It’s been a while since I have been able to work on this – earning a paycheck keeps getting in the way but I do need the cash flow. Finally got around to glassing the engine beds in. Stuck them down with a blend of epoxy/cabosil/chopped glass fiber; it worked pretty well. Then glassed them into place with alternating layers of biax; 1708/1808/1708. Each layer of glass was slightly larger to blend it into the old surface smoothly and minimize how much sanding/fairing I have to do. Since I didn’t have help and was using a fast setting epoxy, I didn’t have time to vacuum bag it but I did use peel ply. There is more resin in the glass than I wanted but I mixed up enough resin for each layer based on a 1:1.5 glass:resin ratio so it’s not excessively resin rich. In the photo below I left the peel ply on the top of the beds to protect the surface until I get around to glassing in the motor mount risers- that probably won’t happen until after I cut the drive hole and figure out exactly how tall they need to be. At least I finally got rid of those low spots outside the motor beds that trapped standing water/oil/funk
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The two biggest things remaining (before paint) are recoring the decks and putting the engine/drive back in. I want to wait til it’s plenty cool before I cut the decks and start grinding again
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I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out where to set the cav plate of the drive when it goes back in. Power is a 5.7/260HP (for now) and a Bravo 1X 1.65 ratio drive. With an I/O, I don’t have a lot of options for adjustment after I cut the hole. Based on talking to several folks it seems like the 23 Sceptre (w/o a bracket) likes to have the cavitation plate between 2” and 2½” above the bottom of the keel. I’m leaning towards having it at +2”. Once I cut the drive in, I can still lower the cav plate by putting in drive extensions (¼” or ½” increments cost 300-500 each), but I can’t raise it further.
Any additional input on drive height is welcome here!
Raising the drive means that the engine will come up in the bilges and the exhaust manifold tops will be getting close to the engine box. With the lower engine beds + raising the engine I will also need to get the tallest trunnion style front motor mounts I can – anybody have a set to sell?