Cigarette Bullet 31, single V8, will it work? pls comment
 

Dear all!

I have the option to buy a Cigarette Bullet 31 with twin 454mag's at 365 hp each. The boat is running 64 mph now and is in decent shape. My plan is to strip the boat totally, reinforce the hull, check for cracks, do everything from the beginning to get myself a boat that could work for many years and it should then of course be in mint, technical and cosmetically.

Since I live in Sweden (you thought you paid a lot for gas:) I am interested in going for a single HO V8 rather than the 2 carbureted 454 that’s now in the boat. I have an option to buy a nearly new 496 mpi HO and I know that if I ad a Procharger I can easily get 650 hp out of it.....so now to the calculation were I need your help.

The Cigarette ways in at about 8800 lbs and it has 730 hp giving it a pound/hp ratio on: ~12.

The Cigarette with single BB 496/650 hp would way in at about 1300 lbs less = 7500, doing the math as above should give it a pound/hp ratio of: ~11,5.

Due to the reduced weight at the transom and the slightly higher rear-position of the boat it should be possible to raise the single-drive an inch or so, combining it with a low water pickup and maybe a nosecone.

Everything above seems logical and should work “in theory” but, you skilled offshorers, will it also work in the real world?, what could I expect from stability, grip, speed, general behavior and so on???……

Any comments are highly appreciated………..Happy Eastern from Sweden…

Lars

I would think that you would be fighting a number of issues. I assume you have Bravo drives on the boat now. If that is the case then a single Bravo IMO would not hold up well so you would spend your fuel savings on drive repairs. The balance of the boat (Center of gravity) would be way off as the boat is designed to fly/drive with that extra motor back there. Take out all that weight and the bow would be heavy and you will not be able to get the lift out of your sigle prop. If you went with a number 6 drive maybe you would be ok but then you are talking HUGE money again. HP is HP and it takes fuel to make it. Be it 2 motors that put out 350hp each vs. 1 motor that puts out 700, the fuel consuption will be about the same. Properly tuned up carb will be efficient. I would leave it alone and enjoy it, the costs of the upgrade will pay for many many tanks of fuel. :D

Many thanks "Audiofn", yepp, the balance is an issue, the 496 comes with a Bravo XR (not sure about the name), however it is designed for diesel and should be able to take the torq......interesting comments, I'll put them on my +/- list.....

Lars

i think docking would be a challenge too.

they did make 29 outlaws in a single so you are only 2' longer & not sure how much more the cig hull weighs over a baja. but would really suck to go thru all that work & then stuck w/ something u dont like.

You would need at least 1000hp to go 50.

I think you will end up with the second worse Bullet conversion in the world - second ONLY to this one:
http://www.boattrader.com/listing/19...acing-92589790

In all seriousness all the comments above should be added to your "-" list. It is going to eat drives, be slow as the day is long, take a lot of glass/rigging work, be extremely hard to get on plane, drive like crap once it is ON plane, probably only provide marginal fuel consumption savings, look funny sitting in the water with a bunch of the weight removed from the back, fly through the air dangerously due to the change in weight distribution, and most importantly - YOU WILL OWN IT FOREVER unless you plan to donate it to charity because resale will be non-existant at absolute best.

A single is appealing in a lot of ways but a CIG is not the right platform - they are just too fat.

a bullet weighs as much as a 36 outlaw baja, so the answer would be no on a single. 32 sunsation and 29 baja are much lighter.

The answer is clearly ,,NO !!!

I remember Hot Boat doing a write up on a B&H water rod, i think it was 30'. The boat performed suprisingly well but they installed a tcm 800 to get it there. It seems like you could find a big single for the money you would be investing in making a twin a single.

Don't the Bullets tend to be a little nose-heavy to begin with? This does not sound like a smart project to me, and I've tackled a lot of not-smart projects. Seldom are they a good idea.

What is wrong with the Bullet's stringer system to make you want to reinforce the hull? Cig's are some of the strongest built boats to begin with.

You can boat all season long without buring a full tank of fuel if ya really want to. You are in control.

Most people have never seen a Bullet up close. They are a HUGE 31, Probably the biggest 31 made...Beam and freeboard
compare with most 35-38s. Way to much boat for a single.
Also the center stringer that is about 2 feet tall is the backbone
cutting it out would open up a whole bunch of other problems
Run it with the Mags, it wont be bad on fuel. Unless they have been left wet alot it should need nothing structural..They are very tough.

Maybe some small blocks or deisles?

First of all!!, Thanks You so much for all input and sorry for not taking part of the discussion.....been skiing, another thing that eats your wallet out :))

It is all on my mayor "-" list, and the project "single HO V8" is put were it belong, in the garbagebin, interesting thing about the docking, yes it would probably be tough, another interesting remark is the centre-stringer, reasons for reenforce it was because it has been wet alot, were I am boating (Stockholm, Sweden), high n dry is expensive and renting dockspace is cheap....again many thanks all of you, I was not dreaming of this respone....

Lars

What is interesting is if you go here: http://www.go-fast.com/boat_speed_predictions.htm and plug your numbers in for 8800lbs, 730hp, and 64mph you come up with a constant of 226. Almost exactly what they predict for your boat.

According to the same calculator 7500lbs, 650hp, 226 constant gives you a predicted speed of 67 mph.

I know nothing myself, but if what you got is in good working order, probably should stick with the twins.