Duffy Electric boats....?

Well, if you have the same set-up as me, there is 2 additional switches on the throttle, one for forward and one for reverse. Should be easy to measure if there is contact using a multi-meter.

Or bypass the "reverse" switch and see if that solves the problem, then the solution is to change or repair the switch rather than replacing the rheostat.

As for the problems on my boat. Now cautiously optimistic that the clouds will part and the sun will shine again:
The Duffy factory and their Service Department tested my controller and found it working, but not to the Duffy specs, so they re-programmed it and tested the system for 45 minutes, now it works good and should last a long time.
We shall see after UPS delivers the package Monday.

You got that right Mr. Chasm: I have done everything and have no hair left on my head to prove it

I will post a few "Before and After" photos and detail my experience and trouble shooting for the benefit of others with the same boat and/or the same problem.

In a nut-shell, a lot of stuff did not work on the boat, which could indicate either a sinking and salvage, or a lighting strike/power surge.

No indication the important parts being submerged (I have seen mucho salvaged boats) so it must have been an electric problem.
Stuff that did not work: 4 out of 5 cooling fans, fuel gauge (Analog Volt Meter), Diode/Charge Indicator, rheostat for interior lights, and the big one: The controller (brain).
The boat is from 2006 and with about 100 hrs running time, but abused by previous owner who did stupid stuff like drilling holes all over the deck and interor to install dubious stuff, then using galvanized screws as fasteners. (Rusted out and hard to remove)
All the seating area alongside and at the helm station was removed by previous owner and replaced with cheap plywood covered with shaggy carpet (Not making this up)
The plywood of course got wet, warped, then it started to rot.
I have spent a lot of money, frustration and time to un-redneck the boat and am almost there. Come Monday and UPS, I should have all the important pieces bolted on and connected for yet another trial run on the New River.
If all is ok then, I will finish the refurbishing with focus on the cosmetics as the final chapter, then have it surveyed and insured. After all is done, I expect to have 3.5 times as much into the boat as I paid for it.

IF I fall in love with the boat then, and IF it will make the perfect River Rat, I may keep it, if not, I will sell it.

Aye, never, never give up.

I'd be dead my now if I did, done too many stupid things in my life.

Negative: No Power Rudder, straight shaft, simple does it...

Dear Duffy:

This is a stupid design: The navigation lights are protruding outside of the rub-rail



Nuff said.

Reality is that there is nobody in South Florida with a "console", which is needed to trouble shoot and calibrate the Zapi controller in the boat.



Had to send my controller
to California to have it tuned, $115 freight for a $99.00 job.
(I took less than 10 mins, but minimum charge is 1 hr @ $99.00.

It works good now, hopefully it will last a long time, but it should be easy to contract with a boat shop in SE Florida to have a console handy for quick and painless trouble shooting and calibration.
Even their own place in Jupiter don't have the console, they referred me to California, and that is the unfortunate reality..

It has crossed my mind, but too lazy: Got enough with my day job, my crew house and my side gig looking after sailboats for absent owners: A Duffy Deal would cut into my "Me Time" and my beer time..

Yup, looks like it. Never seen one up close but I Googled console for Zapi controllers and that picture came up. The online Zapi manual keeps referring to the console and it is a must to program the controllers.

Golf carts and forklifts use the same technology and the same parts, should be easy for those guys to fix or program the electrical components of a Duffy boat, but several phone calls and visits to shops in town has been negative: "Sorry, we don't do electric boats" and they have never heard of Duffys'.