Delta 7.4 refurb & retube

[beamishken]

Finaly decided to make a start on the refurb of my very tired Delta 7m4x. Its sat neglected for several years after I sold the engine out of it & I've been busy with other things since. The hull, deck console & seat pods are all solid & I like the layout so no real structural work to complet but she does need retubeing & she's off to Dave Cowal at north west ribs & inflatables next week for new tubes while I dig out the yanmar 6lp I've also had lying for years to start its refurb.
hears a couple of before pictures to start off the thread.
Before she goes to Dave Cowal to do his magic

[Roflhat]

Be nice to see her looking good again

[beamishken]

A few hours with the jet wash & polishing machine & compound and it looks tons better. Stripped all the fittings ready for new seat bases & re powdercoating the seat backs & a frame.
Still not 100% sure what colour tubes to go for, my first thought was black as theres lots of black rubbing strakes already & it always seems to hold up well. Made the mistake of asking my wife & she thinks grey cos it will match the deck & match our other boat but the more I look at it the more I come back to the red which I think looks good & is easy to spot
Any suggestions welcom before thursday when I drop it off & make a final decision.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Roflhat

Be nice to see her looking good again

You might see her in the flesh if all goes well, this summer we plan on some long trips & have wanted to get out to st kilda for years, been up that area with the hard boat a few times but never got the right window to head out. Planning on watching the weather over the summer & if we see a settled period, tow the delta up & head out. Need to reserarch accommodation & best launch facilities over the coming weeks

[Barrel Rider]

Nice rib, the gel coat has come up well. How old were the orginal tubes?

[Steve509926]

Originally Posted by beamishken

A few hours with the jet wash & polishing machine & compound and it looks tons better. Stripped all the fittings ready for new seat bases & re powdercoating the seat backs & a frame.
Still not 100% sure what colour tubes to go for, my first thought was black as theres lots of black rubbing strakes already & it always seems to hold up well. Made the mistake of asking my wife & she thinks grey cos it will match the deck & match our other boat but the more I look at it the more I come back to the red which I think looks good & is easy to spot
Any suggestions welcom before thursday when I drop it off & make a final decision.

There was a thread last summer when it was confirmed by a good number of members that "red" is always faster than grey!

Personally I think the current colour scheme looks really good.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Barrel Rider

Nice rib, the gel coat has come up well. How old were the orginal tubes?

The boat was built 1998 & tubes were original & afaik it lived outside all its life so they didnt do to bad realy

Originally Posted by Steve509926

There was a thread last summer when it was confirmed by a good number of members that "red" is always faster than grey!

Personally I think the current colour scheme looks really good.

Yes I'm definitely thinking stick with the red especially seeing how well the gelcoat has polished up 👍

[Roger Barr]

I would stay with red, everything seems to be grey these days 🤔

[willk]

Originally Posted by Roger Barr

I would stay with red, everything seems to be grey these days 🤔

Which conveniently explains for Missus Beamish why all the grey was sold but luckily he got a GREAT deal on red...

[Roflhat]

Originally Posted by beamishken

You might see her in the flesh if all goes well, this summer we plan on some long trips & have wanted to get out to st kilda for years, been up that area with the hard boat a few times but never got the right window to head out. Planning on watching the weather over the summer & if we see a settled period, tow the delta up & head out. Need to reserarch accommodation & best launch facilities over the coming weeks

Shortest route is from Berneray or Leverburgh, you can use the ferry slipways to launch quite easily. Not too far from here too in Uig on Lewis and a good slipway
If the weather is decent get to Scarp too, on the west coast between Lewis and Harris absolutely stunning there

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Roger Barr

I would stay with red, everything seems to be grey these days 🤔

Seems red is most peoples favourite 👍 realy pleased how well the gelcoat came up.

Originally Posted by willk

Which conveniently explains for Missus Beamish why all the grey was sold but luckily he got a GREAT deal on red...

I like your thinking I was just going to drop it off & hopefully think of an excuse by the time i collected it 🤣🤣

Originally Posted by Roflhat

Shortest route is from Berneray or Leverburgh, you can use the ferry slipways to launch quite easily. Not too far from here too in Uig on Lewis and a good slipway
If the weather is decent get to Scarp too, on the west coast between Lewis and Harris absolutely stunning there

Cool thanks for the info 👍 If we can arrange accommodation we will probably stay a few days & explore some more places. I see there is a pontoon in leverburgh is that purely a dinghy landing pontoon or can you overnight on it? I guess going ashore on hirta will require a dinghy? The stone pier probably not suitable for even a short stay?

[Roflhat]

Originally Posted by beamishken

Cool thanks for the info 👍 If we can arrange accommodation we will probably stay a few days & explore some more places. I see there is a pontoon in leverburgh is that purely a dinghy landing pontoon or can you overnight on it? I guess going ashore on hirta will require a dinghy? The stone pier probably not suitable for even a short stay?

The pontoon is big enough to overnight but might be fairly busy in the summer, probably worth phoning to check.
At Kilda you need to have a dinghy, you could get alongside on a very very calm day but you're not allowed to. Problems with rats etc coming off bigger boats affecting the bird population

[spartacus]

Speaking of red RIBs, check out Loch Lomond's St John Arctic 22 rescue rib - just retubed by Rib Retubes. Pictures on Facebook.

[A1an]

Looking forward to watching this.

My vote would be red with black diamond wear patches on top of tubes.

you've been very fortunate with how the red gelcoat has come up. Red is usually a nightmare for discolouring deeper than you can polish.

[beamishken]

So got her down to Dave Cowal this afternoon seemed to get a good swap for a freshly retubed redbay to bring back 👍.
Unfortunately got a bit of a disappointment with the material, the origional deep red is no longer available & the currently available red is quite orangey & we all felt it looked wrong as the colours are close but not right the mis match actually looked worse in person than it does in the pictures. Dave,John whose redbay were bringing back & myself all agreed it would look odd with the currently available red. So the choice now is black which was johns prefered choice admittedly hes biased as his redbay is now wearing black tubes or my wifes favoured grey. I'm leaning towards black but I do see my wifes point of having the two boats matching.
So whats it to be black or grey?

[Steve509926]

Grey & red - questionable?

Personally if you can't get a deeper red, then I'd be going black & red.

[smallribber]

Black dont half soak up the heat from the sun which can not always be good

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Grey & red - questionable?

Personally if you can't get a deeper red, then I'd be going black & red.

Yes thats what im thinking too if the consoles were white I'd probably agree with grey but the red with the grey im not convinced about & dont think I've ever seen that combination

[willk]

Oh, black without a shadow of doubt! The alternative red is appalling. Grey and red, waaaay weird.

[A1an]

Black and red is a good combo imho.