that, a 2D 83/200 cheap Dual Beam Transducer for standard sonar. I have it on one of the custom sticks I build for my Livescope customers when I sell a system to them.

Photo No Structure.jpgPhoto With Structure.jpg

You can see in the second picture even the distance is correct and displayed on Top with the depth lines turned on. Now for the settings as I expected to be able to turn on either a Jigging Mode or use the RTS window but could not do either. So I turned the scroll speed to 10, set the view to Clear Scan, Sensitivity is down to 3, distance is set at 15ft, Frequency is set to 200 only, most transducers of any manufacture have a 200 crystal. The tests went out as far as 25ft with the same results. I also shot a video of the first test but need to upload it to YouTube. Hopefully with a little work here (more testing with different combinations) I will discover a even better way to recycle our old equipment and reduce the expenditures associated with purchasing Live Sonar systems unless that's exactly what you want to use it for. Personally I let the Jig Pole talk to my Fingers, I'm not a visual screen watching angler but I know numerous like that way of fishing and you can't help what turns you on. The problem I am working on is when you arrive at your waypoint with this Sonar System is seeing exactly where the structure is. You can troll around quit a bit before it shows up on the display, this really eats up time. When landing a fish and you drift off location, the boat turns a bit, you either must mark the structure or have a way to scan to see where its at.

So when I posted a distance setting of 15ft earlier, that is the depth setting and you can increase it but I'm not sure how far till degradation of the return for the task at hand. I went out to 25ft with no problems. Usually a GPS will get you within 15ft. Also the 200kz cone is 20 degrees, almost exactly where the Livescope beam is but its a Cone not a Beam. My thoughts are if the cone is 20 degrees and mounting angle of half that or maybe 15 degrees will give a better return for deeper brush piles.

One more thing to add, the display changed as fast as I swung the transducer at the structure then away. Basically it is "No Wait", even being a display of History with the scroll speed turned all the way up the display was changing as fast as I moved the transducer. Very easy to determine almost all the information I was buying a $999 transducer to do.

After the test I decided to fabricate a Pole dedicated to the task. Since the Cone Angle of the Humminbird 2D Dual Beam Transducer is 20 degrees I decided to start out with the first adapter at 15 degrees. I had some 1-1/2in Sch 40 Aluminum pipe and that OD fits right inside the plastic cup of the transducer. I'm thinking I can screw the transducer to the adapter on the install. The plan is to fabricate my normal Livescope Stick but weld a 15 degree adapter on the bottom. The ID of the Humminbird Transducer is a bit over 1-5/8in. The Adapter OD is a very good fit.

Aluminum Handrail Tubing.jpgCoping Adapter to 15 Degrees.jpgRough Cope.jpgRadiused Cope.jpgMade 2 Adapters.jpgHB Dual Beam Trolling Ducer.jpgHB Dual Beam Trolling Ducer 2.jpg

I've built so many T-Tops I automatically pre-cut the Cope Angle into the pipe. Well Coping the opposite end which was still a 90 degree cut turned out to fit the Handrail material better. I use 1-3/8in Aluminum Handrail material for my sticks, the Livescope wire connector fits perfectly inside. When I make these they are intended for Saltwater environments and abuse. So far I have not had a single Livescope Transducer come back. All get the Perspective View Adapters too. Brass grease fittings, Nylon Tenisoning Thumb Screws, and TIG welded pivot retaining rings and Handle Base. The Livescope plug is so big nothing can be protruding within the tube. Now this new 2D Transducer mount can be riveted together, makes it much easier to assemble. I still have to TIG weld the 1in pipe between the Pivot Tube and RAM Ball Mounting Base.

Cutting Wiring Hole.jpgWiring Hole Perfect.jpgAdapter TIG Welded.jpg

I cut the wiring hole smaller so I didn't have a problem TIG welding the Adapter on.

Locating Pivot Height.jpgLower Ring Position Marked.jpgRivet Hole Drilled.jpg

I have to start another post to continue.

[rojoguio]

These first shots are installing the rivet. The fit is so tight only 1 is needed.

Bottoming Rivet.jpgLower Rivet Installed.jpgRivet Protrusion.jpg

So the Pivot and the two wear surfaces get the course saw teeth marks sanded out before assembly. With the grease it never stiffens getting hard to pivot. No problem with the rivet protrusion here.

Pivot Rough Edges.jpgPivot Edges Smooth.jpg

I have a Baileigh Coping Tool, I started out with a Ole Jigger but moving to the Baileigh was the best tool investment for Pipe work I could have made.

Ready to Cope Base Mount.jpg1in Pipe Cope to 1_14in.jpg

When you are coping pipe you cope to the Base material. Here I'm using 1-1/4in Sch 40 Aluminum pipe so I have to cope using a hole saw that matches the OD of that pipe for a perfect fit.

Thumb Screw1.jpgThumb Screw2.jpgThumb Screw3.jpgThumb Screw4.jpgThumb Screw5.jpgThumb Screw6.jpg

I install a Nylon Thumb Tensioning Screw in all the Transducer Poles I fabricate. It works fantastic but they are just a touch short so I grind a flat spot on the Pivot after drilling a 3/8in hole for the Thumb Screw to go thru. TIG welding the nuts are a bit of a pain due to the Mass differences between the 2 pieces. Once the aluminum nut is welded on I pass a Tap thru the threads using Aluminum Tap Magic so the Thumb Screw turns easily.

Motion1.jpgMotion2.jpg

I burned up a couple of these Motion Detectors before figuring out the TIG light was too bright for them. Now I place a ball cap over it while welding. More in a bit.

[rojoguio]

Here I start Fabricating the all necessary Pivot / Mount.

Pivot1.jpgPivot2.jpgTransfer Punch.jpgHole Centers Transferred.jpgWelding MTG Base.jpgBase TIG Welded.jpg

I just use the welding machine ground to hold the Pivot while I weld the Base Stanchion to the Pivot and the Base to the Stanchion. Transfer Punches are the Bomb to perfectly laying out the hole pattern of the RAM Ball Base on the Pivot Mtg Base. I pre-drill everything I can before welding.

Sanding Inside of Pivot.jpgGrease I use on Pivot.jpg

After welding is complete I sand the inside of the Pivot with long straight scratches. The scratches help the Aluminum hold the grease I use. This time I didn't add a grease fitting since I have never needed to grease any of the others once assembled.

Cutting Wiring Exit.jpgTransducer Attached.jpgTransducer Wire Armored.jpgWire Armor Doubled at Exit.jpg

After cutting the Transducer wire exit hole and de-burring it I mounted the Transducer to the adapter, ran the Transducer wire up the pole and out the hole. First I armored just the Transducer Wire with 3/8in Convoluted Tubing then doubled it with 1/2in Convoluted Tubing at the exit hole.

Ready to Water Test.jpg

I hope I explained everything well...............I have the Arch ready to start bending pipe but am distracted this and by my old Cadillac Opera Coupe 1979 (black) as I need to get it running enough so it can move itself around for a big job on the horizon.