New Beta 25

[Frenchy]

Hi all - thought I'd throw in a few pics of my new Beta 25. I just ran it for the first time today. Except for a leak at the
exhaust hose/wet muffler connection, it ran beautifully. This installation is a first for me and daunting at first.
The old steel bed took about five hours of patient cutting to finally break free. Initially, I used a disc grinder with a
five-inch diamond blade. That thing could eat fiberglass for breakfast, but made a a lot of dust. Later, I
used a dremel with a carbide ball end mill and a Fein multi-tool with a carbide blade. Much better.
Constructing the beds was the thorniest part. Eventually, I decided to make a simple jig that locates off the
prop shaft and keeps the inner walls of the G-10 beds from sliding down toward the centerline. The engine jig located the
tops of the beds and their angle down aft. Here's the pics:---Jean

[Frenchy]

Here's some more pics. The jigs would have been better photographed in situ , but I hope you can get the idea.
The engine jig is set up for a 7 degree down angle, which the transmission has. The other, simple jig is just two
boards with a slot for the prop shaft on center and made 11" wide, the inside span distance of the beds.
In use, I jammed the bottom of two boards into the curve of the bilge and leveled each board so that the edges are
parallel . I was able to position the prefabricated beds with this jig and glue them in,
then tab with two layers of 17 oz biaxial on both sides.
The beds have slots in the sides to allow slipping in 1/2" thick SS bars to thru- bolt the engine mounts into.

[Jim Walsh]

Looks fantastic, Jean. Big investment and a lot of work but well worth it.

[Frenchy]

Thanks Jim. This is what the beds looked like before the engine went in. - Jean

[fmueller]

That's terrific Jean - you gotta love just "1" showing for engine hours !

Fred

[John Stone]

Jean
Now is the 25 running so far? Any observations or things your wished you had known before you installed it?

[Frenchy]

The Beta was running beautifully for about a half hour before I winterized. One thing that ended up
causing trouble was the water muffler - or more correctly, the shelf for it and the hose connection to the
engine. I was advised by the Beta rep to use non-wire reinforced hose for the connection because
there have been reports of the riser cracking near the base. The riser vibrates but the muffler doesn't.
So, I tried that but the hose wall is thick and doesn't take a bend, which was needed. I switched
to a wire-reinforced exhaust hose and it took the necessary bend fine. I may add a strap to the
elbow and anchor it somewhere on the engine to reduce any vibration-induced cracking.
The muffler shelf problems were all of my own doing. I accidentally snapped off two mounting
ears on the muffler removing the shelf and then broke part of the shelf moving the engine on top
of the beds. But that was minor stuff.
You'll like the wiring, John - very simple- just a ground strap, a battery connection and then a
multi-pronged connector to the control panel. I'm excited about next year and anxious to see
"Grace" in her element with the new engine. She's also getting a 16" three blade featherstream
for Christmas. Hope she likes it.
Good luck with the install. - Jean

[John Stone]

Jean
Do you have a picture of the water lift muffler set up in your boat? Beta Marine recommends the top of the muffler a min 12” below the bottom of exhaust elbow. Seems like that would be hard to achieve. Maybe I am understanding it incorrectly?

[Frenchy]

John, I don't really have good pictures of the elbow and muffler together. But here's what i do have.
I tried to keep the muffler as low as possible, mounting it on a removable platform for accessing the stuffing box
In the end, that wasn't necessary. I'm able to adjust the stuffing box without removing the platform. Anyway,
here's the pics, such as they are.
I didn't measure the vertical drop, but I think it's a bit less than 12 inches, using the tallest elbow Beta had. - Jean

[John Stone]

Thanks Jean. I haven’t determined the solution yet. I’ll figure it out once the engine is in the boat. But this helps me with my thinking.

[jbenagh]

Can't wait to repower CC...
Couple years of college first.