post 7

Please keep posting. I see more and more classic V-hulls being converted to outboards and though I'm partial because my boat was originally

designed as such back in 1990 for its first owner, famous offshore racer Peter Rothschild, I understand it's not for everybody. Twin or triple

used Mercury 400R motors are an affordable choice for many guys these days. Now this Comanche 42 is of course not a budget re-power,

but on a whole other level, but I believe the next gen offshore boaters on a budget would really like to follow this project.

P.S. Low profile v-bottoms of size are cool. The one on the trailer Richie Powers had built for himself in 2006 by McManus. The other is a sister boat. D.S.

Sorry, maybe it runs good but they ruined the appearance of that beautiful boat, IMO.

Padraig

That might be. I haven't seen photos of the Comanche 42 and it's a delicate thing to cut down an original boat in a tasteful manner.

The boat Don's son David had McManus build for Richie Powers came out very nice, but then it was not a 40' plus boat. It was

a Midnight Express 30SS mold that David borrowed and had McManus cut down. The first low profile Don did was his 1965

Donzi 008 boat and I always liked that boat a lot.

post 8

post 9

post 10

10...oh yeah
Post a pic

You can see the triple engine compartment layout.

Those purple triple drives sure do look great.


Original Ad for the boat, the original owner has told us that he would approach 125mph with light fuel.




The Comanche hulls were built for full performance so no cabins here.

The boat sitting in our customers yard with the old deck still on it.

The boat at our customers lot.

Sitting in our shop as we first received it.

Stringers in the transom area are original but the knees that tie them to the top of the transom and the bulkhead splitting the compartment in half are not original.

Old saddle tank.

Extra structure support in the passengers compartment.

Large center fuel tank and the old saddle side tanks cut out. The area to the front half of the tank where all the structural support is on the hull sides is where the original cockpit was. the area behind the saddle tanks is where the third motor was mounted.

We added two 3 inch rig tubes and used 2lb pour foam then a layer of thin chop mat to seal off these unused compartments.

Seriously stout transom, the outer layer is a solid inch of kevlar and carbon.

From the mid point of the hull forward there is no core in the hull sides and it is solid kevlar and carbon.

The skin coat on the cockpit part being made for this boat.

The epoxy/e-glass cockpit part, extremely lightweight.

We cut the transom down to be even with the hull side.

Chunk of transom.

Grinded the top of the fuel tank for where we laminate it in with epoxy.

We secured the tank with epoxy and fiberglass as well as through bolted it to the front bulkhead.

I'm delighted to follow this project. How come the original boat was in such a state that it would not make sense to restore it as was?

This could turn into one unique low profile sled, but at this point it's difficult to imagine it without being there in person. Lots of work

done already, so hopefully it'll be completed eventually. No small undertaking. I applaud the ambition.