Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Dave!

Your 34 is lookin' hot, even in the dead of winter.

A second 300 is awesome...now she'll be better equipped for the first run.


Keep us posted...did you go away on vacation after Hawaii?

show us pics :)

Hey Noli,
I now own three HPDI 300's!!! Two, plus the one on my 24.
Should I put them all on the 34???

tripple 300's ?


let me think....


don;t even spend one minute thinking about it...

DO IT !
DO IT !
DO IT !
DO IT !
DO IT ! :)

Ha! I knew you'd be all over that Noli!
Although I'd love to go with triples, as it's probably the ideal set up for the boat, I think I'll be happy with twins because it will be easier to rig, prop, set up, and easier on my wallet!
That and I've already ordered my bracket/swim platform which is built for twins.

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Dave any updates yet?

it must be thawing up there by now :)

The tank is out!
 

It sure has thawed out up here, a few weeks ago that warm, no, HOT spell killed winter for good. Was sad because it ended snowmobiling season, but got the juices flowing for boating season!

My first step was to finish getting that fuel tank out of the cabin. I used Rick's suggested methodology, and it worked. Thanks very much Rick! Even once the tank broke loose of the foam adhering it in place, it was still in there tight so my brother and I continued to cut, jack, hammer, and wedge every eigth of an inch out of it, but it finally came out. Man-o-man, was that ever IN there!!! If the rest of the boat is built like that (which I know it is), I have no worries bashing it through ANY nasty conditions.

Here's a shot of the set up as Rick described. We blocked it up higher and higher as the tank slowly came upward. We also had to double-up on the crosser that the jack is sitting on because it was starting to buckle under the pressure:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01288.jpg

After cutting the tank in half lengthwise, here's my bro hammering in some wedges to pry it free from the grip of the foam. The 10 ton bottle jack needed some assistance:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01294.jpg

And finally, the empty hole (well, minus the surrounding foam chunks that I scraped off). Hello stringers!
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01355.jpg

Next step is to get my motor bracket delivered :-D

Yep; that looks like a superboat.

Seriously; great work! What is the next step,,,for the tanks? thx.

I heard (actually saw) this thing hit the water over the weekend.......Time for an update Stoehr...

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wow, would luv to see pics and some videos


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I've been working hard and taking pics along the way, but literally have not had any time to post them. It's coming along real well, so please stay tuned whislt I play catch up!

Sorry, no videos yet Noli!

How does it run?????? We definitely need pics.

I'll wait for Dave...but...here's the view from my office...

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...C/IMG_0200.jpg

I don't know how it runs yet, but will definitely find out this weekend. The good news is, the 34 is finally floating in the water with motors on it!!! This is a very exciting step, and I'm so excited to get here!!! Here is a progress report thus far with some pics to illustrate.

Hooked the big-bad girl up to my little FX and took her for one last powerless spin (over to my buddy Rick's shop where the motors had been waiting) before I put the motors on. Poor little thing:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01424.jpg

Here she is with Yammie's bolted on for the first time. She liked it. She REALLY liked it!
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01427.jpg

Austin Powers helped me to name my Japanese twins... Fook Mi and Fook Yu!!! They look great at any angle, but from behind is the best, don't you think?
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01425.jpg

Now, the twins were on the transom for transportation purposes only. The boat and motors knew it was a short term relationship and that after a quick journey down to TUFF, something was bound to come between them. That's right, something shiny and new came all the way up from the beaches of Florida to wedge in between:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01436.jpg

Drilled the 20 holes, Mark prepping to mount...
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01439.jpg

Here we have it partially bolted...
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01440.jpg

Sometimes having that someone fresh and new in the middle can make the relationship work just that much better (know what I'm sayin'?). In this case, I couldn't agree more. And I don't think anyone has ever done the engine bracket thing before on a 34, so breaking new ground here:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01441.jpg

Mmmm, what a fine looking get-up!:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01442.jpg

Now, moving to the inside, it's time to start cutting holes in the lovely dash that Mark had re-finished last October. I paid him to make it look like new, now I get to take the hole saw and ruin it. WTF??? The Raymarine e7 fits perfectly.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01444.jpg

Here's the dash ready for all the gauges:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01445.jpg

More stuff on the inside of the boat to come!!!

There is a decent 30 w/ twin 250xs' at the USCG impound yard in St. Thomas...evidence

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Dave, she looks really good.

Really enjoy the humor too, lol

I like the brackets, gives lots of options on the interior.

what other positives come with using a bracket?

Does Yamaha come standard with those bullet lowers?


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Thanks Noli!
The advantages of the bracket are:
1) Puts the motors further back, allowing them to be mounted higher out of the water when at rest/slow speeds, which is important because I'm only running 20" shafts.
2) The weight is also further back allowing it to carry the bow higher at speed with less surface drag, thus increasing performance. Now, too much bow height has the opposite effect, but with a boat this long and having lightweight power plants (as compared to heavy big-block engines with stern drives) I highly doubt I'll have the issue of the bow being too high. It's a calculated risk, but one I'm comfortable with.
3) Allows for the integration of a swim platform, making it easier to reboard from a dip. It also negates the Cdn Coast Guard requirement of a reboarding ladder, because it proved access with less than 1'8" to climb over
4) I just think it looks cool!

Yep, the Vmax models come stock with those lowers

Who is changing your Lower to Counter rotating?

I haven't gotten that far yet. Been thinking about a couple of options, but will be running both as is (RH) for the summer. Will see how it goes.

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I can't see from the pictures, but are the engines closer to each other because of the brackets?


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You have a keen eye Noli! For some reason the bracket has 25" spacing, whereas the transom was drilled at 26". 26" is pretty standard spacing.

I ran with (behind) this boat on Saturday through some ugly water... It ran right through it.. Beautiful boat.

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Now we need lots of pics :)

and video. gotta see the big water that the hull eats up.


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Alright, alright already! Remember Noli, I apologized right from the get-go that I wouldn't be as dilligent at photo taking and posting as you were. That and I've had hardly any free time as of late, so any time I do have I try to get out on the water. I haven't necessarily taken pics along each step of the way as I wanted to, but am playing catch-up whenever I can.

So, with that said, I'm carrying on from my last post of pics with my usual bit of commentary. Hey Mitchie, sorry I didn't text you later that day. My phone died and I don't have a 12V outlet hooked up on the boat yet to charge with. I do want to mention that I don't recall the water being the slightest bit rough that day ;-)

After what seemed like drilling a hundred holes in it with Mark Weigl at TUFF, I dropped it off at Gary's Custom Marine to get a cockpit cover made. On it's journey up to it's home in Parry Sound, it had to hang out with me at my condo in Toronto for a couple of nights. I luckily managed to get 3 spots in a row right beside my building, which is rare due to the trucks doing construction across the street:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01489.jpg

I did some work on it for the nights it was there (routing the throttle and shifter cables, hooking up the controls, mounting the nav system, etc). One night while I was working on it my neighbour and friend walked by on his way back from the grocery store at about 11:30. After some "Holy Jesus, this is your new boat??" type comments, he said he'd grab his guitar and sing songs for me while I puttered about. I grabbed some beers, and the sing-along had begun. Minutes later another neighbor came by. I invited her up onto the boat, and we proceeded henceforth to inaugurate the Super with it's first ever party! On the trailer on the streets of Toronto!!! Well, after all the beer was gone, the rum, scotch, and tequila came out. We sang and drank until... the cops showed up! They got a noise complaint with a wee bit of a twist; the noise was coming from, uh, er, a boat out on the street! The 23 Division guys had to check things out, but were really cool with the whole situation actually. 5 minutes later, another cop car came by. Turns out they just heard the original call over the radio and wanted to check the boat out because they heard it was cool. Ariel, Charlene and I carried on until 4am:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01499.jpg

Now, back to the build. Here are a couple scenes from behind the dash. The big heavy Capilano helm with remote fill hose:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01513.jpg

Gauges and wiring:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01514.jpg

And finally... the new view from the Captain's chair!!!
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01512.jpg

All Livorsi monster size gauges. Red 'Race' bezels with brushed aluminum dial faces, and matching quad-stick billet controls of course. GPS speedo, 8,000 RPM tachs, trim, water temp, water pressure, fuel, and voltage gauges, remote controller for the stereo, and Raymarine e7 multi-function display/chartplotter. Those nasty switches will definitely be replaced at some point:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01511.jpg

The steering and rigging hoses with bulkhead fittings:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01508.jpg

The 'ol Latham steering set-up that I picked up last winter:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01509.jpg

And a shot of the Twins all rigged up. Still have to plug the upper holes from where Noli's Verado's were mounted:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01510.jpg

Ok, so I didn't necessarily take the pics in the right order, but all the work on the boat thus far culminated in... the Launch! Noli, I was thinking of you, and you would have shed a tear I'm sure.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...TheLaunch1.jpg

Looks dam good in the water doesn't it??
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...TheLaunch2.jpg

Yes, this is actually me at the wheel of the long awaited SAW 34 Superboat, on the water, DRIVING it under it's own power!!!
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...TheLaunch3.jpg

Now, un-freakin'-fortunately I couldn't even take it for a run at this point because one of the engines (the used one I picked up in Florida) had leaky gaskets on the intake cooling water jackets. A decent amount of water was spraying right into the intake of the airbox. It turns out the small drains were plugged with sand, so my deduction is the water couldn't drain out and it froze over the winter, and the expansion of the ice formation pushed out/deformed the gaskets at their weakest point. The ice could have done a lot worse, so lucky this is all that happened.

I did the gasket replacement a couple weeks later which meant I finally got to take it for a spin. Here is the Maiden Voyage!!!
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...idenVoyage.jpg

This is the only pic I have so far of it running (nice scunge line, huh?). Sorry Noli, no vids yet.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/.../FirstPass.jpg

Here are some more pics of it hanging out on a beach, with my favourite beach-bum enjoying the sun pad:
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01505.jpg

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC01507.jpg

Although I haven't spent much time running it yet, I'm very happy how it goes thus far. Up until now, I've always prided myself on my proficiency at docking boats, but I might as well be 'born again' because this is a different league. That deck is HUGE! I'm not too bad when it's calm, but as soon as the wind hucks up even slightly, that looong bow does its own thing. Even with twin screws in opposite gear, they don't do much being only 25" apart so far back there. All I can say is thanks to the dock boys when I'm backing into my slip!

There's still lots to do (install sound system, hook up all the gauges, and the huge job of doing the cabin interior) so will provide updates along the way. I can't wait to take it out into some large waves and put it to the test. And Noli, my offer for you to come up and take it for a spin is still open!!!

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"... the cops showed up! They got a noise complaint with a wee bit of a twist; the noise was coming from, uh, er, a boat out on the street! "

lmao :)

This thread has never been so entertaining muhahaha

.

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awesome pics Dave!

I waited sooo long to see this giant SB finally do her thing, congrats!

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...idenVoyage.jpg



That is fine art right there!

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/.../FirstPass.jpg

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wow, did you have to walk the boat into there???!! 2' of water to get in there!!!


Boat looks great Dave, very proud of you!

Nice! It's always good to see a project in a 4 1/2 year thread finally get wet! :whistle:

Just wait until we get the video of him trying to dock the GD thing :lolhit:

The boat is straight up SICK...Dave and Tuff Mark have rigged it to perfection. I felt like "a BOSS" towing it through town Sunday night lol.

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Except for Rick... ya, YOU try docking this MF'r!

Jon, no walking, just drove her right in. There's only one narrow approach though, so gotta slide in carefully. One thing that's good about beaching it is the motors are waaay back there so they stay in deeper water :-)

"I waited sooo long to see this giant SB finally do her thing, congrats!". Noli, I'm really glad you approve. Now you just let me know when you want to come up!

Here are a couple shots I got... I would have gotten more but I am not yet proficient at photography while running 70mph airborne. No worries on the texting... We will be up again and when we do I hope its big water, and I want a ride. Awesome boat.

http://i47.tinypic.com/1pdqh5.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/k4tkyo.jpg

dstoehr, I have a pair of counter-rotating VMax 20" 300's on my 23' Cat. As you know, Yamaha never made such an animal. PM sent... Not too many people doing what we did. ;)

Superbender does the conversion...we've talked to him already. The boat does seem to work pretty well with them both spinning the same way.