Coastworker 180 - anyone got one?

[Cret]

Just about to buy one of these boats and was wondering if anyone has any info about them or owns one themselves?

It's a 1986 built open console 18' boat. Seen one or two around before but don't know a lot about them really. Really like it though and it looks ideal for what I want at the moment (and its cheap!)

Here's a pic:

Comes without an engine. I currently have a 1999 F50 yam to stick on if I want but I was wanting a bit more oomph than that for various reasons, and am planning on a BF-75 Honda that I've seen for sale at a good price.

According to a mag review I bought online it states that 125hp single or twin max hp is the limit for this boat but the transom doesn't seem all that meaty to me that it'd take something of that size. I'm certainly no expert, but was wondering if it'd be sensible to get a stainless plate made up do go over the transom and help spread weight/reinforce. Maybe that's daft since the engine intended is less than recommended limit.

Is there any sort of rule of thumb of thickness for the transom for a given engine size (I realise that's over simplifying things somewhat!)?

I got information from Coastworker themselves which suggested that 90hp was the max, although they didn't have the knowledge of what model year it was at that point, so maybe the mag was right since I think they had got this as a test review boat at the time and must surely have had to state the correct spec.

Either way, I'm hoping a 4 stroke 75 will be fine despite its cumbersome weight of about 175kg compared my F50 at 113kg.
I was wondering though if anyone knows what sort of weight an equivalent 2 stroke motor would weigh?

Don't want to get the engine bought and fitted then find that despite the transom being rated for the power that the weight of a 4 stroke (since they weren't around at the time the boat was brought out) 75 makes the back end site really low in the water or whatever.

Which takes me to the next point. The hull is apparently self draining, and has two drain holes in the transom accordingly.
You can see them here (just under the start of the name, and by the wood bit on the ladder):

These seem to allow water on the deck to drain out through them, and I believe are meant to be above the waterline. The boat has a big area beneath the deck that can't really be accessed except a couple of small hatches and I believe has a load of bouyancy under there. Presumably the hatches ensure that any water that does get into the boat, doesn't end up in the bilge, and just drains out the back.

I think my potential concern here is engine weight related again, ie that these drain holes look very very low already and I can't see how water wouldn't come in even with a small motor fitted, never mind a heavy one where I can't imagine the holes wouldn't end up sitting below the waterline.

Might be being a bit paranoid, but even though I'm looking at an engine well in the spec of the boat, this sort of thing makes me slightly nervous since I've not had anything quite the same on previous boats and don't really know what to expect.

Anyone with a similar self draining sort of boat able to put my mind at ease here?

I know you can get things called scupper valves/flaps, but how well do they work at keeping the water out, and is it worth getting a pair and adding them to help keep the brine at bay?

And worst case, if the new engine does cause these drains to sit below the waterline would I then need to plug them or something? Presume otherwise I would soon have a deck swimming in seawater!!!

Thanks for any info if anyone can help.

 

[gordmac]

Might be worth asking here:
http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/77-Boat-Owning-Equipment-and-Maintenance

 

[AndieMac]

To take any guess work out, just launch it and stand a couple of blokes on the transom to simulate the weight of the engine/s, batteries and fuel.

The freeing ports look very low to the aft chine which is where the waterline usually sits.

Check the transom for rotting structual internal plywood, which is pretty normal in boats of this age.
The usual initial simple test is to use the outboard locked in the raised position as a lever bar, grabbing it by the skeg below the prop, pulling down and seeing how much flex is produced in the transom. So you will need to examine another way, maybe remove any through bolts for a visual inspection.

Also the bouyancy below the cockpit sole needs checking for moisture content, as the age thing again could prove problematic.

Good luck with her.

 

[Spi D]

You may think it other way around:

What speed do you want?

Sum up the weight of boat, engine, batteries, persons, gear, equiment and fuel. Totals to a number of houndred kgs... Then devide by 10 and you'll have a good gestimate of hp that will do 30 knots.

http://www.coastworkerboats.co.uk/data/coastworkerboats.nsf/products/A86B6A26FDF91A7280257633003E7664/$FILE/COASTWORKER1821LEAFLET.pdf

states 625 kgs (dry) and max 140 hp (up to 40 knots.)


A rule of thumb says not to go below 75-80% of max recommended hp, to allow the boat as designed to. So 105 hp should be your minumum (provided that current data is valid for the 1986).

Overpowering may affect insurance coverage and safety.

Note: Make sure your engine has the right leg length (decided by transom height).

 

[Jim@sea]

Get it bought. But I would worry about the weight of the boat plus engine being over 750 kilos on an unbraked trailer. I has a 13ft Bayliner Speed boat with a 25hp Outboard which on a weighbridge was 650 kilos so this boat at 4ft longer with a heavier engine would certainly top the 750 kilo limit.

 

[Cret]

Well, as of this morning she's mine (a bargain at £650 I think!). Can't bring her home yet though as trailer bearings are proper goosed from the feel of them. It's chucking it down so will get down there when I can and strip them to see if they really are ruined, as it sort of feels like the hub nut is just way backed off and they're loose. We'll see. Not sure if the trailer is a rollercoaster - the remains of the stickers make it look that way, but would they likely use a standard size bearing?

In fact, after a quick look online and compare to my pic I'm almost certain the trailer is one of these:
http://www.indespension.co.uk/Trailer-Parts/Roller-Coaster/ROLLER-COASTER-1-UNBRAKED.html
So I could email them about bearings once it's apart I guess.

Interesting idea about launching and sitting people on the back to find out.
I know after a search there is a local coastworker 21 with 2x 60 yam 4 strokes and the combined weight of those must be about 240kg or so!

I've got conflicting info about transom rating currently.
A 1988 magazine review I've bought online (of a test at some boating event) states the boat is 400kg and rated for 125hp total from either single or twin setup. You would expect that Coastworker supplied those details at the time at a proper event and knowing it would be in print where everyone would see it?

But an email to coastworker got this reply (I didn't know the boat year at the time):

I have to presume that this is a glassfibre boat and not one of the early wooden ones. If this is the case, then it should be good for engines up to approx. 90hp. Our current 18 footer is rated to 140hp. It all depends on the state of the transom, if there is any rot in the plywood core then I would say 50hp would be the maximum.

The current boat weighs 625kgs excluding engine, an old one may be partially waterlogged and could weigh anything up to 750kgs. Some of the early glassfibre models weren't particularly thick and could well be lighter in construction.

To the best of my knowledge they were produced from the early eighties until approx 1994 when they ceased. We have been building them for the last two years.

But the "should" and "approx" bits of the transom figures sound slightly arbitrary almost. I might be wrong and just reading it the wrong way. The weight of the newer boat is nearly 50% more as well!

You may think it other way around:

What speed do you want?

Sum up the weight of boat, engine, batteries, persons, gear, equiment and fuel. Totals to a number of houndred kgs... Then devide by 10 and you'll have a good gestimate of hp that will do 30 knots.

http://www.coastworkerboats.co.uk/data/coastworkerboats.nsf/products/A86B6A26FDF91A7280257633003E7664/$FILE/COASTWORKER1821LEAFLET.pdf

states 625 kgs (dry) and max 140 hp (up to 40 knots.)

A rule of thumb says not to go below 75-80% of max recommended hp, to allow the boat as designed to. So 105 hp should be your minumum (provided that current data is valid for the 1986).

Hmmm, not sure I agree with bits of the numbers but when I say that, I'm basing it on these figures that the review stated:

I think for me the figures might be more like:
400kg boat
175kg engine (honda 75)
200kg 2 people (porkers like me anyway)
50kg fuel/battery/fishing rods

Or thereabouts, so 825kg or so. I'd reckon a 75 would be about right if that's the case, although 90 would be nice I guess. I'd be quite happy if that gave me 30 knots anyway.

Either way, for the max hp I've got figures of either 90 or 125 for my age of boat (depending on which figure you believe is correct), and without knowing for certain I wouldn't want to go above the lower figure.

Will this boat have some sort of ID plate on it that will have age/build year/transom rating etc? The registration says 1989 but that's on the Isle of Man and it might have been regd in the UK prior to that I suppose.

Thanks for the replies chaps anyway - appreciate it.

The transom checking info is useful too. How would I go about checking moisture below the deck though, ie aside from just wiping my hand in the bilge and seeing if it feels damp etc?

 

[Jim@sea]

I think for me the figures might be more like:
400kg boat
175kg engine (honda 75)
200kg 2 people (porkers like me anyway)
50kg fuel/battery/fishing rods

Plus 200 Kg for the weight of the trailer.
PS. Boat Bearings. I had an obscure boat trailer which I bought in France. I took the bearings out and went to a Motor Trade Bearing supplier (Swan Bearings) to find that the bearings were the same as fitted to many makes of trailers and were £15 for 2 including an Oil Seal.

 

[Cret]

That would be a bit silly wouldn't it? Since these figures are for working out approximate required outboard power for performance at sea.

I'm not planning on the trailer being suspended beneath the boat when I sail out away from the slip!
Thanks for the bearing tip though.

 

[Cret]

After getting the kids settled down and having some tea last night, I fixed the generator I bought a few years ago and pretty much never used (so I could take a floodlight down to the boat with me), but got down there and found it was really calm so I figured the noise might be intrusive to people living nearby and so worked by torch.

Removed the trailer wheels so I could strip the hubs, measure the bearings in order to order replacement bearings. But I found what I couldn't really have hoped for.
Bearings were like brand new. But the hub nut was loose on each side, even though the split pin was stopping the castellated nut from turning at all. So in a nutshell, the person who put the last set of bearings/hubs on was an imbecile it seems. It took a couple of hours to get the manky oil cleaned out and inspect/clean regrease the bearings and reassemble correctly etc.

All turns nicely and smoothly now with the hub nuts set just right and new marine grade grease. Bit of an uneven patch on the tyres when I spin each wheel from where they've sat but hopefully that's not an issue. Will carry two spares when I move the boat, just in case. Fortunately the wheels are 10" and 4" PCD the same as the ones I recently bought for the Teal trailer. Freed up and lubed the hitch as the sprung lever wasn't coming back to rest by itself.

Removed the battery to see if my optimate can rescue it despite it being down to 6v....

There is water in the bilge, and it seems no way to actually drain it out as such (my previous boats had removable plugs to drain the bilge). I do have a bilge pump so I can wire that up to drain it once it's home but since I don't know how much water it is, I'd rather try to remove it before towing to reduce weight. Have a cordless drill pump I can try, but if not, a syphon should do.

The trailer is an Indespension, which I think is the same as Rollercoaster, and the plate on it states the axle load is 750kg so more than the model I thought it was and more than the weight of the boat and engine would be.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies thus far. It might be ages before I get to test her in the water yet, but I've found out a lot already.

One last thing that bugs me, is the end of the steering cable that's installed.
It looks knackered to me and looks like something has sheared off but I'm uncertain. It's countless years since I actually fitted a new one of these so I can't remember what's on the end of them where they fit through the engine bracket. Here's how it currently is. The steering is a little stiff but turns ok and will free off easily enough from experience having to sort them out in the past.

This bar on the end presumably should have a bigger piece that fits on as it's maybe only 10mm wide on the ally tube you can see, and 7 or 8mm on the bit on the end of the worm drive cable you can see in the pic:

Like I say it looks like something has been removed unceremoniously from here, rather than say a piece being detached that i can easily buy and bolt on ready to use (once it's cleaned up).
I'd be grateful if someone more used to these could confirm if this has been snapped or something or if I just need part x/y/z adding to fit properly through the outboard bracket etc. Sorry if the terminology isn't quite right with this, but I suspect bottom line with this is that I'll have to replace the entire cable perhaps if this end has been butchered.

 

[Cret]

Get it bought. But I would worry about the weight of the boat plus engine being over 750 kilos on an unbraked trailer. I has a 13ft Bayliner Speed boat with a 25hp Outboard which on a weighbridge was 650 kilos so this boat at 4ft longer with a heavier engine would certainly top the 750 kilo limit.

Home safely now - was only a 6 mile drive and after cleaning up and re greasing the bearings it was plain sailing home, well, towing at least.

Re' weight, modern 18 footer is 625kg, but the old ones are stated as 330kg for one version. This is from the manufacturer's specs:

and 400kg for another (from the 1988 review spec I posted further up the topic). Let's assume the heavier weight, then with my F50 it would be 513kg plus fuel and battery and fishing gear say another 50kg at 563kg gives loads of weight to spare safely. Even if I fitted the Honda which is about 175kg, that would come to 625kg all in with fuel etc, so still 125kg of weight left before hitting the trailer limit.

Amazed to hear that a 13ft speedboat with a small engine like that could be so heavy but maybe it was just very very solidly built, or possibly even with sodden wood in it or something? Who knows! That's not intended as "dissing" your Bayliner by the way - just wondering how it could have weighed in so heavy.
Even my 16 foot teal has a spec of something like 440kg from memory.

Home now and sat outside anyway so I can start cleaning up everything slowly. All the little chips and nicks etc, and give it a good jetwash and scrub etc. According to the bumph I've got the colour of the outside hull is off white, and the inside is ivory so I can get colour coded gelcoat repair stuff to smarten it.

Might be some months yet before she can put to sea but I sooo can't wait to see how she goes and handles whether that's with my F50 or the Honda BF-75.