Blue Printing bottom
 

Few questions about blue printing the bottom of an older straight bottom boat. What exactly goes into the process? How much of the bottom is done? How long does it usually take? Average price for this, and what is a realistic amount and type of performance gains. Thanks for any answers just looking at options.

Hopefully glassdave will chime in here. What exactly goes into the process varies on the build quality of the boat/mold. Some hulls are true with very little or no hook or rocker. Some boats already have sharp edges and chines rite out of the mold and really do not need work. To speculate on performance gains would be a WAG. The better the initial build of the boat the less performance gain.

Thanks for the help. I was just curious what is actually done and if it is really worth the cost. The boat is an early 90s 33PP I/O

unless the boat has some serious handling problems that can't be solved with the drive setup it probably isn't worth the expense. IMO

Check the bottom first with a long straight edge. Pp's are built pretty stout and there most likely is little or no hook. The filler material is expensive and re Gel the bottom is a *****. To pay someone to do it right you are looking at a couple K minimum. Worth maybe a couple mph maybe none...

Its a very arduous process with no guarantees, could go faster . . . could go slower. Typically it is assessed with a simple straight edge, eyeball and what you are trying to gain,eliminate,tune, etc. Most pleasure boats will not benefit from the process unless it is determined to be very far from straight. Going rate for quality work would be roughly a thousand a foot on up, this measured by how far from the transom the blueprinting ends.

How thick is your wallet?

You can spend a LOT of time on the bottom of the boat.
First, you need to know if the bottom of the particular boat is cored or solid. If it's solid, that's a better platform to work with. If it's cored, you may end up thinning the outer skin too much and have a much bigger project on your hands.

Often, but not 100% necessary; the hull is flipped over and all the work is done with the bottom facing up as lighting and working at this angle is much easier than being under a suspended boat. This will likely involve pulling the motors, drives, and batteries out of the boat, and draining fuel, holding, and water tanks/systems.

here is a pretty detailed writeup with photos of a smaller hull

http://www.performanceboats.com/jet-...ing-101-a.html

and don't forget the lower units

http://www.proboat.com/blueprint-for-speed.html

PPJ is correct. AJfishers PP is straight as an arrow and sharp on the strakes and transom.

Thanks again gentlemen. From what I have learned the PP seem to be pretty good right out the mold, and I don't see any handling issues to speak of. I had read a lot about people blue printing the bottoms of there boats and was curious. After the information i have received from all of you it seems that I would prolly benefit more from a few thousand dollars in other areas. Drives,props,shorties power ect. I always appreciate the honest feedback I receive from folks on here who are much more knowledgeable than myself.