Advice/Guidance for a Newbie (to the Forum)

[Jabamusic]

Hi All,
Firstly can I thank Dirk for getting me on-line so efficiently.
Now to my main issue:

I have been offered a Zeppelin Command 18vpro with Yamaha F90 4-stroke.... sounds good so far doesn't it!

The reality is however that it has sat outside for the past 5 years + and whilst run about 2 years ago, they did nothing in terms of prepping it (ie no fuel/oil change and on the way in managed to sheer the prop completely off on the launching ramp!

I have no idea of engine hours -I suspect not massive, and I also believe it was serviced on occasions by a dealer ( who may have some sort of record?), last one would have been at least 5 years ago.

She is a sorry looking thing; the gel coat is awful, the screen badly scratched, no battery and of course whilst it has a vhf I strongly suspect it is u/s. I am unsure if the tubes hold air and the trailer she sits on is far from being road legal and will deffinately require new wheels, tyres and bearings just to move her out of the yard.

So, do I walk away and spend elsewhere, or is she worth saving?

Thoughts on what people think as to her value would be interesting to know as well.

In terms of fixing her up; any thoughts?

Thank you for your knowledgeable replies.

Jaba

[willk]

Welcome to the forum. Might help if we knew the asking price? She sounds like a POS, IMO.

[A1an]

It's a hard question to answer. You don't even know if tubes hold air or engine starts.

Are you familiar with filler or polishing? Do you know your way round an engine? Are you handy with bearings/brakes?

If its in a bad way it's rarely worth the punt unless you can do all the above yourself. To get a company to sort the trailer alone could run in to many hundreds.

I was once told from a member on here before starting a refurb.... If you work out how much its going to cost then triple it. He was right.

[sailrib]

The way you described it I would say don't walk away. I would say run, run, run.

Having said that, in order to gauge value I think you would need to state the best price and post pictures to get a better idea. Thirdly, you need to ask yourself how much of a project are you willing to take on?

Saying the gel coat looks awful is not good but what do you mean by awful; is it damaged, blistering, peeling or just coated in 5yrs of filth? If the gel coat is awful then the tubes are probably even more awful and I would not have a lot of confidence in them lasting long and you may have to re-tubed sooner than later and that will be very expensive. That's if they even do hold air to start out with, you'll probably exhaust the effort of doing repairs to the tubes if they leak prior to re-tubing.
Sitting around for 5 yrs like you said is a good way make your tubes fail but who know's they maybe perfect?

You will need to give the engine a good service. Not a big deal but it will cost good money. The engine will have a much better chance surviving the 5yrs than the tubes but you will need to see if the drive shaft was effected by the prop being involuntarily removed. I would recommend a proper flushing out of the gas tank.

Don't worry about the VHF or battery, that's a minor fix compared to above. The trailer on the other hand will need to be fully serviced, more money to spend.

How much is your time worth and how much of a betting man are you, the risk factor? Answering that will help tell you what it's worth.

I myself would need it to be almost free and that's if I loved Zeppelins.

Do you love Zeppelins?

[idsebby]

Don't have a ton of knowledge in this area, but I am handy with a wrench and have just gone through a similar situation.

Trailer as long as it's not rusted to bits is an easy service. Hubs are simple to replace takes 5 mins a side. The suspension units are really not a big deal either total of 6 bolts each. As long as it's galvanized everything can be replaced very simply. Make sure the trailer plate is still on it.

Motor is a whole other story.
But hook it up to a fresh tank of gas and some ear muffs and try and start it. If it's any good it won't be a hard start.
Weather Seizing can be an issue so before you start it try and move the fly wheel to see if it wants to move at all.
If you don't have a compression tester buy one.
Check all the cylinders should be within 10% of each other.
Check for blistering or peeling paint and corrosion around the head gasket. This can be caused by over heating.


Also is the skeg damaged ?
Is the prop shaft bent?

Skegs can be welded easily

Shafts are a whole other story.
Buy a runout gauge and check before you buy. Or just plan on replacing the whole gearbox with a reconditioned one.
Also check the gearbox oil take the bottom screw out oil should be clear and not milky color. Black means it's not been changed in ages and could have internal damage.
Check for shards of metal on the bottoms magnetic screw. Fuzz is fine.
Gearbox rotates both ways in neutral
Reverse it will not rotate.
Forward it rotates one way.

When it comes to the tubes blow them up and see what happens. Bring a spray bottle with soapy water and check all the seams For leaks. Small holes away from the seams are not a big deal seams are just annoying to fix.
Check all the internal baffles to make sure they inflate properly and that none of them are leaking.
Blow the tubes up and let them down one by one, put your ear on the seam and if you hear air leaking out then the baffle could be bad.

Fixing gel coat is not hard just time consuming. Chips and scratches are not bad but you want to look for hairline cracks in the gel.

Next get up and walk on the floor check for any soft spots check every square foot of it.

Also check for water in the hull this can cause internal rot.

Ugly looking tubes can clean up quite easily. Make sure though that they don't look threadbare.

[A1an]

Originally Posted by idsebby

Trailer as long as it's not rusted to bits is an easy service. Hubs are simple to replace takes 5 mins a side. The suspension units are really not a big deal either total of 6 bolts each. As long as it's galvanized everything can be replaced very simply. Make sure the trailer plate is still on it.

And if its braked?

It's bearings, shoes and fitting kit, possibly new backplates, new cables.

Add that to a set of wheels and its starting to cost a wedge just to get it out of the yard.

[idsebby]

Just replace the whole thing the kits are not that dear 100 a side. (All depends on how cheap ya get the boat for). I was just trying to get a point of reference for the OP. That being said my own trailer breaks need a tune up . But my trailer is also over kill for the boat I have.

[Jabamusic]

All,
Thank you for your responses. I am taking on board all that is being said.

I wouldn't want to get too caught up in the matter of a few quid here or there on brakes or crazed fibreglass, the information I could really do with is boat and engine specific. Eg. Are there any resources known by anyone that relate to Zeppelin Ribs per se and/or on the Yamaha F90 in particular. I have already found some YouTube stuff on the engine, but the rib material is very scarce.

Sailrib asked whether I liked Zeppelins? I really wouldn't know one if it fell out of the sky and landed on me! ( I know more likely with those other ones!). Do others have a more informed view?
Many thanks to one and all.

I fear for you all - you may be asked a lot of questions in the near future!

Jaba

[Poly]

Presumably they are giving you the boat for nothing? It's costing them money to store, it will cost them money to remove it and they haven't even bothered to test the tubes. I suppose worst case you should get the cost of the trailer parts back by flogging the engine for parts, but I wouldn't be parting with cash for it, and even if you are lucky it sounds like it will be a heap of trouble.

[idsebby]

After all this talk I just am curious to see what the thing looks like. PIctures???