Made a small stainless anchor for my R.I.B

Ed.

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I spent several hours today on the water in a 2.3mt R.I.B breaking in the new 5hp Tohatsu outboard, man that dingy is small, by the time you put all the safety gear in, fuel tank etc, there is barely enough room for one person let alone 2. Should have gone for the bigger one, ... bugger!

Anyway I had to make myself a little anchor for it out of stainless, I actually went into a store here in Oz first to buy one as they are only about $16 there and at that price it wasn't going to be worth making one, or so I thought but I was wrong!! When I saw it, I could not bring myself to waste my money on that crap piece of metal they call an anchor, it just went against the grain. So it cost me about $20 in stainless steel and about 5 hours to make it, still worth it though, at least it should do the job. The quality of this particualar retail store group was never high and seems to be getting worse to the point of... how does all the metal stick together? I was hoping to find some flat bar for the shank but didn't have any, so made the shank out of 19mm round, the top bar out of 16mm and the flutes out of 4mm plate. It weighs 4Kg and is pretty small, then again the 2.3mt inflatable wont strain it at all and should grab better than the crap one I was going to buy. My TIG work is not the greatest, (neatness wise) as I do very little of it and only started TIG'ing about 18mths ago, as I am mainly a MIG person, but it will hold without problem. The main shaft is welded to a bush I machined on the lathe.

Anyway I spent the first 2 hours just trolling at half throttle but called it quits after that, as my legs and bum were going numb, have to do another hour at that speed before I can go to 3/4 throttle for 2 more hours and then it's good to go full bore after that. Used about 2-3 lt's of fuel for over 2 hours of motoring, so after the motor is run in I shouldn't need the external fuel tank and can just use the internal tank. At half revs it is almost at the point of planing so it should move along nicely on full throttle.

Cheers

Ed.

Small boat anchor 2 IMG_1044.jpg small boat anchor 1 IMG_1045.jpg
 
Just don't poke a hole in that infatable boat with those sharp points on the anchor! And pictures of the boat would be enjoyable as well!!
 
Forgot to take a pic of the inflatable in the water with the motor on it in the water but here is one of it on its own, the reason I picked such a small one is that it will be a tender to my 8mt boat and I wanted one that I could manouver over the transom and into the back of the boat when going from one Island to another without deflating it, (I am taking the missus for a 6 week trip up to North Queensland to vist a lot of the islands there and also the Great Barrier Reef for our 25th Annerversary in Sept.) however I think I should have got the 2.8mt one though as this one is really a bit too small, carying capactiy isn't a problem and will easilly support two people, that is if you can find the room to put the second person in it, might have to sell it and upgrade to the bigger version. I have a small esky with out a lid which I used to hold the anchor with the chain and the rope because I made those flute points sharp to help dig into the sand and mud, so I just have to be carefull pulling it onboard if I ever use it. The dark sections on the bottom are an extra layer of PVC the manufacturer has added protection against punturing when draging it over gravel and coral and such, it is the only brand that seems to have it over here that I have seen, and was the deciding factor for me to buy it. The 8mt boat is in another thread here http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/4248-Boat-is-now-on-the-new-trailer and I took it for a test run about 4 weeks ago, found some issues which need to be rectified before I am happy with it. I haven't made an updated thread for that boat for a while so should do so tonight or soon.


Surfsea 2.3 side 2.jpgSurfsea 2.3 bottom.jpg


Cheers

Ed.

Surfsea 2.3 side 2.jpg Surfsea 2.3 bottom.jpg
 
Ed,
Ever tried DC arc welding with stainless rod? A good option to save shield gas for some projects.
 
But where's the pictures with the boat all rigged out??? Is the seat made out of aluminum or plastic/fiberglass or???
 
Ed,
Ever tried DC arc welding with stainless rod? A good option to save shield gas for some projects.

Hi, The TIG gas bottle I have is purely to finish off the bigger boat refit, I still have about half a bottle to go and probably won't empty it when I return it, with most of the TIG welding done already so it isn't an issue for me.
I do have amost 3/4 bottle of MIG gas in case I forget something and I can borrow a bottle from my neighbour who does TIG for a living.

Cheers

Ed.
 
But where's the pictures with the boat all rigged out??? Is the seat made out of aluminum or plastic/fiberglass or???

Took the camera with me but forgot to take the pics. The seat is made out of painted wood and believe me when I say, that my butt knows that too, foam padding could be on the cards!!

Cheers

Ed.
 
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