Taking a 42 lightning triple and turning it to a twin
 

Pros and cons of just pulling the center engine and running the boat as a twin. Not making it staggered just simply pull the center engine and run the boat as a twin. Any mph and Hp numbers?

Yes it will be a dog. It will sit heavy in the back, will not take waves good, hard on drives.................

Waist of time,,,, no one will want it ( including yourself)
If you want to upgrade it,,, remove the motors, drives ,,, and sell it all

Then find a good used pair of 1075, w #6 drives,,, you will love the performance,,,,,,, it all comes down to money,,, and how much you want to keep the boat,,,
of course the other option is to
Sell the boat,, and find the power package you want in another water craft


Good luck

Read the TRL thread on how to spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$?$$$$$$$$$$$ on drives with little gain .

Did they actually make a twin stepped boat 1998 ish without being staggered?

yes, they did.. I have a big step '98 Side by side, the cockpit is about 2' bigger as the bulkhead is moved back on a factory side by side boat, I love the extra room & it performs great, I believe the motors would be closer together on mine vs a factory triple set up (with center removed)

Great looking boat
What the power and mph? Thanks for the input

My buddy has a twin step side by side 42, it runs and rides great. I'm sure stagger would be a little better but so is a 47. As far as engine centers, who cares? I had to move mine out to 35.5" to fit my 604" tall decks with stainless marine manifolds.

Motors Started out as 540 Bulldogs, now 557's , made right around 700 on dyno
Runs 90, Might have more in it if I started messing with drive heights

I have always liked your boat. Looks good.

I'd call that 90.9. ��

Thanks for the input

Does anybody know of anyone out there that actually has a boat that was triples and now runs side by side twins??

I really don't see the big deal, it's not like they moved the steps or changed anything about the running surface. Pretty sure I know what boat has you asking these questions. If it had come up the way it did a few months ago I'd be building that one instead of my 40

What boat you talking about?

Center of gravity and drives closer together . That's the difference . Much better handling faster ride and easier to work on

It's acually not that boat in Nh. I found a nice one somewhere else, I'm worried about setting it all up and being disappointed with it.

I bought the green and white one. I was curious what other one was getting converted. I'm converting mine to a stag boat. Glassdave is going to do the glass work.

Here's another similar thread.....

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...untains-2.html

Doesn't really answer your question but if you're thinking about staggering, member 'eddie' would be another month further down the line by now. (See the last post) May be able to help you.

Anyone know the actual spacing between the two outer engines on a triple rig compared to the spacing between twin non staggered engines? Presumably measure from prop shaft. I know about cog and weight distribution but just curious...

RR

[QUOTE=Drew555;4358227]Center of gravity and drives closer together . That's the difference . Much better handling faster ride and easier to work on[/QUOTE
If the boat was available in all 3 configurations how does that screw up the center of Gravity? That boat could be ordered with side by side, stag, or trips, what's the big deal? In fact the cockpit being shorter and further forward should help offset the weight of twins side by side. How is taking one engine out of the rear not going to effect it but taking the forward engine going to ruin the boat? And as far as drive centers I've ran boats from 33"-37" if it's setup right for what it is it's fine. To do 34" on my fountain I would've had to run short decks with e top headers, I think my 604's will make up for the 1 or 2 mph I lost pushing them out 3/4".

My factory side by side '98 big step is 34" prop shaft to prop shaft , just measured it this morning.. I have tall decks squeezed in there with CMI split tube headers, I've rode on 3 other 42 Staggers (97 small steps, 99 & 2000 ) & in our Lake there's no noticeable difference in ride... I actually prefer the extra cockpit space our has

here is a transom shot of my twin side by side '98 & a triple '98 I found in the classifieds, notice the pad on the bottom is different , so there is some hull differences in the triple set up

My brother (tbone1993) sold his triple to a guy who converted it to a staggered. Turned out incredible! There is a thread here you can find if you look for it. We actually ran that boat without the center for a couple weekends while he was waiting on exhaust. Ran slower because it was dragging the drive but the CofG wasn't noticable. I'd have no problem running a side by side and looked at a couple before I bought my 05 staggered. Side by side having the extra cockpit and ease of docking sounded very good to me. Ended up with the staggered cause P57 took my 32 on trade.

The one I bought has the pad but has a little hump in the notch for clearance for the center engine drive shaft and hardware.

Comparison

Interesting .. What year is that boat? So seems like Reggie did change the bottom a bit depending in the original set up ordered

98 but it's a lightning. Looks like the ex had a different bottom.

There are a lot more changes to the hull then just steps. I certainly don't know them all but my brothers 98 hull is significantly different then my 05. For starters, the 05 is almost11" taller from the rub rail to beginning of the first chine or beginning of the bottom. not saying one is better then the other, just different.

Single steps, twin steps, big steps, small steps, step placement, notched transom, standard transom, keep pad, no pad, did Reggie ever sit back, relax and say "there's just nothing left to do now, I can't improve on perfection?"

It's almost enough to make me want a Cigarette. Just pick the size, get a twin step if I can afford it and then keep adding gauges!

RR

The 42 bottom has been discussed. A lot. The ex and lightning in the 42 had the same bottom.

There was never a single step 42

Here is a '97 single step 42'

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/a...-side-view.jpg

never say never with fountain:hitfan:

After some research that is the only one ever built. I concede on the never. Obviously Reggie didn't like it as he built 1. Here is an older thread on that boat.there are bastardized boats of every manufacturer who tried something they weren't happy with.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...ngle-step.html

I have tail pipes to fit 500 manifolds if you want to go full staggered .

that's crazy..lol 97-98 Fountain was sure doing a lot of R&D ... 4 different set up's posted in this thread alone, I agree no other manufacturer spent so much time perfecting the same hull... Makes you appreciate all the hard work Reggie did , I guess that's why you still see the 42's kicking ass on the race course:cool-smiley-011:

I showed to RFIII on Facebook. He agreed one off that they didn't really like. Only one ever made. Lol