Hey guys, I would put this question in the Wellcraft part of the Owners Forum, except we don't have a section for us! Anyway, my question is this: I have a 1982 Wellcraft Nova II, twin 350s, 260 horse. I'm looking to upgrade the power with some nicely built 383's. First off I want to verify the condition of the hull is suitable for the power. I want to make sure the stringers are solid, the transom is in good condition, etc. Here's my problem, the lay-in engine liner that covers up the bilge. It looks great and really cleans up the look of the engine-bay, but severely limits your ability to inspect the "critical" areas of the hull. It seems solid, no stress cracks in the gel of the transom or underneath, but who knows for sure. So whats my next move here to make sure shes a worthy candidate for the horsepower?

All positive input appreciated!

Nick

have it inspected by a surveyor with a moisture meter; good luck - jeff

I hate to rain on your parade, but even if the boat is sound, by the time you upgrade the engines, fuel system, and drives, you will have more in it than the boat is worth.
Trust me, I know. I have a 1988 nova that had a 330 hp 454.It went about 50 mph with that engine. It now has a 540 in the bilge, and will only do about 65, 68.7 best on gps.
Blew up the drive and had xr gears put in that.I know for a fact that I have more in the engine annd drive than I could ever hope to get out of the boat, and I don't care!
To me a boat is dual recreation- I enjoy using it at the lake, and I love the upgrade projects just as much. Installing gaffrig gauges and shifters, new extreme marine swim platform, k-planes, lectri-san, inverter, blah blah blah.
Would I do it all again? Oh yea!I feel I got my money out when I did the upgrades, it was fun!
And by the way, I had a friend do what you want to do, built 383's for his nova and wow! the boat did 70, jumped on plane, it really woke it up.
So I say go for it, but with open eyes, you won't get all the cash back out of it, but it will be a satisfying project if you like that sort of thing.
Good luck.

I had a 1992 26' Nova ST with T-350 Magnums. It was a great wave crusher for it's size and it's quite heavy as well... 61 MPH on GPS.

T-330's supposedly pushed it to 67 mph.

what should the initional advanced be set to.
and then total advanced after rpms have been acheived.
this is a well craft 23 nova,running a small block 350 with a after market cam that i have no idea about what it it is
at this point i have initional at 5 degrees and the total is 25 degrees at 3000 roms

try doing a search in this tech forum and use" merc 350 timing" as the key words and you might get what your looking for.

That's a great idea as a number of Wellcraft cruisers had stringer replacement issues.

If everythin is in tact then how fast is safe?

The boat is pretty heavy but is limited a bit by having only a 23 degree deadrise.

My take is that if it takes 500 HP to get to 62 mph....then you can probably up the HP to 800 HP and expect a top end of mid 70's is my guess.

Also, you need props with a lot of blade surface area and a substantial cup to get the tarnsom up and hold it up...I would think with 800 HP a 28P Mirage would be fine.