New boat.....Close to a Glassic.....I think

[61_express]

So this is my new project a 1973 25' Chris Craft Tournament Fisherman. She is 9'9" wide, powered by twin 181 Chevy's and direct drives. It is all there right down to all of the hard to find trim. One engine was just rebuilt over in Port Townsend and the other I am going to re-ring just to be sure. Its a pretty interesting layout really. The last two pics are of a restored one

[Helmar]

That looks like a pretty slick project for sure.

You know, we have never really figured out what makes a Classic.
Does it look Classic to you, if yes, then it is
I mean think about it. She is 40 years old !!

[61_express]

Kinda what I'm thinking. My Duster is a '75 and its considered a classic.

[61_express]

Does anyone know if they make some performance goodies for the 181 (aka 3.0L) 4 cyl engines. I'm sure with twins she will be ok on power but what can I say I always want more. She will be about 300hp total (150 each) but the boat is 4700 lbs.

[Helmar]

Does anyone know if they make some performance goodies for the 181 (aka 3.0L) 4 cyl engines. I'm sure with twins she will be ok on power but what can I say I always want more. She will be about 300hp total (150 each) but the boat is 4700 lbs.

You know, I don't think we have a Inboard/Outboard guy ??
I have puttered a little but only on the Volvo stuff.

[61_express]

Well not technically an I/O on this one but... The engine stuff I have pretty much covered , I build a lot of Mopar's, but not too many Chevy's. The 181 seems like a good engine but haven't seen much on performance parts. Just looking for about 20-30 more hp each. But supposedly this thing will do about 32-35 stock with the twin 181 direct drives. They also built them with twin 165 hp 6 cyl's in the later years. I see a few with v-8 conversions in them also. Those do in the 50's, ohhhh some day.

[61_express]

Starting to rebuild the starboard motor. It is actually in great shape. Can still see a hone on the cylinder walls. They are 1987 blocks and are Mercury Marine instead of Marine Power blocks. The port motor was rebuilt over in Port Townsend to the tune of $2000 and hasn't been fired up yet either. One interesting aspect is that both motors and transmissions are std. rotation. Wonder what this will do for maneuverability.

[Bflaherty]

If you have two standard rotation props it hinders the maneuverability by quite a bit. There is a reason most twins are opposite rotation... However just having twins will allow you "walk" the boat sideways and you will still have the ability to spin it within its own length (one forward, one reverse).

Although, have you actually checked the props? Are you sure both setups are standard rotation? Even if motors are both standard they usually run one transmission opposite.

[61_express]

I did check the props. Both standard. There has been a debate over at the Chris Craft Commander forum about this. Oddly enough this is the only model Chris Craft built with this rotation set up. When I repower I will go make it counter rotating. with the 4.3's I think. The hull cards for a couple of these also show them being shipped with 2xLH props.

[61_express]

A little update, I finally got the rest of her back to the house a couple days ago. For an open style boat she really makes my truck look small. Hopefully get the hole in the bow patched up and motors dropped in here in a few weeks. Name change is top of the list.

[Kelly]

Wow Nick, your truck looks like a toy pulling the boat!
Why the name change?

[TheBronze]

Haha, definitely change the name! About as bad as the '69er" that my Bell Boy came with!

[61_express]

Ha Ha, nice. Thinking "SMUGGLERS BLUES" though. Throw back to Miami Vice...

[Kelly]

suddenly I had drums and a crazy guitar riff blast into my head! (Miami Vice theme)

I like the name though. While we were on Lake Union today we were laughing at some of the names people came up with. I think our favorite to laugh at was "Barometer Soup"

[Bflaherty]

Boaters seem to get cheeky with boat names... "C-Toy" "Knotty Girl" "Knot in a hurry" "Pussy Foot" (that was owned by two brothers, one a gynocologist and the other a pediatrist). I think boat names are always a fun way to express yourself however, keep in mind how embarrassed you might be when hailing someone on the radio...