RICKTER talk

Aircraftsalz

Thrust built Dasa Power
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Off site
Pump bolts aren't the same length as stock SJ. Make sure you check before you crank down the pump or ride plate.

Nose & bond area needs a lot of help, add some re enforcement for sure.

Front spray rail is a must for surf riding, looks like sh*t but way to much spray unless its a glassey day.

LTD pipe will fit with a oem SJ tank, but its very tight & requires work with the WB & Battery box.
 
Pump bolts aren't the same length as stock SJ. Make sure you check before you crank down the pump or ride plate.

Nose & bond area needs a lot of help, add some re enforcement for sure.

Front spray rail is a must for surf riding, looks like sh*t but way to much spray unless its a glassey day.

LTD pipe will fit with a oem SJ tank, but its very tight & requires work with the WB & Battery box.






see, now this is good info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I layed up 1 layer of 17oz biax (dyed black) on the sides of mine......about 25 layers light cloth in the nose over the crack, should be virtually indestructable.....


mine will be getting a LTD pipe and full size tank as well.......




does the waterbox just need to be pushed up a bit? I added a pool noodle into the nose for a little bit of foam.....





also wondering if anyone has ever changed the scupper flap? wonder if it could be swapped out for a large versaplug??????
 

tightithrash

Zack Bright. I Thrash.
Site Supporter
Location
Oceanside, CA
Here's some good info I found on OZFreeride.com about them



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Things you should know about the Rickter FR2, but prob don't

by Watty » Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:10 am

1 - The pole bracket that is supplied is hit and miss. Test with a stock pole bolt and make sure you can thread it in by hand. The bracket bolts are rattled in so tight that the bracket is pulled out of shape enough to push the pole bolt holes out of alignment. The best thing to do here is to fit your pole with the bracket bolts loose and tighten down when you are finished.

2 - If you plan on running a pole spring, take the pole bracket off and fit the RRP spring perch before you do anything. When you use this spring perch, an OEM pole spring works perfectly with the RRP poles. I like to remove the pole stops off the bracket, tilt the pole forward and insert the arm of the spring into the bottom hole on the pole, then push the pole bolt through the pole, bracket and spring and make sure you can thread the bolt into the other side of the bracket. From here you need to slowly put the pole down and put the longer arm of the spring on top of the spring perch. Pull the pole down enough to get the pole stop blocks back in, aligned and bolted up. You'll probably find that the arm that sits on top of the spring perch is a little long...cut it off after you throw a heap of old rags around the area to protect your paint.

3 - Before you put the pole tubes in, feed the pole breather tubes down through the pole base and bracket. It's a bit fiddly, but doing this allows you to get the tubes pointing straight up and out of the top of the lower bracket. If you come in from underneath the bracket, the tubes won't be able to bend up and around the pole bolt/lower bracket properly, and therefore makes it really difficult to push the tubes up into the lower bracket to the point of square. Having them higher up in the lower bracket also holds them in there a lot better because you can compress the tube in that area. Just in case you are wondering, the pole breather tubes don't actually fit inside the alloy tubes on the pole.

4 - The pole bushes on the RRP could be a little bit thicker as there is a millimeter, sometimes more of slop. This means you have to tighten the pole bolt pretty well to get the bracket to close up and grab the pole. Once this is all done though, the spring makes the pole light, and the tighter pole bolt keeps the pole where you put it. Especially handy when you have the hood off.

5 - OEM steering cables aren't long enough. They reach, yes, but you have to go over the top of the waterbox, over the battery and weave between two of the intake side engine mounts. Even then the cable isn't long enough to allow full extension of the pole (which I think is mandatory for decent handling in the surf). You can use riser bars and tilt them back, back this kind of defeats the purpose.

6 - Rickter rideplates only fit Rickters. The rear holes on these plates is slightly different to a normal 08 plate so if you are planning on fitting a stock 08 plate, you'll have to mill/grind down the sides of the plate and re-drill the rear holes.

7 - OEM pump bolts are too long (bolts that hold the pump to the hull). You either have to cut them shorter, or use a few washers to make sure they don't screw in so deep. You'll know if you go too deep because you will be greeted with the lovely sound of cracking de-laminiting fiberglass somewhere on the inside of the ski.

8 - OEM pump shoes do not fit that well even though this is what all the aftermarket ones are based off. When you fit an oem show to an oem hull, you can push it as high up into the pump tunnel as you can, and the mounting holes line up and the shoe is level with the bottom of the hull. Do the same thing on the Rickter and the pump shoe will be sitting up into the hull anywhere from 2mm to around 5mm. Not really a problem, but something to look out for. Aftermarket pump shoes would probably be a better option here as you'll have to grind them to make them fit, and they are generally oversize, so you can take your time getting it to fit right. Another thing that should be mentioned is that sometimes the pump shoe mounting holes don't line up. I've seen one that has been perfect, and the other two hulls needed at least two holes re-drilled.

9 - There are no dow alignment pin holes on either the area for pump section flanges, or the firewall for the midshaft housing. This isn't a major issue, but it means that you have to contend with the slop in the mouting holes when aligning the engine.

10 - When installing and bolting up the pump, the driveshaft hits on the tunnel/tube into the engine bay. One hull had the shaft hitting the top of the tube, and two others had it hitting the bottom. Again, not an issue, but extra shimming of the engine will be needed depending on how much you offset the pump/driveshaft to the point where it doesn't foul the tunnel.

11 - The oem waterbox is a terrible fit. You can make it work, but it's pretty much a matter of jamming it in and being happy with it. Because of the change in the shape of the nose on the Rickter, the waterbox doesn't fit as intended. This is a part I like to be able to fit properly, put a fuel tank in front of it and forget about forever. A smaller waterbox is handy here, but the oem one does work, it's just a little ghetto.

12 - The FR2 engine mount system is difficult to say the least. You basically bolt your engine mounts onto two billet plates. You can bascially adjust how far the engine sits forward or back in the hull but loosengin them off and sliding. A good idea in theory, it's just the execution that is lacking. You need to fit nylock nuts to the bottom side of the engine mount bolts which is fine, but you have to remove the engine mount plates to do it. Even so, it's not that easy. The engine mounts sit right over the top of the plate mounting bolts so if you bolt the engine mounts up, and then got to bolt the plates back down to the hull, you won't be able to get the plate mounting bolts back in. There's two ways around this....First - Tape the nylock nuts to the underside of the plates and bolt them back on. Sit the engine mounts on and carefully run the bolt into the nylock nuts, then just pull the tape away. Second - go to your local fastener shop and get some replacement engine mount bolts, put them in from the underside of the plate and bolt the plates down. You'll need to get different bolts as the stock Yamaha ones have the washers fixed into place with the thread and can't be removed. Once you have that done, you can go ahead and align the engine. Get to to where you are happy with it (with the coupler dampener removed) and then find a reference point on the engine. Mark this point and the put a mark somewhere parallel on the hull. Because you can't slide the engine forward far enough on the sliding mount system to get the dampener back in there, you have to take the top engine mount bolts off to get the motor forward enough. The two reference points are there so you can get your perfect side to side alignment back where it was. The front to back spacing (measured between the coupler fingers) can be easily re-obtained by using a 5mm spacer when aligning the engine and pushing back against it one the coupler dampener has been fitted.

13 - The FR2 (IMO) is aimed more at the flatwater rider rather than surf. There are a few things that hint towards this. Firstly, the larger intake area (wider around intake grate and larger pump tunnel) and a setback pump. Both of these things help immensely when doing flatwater tricks. The lack of a decent size wake (being your own) means that extra pump volume and the extra time that the setback pump is in the water will keep the boat hooked up a bit later than a regular pump tunnel and non setback pump would. Secondly, 98% of people out there will/would run a b-pipe if they had the choice/funds to buy whatever pipe they wanted. Because the header pipes sit up so much, you have to space the engine forward (spacers between engine and coupler/coupler and midshaft, or longer mid shaft) so the header pipe does not foul the hood lip. All good and well you say, but the benefits of the setback engine are all but gone when you do this, and you are just left with the setback pump and larger intake. The fun doesn't stop here though. If you are running a powervalve engine, you have to space the engine ALL the way forward on the sliding mounts, and STILL grind the hood lip and hood to clear. The reason for this is that the header pipe will foul on the rear powervalve, so you have to clearance (grind and weld) the header pipe and also modify the powevalve. To avoid really going to town on the header pipe, you can use a header pipe spacer that lifts the header pipe a bit, and you can avoid any extra modding of the pv's and header pipes. When the spacer is used the hood lip needs grinding to clear and also a section of the hood.

14 - If you use the Power Factor pipe, you can set the engine back as far as you like no matter what engine you are running (Stock, Powervalve, Briggs and Stratton) and have absolutely no problems.

15 - The stock hood seals are junk...Pull that mofo off and send it straight to hell (petrol and a lighter helps here) Get the aftermarket hood seal from AJSP so your hood fits up properly and the latch pulls down without the aid of your donut loving next door neighbor.

16 - Sometimes the stock hood hooks (hood side) need some material cut off the top or bottom as the curved lip on the hood prevents them from pulling down completely flat.

Thats about all I can think of for now. Please don't take this as me bashing the Rickter hulls, it's more of a guide to things you should know but probably don't. I have one myself, and I like it, but myself and others have found this stuff out the hard way. I guess it may help you decide between the FR1 and the FR2

I'll try to add a few pics soon and also add anything else I maye think of.
 

Aircraftsalz

Thrust built Dasa Power
Location
Off site
Yes, the FR just have another layer for surf riding. FS was for flatwater.....

Me & Idok are pour guys so we got FS1's, but enforced for surf......

Idok, I had to cut my Xmetal box to lower the right side some for the long exh. tube.
 

Watty

Random Performance
Location
Australia
I put that thread together on Ozfreeride, and it's worth mentioning that the ATP waterbox is a much better fit that the oem box...
 

Aircraftsalz

Thrust built Dasa Power
Location
Off site
It's only a problem if you run a L O N G pole.... Not a problem Idok with my pole, I could even make it another 1- 1.5 in long & still put the pole all the way up.

Also a SN cable will work, but you lose .5in throw on the cable.

A RN cable works fine, IMO

Chris at ATP was talking about having some custom Rickter cables made.
 

Watty

Random Performance
Location
Australia
When the pole is a bit short, I find that the handling gets a bit squirrelly as the nose rocker is in the water. Its nice to have the adjustment there though. You can also use the riser bars turned down to get the extra length.

Yeah Chris has been working on them, but a short term solution would be great.
 
Location
Penrith
Can't say enough about my fr1 I love it so easy to ride feels pretty dam strong super easy to build looks awesome it's just a shame the paint is that bad they should not bother painting them I would of been happier with it raw
 
Location
australia
i ride the fr1 here in oz and have put about 50 hours ride time (surf only)on it and have put it through it paces structually seems good i didnt reinforce anything and is still solid many flat landings etc, easy to put together only downsides graphics underneath are a waste of time and paint looks good but not the best , althoughit it is only paint , and the hood seal is garbage best tip ever for rickter rip it out and get a good one !!!!!!!!
 
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Sanoman

thecolorpurple
Site Supporter
Location
NE Tenn
Front spray rail is a must for surf riding, looks like sh*t but way to much spray unless its a glassey day.

LTD pipe will fit with a oem SJ tank, but its very tight & requires work with the WB & Battery box.

Need to ask you about the spray rail.Are you getting wash coming over the nose when you are riding? l'm having this problem with my "stunt" hole.lt does not have any lip at the nose back about 10" on the sides.l got a lot of it out by going to just straight bars for the scoop grate with no toploader plates and cutting the ride plate flush with the rear of the hull.And also who sells the spray rail?

And how long is your rickter?
 

Aircraftsalz

Thrust built Dasa Power
Location
Off site
Need to ask you about the spray rail.Are you getting wash coming over the nose when you are riding? l'm having this problem with my "stunt" hole.lt does not have any lip at the nose back about 10" on the sides.l got a lot of it out by going to just straight bars for the scoop grate with no toploader plates and cutting the ride plate flush with the rear of the hull.And also who sells the spray rail?

The Rickter has a spray rail you can buy that bolts onto the bond rail on the side & you put a screw or two into the front lip under the rail. You can ride the Rickter's without it, but if its anything less than glass your going to get spray all the time. I've tried to ride mine without it & just can't deal with the spray.

And how long is your rickter?

If I remember correctly its 82in, but not 100%
 
I recently built (2) Rickter FS2s last month; 1 for me and 1 for a friend of mine. Seeing the pointers above would have helped the builds but it wasn't too bad especially since I was able to do them back to back. Here's my review after building 2 and logging some flatwater and surf ride time:

- The inside finish is shotty but easily dressed up with carbon and texture enamel for the bottom (which has surprisingly held up well).

- OEM and X Metal waterboxes are a half ass fit. I ended up cutting the outlet of the X Metal box and installing a 90 degree hose that is coupled together with the long rear hose above the battery. The fit is much much better.

- It does take some trickery to fasten the rubber motor mounts to the RRP hull plate. The main problem is there's not enough room to slip your fingers between the hull and underside of the plate to get the nut in place. The easiest way I found was, with the plates removed, put the rubber mounts on and loosely put the (4) inside nuts and bolts in place. This allows the hard to reach nuts to be in place and still be able to swing the rubber mounts around so you ahve access to the bolts that mount the plates to the hull. Once in place you can access the (4) remaining outside points from beneath the plate and install the nuts with your fingers.

- I installed SNOWXR aluminum pump shoes and each required grinding on the outside to sit in the pump tunnel. In addition, 1 required a lot of material to be REMOVED from the aluminum flange that meets the hull and the other required about the same amount of shimming from the hull. I don't know if its questionable quality control on the pump shoe, hull or a combination of the 2 but in the end I did get both to fit well.

- Engine alignment. One unit had to be shimmed at all 4 mounts and the other was spot on with no shimming at the mounts or pump. Overall, very easy to align.

- The steering cable with an OEM box and stock lenght tubes is a terrible fit. The routing sucks and the lenght acts as a limiting rope when the pole is extended near vertical; not ideal. However, with the X Metal boxes and 2.5" cut off the pole it is a MUCH better fit.

- The paint job is very nice out of the crate however does not holp up to much abuse. I have mystery chips and scrathes all over mine that I truly do not know how they got there. It's almosy like a little bit of stress pops the paint off. I also have spider cracks forming around the top of the near the pole pad. The underside of this area should be reinforced.

- Water intrusion during riding surf is virtually non-existent, even with the thrift store factory hood seal. On 2 occassions the ski ended up upside down for at least a minute, with a scupper, and no problems. The scupper leaks at idle - no better or no worse than the rest of them.

- The turf with red accents is a joke. Its like the dye washes away so the "red" is now pink. No big deal since they really need to be re-turfed anyway.

- Adjustable footholds are very convenient and comfortable.

- Hull is very stable and carves hard. Shift your wieght back, lay it over, pin the throttle and you'll do a hard 360 instantly with no diggin of the nose or sliding of the rear.

- Nose stabs. These have been difficult for me with this hull but getting better. I tend to under rotate and land too flat, which really sucks. I've been shifting my wieght more forward so they're getting better but still hit or miss. When I do hit a good one its amazing how quickly the nose pops back out of the water.

I'll update as I think of more and ride it more.
 
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Aircraftsalz

Thrust built Dasa Power
Location
Off site
x2skier

How short is your poll? Are you doing nose stabs with both feet in the holds or surf stance one foot forward?

I found it was a little hard to do nice nose stabs, but after shortening my pole I normally do a 360 roll/nose stab..

I'm running my pole even with the hood latch/bulkhead & found that,s about perfect for the FS1..
 
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