[ATTACH=CONFIG]528732[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]528733[/ATTACH]Sam's Skater really looks great and does handle rough water exceptionally. Ru and I had a great time riding in it over to Captain Ron's and back Friday Afternoon
Here are a couple of Sam heading out Monday morning

David thanks for the photos. They should be captioned "The Party is Over"

Likewise it was great to see you and Ru again. That was a fun run to Captain Ron's.

I'm working on Kim for KW.

It was cylinder no. 5. Mercury won't let my shop open up the motor, so I'll have to wait to find out what happened in a report from Merc. A 2" hole in the cases and a lot of steel (rod) metal found in the lower pan, by me including the piston pin clip as well as SMALL pieces of piston and case material. Looks like to me, that the rod let loose. Evidence of the pin hitting the prop as well as small fragments at the root of the blades. Ron, How much did your extended warranties cost? I have another year on my motor warranties. Can a XS powerhead even be purchased from Mercury without warranty replacement? If all goes well, I should be back by next weekend.

David I would check with your dealer. I think I paid around $9k or so for both but it was 2yrs ago. If you are planning on keeping the boat I would do it if money is not an issue. I got my money's worth from my extended warranty. You can buy short block assembled but not sure about a fully dressed powerhead. I can get you a price if you want from TNT here in Miami.
After putting together the X motors it is not a big deal for the swap over and to dress it out. Personally I like turning my own wrenches.

Thanks, Ron. Yes, I would like to know the cost of replacement Short Block vs. extended warranty. As I understand it, the gear cases are also covered. True? I also like to do my own work. I guess it comes from the years racing motorcycles and Porsches.

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if I had to choose a non-outboard Skater :)
(FYI for sale in OSO classifieds already)

this is the flush mount 426? I think you could modify the bussel and get all four 280' on it :D

Everyone seems to like this specific boat and the truth is I don't care for it at all from the bussel, to the paint job. The bussel IMO takes away the slickness of the boat. The only thing I like is that it's a Skater. But who cares what I think, I didn't pay for it.:D

I think its an age thing :)

Well brotha between you and your old lady by the looks at LOTO are aging great. You reminded me of Don Johnson from the 80's with your hair style :D

Thanks, It must be my clean livin :noevil:

It's not easy being green but FYI they do make matching AEDs for you If you are green:lolhit:

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Is the insurance crazy on these like the bigger cats?

Does anybody have any experience blueprinting sportmasters cases?

Wilson Custom Marine does them.

What I mean, has anybody done this to there boat and picked up speed etc?

think most of the race teams do this ?????? can't see it hurting. I did check with Wilson and got a $ and its $$$$$$$$ but think it would be money well spent. just my opinion tho.

seems like it would be a good winter project

Been there done that. I personally did not see any gains at the speeds the 28's run. I will share one experience to consider.
1) It will cost you about $2400.00 dollars for two lower units. The lower units when they come back are beautiful, skegs are straight with a sharp edge and case a polished look. They now coat them with some sort of coating that is supposed to keep that clean look.
2) They spent a lot of time on the upper part of the gear case also. However it is not even in the water.
3) Problem for me was I snapped a drive shaft and they could not get it out. Had to throw away a case hence losing my blueprinted $1200.00 dollars.
4) Other than a cool factor and maybe 1mph or so question is it worth it if you loose the lower unit and the $1200.00 dollars per each. For me not.

I have heard from some guys on the bigger boats that run much faster it does help.
Wilson is definitely a first class company and the father and son are great guys.

Thanks for the info guys !I'm looking to squeeze every last bit outa her what other tips/ tricks can be done ?

Buy some 300x's!!!!! LOL
If you find any let me know. Zero Patience uses helium filled fenders on board! Not sure if that helps either :confused:
Find some low temps, nice chop, and run down wind with a strong current! That will get you a feel good MPH.

minus the 300x all the rest seems like a good deal!

I had Wilson blueprint my drives on my 32A with triples, picked up 1.5mph. The 1.5mph was consistent with different prop set up's. The boat also tracked better above 100mph.

My buddy Rick Bowling swears he gained 1-2mph on his twin 300XS 28 after blueprinting his gearcases also. They must be thinning/straightening the skegs would be my only explanation for the speed increase, as there's not enough of the actual gearcase in the water to make a difference imo. Glad to hear you saw a gain after spending some coin to have the blueprinting done. How fast are you seeing with your setup? It must accelerate great with triple Xs! Mills Brown had the last 32A built with triple 300X motors and saw 122 with it (stock powerheads).

should be some pics of standard lowers then the Wilson blueprinted on this site somewhere to see.

You can go to his web site to get an idea ,Bblades also
Does lower unit work .not sure if I can justify that kind of money
For a 1.5 mph

I've seen Rick's up close - they don't look any different than stock. Certainly if you were to take a set of calipers to them there would have to be some differences. My concern is that any material taken off the thickness of the skegs will weaken them, and I've already had a skeg come off a SM gearcase before - not an inexpensive repair. For guys chasing every last mph it's worth it, but it's not for me.

It is hard to see with pics as Dale said. The edges are definitely sharp and true from the skeg through the cresent. The one I had seep oil was one that was blueprinted. Maybe that led to it or not who knows.

I'm not chasing every single mph...just to be able to hit triple digits in my 308 when I want. I like reliable turnkey boating!

Have you tried a set of Dewalds on it? I would have Dave send a set of 32" 4 blades and a set of 32" 5 blades and see which ones run the best. My guess is that your 30 will like one or the other and run a solid 100+.

skate and I have talked about dewalds...he has as a set of merc 4 blades that he ran 102 and some change with. I have a SMALL hole in the starboard block by the #1 cylinder,:( so priorities have changed a little. :crazy:

Get that bad boy fixed and let's get some props and test at The Tickfaw 200 in May. Hopefully the family schedule will allow me to make it.

oh it'll be fixed before then you can bet on that LOL.

I may have missed this info before forgive me if I have - would a 28 with 300xs benefit from 15" mids as far as speed or is it just handleing? Or both thanks for any info

I would say maybe a little handling if any. It is a cool look like Dale's boat has but I personally do not think there is any gains in speed. It is a very expensive conversion to be done right. I looked at it when I built the 300x's since I had them apart. Other thing to consider being where you boat and if you go out in conditions other than LAKE boating and sit still etc the motors will get really wet. with the possibility of water getting in a cylinder unless you trim them up.
I am sure Dale can give you a good perspective also.

Hey Ron I spoke to Mike at Calhoun marine he will cut mids/saddles etc for 800 a side has me thinking about it

Don't do it on our boats. I did this and both of mine broke from offshore use. Buy the Mad EFI mids and be done with it.

There's no performance gains with the 15" mids. I've had both 20" and 15" mids on my Skater 28s and Mirage Jaguar and didn't notice any difference anywhere (top end, acceleration, cornering, rough water, etc.) between the two. The only reason I went through the big expense and hassle of going with the Taylor 15" mids is because my boat has a notched transom for 15" motors already. It would have looked really stupid if I would have put 20" motors on a transom cut-down for 15"s. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of my 15" mid motors w/ 300X cowls, but they don't gain anything as far as performance goes. You've got to remember that I also already had my 15" transom assemblies from my 2.5/280/ROS motors. I would NEVER go through what it takes to convert from 20" to 15" if my boat was already rigged and running with 20" 300XSs. And as Ron stated, I have to always trim all the way out (which isn't much with the ROS transom assemblies) when I'm off plane. Even then, if I'm sitting with the motors off in big water, I'm risking water getting into the lower cylinders. 15" mids on a 28 Skater are like dating a stripper - they look great, but cost you lots of money and are a constant pain in the ass! :rolleyes:

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