eddie

iTrader: (7)

Looks good, thanks for posting the pics.

Holy Smokes

iTrader: (2)

How did you determine to start with 3" spacers? Seems like a lot.

tcelano

Yea, you're probably right. Although I can see the relative depth of the trailer from the pylons. If the tops of the pylons are below the gunwales, it will clear. When I launched, the pylons were more like 3" above the waterline, so the trailer was long gone.

Thanks for all the positive feedback. Owning something like this takes a lot of work, as you all well know. When I started the project, there weren't fully rigged #6 Top Guns on the market for under $100k. As I've said before, though whatever you buy, if you want high-performance at a low price point, you are going to be re-working a lot of stuff either soon or sooner. When I bought this boat, the previous owner had taken his power out, and just bolted in some 454 MPI's, but not done any rigging. The transom had never been drilled for exhaust, so I had a clean slate there. The main reason we got it was because it already was drilled for speedmasters. I doubt those were the original drives, because I don't think they came around until '82.

tcelano

Well, I went through the highly complicated process of just putting them on the way I bought them. I got them from Gary Kollofski (the SSM gear guy in Minnesota). He advised me to try them with thes spacers first. I figured better to start deeper and go up, because the props I got were a little shy on diameter. They are a bit deep right now, and after I get to see what it does on the top end, I may pull 1" or 2" out this winter. We're not racing, so I don't want to make a setup that really has trouble getting out of the hole. I think I can afford to go up some.

The handling seems so nice right now, part of me is afraid to mess with it. I know these boats need a ton of bow lift, and If I start pulling the bullets partly out of the water, they may start lifting the stern, so that may be going backwards.

bustedbrick

Congrats! Nice to see some serious iron running in the PacNW. Boat looks awesome. Randy

jasonmd2

iTrader: (4)

Looks very nice. Great job!