Savage 28 Rehab " Stole your Thunder"
 

Back in October I made an insane drive to pick up a 28 Savage that was down in Mississippi. RI to MS and back in 48 hours! Boat is a 99, has a carb'd HP500 that is blown, and has a swept back XR with Imco dual ram hydro to helm steering. Of course I picked this up right after getting my Outlaw 24 on the water as it spent all summer finishing up my 548 and getting it done. So the plan was, clean up the Thunder and put my 548 in it and sell off the rest. As of today here is where we stand. Savage has no motor in it, swim platform and the diamond plate in the bilge are off to the powder coater to get redone. Planning on purple for both. The 548 is out of the Outlaw and with my engine guy. Repainting everything on it and sending it back to the dyno to try and get a little more hp out of it. Should be somewhere between 670-690 once it is dialed in. Have been in the process of collecting gauges to replace all of the existing ones. Looking to have the Savage back with my engine guy for beginning of March and then its motor in and get it on the water and dialed in. With any luck i'll be boating in April this year instead of September like last year. Only pic so far, will get some more up very shortly. Also thanks for the Cult for coming up with the perfect name for the boat. Those of you that know the back story know how this name truly is perfect.

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...65364259ot1lsi


Any idea's what she should run once power is in?

Good Luck and hopefully all goes as planned. Keep the pics coming.

Should run high 70s low 80s. Keep us updated with pics

Congrats on finding a 28. I just drove from Chicago to Connecticut to look at an 05. I find the boat has a soft floor, multiple gel coat cracks in the gunnels and transom, and sitting on a trailer that doesn't fit. I couldn't even make an offer because the boat was so misrepresented and the guy is asking top dollar.

Soft floor in a 05 savage? Haven't heard of that before. Must not have been taken care of or something. What was he asking? What power?

Nice boat!

What better to do in a snow storm than start cleaning up the bilge. Before starting:

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...75%3B259ot1lsi

Panels pulled and hatch rams removed. Time to start cleaning.

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...33%3C259ot1lsi

and here's a picture of the cockpit

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...64979259ot1lsi

Looks good! Sounds like you have a garage to work in also! Best thin to have with this winter!

Really.I know that boat .show me a boat that does 76 and has no stress cracks....they all do...I love people who go on here a **** talk someone's boat... maybe it isn't right for you but maybe it's right for someone else..If you are lookin for a 70 mph boat with no stress cracks..buy a new one...and by the way..maybe you shouldn't buy an active thunder..The manufacturer set up the trailer so throw stones at them.

I beg to differ, I own a 97 25 AT. you won't find a stress crack anywhere on the boat. My brother bought it new, now I have it. It has had from a 502 to a blown 540 in it, slowest it has been with 502 was 77 mph when it was new. The boat has been run hard but very well taken care of, the most solid boat I have ever been on. Again No stress cracking.

drivrswntd, I used dawn dish soap to clean my bilge. Lots of water and soap and it came out so clean I almost didn't paint! Keep us posted.

Thats what Andy said to use also! Dawn and Simple green. Cleaned it up last weekend and wow what a difference. New bilge pumps came in, waiting on my panels and platform to get back from powdercoat, ordered shiny new stainless drain plugs, new gauges and some hoses and fittings I needed to get my motor in. Once weather breaks motor goes to dyno, then its getting painted blue and dropped in place. Will update with pics once I get my panels and bilge finished up.

What about the soft floor? I'm going to have to side against you on this one. My 02 has very minimal stress cracks. For some reason 'clean' just means something a little different in Connecticut... lol.

To the OP, always liked these threads, hope the boat turns out awesome for you. Dish soap is the way to go as others said for that bilge. Are you re-gauging?

Yes I am re-gauging the boat. New gauges will be here Tuesday.

Time for an update as I'm currently running full steam to get things ready. Received my swim platform and other parts back from powdercoat so got those mounted on the boat. Platform was previously white and was scratched to hell so had it redone. Bilge is almost done, just need to put the new pumps in. Half way through redoing all of the gauges. Was able to get the cabin bed area back together. See pics below, had one trim panel down and the vinyl was falling off, got it put back together and replaced all of the recessed puck lights with new LED's. Found a recessed light that fits the hella light holes perfectly. Direct swap out! Nice and bright too. My motor is ripped apart and prepped for paint, will be getting shot this week, then reassembled and hopefully on the dyno next week.

Before

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...%3C93259ot1lsi

After

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...3B234%3Anu0mrj

Pic of the redone platform in purple to match

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...56564259ot1lsi

Looks great!

Any more info on the cabin lights? Thanks

Yup, here's the lights I'm using.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...ure-9-led/846/

I find the 9 LED version to be more than enough light. They have a 12 also.

Couple of updates. Boat was dropped off and is at the shop for engine install. Motor is painted and ready to hit the dyno. Dyno is looking to be Friday then finish throwing it back together and drop in the boat. All of the gauges done and installed, just need to get a new depth gauge at this point.

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...67%3A259ot1lsi

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...3A599259ot1lsi

Looking Good!

Great job, luv the Blue

Looks great, I love a re-do project on a boat. It's just amazing what lots of dollars can do to an older boat! It's a really satisfying project, when it's all done!

Thanks for the link on the lights I am starting on my Tantrum and will use these

Traveling currently but motor dyno'd 635hp and 660 torque yesterday. Reinstall starting today

Time for an update. Motor is in and up and running, had a water test Monday and ran fine for 15-20 minutes and then died, no spark, then spark, timing all over. Turns out the pickup on the distributor failed. For the 20 min we ran it, boat was running amazing and is worlds difference from the Outlaw 24 I was coming from. No GPS #'s yet as I didnt have the gps sensor hooked up yet on my gauge and we didnt run long enough to pull out the phone. Had it up to 5600 on a 26P right hand prop. Thinking high 70's but will know soon. Boat does have a tendency to list to port so going to try a left hand per Derek's recommendation. New pickup went on today and boat fired right up and is back to running normal. Have a couple minor things to finish up and we will be up and running. All of this of course wouldnt have been possible without the expertise of Jamie aka lil red on the forum. He's done an amazing job getting the motor running properly, rigging and getting this project done.

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...89%3C259ot1lsi

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...C6833259ot1lsi

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...89%3B259ot1lsi

Awesome!!! Looking forward to more updates.

Lets see if this works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvzQFCmJpac

Looks and sounds awesome!

Those gauges just about gave me a chubby

Nice gauges

Do try the left hand prop, I used to have a 26 Sonic, it used to list to the left till you got it over cruise speed. Went to a lefty and all was good. I guess it counter acted the engine torque you get with a single. A lot of single engine boats, like Fountain and Velocity were rigged that way.

Mission successful! Had a great day out yesterday with family and some friends. Went down to Newport for the day. Weather was so so but we had a good time and enjoyed the boat. The left hand prop makes a huge difference and the boat is no longer listing to port. Still no top speed #'s as we had a full load but all in due time. Now going to enjoy the summer on the water!

http://images2.snapfish.com/23232323...C%3A7259ot1lsi