Excalibur Hawk, good,bad?
 

I'm looking at a 1984/1985 Wellcraft 40' Excalibur Hawk T454/400, TRS, can anyone tell me anything good or bad about this particular model?....Thanks Fred

i know older wellcrafts were very heavy. I looked at an old 377 scarab (i think itwas an 94) it weighted damn near 9000lbs. I kno wit had merc 454(370hp) and it topped out in the mid-high 50s. Even afer dropping in new 502 the best i could havejhoped for was mid 60s. Needless to say i passed on the boat (it was project anyway) I don;t know about the excalibur hawk but i do know taht eve if its not that fast if its heavylike the old scarab it will handle rough water like a muther!!!!!!!!

Puder...the 40' I'm looking at runs 54 on GPS...Weight is around 9,300...yea its heavy but I need the room down below for the wife and kids....do you know anyone looking for a 30' Scarab that runs 64-66?...I can't have 2 boats.....Fred

Fred....Friend of mine has a 40Hawk, but has larger 5xx engines in it which will take him to the upper 60's. His is also the Kevlar hull. I've been in it once and its very nice, lots of room, and like Puder said, its a damn tank in the water. Nice ride. Think his was for sale also for about 49k. (how much they asking for the one you are looking at)?

Bob

kaamacat, the one I'm looking at I have the guy at mid 30's....I would need to find a trailer though.....know any one that has a good used one????....Fred

My brother has a 1982 Excalibur Hawk 40. He is Excaliburhawk on this site. His has 540 cu in. Merc HP 575's and Trs drives. The motors were upgraded a few years ago. We freshened them up earlier this season and changed to Ultradyne custom grind cams. Also has ported heads and dominators. Picked up 600 rpms. He is playing with props right now. Trying 3 bladed 27's, 29's. And every four blade imaginable. Seems to like the Mach sterndrivers though. He has had a best run of 83 on the gps to date. thinking of supercharging it over the winter.
Mike

[ 09-18-2001: Message edited by: NJHOTBOAT ]

NJHOTBOAT, does your brother trailer his boat? If so whats he pull it with and how does it go down the road?....Sounds like his boat has some real healthy engines in it....that thing cooks! Could you see if he could E-Mail me I have some questions I would like to ask him about the Hawks. [email protected]

NJHOTBOAT

How much power do you figure you're putting through the TRS drives, did you do anything to the transmissions and drives, and have you had any failures?

We are figuring we are putting 680 to 700 hp through the drives. They were rebuilt a few years back when the 575's were originally installed and the trannies were rebuilt also. Only modification to the trans were hd friction packs. Knock on wood no problems so far. Over the winter we are seriously considering installing weiand blowers. With carb changes realistically expecting 902 hp at 5800 and 934 ft lbs at 3800. Not sure how long they will last then.......?

NJHOTBOAT, what tranny's are in it BW's or Merc, or ?...I would think they were the BW's...Fred

I have bw trannys .. Have had no problems so far. Knock on wood.. :rolleyes:

Excalibur Hawk.....can you tell me if the BW tranny's are standard equip.? or not...I haven't looked to see on the boat I'm looking at yet as to what tranny's are in it...Fred

Hey Charlie,
I see your dsl is hooked up.....
Fill these guys in on your boat and post some pics. I was gonna come down and take some today but it was raining

I believe they were installed when the boat was repowered in 1994. To the best of my knowledge the boat came from the factory with merc trannys.. Is the Excalibur you are talking about a welcraft model Excalibur or is it a real Excalibur . Is it a flat deck ??

The Excalibur I'm looking at is a Wellcraft... I called Wellcraft and they said that the Wellcraft Excalibur Hawk 40 was only made in 1985,sorry if I got it mixed up with a different model, I didn't realize there were other Excaliburs......who is the manufacturer of the model you have and where were or are they built?....Fred

Excalibur is the manuf. of my boat they built boats from the early 70's to the early 80's. At that time wellcraft bought the Excalibur name from them. To the best of my knowledge the 83-84 fountian executioners were also Excaliburs as fountian bought some of the molds. I know some one who has a 1985 wellcraft Excalibur boat looks much different then mine..

The Wellcraft Hawk I'm looking at has a real short windsheild and a radar arch....the Wellcraft Eagles are a bit deeper boat with a molded in swim platform and a wrap around type of windsheild, and a radar arch...Fred

Fred, what year is your 30 scarab..how much you asking ??

My Scarab is a 1979, don't let the year fool you though it's super clean and has always been run in fresh water and never left in the water, its got a new loadmaster tri-axle trailer and comes with camper top and lots more stuff, I'm asking $28,000 see my ad in the boats to 31' section on this board, I just took some pics this weekend and can e-mail you some if you would like....Fred

yes fred please send me some pics.
charlie

Check your E-Mail Charlie, I sent some pic's....Fred

Fred, the Excalibur I did some work on was a 1987 42 Eagle, did not have a wrap-around windshield. That boat ran 52 mph on the gps and had 370's (with the same cams that Waterfoul runs) and BW TRS. I'll be online next weekwhen I go back to work. Otherwise call me at 616-403-8378.

Wellcraft told me that the 40' Excalibur Hawk was only built one year,
(1985), anyone know why it was only built for one year, also how many were built?......Fred

[ 09-29-2001: Message edited by: fred ]

Fred. I am unable to open pic's you sent me .. Charlie

Charlie I'll send them again...are you clicking on the icon then clicking on launch to open them? Fred

still cannot open them.. what format you using

Charlie, I'll try sending them another way today...Fred

Fred,

Now I find it :rolleyes:
I left a message for you in the general discussion area. Scott

Scott are there alot of marina's in your area that I could call to check on a used trailer for this boat I'm looking at?....I'll e-mail you this also....Fred

Fred.....I know this post was a while back, but, wanted to post this update. (just because I was out in my friends yesterday with the GPS in hand)

His is a 40'Hawk (think the Eagle was the 42'). He has crate 502's in it now (no blowers, special heads...etc.....crate motor with cam), trs with 4blade 23".

It was right at 60mph on smooth water, and not much playing with the trim. (he also just changed the rotations to inwards).
So, I would suspect 65+ in a nicer chop with tuning and adjustments)....

.......and this boat, like the others said, is a friggin tank. When its beached, its beached......period, end of story.

Thanks for that info kaamacat,the one I'm getting has fresh 400hp original motors that have been re-built with a few power up-dates on them, I'll gps speed when I finally get it and do the sea tests,....Fred

I'd guess the Excalliber is pretty close to my 1984 F-402 Formula, similar weight (9000+) and the wider 9' beam. Mine has warmed over 454's (probably about 475 HP) and just makes 60 on GPS in flat to 1' chop water. Like others have said, it just pushes the water away and doesn't move in bigger water. I've played with several sets of props (some came with the boat, others I bought), and like the Merc 4-blades the best. Not any faster at top than the 3B Mirage's, but about 7 mph faster in mid range cruise.

-Greg

Thanks for that info Gregg, that mid range speed is the area that the thing is at most of the time so I would say that was more important anyway as far all around driving, its not like these big heavy boats are racers, I will take the quality ride over the speed.....Fred

How close are you to finishing the deal? Any idea when you will sea-trial? I assume you closed on the 30.

Dave I already sent cash on the trailer, pick it up next week.....cash for my 30 to be here by Tues. Then sign papers and bring home the 40 by the end of next week....I hope...Fred

42 wellcraft excalibur eagle
 

hey fred, good luck with the new boat. 400 cyclones are good engines. stock crane gold roller lifters, HD pushrods, hi performance heads. souns like you got a good deal. thats a lot of boat.:p Fran

Fred, did you see the dyno numbers from SuperV's engine? 505 hp@5500 rpm. Not bad for 454's.

Those numbers looked great Crazyhorse, I liked the torque starting at 3000 thru 5000 at 500ft. lbs. that has some grunt!....Fred

Fran, that is one nice looking Eagle you posted....I was also looking at a couple of 42' Eagle's but the deals didn't go thru, what power and speed does your Eagle have? Is the color black?....Fred

SuperV's plan is to install the engines this weekend and possibly sea-trial it next weekend. Then we'll see how it compares to the pre-rebuild numbers.