Yamaha Octane build

[superramjet]

I bought a new unassembled octane hull a while back, thinking it would be nice to build a ski myself with my favorite componets.

After realizing how much work it was going to be, I lost interest. I had it for sale for a while but no one bought it. After not having a stand up to ride for the last couple of months I decided I needed a ski again, so I'm back to the original plan.

This will be a scalloped, lighter than oem octane with yamaha 66e power.


The beginning:

A factory oem polaris top deck , bottom deck and hood. Completely bare.

 

[superramjet]

My favorite part: cutting up the hull, making replacement panels and glassing it back in.

 

[WaveDemon]

sweet build!

 

[superramjet]

back panels coming together. still need to glass outer seams. Also ground down the pump mounting boss so the tilt nozzle wont hit it when the bars are turned.

 

[superramjet]

Starting rounding up brass inserts. I prefer brass but brass metric is very hard to find. I found some factory yamaha inserts but some of them are small cylinders and I don't feel they'll glue to the hull as well as larger square and and hex inserts. I will be making most of them from some scrap brass from a local metal salvage. Intake grate insert will be aluminum because it's it was made before the brass was found.

 

[tricky1]

keep up the good work Tom.

 

[superramjet]

Mounting the 66e motor turned out to be much easier than first planned. Luckily the superjet/xjet/rev bottom hulls are so similar to the octane that Waterdawg Kustomz inner plate fits right in, this makes the build so much easier. Jeff saved me months of work and really helped me out with this Pictured is the whole piece. I'll be trimming it down considerably and fabricating a bulkhead. Using cardboard for the bulkhead template, glass will be wetted out then trimmed to match the templete.

After the inserts are glued in place Ill be trimming and fitting the bedplate in.

The bedplate will be glued in, and once the top deck is on. It will all be tied together with glass and texilium

 

[blaster800]

This is KILLER ! NICE !

 

[superramjet]

major thanks to Chad Laird. His help is making this possible to be on the water before the winter. I love to cut things up and he loves to fiberglass.

top deck is going to run waterdawg pole, waterdawg rev footholds and wamiltons bracket. It will be lightly reinforced in the areas I usually damage.

 

[RiverRat]

Did I hear you say you are doing a trim???? I thought you hated trim? :biggrin:

 

[superramjet]

Did I hear you say you are doing a trim???? I thought you hated trim? :biggrin:

every trim i've run before i hated, but it seems to be a necessary evil so I'm going to try the skat-trak one. One good thing about starting with a hull this bare, i can put the steering and trim cables where they work the best. Its nice to have the pump mount bosses ground down too.

 

[djkorn1]

What happened to your WD ski?

 

[RMBC Freeride]

Looks sweet, nice work! 2 suggestions: build up a kick-tail in the tray like a superjet and trim the entire bond flange up a little higher than a factory octane (it is really deep and seems to channel too much water along the sides of the hull like a super-long sponson)
I have a little Yamaha-Octane project in the works too... :sneaky: :brap:

 

[GDFL]

Very nice work. So with that hull insert, does that mean that the xjet is actually an octane bottom hull copy?

 

[thegoldenboy]

This is going to be sweet...

 

[superramjet]

Very nice work. So with that hull insert, does that mean that the xjet is actually an octane bottom hull copy?

no the octane is basically a superjet copy, the x jet is also basically a superjet copy (on the bottom except the front is a little wider). The octane's only difference (except for that front v) is it's wider outside the strakes. The pump shoe is superjet, the pump tunnel is superjet and the strakes are superjet. The waterdawg hull insert fits inside it just isn't as wide (5/8" narrow on each side). I'd bet that the pieces that wcf and wamilton make for their hulls would fit also. I used the waterdawg piece to save time and be able to run 66e motors along with 61x/62t motors.

Thanks for the compliments

 

[superramjet]

Looks sweet, nice work! 2 suggestions: build up a kick-tail in the tray like a superjet and trim the entire bond flange up a little higher than a factory octane (it is really deep and seems to channel too much water along the sides of the hull like a super-long sponson)
I have a little Yamaha-Octane project in the works too... :sneaky: :brap:

Didn't notice it didnt have a kicktail until you posted this. I will build one, do you think i should build the kick tail with glass or pad buildup?

 

[superramjet]

What happened to your WD ski?

I'm waiting on my warranty hull, I plan to pick it up in august or september.
My rev hull had a few issues and Jeff made good on them.

 

[yamaslut]

awesome build.... you do such nice work...

 

[douglee25]

I'm sure you have this taken care of, but I'll put it out there anyway. :smile:

When you put that insert in the hull you may want to check driveshaft alignment before you glue it down. I would mock up the whole enigne and driveline just to be sure. My thought was even though the insert may fit right in, the height of it (too high or too low) could cause issues with your driveline later on in the build (after you've assembled everything).

Good luck man. Look awesome!

Doug