25' Skagit power?

[Karl]

A couple months ago, in a different thread, Helmar suggested that I put a 302 in my 1960 25' Skagit. I was thinking of converting the hull to an outboard and putting Yamaha 200? that I have access to. The Yamaha has a couple of blown heads, so it would cost a bit to fix up.

I was just taking to a friend of mine who told me that his mom has a Ford 351 Clev. (supposed to have 50,000 miles on it) that his dad was going to use on a Glenn L. His dad sold the boat, minus the engine, a couple of years ago. Now, he has passed away, and she would like to sell the engine.

Would this be a good power source for the Skagit? And if so, what would be a fair price to offer?

Thanks,
Karl

[jaxbot]

Just a few things to consider, this is a car engine, not a marine engine. You would have to change all of the core plugs (freeze plugs) from aluminum to brass. This would be a good idea even if you are going to run fresh water cooling.
The electrical components, distributor, starter, alternator, etc. would have to be changed to marine.
The fuel components, fuel pump, fuel line to carburator, and the carburator would have to be changed to marine.
If the head gaskets have an aluminum base, they will have to be changed to a marine style if you are going to use raw water cooling.
Make sure you don't use an aluminum intake manifold of you are using raw water cooling.
I'd look around for a used or rebuilt marine engine.
Hope this helps.
JACK LESLIE

[Steve_Kiesel]

Just see this listing as an example of what's out there. Plus this one is a marine engine.

http://bellingham.craigslist.org/boa/2161125100.html

[Tim McCrain]

Go with marine

After doing a lot of searching and pricing of marine components for my Chev 305, I'd recommend buying a complete marine engine w/ manifolds (like the craigslist ad posted above) if you can find one with good manifolds. You could easily spend about as much on new manifolds, risers and heat exchanger if you had to buy new parts. The marine components add up really fast, and it seems you can buy the complete package for far less than the cost of piecing it together.

Tim

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

302 vs 351 for marine application

AS stated above, to adapt a car engine to marine application, you need marine (SAE Marine) ignition protected accessories. Starter, alternator, distributor.

I tend to prefer more cubic inches in marine applications in heavy boats. It's that mid-range torque that makes a difference, getting the boat up on plane.

One of my customers years ago had a 24' Bayliner that came with a 305 Chev/Volvo Penta. Had a lot of trouble with that engine....exhaust manifolds were too low and the wrong camshaft that had a propensity to ingest sea water up the exhaust.

He ultimately switched to a 350 Chev and his fuel consumption went down and reliability was greatly improved..

My two cents worth..

[Helmar]

What I had been suggesting is finding a Donor boat with a complete package to pull from.

It really depends on what you want to do in reality.
Hot rod or the capability of being a hot rod but then just a cruiser.

I am a Chevy man when it comes to the automobiles but I can tell you I am NOT fond of what Chevy did with there small block engines with just a carb on them.
The fact is the performance with the amount of fuel, I think was a Very large mistake in GM's part. The idea of a 350 getting 10 or less mpg sucks Big time.

Never been real fond of Ford products but hey, I grew up working in my Dads wrecking yard.
After working on all kinds of stuff, I was never fond of the Mopar due the fact, not much interchangeability between parts.

But, I have an old dodge van with a rebuilt 318 engine that does 16 mpg.
A little 360 engine in my small 19ft RV that does 13.7 with pulling my 20ft offshore Skagit up to the Seattle area and back to Portland where I lived before Moving up this way.

So, I suggest looking around to see what is powered with what.
I see Way too many OMC drives available to almost, Come and get this out of my driveway type deals.
The OMC outdrive units come off and can be replaced with another pretty quick.

I see lots of those boats, later model ones too, running the 302 to 351 engines as well as the 305 to 350 engines.

Get this. My 88 GMG low rider has a 350 with the EFI (fake fuel injection)
My 79 Chev 350 has a carb on it.
The 88 gets on an average of 19.2 mpg with the EFI.
The 79 gets on an average of 10 to a little less on a Carb..
Go figure.
Also, anything you twist up over 3 grand, for the most part, will take more fuel.
My little RV like I said, 13.7, Unless you turn her up over 3k rpms. Once you get it up to say, 3500, deal is off, Sucks lots of fuel.

Gets down to Cost of Operation and Maintenance in my arena.

Just my :TwoCents1: again.

[Karl]

Thanks for all of your advice. I don't know engines, so it is a bit scary figuring out the best route to go.

Karl

[mikekronick]

Karl. Take a look at Chucks posting on RR Merlins. That will give you some ideas about boat power. You can never have to much horse power. Worlds fastest Skagit. :cool1: