Bobthebuilder

Hello Mark,
Glad you found the site. I had noticed some of your posts over in Gen Boating and noticed you are from Ft Myers.

I will tell you a bit about my 3 engine setups and why 3. My first 2 offshore boats were twins. I like to do trips and whenever I lost an engine or drive I would sometimes have a long idle to get to a ramp or travel lift then there was always the problem of getting myself, my crew and my boat home when I could be hundreds of miles away.
The answer was to go to a triple engine boat that could run on plane with any 2 of 3 motors running. In 1996 I bought a Formula 419 with triple 502's. A good boat that I put 650 hrs on and it always got me there. In 2002 I bought my first 50ft Nor Tech which was a year old. Then in 2003 had my current boat built by Nor Tech to my specs. 3 - NT 850's and # 6 drives. Been a terrific boat that now has 730 hours on it. So when I blew up the starboard motor 2 weeks ago, we pulled it out and decided to move the center motor over to the starboard side so the boat would be balanced. I did not have to do that. I could have balanced the boat with distributing the crew to put most of the weight on the starboard side (which was lighter) and use of the trim tabs. What I found tho was with the twin setup, I needed 18.5 x 28 props rather than the 18.5 x 32 that I normally run. ( Thank you for the loners Nor Tech ! ) To reduce drag all we did was drop off the lower half of the drive and put on a plate and gasket we had cut to fit. The upper part of the drive was left in place as the steering tie bars were all tied together. We ran in the low 70's all day long and never ran over 4,200 RPM. Did not want to blow up another motor as they were scheduled to be pulled out right after the run for complete tear down and re build. Boat went into the shop yesterday.
Page Racing in Ft Myers does all my hauling and mechanical work when in Florida. Double R Performance does it in the summer months when the boat is up north. Ron Potter in Sarasota is doing the motor re builds. All really good people.

As to your question about idling on one I sometimes use 2 ( port and starboard ) as those are the motors with power steering pumps. None on center motor. Would not remove center motor and drive unless I had to as above.

Lastly welcome to Ft Myers Offshore and hope I will meet you someday later this year. I flew back to Canada today but will be back for another great season with all my friends at FMO in 4 months or so.

Bob

Ms PatriYacht

Wow Bob your typing skills must be improving!!

Bobthebuilder

Still with one finger Donna!! Maybe a good thing, as if I could type 60 words a minute I probably would get soooo loooong that no one would read it all ! LOL
Hope you and Ian had a good flight home to MI. Now if our friends down in FL just knew how nice it is up here today ! And I have no boat ! Actually doing some catch up in the office today.
Bob

Specialized

Enjoyed seeing everyone the other day. For those of you who were not there we had some discussion about the next fun run. Bob suggested that the South Seas resort might be a good destinationfor us as he had just been there with the Poker run. I have the # for the Dock master up there and will call him Monday or Tuesday to check on good weekends the first week or two of June. I would see us potentially meeting at Gordon's Pass in Naples and running up from there. The Ft. Myers contingient could either rally down to Naples for the start or The Naples/Marco group could swing into the Sanibell bridge area to collect you all on the way.

Please comment on weekend preference and Ft Myers chime in on your preference as to a meeting spot

Thanks,
John

BTW Lets make Bob proud as I know he'll be watching

pashn8boater

Sorry I missed the meeting on Monday. Wish I could have been there. A run up to South Seas sounds good.
As for a meeting spot, I would run South from Wiggins Pass or Lovers Key to Gordon's Pass, then head North with the Naples Gang.
What weekend? It doesn't matter to me. With my luck, what ever weekend it is, I will have to work. LOL
Hope to be home for this one. Motor should be in the boat this week, so ...

Bobthebuilder

Exactly !! LOL I will be watching .......... and wishing I were there with you all.

Mark

Thank you very much Bob! I kept thinking I posted my question(s) to you on another thread and finally found it! Duh!
I would love a Formula 419, but I just can't get a grip on maintaining / fueling 3 motors. Wish they made a 2 motor version. You kind of gave me hope for a moment to remove the center motor and drive for spares, etc. and run on 2.
Sounds like yours is a wonderful boat. Hope to meet you next time you are down!

Thanks again, Mark

Specialized

I spoke with South Seas today about the run in June, they seem to be happy to have us. The only date that is out is June 23. They will be getting back with me tommorrow, as the Harbor Master was out today, on more particulars.

Terry,
What weekends are you on the oil rig in June? It would be nice to have you out on one of these things.

Are there any big Poker Runs I should watch out for conflicting with?

Thanks for any info.

John

pashn8boater

John,
Just got back into town this afternoon. I am now working for a company out of Ft. Lauderdale which should make it easier to go on the Fun Runs. Name a weekend and I will try to make sure that I have it off.
Should have the motor back in this week. Fingers are crossed!!! lol
Looking forward to the next run!