Does anyone here know boats? Now with video!

[rturbo 930]

So long story short, a family friend gave this boat to my Dad some time in the 70s I think. The tag on it says '78, which is probably when it was last used.

A few things I know about it:

- It's powered by a 241 Hemi.
- It sinks.
- Apparently it has some sort of issue with nose diving.
- I think it was a kit boat.

A little googling tells me it might be a cracker box? My dad wants nothing to do with it. I need another project like this like I need a hole in my head, but what the hell. Why not?

[mrsleeve]

well if it sinks its not really a boat, its a funny wooden box with a old Chrysler engine that you might be able to sell fro someones rat rod

[Das Delfin]

The motor is probably worth more than the boat whole so that should be a quick project for you. Also if it's a hemi it'll be a 426

[mrsleeve]

^

you do know there is a lot of other "hemis" than the 426. IIRC the 241 was only available for 2 or 3 years in the early 50's and was replaced by the 270 in 55 or 56. The one pictured has early style valve covers (50's) and not nearly big enough to be a 426

[rturbo 930]

241 was only available in 53/54 I believe. And you guys are silly to think I'm gonna give up on it because of a little leak. Then again, most of my projects belong in the scrap yard. Whatever. That's just how I do projects I guess.

I've already got a plan for it. The problems (aside from the leak), according to my dad, are the motor, direct drive prop, and lack of water cooled manifolds. A modern LSx, transmission, and marine manifolds (which I'm assuming exist, I haven't looked) should fix that, I think. As for the leak, I think part of the problem is that it's totally fucking halfassed. Apparently the guy my dad got it from had a problem with it leaking, so he stripped it down, coated it in fiberglass (poorly), and it still leaked. So I'll see if I can get that stripped off, and go from there.

They can look pretty good.

[Das Delfin]

Wow I thought that was a typo. I know the hemi motor from muscle cars of the 60's.. Well so much for the value of the motor!

[Exodus_2pt0]

I hope this thread takes off with updates. That would be a seriously cool project.

[totheredline]

You've got more motivation than me. I'd just sell the motor, pocket the money, pack the boat with high explosives, tow it out on a lake and blow it up for fun...

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[rturbo 930]

Heh, I like making use of things that others would junk. I hate throwing things away, and I like having a "blank slate" to work with, ie, nothing valuable to ruin.

This thread won't be receiving regular updates any time soon. I have several other projects in line already (also should be junked), and my parents are currently selling off my grandmother's house, where I have a bunch of stuff stored. So that needs to be dealt with first.

And before I get started on this, I need to finish up my Jeep, partly because that's my current project, and also because I need it to tow the thing.

I did prod at it a little today though. In one place where the fiberglass was separating, I tried to peel it back, and it peeled off in a pretty big sheet. Hope the rest of it goes that way. The wood was also (seemingly) pretty solid underneath. Also found out that the motor has a cam in it. Again, good news. I did a little research on 241 Hemis a few weeks ago, and it looks like performance parts are pretty hard to find.

Gonna have to do a lot of research before I dive in though, I don't know a damn thing about boats.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Honestly, I would ditch the iron block and just toss in a true aluminum ls1. You will make more power and save weight.

[Exodus_2pt0]

On second thought, if doing a swap you might want to consider a modern 4 banger. I imagine that 241 is lucky to make 200hp. An ls1 might just make it dangerous.

[rturbo 930]

I was considering a K24, but then I got to thinking about the need for torque. All of this is totally new to me, so I really need to see what I need in a boat vs a car. I want something that will get good fuel economy though, given how much fuel a boat can go through. And V8s just sound badass.

As for iron block vs aluminum, a 5.3 is cheap and plentiful. 100lbs difference, not enough for me to justify the extra cost of an LS1.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Still keep in mind the horsepower that thing was built with.

I don't think I would worry too much about torque, most boat engines out there (outboard, anyway) are high strung 2-strokes.

K24 would be badass, you would just need to match the prop to the motor'@s operating range.

My knowledge is limited, I used to be semi-into jet skis. I think the biggest thing would be getting a prop with the proper pitch and blade count that would be suited for higher rpm without cavitating. If you spun a prop designed for that 241 at 8k, you would just churn the water.

[LateFan]

Read up on West System epoxies. This is what all the quality wood boat builders and restoration people use.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/

I would think nose diving is a hydrodynamic / hull shape problem - like maybe it wasn't built quite per the plans..?

or...too much weight forward...?

It should plane and lift up, then ride level.

And I agree with Exodus - too much power is going to mess up your gearing and prop size / speed, or tear your motor mounts out of the wood.

[rturbo 930]

We've got two propellers for it, not sure what speeds they're for (one is faster), but my dad is saying the old hemi would do about 6krpm, not sure if it ever did more than that. I'm also thinking about a propeller with multiple pitches(?) to give it a broader range of use - I'm assuming I got that right, really stretching my newfound knowledge here.

I'm gonna go get the spare propeller right now and see if there's any info on it.

RE: Nosediving, my dad put a cavitation/trim plate (is that the right term?) on it, you can see it in the pic of the rudder. No idea if it's sized right, but that seemed to fix the problem. Unfortunately, after that he had problems with the motor, and with it leaking, and eventually just gave up on it. I've seen a few pics of boats with plates like that that go all the way across the back, so maybe it's still too small. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm also slightly curious about the shape of the hull, especially at the back. If you look at the back of the boat in post #5, and compare it to mine, it looks like mine had the ass end cut off about half a foot short. And it's a 14' boat, not 15' like most of the plans seem to be. This is something else that I'll have to look into.