Last Ditch ole College try

I have worked changing props and carbs and other items to make the boat more efficent and it never came to pass. After a storm damaged the hull she kept taking on water removing the boat and inspecting the hull i found a 59 inch crack along the centerline of the hull forward of the center of the boat. I removed the flooring and did a inspection from the inside out and found that a grounding had damaged the boat earlier and a second grounding had flexed the hull to the point that it was done. Removing the powerplant and electronics that had not been damaged by water i resolved to destroy the boat. Crushing the hull with a bulldozer was like killing friend but it was not going to be something i would sell to someone that would result in harm or danger to others. It is done shes gone and i am working on a wooden hull Harkers island boat now that i salvaged from a sinking. shes a pile of wood and thats it so far a guess is a year or more before i have her ready to power down the water way. Today i send to NC Wildlife the title and a letter of salvage and destroyed with a recipt showing i destroyed the boat to them to remove the boat title from active. Sad day but another chapter in life

Trying and testing,

She is in the slip now and i have burned all the old fuel out. Everything seems to be working as planned with only a few minor glitches, the Port trim tab seems to stuggle to extend ? Checking the electrical connections and bled the air from the lines, Still no dice not sure why but its under investigation.at my low speeds above 7mph up to about 15 we had raised the motor to the last set of holes to get full speed depth correct, Now i have this huge area under the motor that splashes the water off the lower unit a low speeds and washes it back inthe the motor well. after some thought we took star board and extended the top of the bracket up as far as we could with out getting in the way of anything. Today May 10th i am thinking we will take it for another ride and see if that fixed the problem there. Does great in the shallows i can trim the engine up level with the bottom of the boat and sneak into some really shallow places. When beached i can have the engine tilted and reverse and it lifts the stern Up and pulls us off the beach with ease. Fuel flow system is still at the repair shop i hope to have it back on in a week and be able to publish some results.More to follow !

Specs from boat ride

With the 16 X 11 prop 2000 rpms made 4 mph 15 deg of bow rise
3000 rpms 8mph and 18 Deg of bow rise
WOT 18 mph and 20+ deg of bow rise turning 5500 RPMS only about 80% on plane,
With the 15X15 2000 RPM 8.7 MPH and 4Deg of bow rise
2500 RPMS 9.7 mph and 7 Deg of bow rise
3500 RPMs 10.1 MPH 10 deg of bow rise throttle is almost 3/4
WOT 5000 RPMs  30 MPH trim up clean 32 MPH, 6 Deg of bow rise
With the 15X17 prop 2000 RPMS 8.3 MPH 5 deg of bow rise
2500 RPMS only 8.9 mph and bow hardly moved above the 5 deg
3000 RPMS 10.5 MPH and bow was up around 12deg
3500 RPMS 11.8 MPH bow was still about 12 deg
WOT gave only 4600 RPMS 30.4 MPH bow down about 6deg  With trim to clean the ride she pushed over 34.9 MPH
Bottom line the 15X15 prop gave the best all around preformance and seems to let the engine run in the comfort zone,  the day of testing 24feet at the water line, 7 foot beam 1/4 rearward from the bow 30Deg dead rise, stern is only about 13 deg of dead rise, the Chine is 4 inches wide and hard flat, the center of the bottom is very round about 31inch radius, total boat is around 348 inches the CG using a strap puts it about 64% of the boat ahead of the CG and about 36% behind the CG we raised the engine again and the Cavitation plate is now about 5 1/2 to 6 inches above the center of the bottom of the boat, Weight 7340 with full fuel water 2 people and about 200 lbs of tools,

Small things on the boat

Looking inside the Engine bracket from the inspection area !

The small hatch that you lift to look into the bilge and into the engine bracket.

The com center, the ICOM 50watt radio and my old standard Radio shack 2way with the alert feature that tones and reports any bad weather on the WX stations !

She is back home

We have her back at the house raised the motor 2 more inches the cav plate is now 5 1/2 inches higher than the bottom of the boat, at speed it was still to deep, I think it will run better at this new height, we did a set of test forward and reverse turning and the boat handles very well she will turn on a dime at low speeds almost pivots at idle and at high speed she would carve the water like a jet ski, taking other boat wakes the weight of the boat makes it seem like we were not hitting anything you feel a slight bump and then see the spray,Paint will be starting the week of  April 17th Light blue up to the hand rail run and white fore deck and aft area, along with the wheel house being white, everything seems to be working great on the boat except the fuel flow meter, this is being resolved as i want to know what RPM gives the best fuel burn, i am thinking the 10 MPH at 2200 RPM's is the sweet spot faster than 10 and she starts to squat making a huge wake, then on up around 3300 pulls her self up on plane. But it seems to labor at that RPM  push her on and is smooths out around 4300/ But that is way faster than i wanted to have her set up to ride. we will keep posting photos and additional information about fuel burn and other things. We have removed all through hull fittings and even the transduced is mounted inside the hull. I did the epoxy on a bare sanded area center of the hull worked great, transduced mounted on the sterm gives the water temp and other info. After a day of water testing she liked the Quicksilver 15 1/4 X 15 pitch prop, with a 17 she would break 34MPH but labored at lower speeds,

Splash day

Thanks to Captain John P for helping me get her in and out of the water that day and changing props 3 times to get the right RPM's and engine load, she did 9MPH at 2200 RPM's and 30.5 MPH at 4900 RPM's Not bad for a boat 7340 lbs being pushed by a 150 2 stroke motor ? looking at the old water line and the new one,speed testing and checking the following wake,

Whole new look

Installed a larger wheel for steering changed a few things around and It is time to test the water before paint and the last few items are added, Weight with 96 Gallons of fuel and 40 gallons of water rear birth full of tools just if we need them 7340 LBS, still lighter than she was before to the tune of 960 lbs !!!

Wheel house build and equip

In front of the Captain not shown is a sonar,unit for depth,speed,water temp, and distance along with the mapp tracking Gps unit, for location and speed, to the port side dash is a Raymarine radar 26 mile range all the woodwork has been tripple sealed since these photos and the exposed fiberglass is getting a new coat of pain and non skid for walking out of the front window hatch.

The Head

It was basic stand there the hold the shower while you try to shower and i still have no idea why they would put a 120v plug in the shower unit ? what the heck where they thinking ! removed all the plumbing from the boat replaced all the connections and Pex pipe, replaced that junk in the Head with a normal sink faucet and a set of knobs for a well placed shower head that you can stand under and get wet with out using 3 hands !

Reworking the galley

It was basic sink, microwave and frig, i wanted to dual burner stove but you still need the microwave so we relocated a new micro to the cabinets, set the dual burner where the old micro was and found a old stove cover from a 70's cruiser refinished it and its hinged and has a stay to hold it in place if your cooking, I removed the old front from the fridge and replaced the panel with a piece of wood matching the cutting board cover for the stove.

Wanting a little more Private space in the front berth

Looking forward its an open cabin and you can see the microwave sitting on the counter we built a small louvered door and sections so its private now but with the hatch open or a/c on you still get air movement and are able to make it usable space.

What about that space in the rear where the V8 was ?

There is a flat floor with access to the bilge pump and a filter, also at the rear you can see inside the Engine bracket and there is a small lift door that can be tilted forward to inspect or clean the rear of the bilge. You can see the 40 gallon water tank on the port side along with the water heater, the ac unit is forward and on the starboard side is the battery bank and hot ground and smart charger for keeping things charger when at the dock.

Before my Florida trip the first edition of the boat

The first edition was going to be hard top with enclosure 3 sides and open to the rear just like out last boat, After spending 6 weeks on a boat headed south during the winter my thoughts changed alot and Now the hard top was removed and a wheelhouse was built and fully enclosed for year around travel and weather . More comfort less cold rain and wind ! thats what i am talking about

We need a top, Build it its cheaper !

Base frame was 2X4 and then 1X4 across cut with a slight rise in the center and middle pushing water off the sides. Sheeting was 1/4 luan and then 3 layers of glass and poly you would think it would flex but i can and have stood on it many times now ! construction and test fitting photos ! i did 4 layers of glass where we would mount all the goodies.

Before and After of the bracket

After glass and gelcoat it gives you a better idea of how its going to work and look, its bonded to the boat and also bolted with 6 3/4 bolts through the transom and then bolded to the swim deck and glassed along with the bonding,

Glass glass and more glass

Glass and fairing and over and over untill its starting to look like something, My wife swears i am cooking meth in the garage as it has penetrated the house and now we all smell like resin, After all the wood and glass total weight is 102Lbs so motor 404 bracket 102 total 506 lbs long way from the 2400 removed. But it is going to put the motor almost 41 inches behind the boat. I am i bit worried about the C/G of the boat moving to far to the rear i know where it was with the 7.4 we will see where it is when its finished !

Changing the mind set from inboard to outboard

Removing 2400 lbs the adding a custom bracket and outboard that is only 404 lbs, seems easy  right ?? The transom cut out and the bracket before glass that is 3 layers of 3/4 inch ply epoxy and bonded together then another layer of 1/2 inch on the inside and 3 layers of glass inside 5 layers outside,

Out with the old

The tired old 7.4 L was beat the outdrive was rotted and anything in the lower area was rusted and in need of replacement or repair, Tossed the big V8 and the outdrive total weight with all the connected pieces was over 2400 lbs, Only 2 of the 12 switches worked on the dash and one 120 volt plug down stairs so removing all the wire and replaced all the connectors.Motor was sold off as parts outdrive was scrapped as only a few parts were worth saving,

Day one of the unkown

There i stood over a 23ft PennYan full of water inside totally destroyed pumping it out looking at my trailer and Hummer i was going to tow it home with. My wife the woman of reason looked at me not wanting to crush my dreams but said " Hey what about that other boat " Humm the one thats only 10 miles from my house as i am sitting in Solomans islands MD, i cut the pump off called for a full retreat and laid down my dreams of the PennYan on NC waterways, In looking back she made the right call and a few phone calls later and some elbow grease we had another project boat. Wellcraft 265 antigua , measures 28 ft 6 inches 24 ft at the water line and 7ft 6 inches wide. mostly intact but broken and in need of a home, as my vision of a sportboat steady in my mind in just a few days i had the hard top on and was working on the transom extension that would hold the new, Outboard power. STOP two friends needed a hand taking a boat to south florida and after 6 weeks on a boat, my vision had changed, Now she was going to be a cruiser for overnight and weekend trips with comfort slow and easy but with enough power to get up and move if needed.