Trips to Twins....
 

Have to ask the question to the experienced ones.... what would it take to turn a early 90's Lightning w/ Triples, into a twin engine boat ? Remove the engine, drive train, lower unit, steering... then glass in the transom. What else am missing besides a new dash and paint to boot.... ? The money you deposit from the sale of all the parts, would pay for the renovation... right ?

I've always gone by this statement " It takes 15 % of the time and budget to do 85% of the work. The remaining 15 % kills you". That dash panel alone will cost more than the lower unit you remove.

you need to start fresh with a new transom cut some stingers down and move others around determine how high and how far apart you will mount your drives then you need to mount your motors and motor mounts almost square to the drives its a lot of work I have a twin dash and shifters if you need them

Any pics or video of the one's You have done?

tnt1 - your engine room looks awesome and you have a very nice loking boat. but not really wanting to stagger the engines, just wanted to leave the two side by sides and take the thrid ( in front ) out. Are you running ext boxes with bravo's or something bigger... SSM's ?

There was a Guy on here that pulled the center engine and drive,took a blown up upper welded it shut bolted it on and went boating with His new twin 42. until He got around to filling the Hole in the transom.You can also get the dash panel from Great lakes Skipper for short Money.

if you stay side by side its fairly easy, I bought ours after the center was filled in and changed the dash,gages,etc. of course I had nothing to sale to recoupe anything.

Side by side is easy just fill In the holes and change the dash. Staggered is a ton of work, but worth it when it comes time to twist some wrenches or gain every last mph.

Side by side????? Stagger it you'll be so happy. Sell the 3rd package.

You might want to check this thread out... LOTO buddy doing the same thing, although I'm sure he's going to stagger them. Conversion stuff starts around page 3. Good luck.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...iple-800s.html

On a older boat you probably should ask your two questions. What does it cost? And is it worth it on an older boat.

Hey tnt1 I have a use for your twin shifters/throttles. Get with me when you can Thanks 29 Fountain Fun Kyle

ill try to get some pic over the week end and get them out to you next week

Nice looking for what you have done so far.

Depending on what you start with it may not take a ton of cash. I'll have a good idea if it's worth it when mine is done. It's getting transom put in now. I'm going from triple 540 blower motors on IMCO boxes to twin staggered 540's with Whipples.

A twin staggered is a great ride but with strong 540’s and bravo style drives I would make plans for a lot of drives.

I like you guys threads on the changes and for sure some great work…..

tnt1’s boat is just phenomenal… I am sure Eddie’s will be also, can’t wait to see some updates……..

It's been a while since I read through it, but there is a thread in the Outerlimits section where a guy took a triple 37' OL to twin side-by-sides. It might provide some useful insight. I think the name of the thread was "37 remake", you should be able to do a search and find it. I'm pretty sure that after taking out the center engine, he moved the two rear motors forward to help with C of G.

Good thread on the 99 42. I am actually going through some of this right now.... similar situation. I have a 2000 47 Lightning... took the 500efi's out... and am planning on putting new 525efis back into it. I have one new 525efi ready for install and the other two are getting rebuild right now... will take another few months to complete that conversion. The problem is... I have a set of brand new 600sci motors sitting in my garage right now.... Should I just fill the center hole and install the (2) 600sci motors with Bmax drives? How would this effect resale?? Will I get kicked n the balls for not staggering the motors? Or should I just install the 525's with XR's and be done with it? I have already received an estimate for rebuilding the stringers for staggered... and I am looking at 10k minimum for the new stringers / transom so need to consider that as well... What do you guys think??

hey Team psi what ever happened with your flat deck project?.. How come you never finished the boat. i always thought it would be interesting putting the surface drives on that boat with them angled in the distance of a staggered boat.

LATER

Is two 600's really enough ponies to move the weight of a 47? especially if they're not staggered?