on the steering system, I decided to go ahead and ship the old tie bars and clevis that were from the triple engine days to Latham for custom cutting so they'd work on the new quad set-up. Those people are great to work with, and their reputation speaks for itself. I'm keeping all of the controls and steering Latham, just having it modified and updated. It;s not cheap but everything they do is top notch.
Here are the two tie bars that were used on the triple set up Snakeman Racing. They will cut these down accordingly, and furnish one new tie bar with clevis

Here is the new configuration for the quad set-up

I finished up fuel fill and vent hoses on tanks. just lean your head to the left to look at it.:readinghelp:
I was able to get the large fuel fill hoses from Skater. I must say it's been very impressive how he has gone the extra mile in helping me with this project. I know the man is super busy, but I'll call or email him with what I need and he actually calls back and he see's to it that I get what I need. I've been able to get many OEM items for my 36 from Peter. No offense to the other hi performance builders out there, but it sure says alot when the owner of such an elite race/pleasure boat manufacturer cares enough about a guy like me who is basically asking for nickel and dime items for a 16 year old retired raceboat, stops what he is doing to handle such a "small sale". Someday if I can afford it I will take great pleasure in placing an order for a new Skater.
Its no wonder there's such a large following on this forum. When you own a Skater you feel the commeraderie, support and that you are part of something Big.
Fellow owners are not only helpful with sharing information and willing to help a skater bro, but there is a definate 'team spirit' no matter how expensive their ride happens to be.
I just want to put a big thank you out there to Peter and all the employees of Douglas Marine.
Anther reason we are fortunate to live in this great country

I bought one of those 28's Skaters (Steve Hale's) in 2006. Brought itdown to Atlanta. I did some modifications and improvements to the boat including new interior, jack plates, props, etc. Steve had originally purchased the boat with 2.5's and had repowered with 300X's not too long before I bought it (engines had 60 hours when I picked it up). Boat has since run 118 with a few tweaks and some help from Skater Jim. If you still see Steve, tell him Garth says Hi.

I agree David, I had some issues with my trailer and clearance with the fenders. Called Peter and we came up with a solution to add spacers between the axles and frame. Had them 4 days later. Awesome guy to do business with!

I know this boat from when she lived in Florida and my buddy was the driver. Awesome to see it still around.

i was lucky to get it and proud of the history of this 36. If you have any pictures of when it was 'Falcon racing or 'Snakeman' racing I'd b grateful

Yes Steve is great guy, I have some pictures of your 28 back before he switched to 300X. He was talking about doing that the last time that I was up to Indian lake with my spectre

I can confirm this FIRST hand! lol!

Im digging through this thread trying to find who cut your dash panel but I didnt find it.. Did I skip over it somewhere?

Skaters lookin great bro! Hope to see it at LOTO!

First of all thanks for the compliment.
Steve a Innatech is the one to go to for carbon fiber dash panels. He does fantastic work.

I've never been to Loto before. Does anyone know what class I'd be running in with my 36 quad outboard? Any advice would be appreciated

I received back from Latham, the two tie bars for the outside engines that were shortened and polished(from the originals), and the new one for the center engines, along with the clevis joints and new attaching hardware. Latham does outstanding work

Latham was able to trace the serial numbers on my steering rams and noticed that they were kind of rare heavy duty shaft rams that had been ordered by Ocean outboard back in the mid nineties when the skater was rigged.
All of the work that Glassdave put into careful measuring and spacing of the engine jackplates paid off as the tiebars, wingplates, and rams all assembled together without a hitch

Bob's company is in a league of their own. There ability and workmanship is second to none. They designed the mount for my Nighthawk Night Vision camera.
Plus the fact is he a nice guy!

I've got to hand it to you Ron, that pop up camera is a cool piece :ernaehrung004:

i've got some aluminum parts that I need powdercoated to match the rest of the livorsi purple, any recommendations on where I should send them???

Pretty sure your talking about purple candy powdercoat. Basically the purple is translucient over chrome powercoat base . I was in this business for many years and tiger drylac has exactly what you need however not everyone can properly lay the purple as just a little too much and purple will be dark .

Larry

Dave, Call Peter @ Skater or Bob Latham. I know Latham has had many different thing powdercoated over the years. I think there is a company down here called American Powdercoat.
If you send them a sample they can match it.

Thanks for your replies Larry and Ron.
It turns out that Livorsi will do it for me which is great for matching up the colors:drink:

That is good news! If these are old alum parts and you are doing the prep work be forwarned , make sure you use fine media as too coarse or aggressive and it will leave to great of profile and you will see fine craters in finished product . I dont wont to worry you , this advice comes from being in the media-blasting/ powdercoat business .

Larry

Whew . . . . . :D

I received my parts from Livorsi today that I had sent to them for powdercoating. They look great, I'm anxious to get back to work on the skater

can anyone guess the parts?

Nice! They did the block to. It must be the right color cuz those look blue in the photos to :D

Yep but I cheet lol they look great

Beautiful! I have been following for months. When is it going to run and how fast you expect? 120mph+?

i want to have it ready to run by the end of may, then the fun begins.
I'm looking forward to the dial in. It will be interesting to see the top end numbers initially after break in, prop selection, and start making the adjustments to engine height. According to John Robinson (previous owner that last ran the skater with the triple 2.5 set up), it would run 110-112 all day with labbed 15x32 three blade merc cleavers. I would like to get a full set of 15 x 34 three blades and use those to dial in. mid 120s would be good:ernaehrung004:
As of right now all I have are the original 15x32s. If anyone out there has 4 merc 15x34 3 bld cleavers i'd be interested.

Any more pics ?

i will soon, lately it would be just pics of wires and hoses

That is fine and would love to see them as not many people have ever rebuilt or restored anything in their life other than stoke a check and then turn key . I'm sure most of us would be appreciate any pics so we can learn and take notes

I used eddie marine purple powdercoated bezels in all rigging holes. I purchased the bezels from Bill at Diamond

Nice stuff!

after lining the rigging holes with the bezels, running the main battery cables and locating/mounting battery switches were next. The original three battery switches appear to be usable so I purchased one more for the additional outboard.

due to the long runs needed between the engines and switches/batteries, #2 guage cable is required. I was able to buy this locally

lots of zip ties and stainless cushion clamps are needed for a rigging job this big. The Jegs automotive store carries the clamps and also alot of the AN fittings that I'm going to need real soon when it comes to the water pickup/seastrainer/water block .

I'm not professional by any means but I really want the rigging to be as neat and tidy as possible. consistent spacing and support using the zip ties and ss cushion clamps helps.
After the cable run on the starboard switch, I'll clamp everything down and this area will at least be complete

Holy sheet, This thread has over a million views..lol:eekdrop:

Very nice

David, keep up the nice work. Hope you got tinned battery cable. Also not sure if you did this or not but there is a product called black liquid tape. You can paint all the terminals on the back of the battery switches. This not only seals the terminals against corrosion but acts like loc tight an keeps things from coming loose. Just a suggestion.

I think I'm guilty of 250,000 clicks :grinser010:

I learned soo much from this and Larry's thread.

David, looking great!

please keep us posted with more pics!

DR, that one got by me. I will say this, that while i was inspecting the existing battery cables, it was only the ground cables that had corosion. It was so bad I was able to easily twist off the terminals This skater was used primarily in the saltwater environment for three years + 5 more wherever it was stored in tropical florida and then coastal New York. Moisture had been and issue with the hull and no doubt played a role with what I found in the cables.
If I would have been aware of the use and availability of tinned cables before I bought the copper ones I would have gone with tinned. After your qoute, I checked online and the price per foot is not much more than what I paid for copper. I did however have the terminal ends installed professionally along with the shrink tube.
If anyone reading this has experience in rigging boats, specifically mercury OB stuff, please feel free to chime in and help me avoid bonehead mistakes. I'm not proud, just probably about ten years behind in the tech curve

Noli, let me tell you,
you have won a free boat ride!:thankyouthankyou: