Chris Cat - New owner
 

Hey everyone was talking with another chris cat owner and he wanted me to post my pics, well here they are. I bought this boat last year and had a blast with it. Its a 31 with twin 650hp 540 engines and it runs great. I took on quite the winter project and am redoing the entire boat. The only problem I had last year was with my RH drive. I had TRS uppers with #2 lowers and I trashed the RH upper twice. I am putting #3s on it. As you can see in the pics the boat is a bare hull I just got it back from paint last week. I allready rigged everything for installing the #3 drives (what a pain in the ass) so its all ready to go back together. I rebuilt my motors, dynoed them and rebuilt my transmissions. Completly rewired the boat and am installing all new gauges by elite along with a new interior which is allready been made. It is new stlye with bolster seats and looks great. Well I plan on having the boat completly done in three weeks. I will post pis. Just wanted to share my boat with other guys who might enjoy it. Thanks, Jeff @ J&J Marine.

Nice Jeff,,,why don't u stick some #4's on boxes on there ????
or even on the transom with 2 inch spacers ,,,much better !!

But non the less real nice can't wait to see her done !!:ernaehrung004:

Nice!

I sure your rite Scott but sometimes you have to go with what you got and I have two sets of #3As and three sets of transom assembles. Maybe next year. Thanks, Jeff

Looks good keep us updated with pics.

The transom assmbl fit the 4's ,,you know that right ?!

I actually have a set of 4's in 1:33 ratio and may trade for the 3 a's + a little cash.:ernaehrung004:

Did u ever get that piec you where looking for ??? i checked and could not come up with anything.

keep in touch .:drink:

Yea Scott I know that the transoms are the same but why do you think 4s are better than 3As? Iv got quite a few boats we have put together with big power running on 3As and they dont break. Well any way I need to use mine because I use a 1.50 ratio but thanks for the offer. I found another tail shaft so Im good with that dont worry about finding one. Thanks, Jeff

Jeff,,they don't break,,its just that cat's like high X-dimensions and i found that they run real good with #4's and 1:33 ratio ,since a cat realy don't need much to get on plane and once the tunnel is air packed they GO .

But still ,,,, keep us posted on the cat and hopefully some pics running !!!:ernaehrung004:

Nice cat.
Ron Luks

You tend to see these boats with # 2 Speedmasters or # 4's. I don't know why but it seems they did not install # 3 's in them. I have the original # 2's that came with 400HP merc's. Your gonna love the way these boats eat the waves. I am suprised the upper unit went on you. The TRS upper is good to 700 hp I am told (?). The weak link is the # 2 lower. Maybe your alignment was off. i do not know any better cat hull in the same length. Your boat looks great, keep up the good work.

Wannabe

I thought they only used the 4's when you ran boxes. I kept my X demesion exactly the same as it was with the #2s the boat handled great and ran 106mph with the tired 650s. I also had props that were a tad under pitched and at that speed I was at 6000 as the motors are hitting the limiters. I got props with 2 inches more pitch and the motors are fresh Im hoping to pick up a little speed despite the extra weight from the #3s. We will see.

i dont see what the difference is in a 3 or 4 i been told about a couple chris cats with 3s running faster than mine with 4s but im still figuring mine out and tuning. what x deminion are you running without boxes? im 4.25 above with boxes. are you getting any porpusing and what speeds?

If your not running boxes your x demension should be lower. I was talking to greencard about his x and he is 3/4" above the bottom with 3s. Both of our boats are 7% prop slip which is good. Mine is 1/2" above the bottom. I havent run the boat this year with the 3s yet. But last year with the 2s I had no porpose at any speed unless my drives were trimed in to tight than she would hop at higher speed. If you are running boxes I dont no what the optimal x would be but greencard said he had some friends with that combo I would ask him. What power are you running? Let me know how you make out.

Cody,,a #4 is always faster then a#3 if instaled correctly,,,the #4 has way less drag then the 3 or any other drive exept the 6 !!!!!

4.25 sound low to me thogh !!!!

Jeff also does 3/4 above with a #3 should be 1" +

I went from IIs to IIIs on my chris cat.
Speed went up a couple mph. They IIIs are a little longer than the IIs and the X dimension was set with the propshaft about 1" above the bottom, higher than my IIs were at.

Hey Jeff, could you take a photo of the rear bottom of your boat, I wold like to see were your last step is located.

Thanks,
MSW

Chris Cat project
 

Jeff, Very nice project. Thanks for sharing in your "work in progress". Pics are appreciated. My project is located over on marineperformancetechtalk.com Good luck.

Any updates??? I need a fix man!!!! LOL. Keep the updates and lots of pics coming!

things are moving along pretty well!

:worthless_without_p

Cat is all done
 

Sorry it took me so long to post the finished pics guys. Iv been working like a crazy person we are extremly busy. But the boat is done Iv been out on it about 6 or 7 times and it runs great not a single problem. Knock on wood. The boat picked up 2 mph which is fine considering I didnt change anything to the motors just rebuilt them and I added weight with the #3s. Check it out let me know what you think. Thanks, Jeff

cat is done
 

A couple more pics

Looks great, you should post up some in progress pictures if you have them.

Also what drives did the boat have originally and what all did you do to swap to 3's?

Chris Cat
 

I origanally had #2 lowers with TRS uppers. But I switched to threes in the winter.

What did it take/ what all did you have to change to switch to #3's?

Switching to threes is a pain in the ass but its worth it they are very strong. You have to change the transom assembles which do not bolt right on you have to redrill the holes and fill the old ones. The steering has to be relocated slightly. Move the motor mounts about two inches back and a half inch up. If you do this conversion you have to use a dumby block to mock it up and get the alighnment correct. You also have to change the tail shafts on the transmissions for the #3 transom assem. If you are going to do this conversion I have all the parts to do it. Transom assem, tail shafts and drives that I would be willing to sell at a good price. Thanks. Jeff

I wont be doing it any time soon, just trying to figure out my options for when I finally have the coin to upgrade! SSM II's are hard to come by and are only getting harder!