A little crazy?
Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2021 10:26 pm
This past spring I sold my 1975 28 express and bought a 1990 32 express with twin 360's. Overall I love the boat. But one of the main reasons I upgraded was to see if I could transform a 32 inboard into a 32 Sterndrive. I know most people think that I am crazy, but hear me out.
I boat on Lake Superior, mainly traveling to Isle Royale National Park, which is 60 miles across open Lake Superior. The gas is usually around $5 gallon out there most years. I'm guessing its going to get much worse with our current atmosphere. My old 28 would use roughly 60-65 gallons traveling 75ish miles from gas dock to gas dock. Optimistically cruising at 29 to 30 mph if the weather allowed after I installed a pair of 350 Chevy's, and ran them at 3100 rpm. The new to me 32 uses about 85- 90 gallons going 25-26 mph at 3100 rpm.
My main reason we go out there is to fish. My preferred method is casting in shallow water when the fish are there. The Island is very rocky, with the bottom going from 250-300 feet of water to ankle deep in the length of a boat in many places. I try to position the boat so it is being blown out to deeper water as we pull up to a spot and start drifting. The problem is that the wind will switch quite rapidly and all of the sudden we are headed into dangerously shallow water.
I am a marine mechanic by trade. So I concocted the idea of buying a donor boat with a pair of 454 Mercruiser engines with Bravo 1 outdrives. I bought the boat, pulled the engines, outdrives, transom assemblies and all other parts needed for the swap. Then sold the hull.
I pulled the 360's out of the 32, they ran great, but I'm lookng for more horsepower. Removed the water heater, waste tank, exhaust, shafts, rudders, etc. The only thing left to take out is the struts, fuel tank, and flooring.
I have a buddy that is an aluminum welder. We are going to cut out two sections of the rounded transom. Make new flat panels for the transom assemblies to bolt to and weld them in. Drop the engines onto the rear mounts, and the see where the front mounts will need to be fabricated along with new sub stringers and more gusseting on the transom.
The weight transfer to aft is a concern, but after talking with a couple engineers I believe it won't be too detrimental, but that is not a sure thing.
My ultimate goal is to have a 32 express that will cruise at 32 to 34 mph at 3000 to 3200 rpm. And have the ability to trim up the outdrives when fishing in shallow water. Everything I have read about boats that were optioned with sterndrives and inboards, the sterndrives were hands down to performance winner. Better speed and better fuel economy at any given rpm. After researching fuel flow rates for 454's with Bravo drives on boats that weigh around 12,000 lbs. I believe that I will be burning around 25 to 30 gph total for both engines. Which will put my fuel usage back to were it was with my 28 ft.
The exhaust noise is also one of my pet peeves. I start to get a headache listening to that above water exhaust for hours on end. Converting to sterndrive makes the exhaust come out through the prop, which makes it quieter.
One of my main problem right now, is that I live in the U.P. of Michigan, and it has already started to freeze at night, we regularly get over 250 inches of snow most winters, with the record being 378 inches in 1978. The storage building I keep my boat in does not have heat or electricity. So that makes it hard to get the fabricating done. I had worked out a deal with a local trucking repair shop that had room inside that I could do the work. But the garage doors are right at 12' wide and I measured 12'2" on the widest part of the beam as well as I could. So that won't work. My next option is to open the main garage door at my work, back to boat in as much as I can and tarp around the opening to keep most of the heat in as we work on it.
We are still working out some of the fine details before we start cutting. My plan is to always be able to put the boat back together as an inboard if this doesn't work for some reason. The only thing getting in the way of that is that the rudder posts will have to be cut down so the new engines will be able to fit where they need to.
I have put a lot of thought into this for quite a few years, and decided that if I don't do it now, I never will. So here we go! Thoughts? Suggestions?
I boat on Lake Superior, mainly traveling to Isle Royale National Park, which is 60 miles across open Lake Superior. The gas is usually around $5 gallon out there most years. I'm guessing its going to get much worse with our current atmosphere. My old 28 would use roughly 60-65 gallons traveling 75ish miles from gas dock to gas dock. Optimistically cruising at 29 to 30 mph if the weather allowed after I installed a pair of 350 Chevy's, and ran them at 3100 rpm. The new to me 32 uses about 85- 90 gallons going 25-26 mph at 3100 rpm.
My main reason we go out there is to fish. My preferred method is casting in shallow water when the fish are there. The Island is very rocky, with the bottom going from 250-300 feet of water to ankle deep in the length of a boat in many places. I try to position the boat so it is being blown out to deeper water as we pull up to a spot and start drifting. The problem is that the wind will switch quite rapidly and all of the sudden we are headed into dangerously shallow water.
I am a marine mechanic by trade. So I concocted the idea of buying a donor boat with a pair of 454 Mercruiser engines with Bravo 1 outdrives. I bought the boat, pulled the engines, outdrives, transom assemblies and all other parts needed for the swap. Then sold the hull.
I pulled the 360's out of the 32, they ran great, but I'm lookng for more horsepower. Removed the water heater, waste tank, exhaust, shafts, rudders, etc. The only thing left to take out is the struts, fuel tank, and flooring.
I have a buddy that is an aluminum welder. We are going to cut out two sections of the rounded transom. Make new flat panels for the transom assemblies to bolt to and weld them in. Drop the engines onto the rear mounts, and the see where the front mounts will need to be fabricated along with new sub stringers and more gusseting on the transom.
The weight transfer to aft is a concern, but after talking with a couple engineers I believe it won't be too detrimental, but that is not a sure thing.
My ultimate goal is to have a 32 express that will cruise at 32 to 34 mph at 3000 to 3200 rpm. And have the ability to trim up the outdrives when fishing in shallow water. Everything I have read about boats that were optioned with sterndrives and inboards, the sterndrives were hands down to performance winner. Better speed and better fuel economy at any given rpm. After researching fuel flow rates for 454's with Bravo drives on boats that weigh around 12,000 lbs. I believe that I will be burning around 25 to 30 gph total for both engines. Which will put my fuel usage back to were it was with my 28 ft.
The exhaust noise is also one of my pet peeves. I start to get a headache listening to that above water exhaust for hours on end. Converting to sterndrive makes the exhaust come out through the prop, which makes it quieter.
One of my main problem right now, is that I live in the U.P. of Michigan, and it has already started to freeze at night, we regularly get over 250 inches of snow most winters, with the record being 378 inches in 1978. The storage building I keep my boat in does not have heat or electricity. So that makes it hard to get the fabricating done. I had worked out a deal with a local trucking repair shop that had room inside that I could do the work. But the garage doors are right at 12' wide and I measured 12'2" on the widest part of the beam as well as I could. So that won't work. My next option is to open the main garage door at my work, back to boat in as much as I can and tarp around the opening to keep most of the heat in as we work on it.
We are still working out some of the fine details before we start cutting. My plan is to always be able to put the boat back together as an inboard if this doesn't work for some reason. The only thing getting in the way of that is that the rudder posts will have to be cut down so the new engines will be able to fit where they need to.
I have put a lot of thought into this for quite a few years, and decided that if I don't do it now, I never will. So here we go! Thoughts? Suggestions?