1978 Spectra
 

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the board and have been enjoying on all the things that I have been away from for a while. Does anybody know much about the 78 Spectra (380 hrs). I picked one up recently with twin 454's and am updating it along with some more power. The big question I have is "What mold is this from" The seller was pretty certain it was a splash from a cigarette. Hull only...
I would like to see about swapping the deck out to something a little more desirable. This boat seems to run well in rough water however is sacraficing some power to get the real feel.

PS The hull reminds me of a magnum.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
John
[email protected]

I have a friend that has one. I'll post pictures and all info I can find. They were light and fast for their time. I know my friends will run 52-55mph with stock 350's and TRS drives.

Thanks for your help. I would like to modernize this boat however I don't want to spend a bunch of money on it if the boart lay up and so on is bad. Currently the boat has a few normal stress areas in the gel but nothing to concern worry about at this point anyway. Also if you could send me your friends email sometime that would be great. It might sound crazy but I would like to even replace the deck with something a little more desirable but don't know what my options are. I just pulled all the interior and plan to update that along with strengthening the boat with some vertical stringers along the sides of the boat to eliminate some flex points.
Thanks again for your help or any info you may post.
John

Not a very Deep vee I think only maybe a 17-19 degree bottom.Definitely an original design with the hull and the California cruiser look .Very unique and cool looking but the brand new one i saw back in 78 looked like the hardware and rigging
was straight off their jetboats right down to the teak steering wheel.

Probaly not the best ride because of the shallow v but very cool looking. I have always loved the looks of Spectras of any size.

http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/3791

Got any pics ? are you out of the Detroit area ? I am willing to bet it might be the same one that was at the Cobo Hall boat show in 79

I'll post some pics. The boat is a 24 degree bottom. Reminds me of my 93, 28' Challenger only a little longer. The ride seems much different as it is lacking power at the moment.
John

Spectra
 

I found some old articles with the spectra all the way back from 78. Still don't really help with the questions I have though.

This is the Challenger I use to own. This was a great boat "in and out" of the water. The bottom looks very similar.

RE: Spectra Pic
 

Doesn't look like a 78 does it........
Just kidding.

That is the boat that was in the Cobo hall boat show in 79 right next to are display believe it or not.

If the hull is 24 degrees at the stern which i do not believe it is the entry is not a very sharp.

It is a cool classic and it would be a shame to cut it up and change it.Somewhere i have an old Powerboat magazine prformance test on one if i can find it.

That's funny you remember that. The boat did come from the southeast side of the state. Go figure. I may end up just putting a new paint job on it and call it good for now. I know it's a classic and should leave the deck as is. Just not real fond of it. Send me your email and I'll send you the mag. ads from 79 on it. There was a website on these just a short while ago I thought at spectraboats.com however I can't pull it up any more.
John
[email protected]

The Spectra dealer was Roger Russell of Performance Marine Mt. Cleamens Mi. This red & white one I believe belonged to Magnum racer Wally Harper, and he called it Li'l SMIDGEN also. It was still in the area a few years ago with out the name. The hulls were about 18 degrees, not a 24 degrees like a Magnum. But she is a cool classic, In 1976 I had a west coast 32' Lancer that had the same basic hull.

Found some more Spectra info from 1979. I believe I have the Powerboat Magazine test report that I will find & post.

A friend of mine had 1 and it was a 68 MPH on GPS with 454 330 and TRS's. He glasses in the windows and it looked much better. I will see if I have a picture of it somewhere.


Mark

Maybe I need to degree this boat
 

This page was from the same magazine shown above. I'm not sure if it is readable until after this post.

More info
 

2 more pages

There was a article I believe in Hot Boat awhile back where the owner did a real nice update on the boat and deck. It turned out great. Someone on here probably knows what year and issue.

Spectra update
 

I would really like to see this if anyone knows what issue.
thanks,
john

I was just looking at the pics in the ad. That's one of the Herbst family boats. You can see the "Terrible Herbst" character on the bow. Looks like they are getting rid of a few toys.



Darrell.

I spent a few minutes on photoshop. Let me know your thoughts. Just a picture at this point.
John

Has anyone Read the first page I posted RE: the article. Is this a misprint? I am still a little confused as to why they claim this is a 24 degree deadrise bottom.......
Maybe it's jsut getting late and to many buds.

Looks good, and it keeps with the classic lines of the boat.


Darrell.

My guess is that it's a misprint. The pics sure don't look like a 24 degree hull, but what the hell do I know.


Darrell.

Hey John, Were you towing it west bound on I-94 last year? I remember seeing it exiting on Livernois in Detroit:eek:

Boat on I-94
 

No,
The boat has been sitting in storage near where I live in NW MI. When I got the boat this summer it hadn't been towed or even run in over 10 yrs.

Surprized there may be another one of these around this area...

Take care,
John

Dkahnjob had a nice Spectra 32 before his Fountain.
 

Dkahnjob here on the forum had one of the nicest Spectra 32 around before selling it and going with a 35' Fountain. David Kahn can probably give You some advice about Your project. The boat is definitely 24 degrees at the transom, but has a very shallow entry and a huge wide deck as You know. The Spectra 32 was one of the first larger performance V-bottoms made on the West Coast and got great reviews in among another publications Powerboat Mag. The boat was very expensive for it's time, but Spectra still made 50 of them before closing shop in 1981. Racey Industries in Boulder, NV laid up a new one in 1987 and that's the last made as far as I know. Check out this link;
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache...&ct=clnk&gl=us

Good luck with this project, but seriously consider buying the Herbst one if it's still available. It's suppose to be very nice and has been for sale for a long time. Who knows what they'll take at this time. Money is not their real issue!!!

Those are great looking boats!

Thank you Lars for posting. You gave me a little confidence with my ongoing project. This is just the kind of boat you look at and wonder... I can know see that with the right paint and detailing this boat may still be a head turner. At the moment I am upgrading the engines and will soon be ready for the paint. I really lucked out with this boat as far as care goes. It only had under 400 hours on it. I have also stripped the interior and am working on that as well.

QUESTION,
Do you think it would look wrong or out of place to downsize the starboard seat. I see spectra wanted to have it wider to match the cuddy door however there is no advantage to the larger seat and only takes up space.

Any help here.

Thanks for any help and info.
You guys have been very helpful.

Very original, sounds like a keeper...
 

You found Yourself a boat in good original condition John, but this is a boat that You can custom do her Your way and not feel any guilt. There's plenty of 70's custom boats out here in the Southwest that owners keep hotting up with new stuff all the time. We are not talking wooden classics here. Would advice You to stick to conservative classic colors. It's amazing how a few years can make an elaborate paint scheme seem totally outdated. As far as the starboard seat, as long as You make sure Your helm is comfortable in accordance with Your seat I could see even a modern McLeod bolster in her, it's a luxury sports cruiser not a race boat, right? The Spectra 32 was sold as the most luxurious and largest sport boats as new and few were set up for racing. A few exceptions existed though among other ones a winner of the offshore Catalina Ski Race in 1982 with two turbo charged engines doing 90 mph plus.

Best of luck and give us a few pictures of the project.

P.S. Beef up the bow bulk head. She has a tendency to flex a little otherwise deck wise. D.S.

Is this Behlings old boat? It sure looks like it, if so, that boat only saw very light use. Plus it hasn't seen water for at least 15 years.

These are old brochure pictures. I think the 32 looks best in this colour combo. DKahn's colour scheme was the same .
His was immaculate.

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/3...pectra%202.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/32%20%20spectra.jpg

The deadrise is 24* on the 32' , 18* on the 19' , 15* on the 24 and 12* on the 20'.

here's the 19 we have at the lake
http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/S...n%20the%20lift


My 24 was happy in the chop [ 1" bottom layup]
http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/2...39;s%20Jericho

19 & 20
http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/Picture%20006.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/6....76Spectra.jpg

Thanks a lot everyone for your help with my project. This really helps especially I live in a remote area in NW, MI and there are not many offshore boaters up here where I am at anyway. The ones that are, are mostly vacationing. Another words it's difficult to discuss this with many people for ideas and not to do as well as to do's. I did spend most my late winter and a good part of the summer building my 496's for this boat. They are pretty much a proven 600 HP plus with all the good guy parts. I hope to have the boat in the water real soon however the boating days are slowly coming to an end. I am very curious as to how the boat is going to respond this power. This fall and winter I plan to continue on with the interior updating and paint as well as possible deck mods to make it a little more apealing to the eye. I know a 32 isn't long by any means however the deck layout really shortens it. Your ongoing help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again guys.

John

Any luck with this yet. I am really excited to move forward however would love to be able to find this article.
Thanks for your help.
John

Getrdunn , I have some pictures of Joey's [ in California] 32 with the deck change and will post it for you later. In the meantime i'll post a picture of Burt Court's Spectra from the days he used to pull skiers in the LA to Catalina run.Vic Edelbrock also had a 32 with #427 on its side pulling skiers .

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/B...pectra32.2.jpg

Scoops were made for the 32 http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/s...2020%20033.jpg

Deck lengthened by 3'

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/s...032%20xs.2.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/s...2020%20040.jpg


http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/s...2020%20026.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/s...2020%20024.jpg

Another 32 from Parker AZ

http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/spectra32a.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/spectrasonly/spectra32.jpg

oh my gosh, what a difference. i do like the original look also with the right paint scheme however the picture you posted above is pretty much exactly what i have been thinking about over the last 12 months. i really appreciate your help and any more pics you have please post. is there any way to contact the person that did this or that has this boat. i am very serious and if you only knew how much i have been thinking about this. your help here is greatly appreciated once again.

thanks so much.
john read
[email protected]

ps is there any way possible i can get in touch with joey. i assume he's the one who had the above project. email or phone number? this would really help me out.

Getrdunn , go to www.riverdavesplace.com and sign up, it's free. Riverdave is the site owner and a fan of Spectras as well.
There's a 'Spectra Marine' forum there where you may find Joel [ 32 Spectra project ] by searching for info. He was on the 'Hotboat' site before it went down. I'm sure people on the riverdaveplace will find him for you. Forum member 'Racey' was involved building 32 Spectras [ 4] with his Dad after Spectramarine closed , and he'll be a good source for you.

i will start my searching ASAP. you have been a great deal of help.

thanks again and keep in touch.
john