Small refit Merry Fisher 805

If anyone wants the original Doga wipers for an 805 I have a set for sale…



Seems I had an audience watching me fix gelcoat


Got distracted watching this big ass crane


I read on Facebook that it’s not possible to feed a pipe from this top section down to the lazarette. But that’s nonsense.

The drain pipe from the fly deck used to just flap around but I’m going to route it down through the moulding and out a through hull.


The lazarette is accessible directly below this point with all the other through hulls.



Not sure if it’s a good idea to put a 90 on here. Think I will increase the size of the pipe to reduce the chance of it blocking.



Removed this awful stuff



Dremelled out a million little bits of gelcoat damage


So many dings





Black gunk removed


Started taping up ready for gelcoat repairs


Gel coat ready for sanding


Tomorrow I should finish the majority of the gelcoat repairs, almost back to pristine. Then needs a damn good polish.

Also mounted more cable tie bases ready for hot and cold water plumbing and the diesel suction pump to fill the tank from cans with a wand.

And then looked at the wiring a bit
 
Uhh sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward and 3 steps backwards with boats.

At some point this boat was looked after by an absolutely clueless nautical butcher 🧐 even the most simple repairs were done so badly.

There was always a pretty awful repair on the cabin roof. The gel coat was bright white and the fairing under neath the repair was awful. I suspected the boat had had an accident at some point.

Before I realised what the previous monster had done I just sanded it back a bit and stuck some epoxy filler on it. I thought I would leave the sleeping dogs to lie and just fair it out.

When I then went to re gel coat it disaster happened. The warning sign should have been that when I acetone wiped it the previous owners “gelcoat” softened up for some reason.

Anyway after I had gel coated it, about 15 minutes later the whole lot had slid off the boat and was lying on the deck 😳😳😳 wtf. Queue frantic cleaning.

Upon further inspection it turned out the gel coat had reactivated whatever the previous owner had covered his repair in and the whole thing just slid right off.

The good news was the repair was not about 75% smaller 😂 so I started sanding the epoxy filler that I had used to fair it (which didn’t react).



It got smaller and smaller



You can see the poly filler shite underneath the epoxy filler


The repair got smaller and smaller..


And smaller


Until it looked like this. Someone had put a poly filler / Dulux patch the size of an A3 piece of paper over 3 tiny holes 🤯





Anyway filled them with some epoxy then gelcoat and they all but disappeared 🙄

The same technique had been used in some other areas but I just soaked those with acetone and wiped them off.

Hopefully tomorrow all the gel coat repairs will be finished and it will just needs a polish. I reckon I must have filled over 200 holes / nicks / dents as well as completely refinishing the transom gunwhale which was wrecked with rod holder holes and damage.
 
jakew009 said:
Yes 😂 it’s fair to say I am not good at estimating how long something will take me, but the end result will hopefully be worth it.

it’s a nice distraction from day job at least
Click to expand...
Yes, because it’s been a long time and I have forgotten....have you rebuilt the engine yet ?
 
Making fast progress now, the end is in sight.

In an 805 there is this silly heat exchanger thing that is meant to demist the windows from the engine heat. But it seemed crap and it was in an impossible to access location.

I decided to rip it out and plumb the demisters into the Eberspacher circuit. I’m glad I pulled it out because as soon as we touched it it basically fell apart. Glad that didn’t happen at sea as it would have dumped all the engine coolant in the bilge.





Also pulled out the old Quick charger as that won’t be required with the new Victron Multiplus.


Then started on plumbing. I decided on the John Guest 12mm. It’s much more expensive than 15mm plumbing but I decided the extra flexibility, smaller size and minimising the amount of hot water that would sit in the pipes was worth it.


Fitted everything with the little support plugs and the lock rings.


Plumbed up the calorifier. The old cushions have come in useful as things to rest on when contorting yourself into ungodly positions.

The calorifier has 15mm spigots so had to run to screwfix for some 15mm elbows.


Thought I was done, the second blue pipe is the vent that will go to a through hull.


Then realised I had forgotten the expansion tank. It has two of these tanks, one on the cold side to take the pump pressure and one on the hot side to take the hot water expansion.

I actually forgot to order two thinking just one on the cold side would be ok, but then realised there is a non return valve in the mixer valve assembly.

The jubilee clip that came with the tank bracket was far too big, need to order one of them.


Not the neatest but it’s better than what was there before.


Then started on the water pump zone.


Gave the floor a clean and started redoing the pump filters. I’ve replaced all the fresh water piping other then the feed from the bottom of the tank because there was no way I was pulling the tank out.

But now I think about it maybe the tank outlet is under the helm so I will check that tomorrow.


Working in here requires pretty ridiculous gymnastics


Mostly done, just need some more fitting to connect the pump.


Got hot water in the bathroom, under the sink and for the transom shower. And a hospipe cold outlet in the old gas locker where I will keep a hosepipe for rinsing off.


Ready to put the kitchen back together. Need to paint inside the cupboards first.


Through this piece of junk away, it doesn’t have a diaphragm and instead seems to rely on a bubble of air. But the bubble seems to dissolve into the water.


Previous owners plumbing


Ripped this stuff out as well, replacing it with a proper consumer unit.


Sure it was good in it’s day.


Ripped all this out as well


Next is finish the plumbing then onto the electrics
 
Last edited:
Bouba said:
Yes, because it’s been a long time and I have forgotten....have you rebuilt the engine yet ?
Click to expand...

Going to pull the heat exchanger, flush the rest of the engine and pull exhaust elbow as that needs repainting and then we can check the turbo. Then just tappets and a service.

The engines in pretty good order. Would like to sort the engine mounts but that’s a next year problem.
 
jakew009 said:
Bit behind with posting updates

I wanted to replace the wipers with pantograph wipers. The original wipers were dreadful things and given what a wet boat the 805 is I wanted something better.

The original wipers are Doga. Apart from being cheap nasty noisy agricultural things they are also almost impossible to source.

The originals looked like they could have been fitted with pantograph arms as there was a second stub but I had no luck trying to find anything suitable and they were still noisy.

The originals and their pathetic wipe pattern and awful park position (and parking wasn’t automatic - but that turned out to be because Jenneau didn't bother to wire it up properly).


When driving you had to look right at them (taken on original sea trial):



Hole for wiper is in front cabin and it’s right. The old wipers were basically held in with silicon which is why they were so noisy as they knocked around the hole.



The angle of the grp on the top deck didn’t match the angle of the grp in the hole. This meant when you put the wiper through the pantograph plate didn’t sit properly. The old wipers fixed this by using a tube of silicon but that was rubbish. So I made some wedges.





Test fit. It’s really tight getting them in but you can still open them to adjust.


Wedges were glued in.


Pantograph plate now fits nicely.




The mounting hole on the Roca W4 wasn’t in a good position and I couldn’t get to it when installed without modifying the headliner in the cabin. So I glued a new aluminium plate on:




All mounted and in its park position:



And a much better view from inside



Not sure if this video will work (probably need to click on it)




I'm also fitting one of these things: Marinco 76080 to give intermittent wipe and auto wash (as well as synchronisation of the wipers).
Click to expand...
Great to see you posting again and looking forward to future updates. You have helped me no end with undertaking similar modifications on my own 805, so thank you. Coincidentally, I have recently been looking at upgrading the wiper motors and moving to a pantograph system. In doing so, I initially contacted DOGA in Spain, who made the original motors, but it transpired that they don’t support the marine sector anymore so were little help in offering any potential solutions. Therefore, I started searching around for suitable alternatives and came across the Roca brand which you have fitted. However, I can’t seem to locate the W4 series you discuss, instead the W12 appears to be the closest match and I was wondering if you could share where you purchased the motors and the model/part numbers of the pantograph arms/blades you fitted? In addition, you wouldn’t happen to know where I might purchase a new jet washer? One of mine has failed, but Jeanneau can’t supply a replacement directly. I have looked at alternatives, but just wanted to ask before purchasing a range of aftermarket options. Kind regards
 
jakew009 said:
Uhh sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward and 3 steps backwards with boats.

At some point this boat was looked after by an absolutely clueless nautical butcher 🧐 even the most simple repairs were done so badly.

There was always a pretty awful repair on the cabin roof. The gel coat was bright white and the fairing under neath the repair was awful. I suspected the boat had had an accident at some point.

Before I realised what the previous monster had done I just sanded it back a bit and stuck some epoxy filler on it. I thought I would leave the sleeping dogs to lie and just fair it out.

When I then went to re gel coat it disaster happened. The warning sign should have been that when I acetone wiped it the previous owners “gelcoat” softened up for some reason.

Anyway after I had gel coated it, about 15 minutes later the whole lot had slid off the boat and was lying on the deck 😳😳😳 wtf. Queue frantic cleaning.

Upon further inspection it turned out the gel coat had reactivated whatever the previous owner had covered his repair in and the whole thing just slid right off.

The good news was the repair was not about 75% smaller 😂 so I started sanding the epoxy filler that I had used to fair it (which didn’t react).



It got smaller and smaller



You can see the poly filler shite underneath the epoxy filler


The repair got smaller and smaller..


And smaller


Until it looked like this. Someone had put a poly filler / Dulux patch the size of an A3 piece of paper over 3 tiny holes 🤯





Anyway filled them with some epoxy then gelcoat and they all but disappeared 🙄

The same technique had been used in some other areas but I just soaked those with acetone and wiped them off.

Hopefully tomorrow all the gel coat repairs will be finished and it will just needs a polish. I reckon I must have filled over 200 holes / nicks / dents as well as completely refinishing the transom gunwhale which was wrecked with rod holder holes and damage.
Click to expand...
Jake, how did you match the gelcoat colour ?
I have a few minor gelcoat blemishes on my Beneteau that I’ve put a temporary fix on....but eventually they are going to have to be done properly.....but the colour matching isn’t easy
 
Bouba said:
Jake, how did you match the gelcoat colour ?
I have a few minor gelcoat blemishes on my Beneteau that I’ve put a temporary fix on....but eventually they are going to have to be done properly.....but the colour matching isn’t easy
Click to expand...

RAL9016 (traffic white) is what Jenneau apparently use in the factory, it’s a pretty damn good match even without tinting it. I buy from East Coast Fibreglass in the UK.

Be careful because the gel coat is like 3mm thick on some parts of my boat and in others literally paper thin <0.5mm.
 
njrs_123 said:
Great to see you posting again and looking forward to future updates. You have helped me no end with undertaking similar modifications on my own 805, so thank you. Coincidentally, I have recently been looking at upgrading the wiper motors and moving to a pantograph system. In doing so, I initially contacted DOGA in Spain, who made the original motors, but it transpired that they don’t support the marine sector anymore so were little help in offering any potential solutions. Therefore, I started searching around for suitable alternatives and came across the Roca brand which you have fitted. However, I can’t seem to locate the W4 series you discuss, instead the W12 appears to be the closest match and I was wondering if you could share where you purchased the motors and the model/part numbers of the pantograph arms/blades you fitted? In addition, you wouldn’t happen to know where I might purchase a new jet washer? One of mine has failed, but Jeanneau can’t supply a replacement directly. I have looked at alternatives, but just wanted to ask before purchasing a range of aftermarket options. Kind regards
Click to expand...
Yeah it’s a Roca W12 not a W4, must have been a typo. It’s a fair old job fitting them but the results seem excellent. So much quieter and smoother.

I’m fitting a Marinco wiper computer as well so I get intermittent wiper settings and synchronisation.

For the washers, no idea haven’t looked at them yet. You’ll have to pull the wiper motor out to get to the washer jet anyway.

My tentative plan is to replace the water jets with a sprayer thing that is mounted on the wiper arms themselves similar to what trucks have. Then just fill the old jet holes.
 
jakew009 said:
RAL9016 (traffic white) is what Jenneau apparently use in the factory, it’s a pretty damn good match even without tinting it. I buy from East Coast Fibreglass in the UK.

Be careful because the gel coat is like 3mm thick on some parts of my boat and in others literally paper thin <0.5mm.
Click to expand...
And you don’t compensate for age fading or sun damage ?
 
A little more progress

Started fitting the transom shower.

























It’s not perfect yet because the hose snags up with the exhaust pipe, the Eberspacher and the rudder 🙄 apart from that it’s perfect.

I’ve ordered a net thing for the hose to go back into and I will find some way of securing the exhaust hose out the way.


Then started on the bilge pumps. The OEM Merry Fisher system is a Jabsco shower pump type thing with a hose that goes down into the “bilge” (which is really just a low bit beneath the propeller shaft) and also a manual pump that goes to the same place.

The “bilge” is connected to the gap between the hull and the liner via a hole. I think this runs all the way to the front of the boat where there is another hole in the front vee locker beneath the bow thruster.

My plan is to leave the original bilge pumps for normal duty and then fit a second bilge pump much higher up as an emergency pump. This one should never be needed as the water level has to rise quite far to get to it.

New bilge pump installed


I also installed an emergency high bilge water sensor as an alarm only. The new bilge pump has its own float switch and I’m fitting a Rule pneumatic thing to the original pump which will sit down in the “bilge”.

It’s all going to be monitored by a Maretron system / N2K bus.



Then took an excursion into the wardrobe to remove the last of the junk in there. The isolators go under the step.


I guess heat shrink was in short supply for the previous owners (this was actually done by a “professional” marine electrician.


Doesn’t look too bad in the photo but the crimps on the bow thruster cables were awful. Those crappy Chinese hydraulic crimpers with wrong sized dies have a lot to answer for.


Junk removed


Original Quick windlass contractor that will be reused.


And wtf do we have here



Lovely


This is why we can’t have nice things
 
What on earth is this DIY monster


Previous owner must have had shares in a bathroom silicon company


Will get a cable gland to go here instead. I ripped out the knackered cables remote control and will replace it with a wireless one. And got rid of the silly control from the hole on the top left. Who’s gonna want to control the anchor from there 🙄



To make it easier to mount all the new isolators I chopped out a section under the steps which will have a CNC acrylic panel over it. That way the wiring can all be bench build rather than contorting yourself into the silly wardrobe space to wire them up.






Did a quick mock up of the panel out of plywood to check the concept. The real one will be CNC out of black acrylic.








It will be mounted about here and will unscrew so you can easily access the back of it.





Isolators are for inverter, engine, emergency parallel, house, bow thruster and windlass. Kind of annoys me that the windlass one won’t be rear mounted.



Then messed around with the worktops and tap again to check it all fits. Then will CNC cut the real one out of the compact laminate I got ages ago.



Seems a big improvement over the thing that was there before.


Started prepping holes for new CBE style sockets. Putting a triple one here (230v socket, usb, dual gang switch).



Filled in the hole with epoxy where the old charger thing went and am going to mount another CBE socket here.

The consumer unit will be flush mounted into the panel below it so you can easily pull it forwards for access.

It’s all getting Vinyl wrapped so you won’t be able to see the repairs.



And filled the original light switch hole.


Made some new holes beside the seat for another socket / usb combo.



Fitted the pipes for the manual bilge pump and for my new bilge pump. Still waiting on the hose for the other bilge pump and a through hull for the new one.

This area will be covered by a bit of plywood that will protect the pump and the float switch.


Does anyone know if this is some sort of thermal circuit breaker or is it just an isolator? It was fitted to the thruster but I’d rather use a matching twisty one.
 
Then started messing with the inverter. What a heavy lump to wrestle into the wardrobe


Temporarily offered up. I think I will shift it to the right more.


Then tidied up the plumbing in the battery locker ready to build some battery trays.






 
Then made a frame thing for the batteries to sit on and to lift them up a bit so the heater pipe can fly underneath

This is about as close as I get to carpentry






Carpentry on easy mode


Jigsaw puzzle time








That’ll do


Had to make it in two pieces to fit it into the locker








The idea is there will be 2x 280 amp/ hour lithium batteries and 1x group 31 start battery that will also power the bow thruster. The battery in the photo is just an empty case to make sizing it all up easier.

On the front wall of this locker will be the main battery fuses and a solar charger and a Victron XS DC/DC charger. I will post a wiring diagram.
 
I had put antifreeze in my water tank and ran it through the galley, both heads and the hot water geezer for the winter, went to Scotland for 6 weeks came back to an empty water tank :oops:

Looked high and low for signs of where I had lost almost 400 litres of water from, but there was no witness marks anywhere.
I made sure the water pump was off and started to fill the tank, put on the pump and started to bleed the system by opening the taps in the heads, meanwhile the pump it ran, and ran, and ran, lifting the saloon floor could see no water anywhere. scratching my head I went out for a breath of air to see a jet of water spouting across the canal, there was a crack in the body of the transom shower, at least it was an easy fix.

Also it is great for hooking up the hose pipe to back flush the raw water system, the canals here are filthy it blocks the raw water filters and the heat exchangers quite quickly. Coming home from the cruise 2 weeks ago I took out a ribbon of seaweed that was more than a meter long.
 
jakew009 said:
Then started messing with the inverter. What a heavy lump to wrestle into the wardrobe
Click to expand...
Ah Hah! I have the 24V version for my boat
_DSC9356SM.JPG
Fitted in the wet locker under the stairs (not used as a wet locker any more!)
I had to fit a battery balancer to keep the charge across the 2 12V batteries equal, the batteries on the boat had got out of balance and they tripped the gas detector, had to replace them with a couple of semi traction ones that had a higher capacity, wanted to go lithium but the wife has heard too many horror stories about fires with charging lithium so she vetoed the idea.
 
If you get water between the liner and the hull it's an arse to get rid of, it sloshes fore and aft and the bilge pump doesn't get it out. There are some holes under the engine, 2 or 3 inches in diameter, i discovered these after washing the engine compartment and getting lots of water under the liner
:confused: Go on the plane it rushes to the transom, slow down is heads for the bow. Had to use a portable electric bilge pump in the space at the transom whilst on the plane.

The bilge pump filter is in a stupid place, i fitted on in the lazarette instead.
 
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