bracket on a 1978 23'

[Tsunami23]

I am very satisfied with the paint. It goes on easy and the finish is really nice. The only problems I've had are from me trying to put too much paint on in one coat and just not giving myself enough time.
Recommendations:
1) Don't try to apply too much paint in one coat. Paint all that you can paint for your first coat in one day and then let it fully cure (24 hours)
2) Plan on three coats as recomended.
3) Get more paint than you think you need. I probably wasn't as efficient as I could have been (trying to put too much on in one coat) but I ended up needing about 50% more paint than Tom F. recomended.
Feel free to ask questions as your getting into it. Capt. Chuck has more experience with the stuff than I do and if you dropped him a line I imagine he could give you some more tips - he did for me. Send me a PM if you want to talk about it further this weekend.

[captbone]

Your paint and resto came out beautiful. Looks great.

I missed out on the discussion on the bracket but here is my imput on brackets. I would want to create a basic hull extention using the bracket. This will give you the most bang for your buck. You may have to readjust the weight distribution as this will throw off the center of buoyance of the hull.

Here is a good example. Full bracket matching the hull bottom with 30inch outboards. Just like adding 3 feet to the hull.

Just my 2 cents.

[Tsunami23]

Thanks captbone. A little closer...Should be up and running by next weekend. It'll be almost one year to the date since I last had her going. 2-11-08 backed off the trailer and put her in gear to head out and spun my starboard engine coupler.
I'll be posting performance numbers with the single 300 Suzuki here directly. I'll be interested to see how it compares to the other gentleman that is getting his 24' Seabird set up for the new 300 E-tec.
web page1 web page2 web page3

[Tsunami23]

One year to the date of major mechanical failure...it is finished.
I am going to have the folks at the shop put on a different prop because I can't get full RPMs (6300) the one they gave me (16"x21.5"pitch). I think that a 16"x20" or 20.5" should do the trick.
Here are the preliminary performance numbers with the current prop. I would expect that my speeds listed here will not change a whole lot with the lower pitched prop, just the RPM's associated with each speed.

WOT: 0.7 mpg @ 5850 (couldn't get full RPMS), 53.3 mph With a 16"x20"pitch and the same prop slip I should get 53.4 mph @ 6300 RPMs.
Best Fuel: 2.9 to 3.0 mpg @ 3250 RPMs, 26 mph
Cruise 2: 2.4 to 2.6 mpg @ 3750 RPMs, 30 mph
Cruise 3: 2.0 to 2.1 mpg @ 4000 RPMs, 35 mph
Cruise 4: 1.3 to 1.6 mpg @ 4650 RPMs, 41 mph

As for the ride...Perfect. The boat sits in the water just right and is balanced as if it was meant to have a bracket and outboard on the rear all along. It definitely handles the chop better. Yesterday it was blowing about 20mph out of the north and my wife and I were zipping across the top from 30 to 40 mph as smooth as silk. I haven't really tested it out in the open ocean yet, but I did take it outside the inlet for a few minutes and it handled the solid 2-3 very well. I don't have a windshield on the thing just yet and I wasn't in the mood to get catch a bunch of spray.

A couple more trips out to break it in and it'll be time to shoot some fish.

[zach]

Looks great