How much money are we talking here building a small block LS engine for marine application? I'm only asking because me and my friend installed an automotive ZZ572 620 n/a crate engine in his project 33' boat back in 2006. The engine cost 14K back then! Later I saw the ZZ572 listed as low as 12K. The engine has logged about 400 hrs so far, being used crossing from the mainland to Vancouver Island on weekends. Has the Braxo 1X drive with 1.5 ratio that's still in one piece, turning a 24P B1 prop over 5000rpm . Had problems with the s/s Stellings leaking [ cracked inner wall at the flange ] so we swapped to Eddie Marine alu manifolds with extra high risers to combat reversion.



we needed this height to keep reversion away, no problem with the setup.



Homebuilt by my friend

That is one wild boat.. Very cool.

Did you have to do anything to the 572 to get it to work properly in a boat?

Yes, taking it easy it easy for the first 20 hrs break in time like I did with all automotive engines for the past 40+ years. When the Stellings cracked, it doused the exhaust valve in # 3 cyl. A piece of the damaged valve busted a hole in the # 3 piston .We pulled the engine to tear it down to check everything. No other damage found, we checked journal clearances while at it, including piston to wall and valve stem bores. We had the OEM high lift cam with the dry Stelling exhaust system that we replaced with a smaller cam for the Eddie marine wet manifolds, just to make sure of no reversion. The engine ran fine for the first 100 hrs with the dry exhaust, dumping water at the tips. Local guy runs the same ZZ572 engine in a 19'jetboat with over the transom exhaust. He's been running fine for years too. The 1972 LS6 454 [ marinized with a smaller cam by Hardin] ran for 32 yrs in my 1972 24 Spectra V-drive. Found a hairline crack on the crank shaft so that had to be replaced while refreshing it. Not to bad after so many years! My buddy has that boat since 2004 and chugging happily with. I have only owned two boats with a Mercruiser marine engine, a 24' cruiser in the 70's and my present boat with twin 6.2 MX's. I normally logged between 1-2000 hrs on my big block engined jetboats too.

Old school carbed LS6 with TR2 Tarantula intake

What hull did he use?

Is the white stripe really the waterline? It is not typical of "our" kinds of boats The bow seems to be very heavy.

IMO this could be a good platform to start with on converting to a marine app. The price is great anyways for what you get along with the weight savings. Know the peak torque not as strong per say what a big block puts out.

http://www.jegs.com/i/Chevrolet+Perf...71821/10002/-1

The stripes are at the waterline when the boat sits. The bow rises on take off and tabs help to level the boat. The boat is well balanced. There's a 100 gal ballast tank with pump in the bow to trim the boat in heavy seas that can be as high as 8 -10 feet crossing the Georgia Strait to his summer residence. My friend built the mold for the boat while he worked at Sovereign Yachts [ now Richmond Yachts ] here in BC. It's a one of hull, he destroyed the mold afterwards.

Under construction finishing rigging at his house



Helm

White gelcoat before painting the hullsides Boat has a swimgrid added since.

Rear entrance

Wild boat, too bad he did not build some more. Or start a company.

He's better off working on rich people's interiors as a finishing carpenter!

That's one fine looking rig...very impressive !!