Swapping trailers to a new Owens and Sons. Anyone need a trailer for a 23? It needs some work. I will be selling it soon.

The boat floats! It sits way high. The chines were out of the water. I hope she settles into the water when the Suzuki and fuel go in.

23
 

No worries, when you add motor, fuel and everything else, she'll sit just fine..

Tomorrow she heads south to see Brian at International Marine to get the motor hung. I think she’s ready. Electrical with switch, Simrad and fuel tanks networked, fuel fill vent filter, drain plug, finally steering is in and blead. I even got a few hatches installed. Hopefully everything goes smoothly. Can’t wait!

Thanks for the confidence and flipping the picture

I’m a little concerned. Brian at International Marine was worried I have a 25” shaft and he thinks it needs a 30”. He just had a SC that had 2’ cut off it with a problem. He wants to vet that issue first before hanging mine.

I have a 32” bracket it should be perfect for the 25” shaft? Everything I read was that it may be a little high?

Any thoughts

Most people run 30" leg outboards on bracketed 23's but that don't mean its what you need on your particular bracket. You really need to do some good measurements to verify where your AV plate will land. If you go up to a 30" and need a 25 you will likely have to add a jackplate to raise it up. Personally I would rather have the 30 due to it keeps the power head further out of the water but more importantly is having the right mounting depth. I would measure the distance from the outboard mounting clamp to the AV plate on what ever outboard you are getting (they are close but all not the same). Measure how much length you have at full adjustment up if you use the bottom holes on the outboard clamp and fully down with the clamp touching the bracket ear. Then get a long stright edge and see how high up the bracket mounting ear is above the bottom of the hull. A little math will tell you where the AV plate will land on each length and with the outboard up or down in its mounting adjustment. You don't wont to end up with a 25" that is all the way down with an AV plate super high above the hull bottom stright edge due to you can only go so low before it hits the outboards clamp hooks. If too high it will blow out in turns or loose grip do poorly in ruff conditions. The 30" leg may max out in the mounting holes in the outboard adjustment clamps high as it can go and still be too deep. This will cause performance to suffer due to the AV plate will be too far below the hull bottom causing extra drag. If it is to far down you can always add a jackplate to raise the outboard higher where as with the 25 you cant go no lower once you are in the upper mounting holes. I would find a long stright edge to run down the hull bottom and get a plumb bob and figure out where the av plate lands on both length outboards then take in account for the max adjustment down on the 25 and the max adjustment up on the 30 and see where your AV plate will end up at with either outboard and go from there. If it is possible to go with the 30" leg I would lean that way unless your bracket mounting ear is just way too low causing the outboard to be way to low unless you would like to add an jackplate. There are a lot of SeaCrafts out there running around with outboards adjusted all the way up in their adjustment that have the AV plate too low in the water. But even too low they still run well and do ok you just loose some performance. Very few are too high and blow out. Most installers lean to mount outboards lower as they have less issues with the set up as most people don't notice the lesser performance from being mounted too low but they do notice when the boat prop blows out when they turn if the outboard is too high though. One thing you have going for you is international marine. He has a lot of experience so you are in good hands there and I know he has done a lot of SeaCrafts. That said I would still want to mock up the heights and know for myself where Im at and try to maximize the performance of the outboard.

Thank you. I’ll take you advice and double check the math. I order the bracket designed for a 25” shaft and mounted it as directed. I have not checked the final math for av plate height. I do not want a 30” if I can help it. I wanted the bracket as close to the water for divers. I definitely don’t want blow out, but don’t want a long because an installer wants a slam dunk.

You will also get the same thought process by the bracket builders as well. Most installed heights from the manufacture will place the AV plate below the hull bottom. If it was designed for a 25" outboard there should be enough adjustment to make it work but most likely you will end up moving the outboard up a few holes in the clamp adjustment to get at the best mounting position. That is if you want to get the AV plate even or above the hull bottom for max performance. It all depends on how the bracket was designed though. The tape measure will tell you what you want to know...

If I had to guess mike does want it right the first time because if u have to do some prop swapping to get it dialed in it’s not like you are 5 minutes away.
Even if u plan on another kind of prop you should get the most out of what u paid for. My family are divers and it is nice having the bracket were they can slip on and off because we are always drift diving as a note we are free divers. Sounds like it’s going to be a sweet ride good luck with it.

25” etec 300 on stainless marine bracket just raised it all the way up will check it out again this weekend

Don’t no much about etec and still trying to dial in my Suzuki but it looks low hope that I’m wrong. Good luck

That was my point my motor is a 25” shaft on a std bracket

Brian and Mike are working out as I type. Hopefully picking it up tomorrow. They hung the 25” shaft.

Glad to see the update. I was just going to text and check in.

She has a heart beat! Mike did the water test this morning. I picked her up and made it home in time for my own water trial with my family. I can’t get it above 3000 rpms for a few more hours. Then I can open her up. The AV plate looks fine. Set the motor in the middle with room to adjust either way. The first set of numbers. 12.5 mpg @ 68 mpg on the way home from International Marine.

Congrats looks really nice.

Great job on the rehab!

Enjoy the ride!!

Lloyd

Mike cut an ole Potter 23 down to 21 to meet the slip length restriction of his place in the Keys.
Cutting corners is not in his nature.

I agree with Brian in wanting a 30" leg. You may find your power head low in the water
when running around.

Twin 25`s are pretty much the same as a single 30 height wise.

Remember you are moving the engine back and down relative to the angle of attack.

I couldn’t think of a better way to try out a fresh Seacraft than to take it to the keys during a hurricane. The wind is 20+ knots and even the bayside is a washing machine. It’s hard to get any kind of performance numbers in the weather. I’ll have to wait till next week. BUT it’s FUN.

Still working on wiring and installing hatches and such. The Simrad is installed. It will take me a while to learn new electronics. The Taco rub rail nav lights look great. Also got the under gunnel lights installed.

The kids don’t care. They just want to get in the water.

The kids always want to jump from the top!

The Keys are normally nicer than here, but especially today.

Enjoy the ride!

Lloyd

The hurricanes and work have kept me from finishing her up. Last weekend I did 20 hours of wiring and I’m almost done with the electrical. Just an anchor light an horn left. I used the guides from newwire.com to get started.

Has anyone insured a rebuilt Seacraft? Progressive maximum is $40k and Geico is $30k. What’s the best way to cover this boat?

Boat US. $43,000

going to try and get some numbers today. The wind is blowing big time but this is the only day I can do it. I think the motor is mounted a little high. It suck air in corners and in rough seas. Cav plate looks about perfect but may try to lower one hole. Mike set me up with a 3/16/21.5 prop. It is barely on plane at 3000 rpms. It gets out of the water fine and does 47mpg at WOT. I need some fuel efficiency number today. My goal is not top end but good fuel economy.

Are you trimmed down in the turns and rough seas? I have to trim down in tight turns and rough seas.

Don't move the motor! Bite the bullet and go pick you up a standard Mercury Bravo 1 22p. You can buy me dinner later.

Got her in the water to take some numbers. I decided to program the Bennett Auto Trim Tabs first. My son and I got the tabs programmed without a problem. We made a few trial starts and stops to check them when they died. The leds got dimmer and then everything stopped.

Then we took numbers that will most likely be a little better with proper tabbing. The tabs were partly deployed to maybe 10 degrees.

Here is the wide open throttle and max fuel economy. 45 mph @ 5300 rpms @ 1.9 mpg. Definitely slower than I thought I’d get.

I think I can do a little better on burn. 26 mph @ 3400 rpms @ 3.6 mpg.

Kmoose - Should I be looking at the 3 or 4 blade Bravo in what diameter? Will it help with cavitation in heaven seas and cornering?

Later in the weekend, The tabs were fixed, just a bad crimp. I hope the auto tabs are worth the money and effort.

Also as a side note... the Simrad NSS is awesome! I’m still trying to program it also. Trying to set up the 2 fuel tanks with the fluid level sensors. Shouldn’t be hard.

Just put my old trailer on CL Trailer

Her she is.

Looking good!

Hey Scott. Nice to see you out enjoying it. Did you get the motor adjusted?

Great job! She's beautiful!

Thanks everyone. Got the motor height adjusted. I had to lower it an inch. Also running a 19 pitch prop. The guys at international marine were correct in going with the 30” shaft. I should have listened. The motor cowling is too close to the water and gets particularly submerged often. I will have to lengthen the shaft when money allows. Boy does this boat run great 3’ chop is not a problem at all. It always lands softly.

I had some left over vinylester foam and cloth. So why not make a 7’ tall octopus tentacle shower. It’s almost done.

Now you're just showing off!! :)

Great to hear Scott. Nice to see you enjoying it.

That's what I say...Gotta say Guys got talent...

I installed it.

Great post. This is motivating me big time!!!

We were in the keys last week and my son took some drone pictures

Here are a few deal pictures. Thanks for the compliments.