Marinette Boat Forum

Hello all. I finally got an account here after lurking for awhile. I bought a 1975 28 ft express with twin 318's this past summer off a family member. I know all of the owners (4) of this boat dating back to 1981. That owner bought it from a gentleman that bought it new. It has stayed in an area of 15 miles for over 30 years, with a short time in Lake Michigan. I had taken a few trips on this boat to Isle Royale the past two summers, this is a 70 mile run dock to dock, with close to 60 miles of open Lake Superior. I was a pleasantly surprised how it handled the big water. I renamed it the " Tin Lizzy 3 ". I also own a 1976 Lund S-16 "Tin Lizzy", a 1988 Lund 21 Sportfisherman "Tin Lizzy 2", and a 1998 Fisher pontoon - no name. I had no plans to own just aluminum boats, it just turned out that way. My father owned a mid 70's 28 ft express single 360 in the mid 80's. I have replaced both of the original distributors with Mallory electronics, replaced three out of four exhuast manifolds, had one rot out on one of our trips. Replaced the Perko fuel filters with Mercruiser spin on style. Replaced both alternators with the Arco replacements. Engines have around 2,200 hours on them. I did a compression test last year and all cylinders had decent psi in them. As time and funds allow I hope to upgrade the engines. I hope to repaint the hull this spring if time allows. I want to thank everyone on this site, I have learned a lot about Marinettes in a short time. I hope to post helpful responses when they are warranted and look forward to gaining more knowledge from all the great members here. Thank You - Rodney

Welcome aboard! I keep my 32 in Arcadia, south of Frankfort on Lake Michigan. So far I have run her from Lake St Clair to St Ignace. Kept her there for 2 summers. Last summer ran her down to Arcadia. These are great boats and I'm sure you will have many more years of adventures.

Welcome Rodney

Welcome Aboard.
Enjoy
bill

Welcome aboard! When you say the boat performed well in big waters - are you simply referring to crossing lake Superior under normal conditions or have you had it out in big waves?

We don't run into much for big seas on the Mississippi and I'm very curious about how 28 footers do in waves more than 1-2 feet.

We have had it in legit 5-7 ft waves, which are quite a bit different than that same size wave on the ocean, very tight together and steep. Obviously had to slow way down, 12-14 m.p.h., with the props coming out (cavitating) of the water quite often. Ended up beating a 32 ft Bayliner by an hour on that trip, we left at the same time. We were able to kind of bob and weave through them, the waves were coming at starboard corner of the bow. I haven't had it in much of a following sea yet, so I can't say as to how well it would perform in that condition.

That sounds terrifying and awesome all at once. Although not necessarily designed for it, it's nice to know the 28 can handle some rough stuff.