I noticed last fall that my 272 silent thunder had a loose/rattling baffle inside.

any tricks to taking the platform off and "fixing" the baffle. it is a little annoying trolling listening to that "buzz"

while i'm at it, i think I will drill out the baffles for increased noise pollution.

If you are intending on "drilling out" the baffles you will need to remove the chrome exhaust tip anyway. Then just fiberglass the baffle in place with some quality layup. I have one 2.5" hole drilled in the middle of each. I wish I had done two holes on each side that size for a little more rumble.

You will be please with the results.

Trevor

If you remove the whole swim platform, is it totally open from the inside, or only a hole for the exhaust pipe to enter. wondering if it is worth the trouble removing, to gain more acess to all sides of the baffle to re glass it in place.


any one?

Wild H, did you epoxy the exposed glass after drilling to seal it up due to the exhaust water? is there a need

I didn't bother. It's been 3 years and it is just as it was then. Solid. I was checking it out in Florida while sipping of a few cold ones at the sand bar in front of the Tiki Bar in Islamorada. Uhhhhhh.........

yea ... yea.... whatever......we have nice beeches like Islamorada too here in west michigan................JUST WISH THE ICE WOULD MELT OFF THEM!!!!

that sounds like a long haul to pull your Formula. Sounds like fun though.

any others with experience with this. should I remove the swim platform?

I have the newer Silent Thunder exhaust ('99 271 FasTech) and took the whole assembly off. Got much louder outside, not much difference inside the boat as the exhaust is under the swim platform. I did not notice any real difference in speed, but it had to help to get that 50-75lbs off of the very back of the boat.

I also replaced the tips with some angle cut pipes from Eddie Marine with steel internal baffles.

Just for the record, I have Silent Choice exhaust so when I am around marina or docks, I can quiet it down substantially.

anyone else take off their silent thunder B]swim platform[/B]
88-90 vintage?

I had a 242-SR1 which the original owner had modified baffles for more noise. his handiwork also resulted in a rattle in the platform.So I cut baffles out almost completely by reaching thru exhaust openings-notching with hack saw blade, then breaking out with small vice grips. Broke out pretty easily from where was bonded to inside of platform. It was just a pain working thru one opening while shining light thru other opening. Ran the boat like that for a number of years-no negative impact on platform. Platform was still solid when I sold the boat ten years and 500 hours later.

How much louder is a ST system with the baffled removed? I really like the subdued rumble of the stock platform, but am worried that they won't flow enough once I add the blowers.

I considered running the reduced water tailpipes on the CMIs but worry that the platform may need plenty of water to keep it from burning off the boat at WOT.

Decisions, decisions...

I'm running stock 420's in an F311. A LOT of the time this thing is running WFO.

I have drilled out, with a hole saw, one 2.5" and one 2" hole in each baffle. The sound level has increased nicely... but not even close to the point of open pipes.

It has been this way for 3 years and I have had no problems. No performance gains either, however, I woulf think that with blowers the extra flow would be welcome.

Trevor