staggered engines
 

What are all the reasons to stagger engines?

To center the weight
To get the props closer to the center of the boat and thus to allow more of the boat to be out of the water

Are these true? Any others?

U got it !!:ernaehrung004:

Do any use universal joints?

also lowers the center of gravity.


bonus reason . . . easier to work on :D

something to note, it is not as effective on boats shorter than about 35 feet.

Do you mean drive shaft?

Is this proven?
how about a short stagger.
I keep thinking of a twin sbc 28-30ft, possible short stagger.
But would the benefits be there? Trade off for a smaller cockpit?

Yes !!!

so when is someone going to try out that new v-16 in a 30+ ft boat instead of staggering?

:rolleyes::ernaehrung004: That would be nice ,,,but $$$$$$$$:party-smiley-004:

No one mentioned; A very cool rooster tail!

I think the shortest boat Cigarette will stagger is their 39. Anybody else know of a full staggered boat shorter than that?

Apache did a 36

Powerplay 33

Aero-tek 31, Its in germany

I thought there were some mirage 29s.

I think your right !!!

:grinser010:I have a short stagger..love it..big improvement vs my 04 side by side of the same boat. positive's were all mentioned above and improvements of 3 mph were gained..Negative's..harder to dock for less experienced. You will have to use some throttle when trying to spin around in a circle on the reverse motor and bump the forward motor in and out of gear to get the spin going in a perfect circle...once you get the hang of it..it's great.

The Fountain 35 picked up 10-12 mph going to a full stagger. My 42 pivots easier than my 38 side by side did. I am sure 17 x 38 6-blades helps.

not sure if the math was done on it but i looked into staggering my 34 and decided it wouldnt work. I think it may have to do with the shorter boat not being able to handle the CG moving forward as well as down.

Deans 38 Fountain full stagger pivots fine when splitting the drives. A little slower but no prob at all. But than again it IS a Fountain so :drink:

my 93 38 Top Gun, 4 others from Cig. I would not own it any other way!

Beautiful!

Thats a nice one !!!!!!!!!!!:ernaehrung004:

Today I saw a pic of a full stagger Glad, so there ya go.

What is the center to center on full stagger and 3/4 stagger?

Man, I love that boat! Coolest Gun made in my opinion.

As close as 18"

Short staggers 23" to as much as 26" if memory serves me.


I believe the Outerlimits run majority of theres right in the 23" area.

Full Race most boats seem to be 18"


Hope that helps
Jon

The old 90's Super Hawaii 34.

rigged a full stag glad with its

I thought Wolverine (29' Mirage picture from the classic offshore section, Mirage Boat company thread) was a staggered set-up, I could be wrong, I haven't seen the boat in person in over thirty years. Back in the day the race boats had staggered small blocks like Gallo Wines (a 30 something foot boat, not sure if it wazs 30, 31, 32??). Wild Turkey, a 35' Cigarette (located here in NJ) had staggered small blocks at one time. Both are race boats, but as you mentioned. those boats had transmissions.

But I think like you, with todays small blocks, whether it is the old style (for affordability purposes) from a builder like Bill Mitchell, or the newer LS blocks like the LSX (from GM Perfromance Parts), I believe a new 28' Pantera T/S with staggered small blocks would be one helluva boat (for example purposes) with ITS Bravo Drives. I could live with less back seat room, for the improved balance, handling, speed.

Wolverine & Lil Rhino were 29 Mirage's with staggered set ups. Gazpacho too??

From what I have been told on a fountain side by side drives are approximately 36 inches apart a short stagger is around 24-26 and a full stagger is 18 inches apart. Staggered motors lower the center of gravity so the boat is not as tipsy/flies straighter and the drives being closer together are more efficient.

It also spins well at pretty much any speed. I heard he will have 'the come in full throttle and bam! pitch a 270 right into the slip' down this season, kind of like ebrake park jobs in the rental car....

[youtube]PWIqbAIoIJ8[/youtube]

Staggered is the way to go docking is not that bad the positives out weigh the negitives 10-1:party-smiley-004:Speed gain alone whould cost you a fortune to egual the gain in MPH:drink:

33 Powerplay ...

I know staggered gains speed. I'm just sure why. Is it center of gravity? Props being closer together? It probably something simple that I'm just not seeing.

Where the weight of the boat (overall is distributed). If the boat (anyboat) where to be picked up would it be tail heavy, and fly over wakes with the bow up, or would weight be centered in the boat, with a staggered set-up the engines will sit lower in the boat too since they are not side by side. The engines can be set deeper, and weight distributed for the manufacturer's desired performance result. Lowering the center of gravity, and moving weight forward. With side by side engines, drive and engine can sometimes be mounted high in order to lower gear case hydrodynamic efficiency. The same staggered set-up can mount the engines lower in the boat, and keep an elevated prop shaft for less drag.

As mentioned before, CG is definitely part of it. The other part of the equation is that a v-hull, with a given amount of power and type of prop, work best with the propshaft at a given depth to the "keel". By moving the drives closer together with the same depth from the keel, the drives can be at a higher x-dimension. Less drive in the water, lower drag for the same leverage on the hull, more speed.

Sutphen staggered at least one 30 (Inferno) that I know of...small blocks, of course..

38 Fountain, don't know if they stagger the 35.

Fountain 35 is a full stagger

How much room is required in the engine compartment for a short stagger or a full stagger?