My next one would probably be a 388. So it will be awhile :D

Beautiful boat, great work.

David and Ru were a great couple to work with. People like that make my job a pleasure. What a beautiful boat!

As always, it's a pleasure to work alongside with GlassDave, he does superior work.

I'm looking forward to seeing this boat on the water. Send pics!!!!

Mitcher T.

Very nice and classy follow-up post!

I happened upon this thread where I originally made contact with the previous owner (Okie Tunnel) notice #48 This was back in 2007! It's been a long road to get his project done but it all seems kind of weird now, thinking back, how time goes by pretty fast and I'm glad that I did this. I'd honestly have to say that OSO has been a tremendous help in this project, and I appreciate all of the OSO members that have offered me advice and made recommendations for people to use on the restoration process. Also I'm glad that Jason finally sold it to me in August of 2008!
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...-person-5.html

Cool way to take things back to the starting point in '07... and yes, you are the right person as you stated to Okie.

Helluva Build! Helluva thread...

Congrat's to you and your wife - should be a great summer for you both on the Skater!!!

Wow I will quit whining about taking almost 2 years to build my 338,

Great project. I would love to had the time to do the same. Thanks for documenting and sharing your build. It takes a lot of effort and longer to shop and take a photo and post than to just do the work. Thanks for the great effort. Now let's see that baby scream!

This has been the winter from hell, but its finally starting to warm up.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]519974[/ATTACH]

WOW, boat looks great!!!!!

Looks awesome! Can't wait to hear it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]520037[/ATTACH] "Looking Good David"

[QUOTE=RT930turbo;4006921] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22qbSXvrW9Q [/QUOTE

Even though the conditions in this video were not considered rough by any means, it was enough to keep the bottom from sticking like it would've in completely flat calm water.

I would take the sound of those 24 cylinders screaming at 8k over a pair of blown big blocks any day.

Hey! David, What's the latest? .... Sun's out.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]522752[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522753[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522754[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522749[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522750[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522751[/ATTACH]Hi Guys, Last time that I was out last fall, in one of the center motors, the number 6 piston stuck in the hole after making a wide open pass to test that Dewald 4 blade. The damage was so severe that it totaled both halves.
I ended up getting a new long block from Mercury, and as a precautionary measure shipped the other center motor that was assembled by the same individual (whom I won't name here) to Diamond for a teardown and thorough inspection. In hindsight, should have initially used Diamond, instead of trying to save a buck.
Here are a few photos of the fun.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]522756[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522757[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522755[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]522758[/ATTACH]
"other" powerhead crated up and ready to ship to Diamond. Also besides installing brand new sensors, transferring most of the externals to new long block.
My wife Ru was very supportive as usual, and encouraged me to not only get this fixed but also get the new paint job, which helped take the sting out of all of this. Nothing better than turning a negative into a positive

David, I won't tell you how many powerheads I have hurt due to crappy workmanship. It's in the 10s of thousands. I just keep bolting on another powerhead and marching on. It's great you have a support from Ru.

is diamond marine the best out there??? if I have to do any work I'm not gonna want a jack leg mechanic doing it.

I guess I should said WHEN and not if :grinser010::lolhit:

we do have a local place that comes highly recommended though.

Thanks Bob, I'm trying to find out why this happened to avoid the same thing from happening again. The engine was hard to start that day. That's basically the only thing that I can remember that stood out.

What recommended place are you talking about?

Check on S&F. There should be at least a couple of builders close to you that are reputable. Enjoy the run.

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David, please share pics of the rebuild at Diamond

I've heard that they have an awesome machine shop at Diamond Marine.


Photo Credit: http://www.diamondmarine.com

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...y_room750p.jpg




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"Nice assembly room"

Take your engines to Shaun Torrente !! Mine were rebuilt with no warranty and lasted 10 min !!!

I got a call from Marty at Diamond today, and he said that after tearing down motor he thinks it looks pretty good aside from the rod bearings look cooked and some slight bluing of crank. This engine had about 12 hours on it. I had paid for all new bearings and
Reeds. This time around is my first experience with Diamond and I can tell you already, the difference is like night and day compared to who worked on the powerhead previously.
He was telling me about his observations on this powerhead. It was like listening to a doctor relaying detailed findings. He doesn't miss much at all. It's refreshing to have someone that gets that involved and takes a keen interest when it comes to these 2.5 280s.

Simons Outboard in Gonzales. Have used them for general mechanic work but not a rebuild. They seem to be pretty knowledgeable.

Blue means hot and hot can brake or fracture the crank .......just saying look close hope all go'es well Dave it would be cool to see you on our end of the pond this summer!

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Photo Credit: http://www.diamondmarine.com


http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/.../designers.jpg

In my 35 years of cars and boats , every engine has a story to tell and bluing is not usually good and is in most 4 stroke engines related to heat . NOT SO IN 2 STOKE , COULD BE THIS , DONT BELIEVE ME ? This is from the factory Merc manual ! " WHEN USING TCW3 OIL BOTTOM BEARING SURFACE OF THE CRANKSHAFT AND THE BEARING AND CAGES MAY IN SOME INSTANCES APPEAR A " BLUISH" COLOR AS IN OVERHEATING HAS OCCURED . THIS IS A CONDITION OF CERTAIN OIL TYPES AND NOT AN OVERHEATING PROBLEM , IF THE DISCOLORATION CAN BE CLEANED OFF "
I WILL BE BUILDING AND PORTING MY OWN 3.0 LITRES , MACHINE WORK DONE BY FIGGA MACHINE AND IN BUSINESS 40 YEARS .

AFTER THE WONDERFULL WORK SHAUN TORRENTE STR DID FOR ME FOR 12 K AND THEY LASTED 10 MIN , I WILL BUILD MY OWN .

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...18-Engine-work

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Larry, still very exited to see what you'll do next on your motors. please start a new thread about Figga and their porting work.


Anybody know if DiamondMarine does work on Rude-V8s?


Photo Credit: MontyMan

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...tyman_16v8.jpg
http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/.../andy_Etec.jpg

http://www.riversidemarine.info

Tom Booth is your man on V8s. He built one for my first 21 Skater in the 90s. It was a rocket.

Noli ,

My friend Tony Figga has machined several Outboards over the years , however his bread and butter is high end drag racing engines . He will only do bore and hone , I will use a 300x sleeve to transfer port timing on my 2004 250efi powerheads I will have the 250 efi heads cut to 62 cc and use rebuild kit from pro marine . I now have every tool needed to accomplish this . I have the 300x induction system and the 2001 + has Motorola ecu , will make 300+ hp , not 300x hp because the exhaust is relieved . After the wonderful job Shaun Torrente did for me which lasted 10 min , I will do myself .
http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...18-Engine-work

I've talked with a lot of guys that have 2.5 280's and they have said the same thing about learning to do it themselves for various reasons.

My first experience with Diamond Marine was Great....second time there...not so much.....but hey I Only spent $93,000 with them in two yrs......That's all I will say...

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OffshoreS,

what STR upgrades have you done to your 300XS ?


or if you can point me to your thread, would be great !





.

He has done some cheerleading for STR since I became a member so he must be very happy customer...

doesn't STR use DBR to do ecu's??? would like some real world numbers on what either STR or DBR upgrades do myself.

now back on topic...how's the engine rebuilds coming along david?

I did give some praise for Shaun Torrente as he contacted me on Scream and fly and "said no problem I can build you set of 3.2 Litre Stoker Motors from your 225 and 250" he said that he will port himself , bore one engine and re-ring the other engine . This build started a few years ago and paid him a little @ a time . As time when went on several people contacted me basically saying please stop promoting Shaun Torrente STR as my engine lasted 20 min or 30 min and came apart , that is the reason I took them to Fuller marine to get professionally looked over before the key is turned , well the rest is history , sad I trusted Shaun Torrente . I have already started to rebuild new powerheads myself and will post a thread on how to do this ( all machine work done professionally ) I believe STR sends them to Simon
http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...18-Engine-work

yea I have followed your threads on both SF and the build thread here. sometimes chit happens but it's how the mistake is handled that really matters IMO.

Eric Simon is the GateKeeper for access to the computers. Eric can flash the ECU's as well as DBR. The tune DBR uses is different than what Eric has. There are a lot of opinions on whether the tune helps or not. Some say no and there are some guys report a 2-3mph gain. I used Simon early on and had issues with my computers and the boat not running right. Lost 6mph. Claimed it was fuel lines etc. End of the day had to send my boxes back after running stock ones (6mph Faster) at MY expense on vacation and he reflashed them. He would not pay for freight even though it was his mistake. Cost me $200.00 dollars in freight charges.
DBR is hard to get a hold of sometimes email works best but they do a good job in my opinion.
If the tune is not right say goodbye to a cylinder!

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Sounds like we should just be happy with what good ole Merc set up for us. But I sure do want to be that 2-3 mph faster than LA when we finally get to boat together:evilb:! Lol

Hahah I think DR has the right idea to pick up a few mph....buy 300 x motors..