older contender question

[Gringo]

Well, yeah, that was what I was wondering, if anyone else out there had bolted a stainless ladder to an aluminum bracket, and whether they used isolation and it prevented issues, or whether they just drilled and bolted and had no issues, etc.

I figured that somewhere, somehow, someplace, there is somebody with an early Contender who also dives from it and mounted a ladder to that bracket.

I guess wherever that person or persons is or are, they don't read this thread on this forum, ha ha.

I also thought of a couple thin spacers of starboard, or whatever that hard ass white plastic is that so much console trim is made from.

[offshore]

Gringo,
A friend of mine had a ladder on an aluminum bracket for years. When he installed it he used 5200 and glued on either Nylon or Teflon "T" Bushings on the holes then through bolted the ladder in place. Seemed to work will without any problems...Mark

[Sensei]

How is the motor bracket mounted to the fiberglass and the aluminum moter mounted ? Most likley stainless bolts, do not mount salt treated wood to aluminum, whatever thay do do the wood corrodes aluminum. Galvinized or zink bolts do the same.We see the saltwater / aluminum battle every day in the weld shop. stainless 18-8 grade bolts will rust slightly but are stronger than stainless 316 grade bolts but if you have enough mounting bolt locations 316 is the best corrosion resistance. Also if you use blue thread retaining locktight on the threads thay will disassemble years down the road. Quit worring and go diving!

[Gringo]

aluminum stainless to fiberglass, no problem. Fiberglass is inert.

Aluminum stainless aluminum, no problem. One hunk of the aluminum has sacrificial zinc anodes on it.

Potential problem is two different grades of steel sandwiching aluminum.




but you're right. We are probably not going to keep the boat that many years, anyway. Anyone want to buy a Contender?

[LuckyLady]

Galazio, we had an Armstrong on the Andros for a year and a half. The bracket is still on it, in fact. The ladder went where a lot of Hurricane Hannah's results went. A mystery.

BUT as far as I know, the Armstrong mounts all are designed to be mounted to a vertical surface, like the transom. I am looking at mounting to a horizontal surface, the motor platform.

Also, the armstrongs swing basically 180 degrees, give or take. From pointing up to pointing down.

I need something that swings through 270 degrees, from face down horizontal on the platform, to swinging all the way over to hang straight down over the lip of the platform.

I can't see an Armstrong in that location, unless they have some kind of horizontal setup I haven't yet seen.

(Edited ten minutes later)

yep, I found it. They DO make a platform mount for that ladder. In fact, they even make the same kind of bracket that is on the Contender.

BUT we have already bought the three step ladder, and I am thinking I want to use it instead of an Armstrong. Which would cost us $ 500 down here, anyhow.

I did like the Armstrong, but it was a pain to store on the little panga. Lots more storage on the Contender, of course, but still, if this folding one will do the job it's good enough.

We always take our fins off in the water, anyhow. Never climb aboard with them.

I am not really sure what the right answer is here totally. My assumption is the telescoping ladder will be mounted on the top of the armstrong platform and the metel will only be in the water when in use. I dont recall if the water comes over the platform in general. With that said, I do not thing the disimilar metals will come in to effect totally with the ladder not be totally submerged at all times.

Another suggestions is maybe make some rubber spacers or something like to act as a buffer as precautionary.

Just becareful when putting holes in that bracket and be sure to seal them up real good so water dont get in to that bracket. That would be my concern.

Maybe call armstrong and see what they recommend on the bracket. I am sure they have the proper answer for this situation as it can't be the 1st time it has came up

As for the Armstong dive ladder, and storage there is little black mounting clips that you can use for storage. I am pretty sure they are offered by armstrong. We typically use those clips and mount the ladder to the underside of the fwd biggest box for easy storage. Or even under the gunnel.

Hope this helps

[Gringo]

Thanks for the input. We tried an armstrong ladder. We didn't like it. We found it to be unstable in the water, knocking itself loose if we tried to keep it in the up position and on the mount, and a pain to deal with if we took it off the mount and tried to store it, and put it back on each time. The advantage of being able to climb it with flippers on just never came into play. We take our faceplates and flippers off while still in the water, and climb up barefooted. We know they are quality products, and that's why I specified one when I spec'd out that boat with Andros.

We are going to try this telescoping thing this time around.

Lucky Lady, I had forgotten you are a Contender expert. I had another question...

Our HPDI is mounted as low on that bracket as it can go. The cowling joint, where the top hat meets the engine, on the Yamaha is actually at water level or even slightly submerged at slow speeds. The outflow hole for the cooling water is a couple inches underwater when we are not on plane, but above idle. Enough to lift the bow. I am thinking I should raise it a hole or two. Do you have any thoughts on that?

[LuckyLady]

Thanks for the input. We tried an armstrong ladder. We didn't like it. We found it to be unstable in the water, knocking itself loose if we tried to keep it in the up position and on the mount, and a pain to deal with if we took it off the mount and tried to store it, and put it back on each time. The advantage of being able to climb it with flippers on just never came into play. We take our faceplates and flippers off while still in the water, and climb up barefooted. We know they are quality products, and that's why I specified one when I spec'd out that boat with Andros.

We are going to try this telescoping thing this time around.

Lucky Lady, I had forgotten you are a Contender expert. I had another question...

Our HPDI is mounted as low on that bracket as it can go. The cowling joint, where the top hat meets the engine, on the Yamaha is actually at water level or even slightly submerged at slow speeds. The outflow hole for the cooling water is a couple inches underwater when we are not on plane, but above idle. Enough to lift the bow. I am thinking I should raise it a hole or two. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Might be a good idea to raise it and I almost recommend it. I am not sure what it will do to the performance, I almost think it will improve it but not totally sure

The HPDI is obviously a repower as I believe your boat is in the 1995 range having a bracket on it and all.

I would have to bet whoever hung it, just put it back in the same holes as the old motor, not thinking about the issues you see today. Regardless it needs and should come up a notch.

Those cowlings and lower splash pans are not water tight and we all know what salt water does to things.

If you are not already, be sure to pop that cowling off regularly and spray that motor down with corrosion inhibitors before you start to have electrical nightmares.

I would raise it one hole at a time run it and see what it does. If ones doesn't appear to be enough to get that telltail/pisser out of the water, take it to 2.

You may have to fiddle with the prop a tad once you do this. When you do this if you are lagging performance or burn let me know what the existing prop size is and what hole you got it in and I will see what the factory recommends to do

[Gringo]

Brand new set of plugs, and they are fouling already. Less than ten hours on them. I am starting to wonder if somethign is shorting out the ignition to the bottom plugs. Those are the ones that get wet. The exposed part of them was rusty when I replaced them. IF the ignition wires there were getting shorted by seawater splashing on them, it would make the plugs misfire, and that would lead to fouling, I think. ??

Even when it is running smooth, WOT is 4600 RPM and top speed is around 30 kts. I checked that today.

I mean, 30 kts. is good enough, that's about as fast as we ever do anyhow due to chop, but I thought a Contender with 300 HP would be faster.

Oh, on the holes, the top holes on the HPDI are bolted to the top holes in the bracket. Still, the pee hole and lower cowling are underwater when I first give it the gas and the nose rises.

Can this motor even be raised? Don't the top two holes in the motor itself need to be bolted to something?

[jawz12]

let me give you some advice...first...the stainless steel ladder...dumb question,boat bottom painted with an antifouling paint??? bracket painted with the same paint ??? if the paint is a copper based paint,you've allready got enough galvanic action taking place,adding more stainless is gonna add to it...do not mount the ladder in that fashion-i know i would never reccomend it...also,you run the risk of having water enter that bracket,causing an even bigger problem,water is pretty heavy,i believe 8lbs per gallon,yes ??? think about what this will do to the scupper height,allowing water to enter,not exit...
engine height...one of the big pitfalls is the height of an outboard on a bracket,it's a tough life out there for an engine,being submerged at time i hate to say this,is normal...here's how to check the height of the engine...run the boat on plane,look at the engine,do you see the cavitation plates?? if the water is above them,the engine is too low,raise it till the water level is about even with the cavitation plates,now your engine height is correct...
you will seean increase is speed and efficiency if the engine is mounted too low,and you correct it...4,600 rpm is way low...
the 300hpdi yam's,these had a million and one updates...be sure all the updates have been performed...a dealer can run the serial number of the engine and confirm that...

powerhead corrosion control,best product,as far as i'm concerned,is "corrosion block spray",made by lear research,best stuff on the market,second best is plain old CRC,wd40 is useless,kinda like peeing on a forest fire...

[Gringo]

Thanks for the advice. I have already mounted the ladder. I will be keeping an eye on it, until the local boat store...the ONLY boat store, gets some starboard in. Then I plan to cut a couple isolation pieces so the bracket doesn't touch the aluminum. I can isolate the bolts as well. No biggie.

No chance of it leaking water there. It's a single thickness of aluminum. No air chamber.

Updates on the motor probably not possible. Yamaha would have to send me the parts and instructions. I don't think they are going to do that.

When it dies, it dies. I will replace it with probably a pair of Suzukis or similar.

Oh by the way I found a great product for the powerhed corrosion. Actually, the people at Brownies Third Lung include a little can with their hookah support kit.

It's called Corrosion X, made in the US. Fantastic stuff. Living here in this climate I have been through WD-40, CRC, Marvel Mystery Oil, Slick 50 aerosol, SailKote, 3-in-1 oil, and anything else on the shelves that looked like it had a chance of working.

I could take steel wool, or 220 grit paper, and take the rust off my drill press table and upright. It is inside a garage on a work bench. I could spray that newly sanded and polished metal with any of those compounds, and within three weeks, it would have layer of light rust on it. Even untouched. Planes, chisels, pliers..everything here is in a constant battle with rust. Aluminum is fighting the oxidation too. Forget WD-40. They sell it here by the gallon, and it's next to useless. It's a solvent, not a lubricant. I am not even sure WHAT it is good for, here. There are better solvents. I think I went through two or three cans the first year I was here, til I wised up. I think the last can I bought is something like two years old, now, and still almost full. Oh, I do use silicon spray for some stuff, but not for rust.

Try Corrosion X. There is some stuff made in the UK that works basically the same way, and that's called ACF 50.
They are not oils. Totally different. If you google up either product, there are explanations on how they work, wicking and replacing moisture, etc.

Try either one of those next time you have a rust or corrosion issue. I have not seen anything else that works. An expat here who runs a paint store was nice enough to order me some. I am using it all over the place now. It has probably saved the latches on the sliding glass doors...