My smokin' Cigarette.

Hi Woodie,
I could not blame you. You have waited long enough for that engine and pipe.
Hope it goes as well as you hope.
Moofy

Latest report so far.

The Blata and the exhaust still has not arrived yet. But is payed for.
So I am still doing what I can to prepare the inside of the hull as far as it's possible.
Some parts of the woodwork will have to wait untill I have the engine and even the MHZ sterndrives and gearbox too. All of this must be at hand before I can set up the final parts of the inside of the hull. Could be done around february next year. At that time I will have the most important hardware at hand, I will move much faster!
Untill then the job is about perfecting, removing weight, and putting extra strenght on where it's needed.
This means that so far there will be a lot to do for me, but no special pics to bring in this fine forum.
I am into the first "refinement phase", and I enjoy it.

A merry Christmas and cheers to ya all!

Woodie.

Good news & bad news!

I just had a talk with the german Blata-guy. The Blata is close to ready for me, but I have agreed with him, that the shipping must wait untill the 27.th december, to avoid it getting stuck in the german postal system just before christmas.
So I expect to start some serious drooling just before New Year. That's the good news.

Bad news is that the MHZ dual drives are not in stock. Not even at MHZ-usa. Actually nowhere at all!
The german Blata-guy expects to have them some day in march 2011 (!).
I have off course made the order right now, just to be sure to get hold of these obviously very rare parts!

But what the ****!? That gives me a couple of extra months for some more fiddeling, adjusting, grinding, sanding and thinking (that's the hardest part :S ). So generally nothing much will be changing for a couple of VERY long wintermonths. :dry:

Merry Christmas to ya all!

Woodie.

Why is it that the sun only shines on the Zenoah drivers? :huh:

Hate to hear it Woodie!!! If it makes you feel ya better, I've got very little done on mine too!!!!

Isuzu.

Thats not all. There is no end to my trouble. No company can provide reliable measures of the Blata 40, but as I can calculate from the pics I have seen, It seems to take up just about 5 mm too much space at the carb side. Which in effect means that the hull of my mono could be too narrow.
A solution could be to tilt the Blata towards the left, or even build out some sort of "bilges" on the sides of the boat. :dry:
Well, I have to wait and see. I sure hope there is no reason for my worries.
A solution could be to drop this wooden hull for now, and just buy a ready made one for the Blata.
Later I could get back to the wooden hull and install a 2-inline Zenoah in it.
Time will show - wery soon. So wish me the best, as Blatas certainly doesn't come for free.

Anyway: Merry Christmas!

Woodie.

Woodie, I wouldn't let that upset ya until and IF you see that does that... Don't turn a WONDERFUL project into a headache over speculation!!! Carry on as you were doing with all the same precision. If it doesn't work out, you already have a backup plan, right? If nothing else, just step away from it for a few days, clear your head and start again!!! :side: :silly: :lol: :woohoo: Cheer up Buddy... Life is GOOOOOD!!!! She'll come around!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!
From the entire Eaton Family...
All 7 kids....
3 Grandkids... And grandbaby in the oven
due next month!!!!
Have I already said...
"LIFE IS GOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hi Isuzu and thanks for the kind words.
It looks like I (hopefully) have miscalculated the size of the carb. That's my hope for now.
Congrats with all of your offspring. Wish it was me! I guess I did'nt learn my son and daugher enough about flowers and bees. May the day come soon, when I get the title of grandad!

Merry Christmas!

Woodie.

PS: If I babble much more, I'll get platinum! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Hi guys!

This is the day! My Blata has finally arrived, and after unpacking it I had to change my diaper! :laugh:
My God, this is an impressive engine. Words can't describe, so I bring a few pics, while I try to control my uncontrollable happiness :laugh: :laugh:







The Blata sticks up a little more, than I expected, but it will be lowered almost an inch and tilted backwards too.
Best of all: No space problem regarding the carb!

Happy happy happy happy happy New Year!

Woodie

That is going to be one powerfull boat Woodie! The build work looks great,has a gear drive,and a big motor. AWESOME!!

Thanks for the nice response, Merc.

When I unpacked this beautiful monster I began to understand something about relativity.
But what the h... - Who says that you have to go at full throttle, when half is more than enough? :woohoo:

Happy New Year to you!

Woodie.