Super Rapier.

As a matter of interest, a friend of mine on another model boat forum described my Super Rapier design update as a "floating gin palace" - so presumably he thought it looked a bit "swanky".

My aim was to try to update the superstructure to look a little better "suited" to the excellent hull shape that works so well as this "pointed hull" design is now quite a current shape on many of the upmarket power boats

Bob.

Super Rapier?

Some years ago, I did design a "Super Rapier", a more up to date "racy" design that I thought would look good on the magnificent Javelin/Rapier hull.

I did this originally because the Rapier was such an ugly looking boat, but I have got used to it now and with the large strakes fitted and the wrap around wheelhouse screen I really like it and have no plans to cut the cabin off to replace it.

Rapiers are also quite rare and hard to find, but the Javelin sold much better and so there are a LOT of them around and they can be bought for very little money.

With this in mind, a nice used Javelin would make a good "donor" hull to use as a base for a Super Rapier.

I did cut a pair of cabin sides out from 4mm plywood when I first drew-up this design, so I am looking again at this possibility to see if I like the idea as much as I did back when I first thought about it?

The original full size drawing can be seen lurking behind a pair of 4mm cabin sides that were cut from it.....and alongside the new un-started Rapier kit that I was originally tempted to use for it!

Bob.

OK Will,

Let's go for it!

The target could be for us both to get a Javelin on the water this summer and meet-up to run them together.

I don't know what condition your two Javelins are in, but if you picture them here and let me know if you need a hand with anything, we can use this build log to show our progress and help each other get at least one (each !) running later this year.

Bob.

To be fair Bob, it would be good to see me get any of my boats on the water 🙄
But yes, getting one of my Javelins on the water, and have a meet to run the two together would be good.
Running alongside your Rapier would also be good for comparison too.

Will

Hi Will,

It would be good to see you with one of your two Javelins on the water one day.

Maybe when you do get one of them finished we could get together and have a "Javelin Meet" and run them together somewhere?

I would also like to bring my Rapier along to see how the Javelins perform alongside their ugly sibling 😎

Bob.

Fair play Bob, you're making great progress with the Javelin already.
Those are some pretty hefty plates, I'm not surprised it was so heavy.
Without those, the ic motor, and fuel tank etc, the conversion to brushless should make it a good bit lighter, even with the weight of a lipo battery.

The inside of the hull looks much better already, and a good bit cleaner, good progress in a short period.

I'll have to look at my Javelin, and Arrow, and see what the spray rails are like at the bow ends on those.

Will

Zooma,
That was some great eBay hunting...you really scored with her.
I check my eBay listings several times a day hoping to catch a good deal like yours.

Nevertheless, you definitely have your hands full restoring your newly acquired LesRo Javelin.
I’d honestly be afraid to take on a project like that myself, so credit where credit is due.
I sincerely admire the dedication and skill it takes to tackle a restoration of that caliber.
😎

Javelin 2. Engine mount removed from hull.

The (removed) heavy wooden engine mounting plate was pictured just before being consigned to the bin to show how little of the woven glass fibre tape had been 'wetted" to make a good secure bond to the hull.

Not having such a good bond between the motor mount and the hull was a bonus for myself as it made getting it out much easier than it could be been.

The application of the epoxy however, was much more "successful" than the glass fibre had been, as a lot of epoxy resin was smeared over all the retaining nuts and the screw and bolt heads - and this did bond very well and is taking a lot longer to remove.

I have not yet been able to remove all the epoxy that is still covering the slotted screw heads and screw threads that I will need to do before I can remove the Merco 61 safely from the heavy metal plate that it is fixed onto.

Looking at the installation of the motor, I am wondering just how much this engine could have been run as it would not have been very secure and it was not aligned very well with the prop shaft.

The driving ball on the end of the prop shaft and its mating socket attached to the engine flywheel shows no sign of wear - the black finish is still unmarked on both.

The heavy duty M5 prop shaft does not show any signs of "play" in the bearings either, and I would have expected to find badly worn bearings if a 10cc engine had been running with this set-up.

The Merco 61 is badly corroded, and just about anything else that is metal in the boat has corroded too, so maybe this Javelin was abandoned quite some time ago without actually ever being run after the Merco engine was fitted?

When I finally get the engine removed from is mounting plate, I will de-gunk it and melt the solidified castor out and the strip it and oil it to see what condition it is like inside.

I have a feeling that whoever built the boat was not the same person who "installed" the motor - possibly a new owner at a later date? The boat itself does seem to be quite solid and well made.

PICTURES.

Note the angle of the engine mounting on the heavy duty metal plate - the rear of the engine mounting lugs are not touching the surface of the steel mounting plate, but the front of the lugs are. This has the affect of "ramping-up" the mounting angle of the motor - but it does not support it very well and puts a lot of extra strain on the unsupported cast motor lugs.

The motor is not mounted centrally in the heavy duty mounting plate. Note the level of corrosion on the flywheel.

The wooden frame also had the metal mounting plate angled upwards at the rear (!) giving a second ramping-up of the wooden base plate suggesting that it was mounted at entirely the wrong angle - far too flat !

Bob.

Thanks for your tip about using Amyl Acetate to soften any glass fibre Boatshed.

I was not aware of that technique so that is something that I could try in the future.

When I restored my HP40 (that was also seized solid), I did it with heat (immersed in boiling water) to melt the dried solid castor and that worked well to free it too.

I have managed to release the steel engine mounting plate from the heavy wooden mount that it was bolted and epoxied onto.

Fortunately the surfaces that were covered in the glass fibre cloth were not prepared very well (if at all) and so the resin never really adhered to the surfaces as well as it should have done.

When I next have some spare time, I need to find a way to release the Merco 61 from the heavy steel mounting plate that it has been bolted and epoxied onto.

I was able to release the five 6mm bolts that held the steel plate onto the heavy wooden base by chipping away at the epoxy that covered the bolt heads until it flaked away enough to get a spanner on them. They were still really hard to turn, but with some extra leverage on the spanner they were all removed.

Unfortunately the slot-headed 4mm screws that are holding the engine mounting lugs will not be so easy as the 6mm hex headed bolts were to get a good grip of, but I am chopping away the epoxy coating and restoring the screw slots with a knife edge file as a starting point.

Bob.

Reading about your blog on your Lesro Javelin Merco 61 Engine.
You say that it is mounted on epoxy and you are not sure how to release it.
if it is actually fibreglass resin epoxy, then Amly Acetate would eat that away if you was
to brush some on to it over a course of a few days.
That eats fibreglass away so it should eat that way slowly.
if youndon't have any youl should be ble toget it off of of Ebay.
It's a shame, the Merco doesn't look like it was looked after.
It doesn't look like they cleaned itn after useing it here and there.

Youa lso say that the engine is seized.
If you remove the glow plug and drop some Amyl Acetate down there and leave it and also remove the exhaust and drop some in there after a while gently try turning the flywheel back and forth it should release the whole engine.
That eats through the old fuel.
I done this with one that I bought of of a boot fair and got it running.