Wilson Custom Marine........
 

Well just got back from Jacksonville Poker Run, and ran my boat for the first time after sending my lower units on my 6 drives, out to get Blue Printed by Wilson Custom Marine.
Well the out come was great, the handling was 100 times better, ran straight as a arrow. We also picked up 11 mph or were able to drive the boat to those speeds cause of the handling so much better. Wow great out come........

WCM is glad you are another satisfied customer. The boat looked great. Now we need to tweak on your props and overall boat balance and see if we can get you over the 120 mph mark for the next Poker Run.

Marc and Craig are awesome, even if they are English:party-smiley-004:

O boy!! LOL!!

Thanks again guys, would have never thought, what you did would have such a huge change in how the boat handles.
Yes and Jeff at Herring is working on another set of props as we speak. Looking at 125 number.....

An apple does not fall far from the tree...... WCM was trained by Jackie (sort of)

I'd love to see some before & after pics. I heard there are some on Facebook but IT Police don't allow us access.

Anyone have any??

pic of before and after pic of #6
 

Can any one post a pic of a #6 drive before and after of blueprinting? I am considering having my drives done!!!:party-smiley-004:

Here is their website if anyone is curious
http://www.wilsoncustommarine.com/Home_Page.php

here's Craig Wilsons # 772-285-3562, give him a call. I was very skeptical about getting it done at first, but he took one look at my drives and said is your boat doing this and that, and I was like yes those are the problems Im having. Give them to me and I will fix that, ok take them if anything the handling will be better, I thought. I got them back boat drives straight as an arrow and I was able to go 11mph faster and have more in the boat, still playing with props. And 106 to 117 was running the same props.

What boat and what power?

SlickNick and anyone interested.... We have been blueprinting and reshpaing drives for many many years. (25+)
Mark Wilson ( my father ) really got the 6 Drive dialed in, whilst helping the Victory Team in Dubai. You can read on our website just some of the people we have worked with and still do! Vern at West coast drives, Johnny Tomlinson, Jason at XXX, Brian Forehand are just a few of our best customers that we have worked with for many years.
Some drives are worse than others and some results are better than others, but it really helps with the handling, and when the handling is better, you are able to run the boat harder, thus giving you speed. Give me a call if you want. We are slammed at the moment with drives for LOTO, but we'll fit you in. (772) 285 3562
Craig

V-Bottom or Cat ?

Size, Power, etc. ?

Thanks for sharing great news



Jon

Boat is a 39 Nor-Tech Super V with 1000 Zul's

Think there is much Speed available in a Single Engine 30' V-bottom?

Left Hand Drive #6

114 mph any day of the week,....but pretty much stuck there

Skater suggested putting a torque tab on the rear of the skeg?

Friend of mines boat, but we have been actively discussing you as an option.

Thanks
Jon

Jon,
I believe we have spoken to you , or your pal. I have these pictures already. We can help you for sure!
Send us the drive. ( we have the capabilites to do them full or empty!! )
Craig

Craig,

Yes we did speak, guess I was asking now how you felt about a Torque Tab on the rear of the skeg?

Ever go that route along with the blue printing?

Pete @ Skater felt that much power and torque on a single may be trying to push the drive through the water sideways.


Thanks
Jon

Jon,
We haven't suggested a torque tab to anyone. As big as the 6 drive is , especially, on your boat, it is crucial to get it perfect. You will notice a big difference once you have it blueprinted.

Craig

Good enough for me.....

"Below is a list of just a few to give you some examples:

- Fountain Powerboats Kilo record run
- Cat Killer Fountain Powerboat
- CRC race team
- CMS racing
- Talkin' Trash
- Micckosukee Indian gaming
- Yachts Fountain
- Team Hard Rock / Instigator
- Stampede
- watch your back
- Global warmer
- Twisted metal motorsports
- Don Q rum
- Pro Marine

This list can go on and on.......

The poker run scene holds the majority of our market. We have blueprinted drives for the fastest Poker Run boats out there. At LOTO 2010 our drives were on the top ten fastest boats with Stern Drives."

Craig, sounds very interesting to say the least---would it be safe to assume that your blueprint mods on the Merc #6 drive would get the same results within the midrange crusing speeds as it would at Wide Open Throttle with the same boat/power/props? I mean, is the improvement in speed at most any RPM from something like 3300rpm up to the top---say 6000rpm for us little feller weekend warrior dudes who are NOT always runnin' around with our arsses on fire??? :party-smiley-004:

I know each boat is different and there are always many variables---but I am curious to know what a boater could generally and reasonably expect from the midrange to the top with your blueprint mods on the #6 drive? Thanx

Kaama, it will help across the board.
Being a racer, I have put our own blueprinting to "work" and really documented the improvements and where they were most noticeable.
Lets start at getting on plane: The way we re-shape the drive makes it much more hydrodynamic. The flow of water to the propeller is now cleaner, so this creates less cavitation, so it makes getting on plane quicker, easier and with less RPM.
Now, once on plane and running, even at a cruise speed, the same clean flow to the propeller gives you less cavitation, more forward bite thus creating better speeds at same RPM.
Now bring into to equation the "trueing" of the drive that we do. Every skeg is either off center, twisted or just simply bent in relation to the upper part of the drive. This can create many situations: toe in , toe out, and so on...
These scenarios wreak havoc on the water flow to the propeller and also to the handling of your boat.
Let me paint a picture in your head. Picture your drive as it sits now on your boat. Nice and blunt, fat, twisted, bent, toed in or out, and even a little off center..... WOW... Ok, now picture yourself cruising at 50 mph, and that fat, twisted, bent and whatever else we can call it, drive getting pushed through the water. The water is twisting, hitting, churning and bubbling as it goes over the drive... DIRECTLY onto your lovely, expensive set of propellers.
What the water is also doing, is pushing back hard against this ugly out of shape piece of metal, and causing a huge amount of drag.
At the same time the water is giving your drive a hard time, your lovely set of propellers are now saying " screw this" I need to find some clean water that I can really push with, and they now go on the hunt for it.
So, now you have your drive getting beaten up by the water, you have your drive that doesnt know in what direction it wants to go and then on top of all of that your propeller is getting terrible water and cannot perform.
Sounds like a recipe for bad performance doesnt it !!!?
Of course, the faster you go the worse it gets.
You now find yourself with a boat that doesnt plane without going to high RPM, the cruise is not at all efficient, the boat hunts around, and then when you want to open her up and see what she has, the chine walking, transom walking, out of control feeling just plain and simply scares you. That doesnt sound like a good days boating!!!!
We can solve all of this. We have spent years perfecting what we do.
We have blueprinted thousands of drives over the years. We have never had an unhappy customer.
Our number one goal is not top speed. Its making your boat more stable, smoother and best of all safer!!!! With this recipe, speed is on the menu for dessert!!!

I hope this helps a little with understanding what we do, what you spend your money on and what you can expect to see.

Please contact me if you have any other questions. 1 (772) 285 3562.

All the best

Craig

Craig,

Great explaination. ...............

One more question, Kaama and I discussed your company the other day. Kaama has the older style skegs on his #6 drives
instead of a swept back.

Do you change them to s swept back or leave them as is in his application?


Thanks
Jon

We leave them as is. Infact the drives we did , that started this thread, has the old style skegs on them.
I spoke with Kaama on the phone this morning, he mentioned about talking to you.
We are looking forward to working on your friends drive with the Checkmate. He would notice a huge difference.
Like I mentioned to Kaama on the phone, we have been around for a long time, we have worked with the best of the best in the powerboating world. We just dont advertise and we like to keep our ego's so that they still fit in our heads....
We take huge pride in what we do!

All the best

Craig D. Wilson

As soon as my boat season is over I'm sending WCM my imco lower and prop. Talked with them threw email and they seem on the up and up.

We look forward to getting it CLA

Wilsons
 

You wont find a better group of guys & they are amazing at what they do.

Craig thank you for your genorous response---and it was also a pleasure speaking with you on the phone this morning.

Mark/KAAMA

WC, do you work on OB sportmaster drives also?

They sold me on that explaination, you wont e sorry getting your drives done.WCM see you guys at the clearwater races.

X-driver, we do all types of drives. We did lowers for the Hooters 4 engine 38 Fountain Center Console a few years back.
We deal with the best of the best: Johnny Tomlinson, Brian Forehand, Reggie Fountain, west coast drives, Peter Hledin, Gary Stray.... the list goes on and on.
They all know what it takes to get these boats to run as fast and good as they are.

Can you fix my head?

We can make boats go faster, not perform miracles.....

Ha ha! :lolhit:

Now that we have established that. Lets get back to discussing important issues about your drives!

W C marine , what kind of results can you get from working over a sportmaster lower vs going to a imco s c lower , right now my shaft height is about 1 inch above the bottom of the hull on a 42 fountain .

The top speed mannerisms and handling characteristics of my boat greatly improved after having the Wilson's blueprint the drives....they are also really good with props....great guys to deal with as well

575cat, They are both very good drives. We have blueprinted many of them but I would say more Sport Masters, simply because all the Super V boats and Super Cat lites that used them a few years back on the racing circuits.
We found ( a few years ago ) that the Sport Master had a better finished casting than the other.
We can do a lot of work on them. Are you looking to replace the Sport masters with Imcos??

Craig

As far as performance difference, a WCM blueprinted Sport master will be better than a standard Imco.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8a2g...&feature=share

This is a great video that shows youjust how much water the drives still see even at high speeds.

Craig , I left a message on your voice mail to give me a call when you get a chance , thanks