Restore candidate
 

I have this 1986 Sleekcraft enforcer that I got cheap because somebody had not paid their inside store fees for a couple years. It was a lien sale.

It is 28 feet and has twin 330hp 454's with 1.32 gear ratio alpha's.

If the boat seems worth while to restore, my plan was to sell the 454's and put a couple of nice 383's with aluminum heads and aluminum exhaust to lighten the load.

I have never done fiberglass work or restored a boat.

I am committed to replacing the transom if needed and am willing to also replace the parts that the engines mount to if they are soft and I think they are. I am not willing to cut the floor out and replace stringers up towards the front of the boat. If it needs that, I'll part it out and then buck it up with a saw and take it to the dump.

I would like to pull some wood out of a few places with a hole saw to see what I have and would like to start with the stringers because if they are bad, I am not going to go any further. I was just going to pull out like a 1 inch core and then replace with with a dowel and epoxy.

My question is, are thevertical boards that make up the sides of the ski locker in the floor the stringers? They do not line up with the fiberglass covered wood that the engines mount to.

Thanks,
Russ



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Not worth it. Clean it up and run it as is. Or part it out for $$, and find an old cig, fountain, formula, hustler, sutphen or velocity to restore.

On the question about ski locker sides being stringers, there is no way to tell without getting a look under the floor. Stringers on opposite sides of bulkheads/separate compartments do not necessarily line up with each other down the length of the boat. Engine compartment stringers very often are different from the rest of the boat to accommodate engine mounting.

Get that corona out of the boat........:D

Well spotted ^^^

Yeah, I do think about that. I am only in this thing for a couple grand, but I know these boats aren't really valuable even in nice shape.

Thanks for the input.

Get it running, clean it up and enjoy it. Definitely do no do the engine swap. Small blocks would be going backwards.

I have a friend who has one, with a couple of built NA 454s and -2 shorties... 90+ mph boat and handles good.

Alpha drives behind big blocks are a hand grenade with the pin pulled. They were a horrible combination that was (thankfully) only offered for one year. I'd pass.

My initial post stated I was planning on switching to small blocks.......FYI

Alpha's behind built small blocks is still not good. I believe it would be easier and less expensive to just keep the big blocks and put bravos on it.
Also, I see a 32' Pachanga with big blocks and alpha drives running around every summer with minimal issues. They can work just not optimal combination.

right, and I would have a lot more boat that way. Thanks for the advice.

got the interior out and the motors out and now and going to start poking around to see if it is dry and what it might need.

My bad. Sorry. Putting much over 400 HP through an Alpha drive just doesn't end well though, so built small blocks might still be problematic as has already been stated. It's not that an Alpha can't live behind a big block or bigger power. The heavier the boat and / or the throttle hand of the driver though, the shorter the life span. I know of one 1987 22' Sea Ray Pachanga right down the lake from me who's still running his original / never rebuilt Alpha behind the 454. To say that he's gentle on it would be an understatement.