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Duffy Electric boats....?

Discussion in 'Tenders & Dinghies' started by Norseman, Sep 18, 2013.

  1. Jim robertson

    Jim robertson New Member

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  2. Jim robertson

    Jim robertson New Member

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    Is there a source for a repair manual? I have a 1996 16 foot Duffy and need to fix my bilge pump
  3. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Not that I know of.
    A bilge pump should be easy to fix or replace.
    These are easy boats (besides the Magic Speed Controller made in Italy and programmed by Duffy and sold by the North Carolina importer, but not really)
    Shoot a picture of your bilge pump problem and post right here.
    Within a few minutes you should have an answer or guidance.
  4. BEK33

    BEK33 New Member

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    My Duffy is much noisier than I expected. I think recent salt water ingress did not help the front bearing which I think that I should probably replace, but I am interested that you found that changing the belt helped with noise. The whole point of the Duffy for me is silence and I need help in quieting things down. I susepct that the stern tube is not helping on the noise front, but for now am more interested in easy changes such as the belt and the forward bearing. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

    Bernard
    flyrick likes this.
  5. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Find the belt on eBay or Amazon for a few $$. The bearing, at least on my Duffy had grease nipples, that could make a big difference right there: Grease 'em up.
    Mine was very quiet at low/half power, at full bore it had some rumbling, but nothing that folks 5 feet away could hear.
  6. BEK33

    BEK33 New Member

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    Thanks for speedy response. The bearing on mine did not have a grease nipple, but was threaded to have one inserted. For some reason the builder had installed the bearing upside down so that the grease nipple point was out of sight, but not much of a job to rotate it, remove the threaded blank and insert a nipple. It does make you wonder about manufacturing quality control though given that bearings and grease "go together like a horse and carriage".

    Still noisy, as in conversation has to be at raised voices when only at half throttle. I will try a new belt and when I lift her out of the water I will see how worn the cutlass bearing is. A bit embarrassing on the noise front as I have the occasional use of a Seapro 1900 with a Mercury 115hp motor which at idle speed is virtually silent! Obviously I prefer the Duffy but I must work on noise reduction . Do you have a size spec or part number for the belt by any chance?
  7. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Nah, all the belts and motor specs, etc could be different. It has been almost a year and half since I sold the Duffy, but think I looked at the flat side of the belt for a model number, found it, goggled it and had a new belt in the mail within minutes.
    Again, alignment made a big difference on the noise as well. Took me a few hours with a mechanic buddy to get it 100 %right, but big difference.
  8. Jim robertson

    Jim robertson New Member

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    I have a 1996 16 foot Duffy. There is a small amount of water that collects in the bilge. Any suggestions for what seal may be leaking and how difficult it would be to teplace the seal?
  9. Flyinbob

    Flyinbob New Member

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    It is probably the packing gland located at the aft part of the exposed prop shaft in the motor box.

    It is supposed to leak A LITTLE to keep the shaft lubricated, that's why there is a hole drilled in the bottom of the motor box so that water from the packing gland drains to the bilge.

    Almost any boat mechanic can replace the cord in the packing gland (also called a stuffing box) and reduce any leak that is too much.
  10. Flyinbob

    Flyinbob New Member

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    The attached picture looks like a Duffy 16 trailer
  11. Flyinbob

    Flyinbob New Member

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    Duffy used to have Pacific Trailers in LA build their trailers and now use Trail Rite.

    ALL of the trailers that you get through the Duffy factory or Newport Service Center have the boat's keel sit on the trailer and the bunks are just for additional (not primary) support.
  12. Paul JK

    Paul JK New Member

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    You might want to consider the noise coming from the motor and/or shaft bearings. If the belt change didn't help, id suspect bearing noise. Even greased bearings that are worn can be noisy!
  13. MatthewDoty

    MatthewDoty New Member

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    20170524_152735.jpg 20170524_151329.jpg 20170524_154742.jpg

    Hello all,
    I stumbled across this forum/thread yesterday whilst researching repair and maintenance info for a 1990 Duffy 18 electric signature edition that I am going to restore for a friend of a friend. Wednesday I got my first look at it, and had fun "getting my feet wet' looking through it. I have two pictures of the amount of water that was in it. I was told by the owner that it was rain water and has not been used for around 2 years. I didn't even know what a duffy was until a few days ago. I read this whole thread and the knowledge I have absorbed from you all is much appreciated. I pumped out 99% of the water thursday and plan on going down there today to remove the belt(probably just going to cut it off) and test the motor, I will try to turn it by hand to make sure it's not locked from rust. I was going to then unbolt the four posts for the battery connections and see if it spins by connecting it to this 36v battery charger. Plugging it for a second
    to see if it will spin. I work in a machine shop and have a passion for fixing things, but am new to Duffy's so any advice is more than welcome. Does anyone know a part number or where I can order a replacemen online for that bearing that is on the bulkhead? If the motor doesn't work I am probably pulling it out tomorrow and taking it to the shop we use that specializes in rebuilds of electeic motors. I'm in southern California so I'm confident he will know how to. I have alot of work ahead of me as can be seen in the pics, but I look forward to the owner giving my first ride in a Duffy. The pics are of how much water was in it before I pumped it out, and of the charger I was going to briefly test the motor with. All suggestions are welcomed, especially ones that will save time or money.
    Thank you everyone :)
    Last edited by a moderator: May 26, 2017
  14. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Welcome aboard.
    Boat looks bad, no idea why the owner would let it deteriorate and fill up with water.
    Good luck and keep posting progress reports with pictures.
  15. MatthewDoty

    MatthewDoty New Member

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    20170526_175438.jpg 20170526_175106.jpg 20170526_174817.jpg

    Hi :)
    got the motor out yesterday, here she is. the under side was submerged about an inch at some point. i can spin it by hand, but it's going to get sent to my guy to get rebuilt, I think it's salvgable but I won't know till after the holiday weekend. The controller seems like a nightmare if it does not function from what I've read on here. It looks like a different one was on it before this one, if you look at the picture closely it looks like an imprint of something larger was there before and there's hole the size of the key mechanism just below the controller, on the outside it has a fast rev, slow rev, straight up is stop then slow forward and fast forward, any insight if this is original one or on what the hole is there for? I don't even wanna touch it until I get the motor sent out and then back in with new battery's and all the other work done.I could turn the prop shaft by hand, I planned on replacing the bearing at the top of this picture here, I don't know the official name for so any help on where to get one or just what it's called is appreciated. does anyone have any suggestions on other parts I should replace while having the motor out? I was going to sand blast the pulleys and maybe powder coat them? or should I just sand blast them? I'm going to clean or replace if nessasary all the contacts on that block next to the bearing on the bulkhead that was fully submerged with all the wires connected to it. I read on this thread that vasoline will protect things like that after they are cleaned, is that the best to use or just a cheaper alternative to die electric? does anyone know how the a1 a2 s1 s2 works? is the a1 a2 the positive and neg of one bank and the s1 and s2 the positive negative of the other? 18v for slow and 36v for fast? also, has anyone done a cconversion to the wood seats I see on other Duffy's, they look so much better than this vinyl stuff. for the supportive response Norseman, I appreciate any help or suggestions. I will post another post after this one with a couple more pics of her I took after I pumped the water out the other day.
    -Matt
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2017
  16. MatthewDoty

    MatthewDoty New Member

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    20170525_191010.jpg 20170525_191822.jpg 20170526_170613.jpg

    more pics this is the block with wires I referred to I. previous post, is it just a grounding block or does anyone know what it's called?
    thanks again
    -Matt
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2017
  17. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    From your 2 postings above it sounds like there is parts on the boat, like the controller that may not be original?
    If so, you may have a quite a puzzle if you want it working again.
    Call the factory support people they are quite helpful and will spend time with you on the phone.
    Some throttles and speed controllers could have been of the slow forward, fast forward type, and not seamless from idle to full. If you can live with that, probably much cheaper than the modern controllers.
    flyrick likes this.
  18. MatthewDoty

    MatthewDoty New Member

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    I'm told the boat worked fine last time it ran, I'm not too worried about the controller because the water did not get anywhere close to it, the motor is a different story, I'm taking it to an electric motor shop because of these broken pieces you will see in the pics. I'm supposed to drop it off Monday. When I talked to the motor shop on Friday and told them the year of the Duffy and about the white "a1 a2 s1 s2" sticker, the only identifying marks I could find on the motor, he knew what motor it was because he told me 50$ to test it and we would go from there. I asked if it would help if I removed the pully to save cost and he said it would. I soaked the alan set screw and "wedge" (don't know what it's called) in pb-50 over night. The alan backed out a few turns today leveraged with the box end of a wrench, using a flat head screw driver I was able to push the wedge out away from the motor, from in between the pully and motor, until it was flush and sticking out more than enough to grab it with some vice grips and tap it out hitting the vice grips with a mallet in an awkward upward direction. The wedge piece came out about 1/16 every hit but it came out. It has marks where I grabbed it with the vice grips, but I wanted to make sure I had a good grab on it because of the rust and it looks reusable. It has multiple impressions on it from the set screw so I guess it's been removed a few times in its life. the pully is stamped "BROWNING" and "8K36" (or "BK36") on the same side of pully across from each other. Does anyone know this motor? or has anyone had one rebuilt that can give me an insight to the cost so I know if I'm getting a decent price. I have worked in the Automotive repair industry and in a machine shop for a number of years, I know these motors are probably pretty basic, but I would rather just have the pro do it and have it done correct. I'm guessing 300-500, I just don't wanna get reamed cuz it's the first Duffy motor I'm having someone rebuild. Here's the pics of pully removal and of the broken motor pieces. first pic is after loosening set screw and pushing wedge out away from the motor till it was flush with bottom of the pully. second pic is of the wedge that I have been referring to(I'm sure it has a name I just don't know it), third pic is of pully stamp, I'll put second pully stamp on next post with broken pieces on motor.
    20170604_132442.jpg 20170604_132523.jpg 20170604_133926.jpg
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2017
  19. MatthewDoty

    MatthewDoty New Member

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    the other stamp on the pully, and the broken motor guard. I'm finally learning how to make smaller files so next post will be the pieces inside the motor that are broke and maybe someone will know what they're called.
    20170604_133938.jpg 20170604_145416.jpg 20170604_145357.jpg
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2017
  20. MatthewDoty

    MatthewDoty New Member

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    here are the parts inside that are broken that were under that cage, there are four of these in total, two are broken and two look intact. first pic you can see the piece that broke off in the foreground. second pic is of intact one. these broken pieces are a result of the the motor sitting partially
    submerged for an unknown length of time in rain water because of dead batteries which in turn did not power the bilge pump.
    20170604_150319.jpg 20170604_145503.jpg
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2017