Cougar H225 inboard diesel conversion

[PerformanceDodge]

Originally Posted by Jon Holmes

I think the horn looks good.

I like the horn too and its bloody loud, good for fog if I ever get court out.

Not only do I have a horn but I have a back up ACME one which you blow with your mouth, which they used to use for trains if a train broke down. I keep it in a dry grab bag with drinking water, flairs, hand held backup radio, GPS, and when I can afford one a EPIRB. I was advised by RNLI if you abandon ship have a grab bag.

The boat was designed by Cougar to be lifted by the cleats in the deck, below the cleats there is a half inch stainless bar that fixes to the transom at the back and front winch U bolt.

I have found the fault with the engine in that there is no electrical drive to injector no. 6. I have traced and checked the wiring back to the injector driver box but at the moment that is as far as I can go. I am just relived it is not a mechanical fault i.e inlet valve, head gasket etc.

Considering I got 42 Knots (49 mph) on a sick engine I cant wait to see what its like running on all six.

[Marinautic]

http://shop.acconmarine.com/category...-hardware.aspx

[PerformanceDodge]

Originally Posted by Marinautic

http://shop.acconmarine.com/category...-hardware.aspx

That be exactly the ones

[serious3]

congrats on getting it done and on the water, i'd have run out of patience a looong time ago, sucks to get a dud first run but thats what shakedowns are for! looking forward to more updates and pics!

[PerformanceDodge]

Located the fault, in the trigger wire from the ECU. The female pin was oversize and not touching the pin out from the ECU out, just crimped it very slightly tighter and No.6 injector fired into life. Runs really smooth now.

So just checking everything with engine running and it appears that the Bravo one drive is stuck in reverse. It seamed fine when I pulled it out of the water last week. The cable feels OK and the lever seems to operate as it should but stuck in reverse. It has always been very stiff selecting gears. Any one got any ideas?

Never rains but it pores

[glen76]

I like the horn too, but wonder if it will slow you down

[PerformanceDodge]

Originally Posted by freddy21

So just checking everything with engine running and it appears that the Bravo one drive is stuck in reverse. It seamed fine when I pulled it out of the water last week. The cable feels OK and the lever seems to operate as it should but stuck in reverse. It has always been very stiff selecting gears. Any one got any ideas?

Never rains but it pores

Stripped the top of the drive today and found the problem and not what I expected. I was almost convinced it was going to a cable / claw issue, however when I removed the rear cover the problem became immediately apparent. The Shift cam cap screw that locates the cam to the shaft was had fallen out and worse still was missing.

So removed the top cover, then the impute shaft assembly and there it was just sitting there. Must be my lucky day as although rounded and graunched somehow had not gone through the gears, suspect if it had would be the end of the drive. Will be using plenty of locktite as the manual states for the selector cap screws.

Other than that drive, gears and bearings all seem to be in good shape. Will check the clutches tomorrow whilst its apart and flush it through before reassembly, and new oil.

[PerformanceDodge]

Checked the clutches all seems fine so reassembled it. Adjusted the cable so when the cable is in neutral the cam is centralised.

When it came to the back cover I realised that when I striped it, the cam detemp canister was up side down and had been inserted canister small end first, then the springs and then ball bearing last. So assembled it correctly springs, ball bearing then canister over the top small end last. Gear changes are really smooth now.

Hopefully testing again in the next few days.

[PerformanceDodge]

The Cougar had its second outing on the 24th August. This time it ran as smooth as whistle on all six cylinders, gear selection is also really smooth now.

It cruises quite happily at 2500rpm around 35 knots GPS, full throttle in the chop of the Solent 50knots (58mph)3500rpm. At the moment its running a 25in pitch prop, so probably slightly over propped, I also suspect it will run faster with a cleaver being a stepped hull.

We ran from Drivers Wharf to Cows, up the River Medina and had lunch at the Folly In. Returned to Southampton water, chased the Cat ferry back to Cows and returned to drivers. I started with a full tank and when topped up again had used 19 Liter's of diesel. This was really the plan behind the project, affordable boating, in my old 26ft sharp with 200hp outboard would have used £150 in fuel.

Seems to cut through the chop well and looking forward to playing in the ruff, had a bit of a play and seems really stable in tight turns may be due to the lower C of G.

Have also fitted the cabin port lights since the last outing and sleped on it, really cozy and quiet spacious for a small boat, after all it is supposed to be a weekender.


Had a few further teething issues
The new Rule bilge pump packed up, is supposed to have an auto mode and has never worked properly from new, so scrapping that idea and going down a completely different route.

Trim sensor died, spoke to a few people about them and apparently been told they are crap and only way forward is mechanical.

When I returned the cabin as really hot, the fuel tank was at around 60 deg C. This is caused by the fuel flowing trough the engine then returning to the fuel tank. So going to add a fuel cooler on the return pipe.

Seat springs are to hard so going to replace springs with lower poundage.

Apart from that really pleased overall and thank you too Gareth and all at Drivers

[PerformanceDodge]

Made a fuel cooler today after the heat build up in the fuel tank on the last outing. Sleeved the the raw water feed feed pipe and welded two barbed tubes to form a heat exchanger.

Also fitted a water hookup on the transom with a male Hoselock fitting, and a non return valve direct into the raw water strainer. The garden hose now plugs straight in, this makes it easier for flushing the raw water system after outings and for running on dry land.

Ran the engine up to temperature and there seems to be quite a difference in temperature between the input and output of fuel heat exchanger.

[aero28]

It´s looks real god, the blue one in Sweden has ITS and runs near 90mph. This is from hes first race with that boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMM90qC0D-Y

[PerformanceDodge]

Many thanks for sharing that.

Wow, the V8 Cougar looks and sounds amazing.

I still think it's a shame that it was never developed further.

[PerformanceDodge]

When I built the boat I installed a new bilge pump. It was a 1100gph automatic Rule pump bought new for £80. It never really worked very well in automatic mode from day one. It didn't come on when it was supposed to and eventually when it did come on wouldn't go off, also seemed prone to airlocks and would sit there spinning put not pumping. On the second outing last year the new bilge pump died and now would not come on at all, to add to this it is in a really difficult location deep down behind the flywheel so not very impressed.

Last thing I want is and unreliable bilge pump when I take a wave or spring a hose leak off shore, so decided on a completely different approach. Firstly I wanted a pump that is self priming so it can be mounted up high to be easily accessible for service or repair. This ruled out most off the shelf bilge pumps as the are designed to be placed at the bottom of the bilge. Eventually settled on a Jabsco commercial duty water puppy. Self priming 1.6 meters and 10 gallons per minute flow rate.

Next I wanted it to have a automatic mode with manual override. After a bit more research I came across a device called a Capacitive Proximity Sensor switch. Powered by 12 volts these sense when water comes close and sends a low current signal. New from ebay £7, plus at that price bought a spare to go in my spares kit.

Next thing I needed was a power relay as the proximity sensor output is only 300ma and the water puppy draws 12amps. With a bit more research came across solid state relays (SSR's) again a sealed component with no moving parts, instead of having moving contacts it has large power transitors. Decided on a unit rated at 25 amps which would give me twice the pumps rated 12 amps capacity as a safety margin, eBay £4 and again bought a spare.

To finish the system off I fabricated a stainless pickup tube with a strainer, proximity sensor mounting bracket and non return valve. Tested it all in a bucket of water and seems to work fine so will install and test it in the boat tomorrow. Have also bought a manual hand operated bilge pump as a secondary backup system in case of power failure.

[cossie69]

well done on the boat its amazing, the boat shifter tank thing is brilliant, if you ever want to sell it pm me god i need that thing bad, look forward to some action vids

[Den Dowd Marine]

Originally Posted by cossie69

well done on the boat its amazing, the boat shifter tank thing is brilliant, if you ever want to sell it pm me god i need that thing bad, look forward to some action vids

Met the guy when i bought his canopy off him,the attention to detail and meticulous planning of how and where all the mostly home fabricated components where going to work was absolutely second to none,some lovely stainless fabrication under there..........if he was to charge you £10 an hour for the work hes put in you would be bringing a cheque down for at least 50k.....boat is stunning.

[PerformanceDodge]

Installed the new bilge pump today mounted up high so easily accessible for maintenance. Automatic with manual override, chuck a couple of liters or water in it switches on and pumps it straight back out and switches off when finished. Chuffed to bits.

As a backup l so bought a new flush mount hand bilge pump with removable handle from the Chancellery barge on the Hamble, £30 even came with handle storage clips. I mounted it up high so its is easily accessible, again works really well.

[PerformanceDodge]

New turbocharger blanket (heat shield) arrived today, again eBay £22 new from a UK seller. Was quite surprised it's nearly 10mm thick and very good quality, although it look white it is actually silver.

To the right is the original pressed steal genuine Mercedes item that the new blanket was replacing. Look far neater with the new one.

[glen76]

I wonder how this boat is running now? Just read it all again. Eat work

[Puppington]

I was thinking the same just the other day! Would be great to know.