Posts Tagged ‘outdrive’

Volvo 375 Hp and more at the boat show

8.1 power boat engine from Volvo

Volvo makes an 8.1 gas big block engine for the most torque and horse power for a power boat. Volvo has been a leader in marine pleasure boat power in the USA since 1959.

The 8.1 engine comes with a choice of camshafts that are selected based on where you as a boater want your power. Use 4,200 rpm and above mostly and pick the high Hp cam, use 4,000 rpm and below for almost all your time boating, select the 375-400 Hp engine cam. So, a true “hot rod” boat speed freak boater best uses the high performance camshaft and everyone else should use the regular cam. It is a no brainer, really, as you know going into a boat show if you want the most power you can get out of the engine below 4,000 rpm (even more power than the performance cam at these “below  4,000 rpms” engine speeds). Remember, the 375-400 Hp engine is the “Hole Shot” engine choice for the quickest 0 to 30 mph acceleration tests.

Volvo Penta gas power boat engine

Either the 375 or the 400 Hp engines are rated to run as fast as 4,600 to 4,800 rpms. They just do not develop as much power at those rpms as the Hi-Po camshaft engine.

All of these engines are 8.1 in displacement or big cubic inch engines developed from a Chevy based v-8 engine. They are fuel injected engines using a MPI fuel delivery system. Fresh water cooling and  the drive system is separate choice.

Absolute 43 yacht with Volvo Penta power

power boat underway with Volvo Penta power

Chris Craft Power Boat 36 Corsair boat show

2012 Chris Craft I. O. power boat

She is a sport boat on the exterior and a four sleeper, complete galley, and head down below. This power boat tops out at 48 mph and cruises from as low as 16 mph to as high 42 mph with the same fuel economy. The photo shows how this performance boat handles in a turn. Should one call her a sporty boat, a performance boat, or a cabin cruiser?

Chris Craft builds a stylish way to run around all the waterways in its Corsair 36 power boat model. In the USA she usually runs twin 8.1 Volvo gas engines with twin diesels as an optional choice. Volvo marine engines has tested and approved the engine installation details in this boat model. She went from 0 to 30 mph in acceleration boat tests in less than 10 seconds while weighing just under 10 tons with some 2,500 lbs. of fuel, water, crew, gear weight onboard and are willing to show their test report numbers to interested boaters.

2012 Chris Craft Corsair power boat

This model of the Corsair series is actually over 38 feet including the swim platform and 36’ 3” without it. The beam is 12’ 6”. She weights some 16,000 – 16,500 lbs. dry. Air Conditioning, two refrigerators, a microwave, a cabinet mounted coffee maker, a convertible dinette, and then a queen size bed in the owner’s cabin all of which is done in a high nautical fashion makes for a luxurious boat.

Take a look at your local boat show, where she may be what you need for this coming summer’s adventures on the water.

power boat cockpit of a Chris Craft Corsair

 

layout with its private owner's cabin

Best 2012 Bow Rider, H2O Sport by Chaparral Boats

Chaparral 2012 H2O Sport Bow Rider Runabout

Look for the newest thinking in bow rider boats at your local 2012 boat show. A $21,885 price for a boat, motor, and trailer is a “barn burner” price coming from the one boat builder that has won 40 plus awards for boat product excellence, customer service index (CSI) awards for excellence in customer satisfaction for the last four years, all topped with an amazing 12 awards as simply the Boat of the Year of all boats tested by the boating magazines over the years. That boating trade industry recognition gives confidence to a boat buyer both in the company that makes a full range of bow rider, cuddy, sport, express, and cabin cruiser boats and in each of their individual boat models.

Are you new to boating or a lifelong boater? Inspect for yourself this sport series bow rider stern drive boat aimed at families that want to get on the water. You want for yourself the quality family building lifestyle experience that a trailer boat becomes as a fully fun adventure together for Mom, Dad, and the Kids. This runabout is big enough for all of the family AND two or three extra friends as well (an invite at your kid’s school for a weekend boat ride is valued as a very special treat in any home or community).

This is a big 18 foot PLUS boat with a wide, spacious cockpit, lots of storage areas, padded bow seating seat bases and seat backs, full, wrap around windshield, well placed grab handles, a cushioned sunning pad, built in swim platform, driver and co-captain bucket seats, and a walk through easy opening passage way to the bow.

Remember, the kids rule the boat by sitting up in the bow so Mom can keep an eye on them without having to turn around while Dad is in command at the helm. Only a generously deep, high sided, top quality bow rider boat suits this style of a day full of fun on the water.

Simply put, Chaparral makes another top shelf water ski boat for 2012 in its H2O Sport. Take a look, please, and tell them when you do that you read about it at www.seabuddyonboats.com.

Sea Ray 300 SLX bow rider at the NY Boat Show

2012 Sea Ray 300 SLX

Sea Ray makes a bow rider that is 32’ 2” in length with its extended swim platform or 29’ 6” with the standard swim step platform. It is a 9’ 8” beam boat that can still be trailered but only with a fairly simple to get permit. The single engine boat typically weighs in at 7,700 without trailer, or anything in the holding tank, water tank, or fuel tank or boat and crew supplies on board. Figure on a ready tow down to the highway weight of around 10,500 to more likely, 11,000 lbs. It takes a good size tow car or truck to tow it. But, what a beautiful runabout!

The single engine choice is a big block 380 Hp 8.2 Mag ECT gas engine with a standard grade Bravo III out drive. The 430 H. O. 8.2 engine or the 525 Hp engine version of the 8.2 is not offered and the 700 SCi (another version of the 8.2 block with a supercharger included as standard) may not fit. These higher Hp engine power choices would require an upgraded stern drive from Mercruiser. Only an inboard outboard drive system is available with the Sea Ray 300 SLX boat model.

The twin engine choices are several. They are small blocks from chevy marinised by Mercruiser in either a 5.0 block size or a 5.7 block. The 5.0 is rated at 260 Hp and the 5.7 makes 300 Hp. That is 300 Hp for each engine for a total of 600 Hp in an about a high mid-twenties length hull.

What further separates these twin engine choices is the separate option of Axius and Axius Premier joy stick control systems. With this, just a single finger joy stick controls the direction and speed of the Sea Ray 300 SLX at lower speeds.

See this Sea Ray boat at the New York Boat Show.

2012 Sea Ray Bow Rider

Sea Ray bow rider Helm Station

Big Skipper’s Berth plus… Wow! Lots of Light inside

the cabin front windows make the difference

Experience the light inside the 2860 Regal cabin cruiser with the curtains pulled back and you will have seen the best there is available inside a boat cabin for airiness and sunshine brighten your boating weekend. Regal 2860 wins this point hands down.

Next, lay out on the skipper’s berth and see the biggest size berth there is for a good nights rest. Again, the Regal 2860 wins as it’s a “no contest” in this size class cabin cruiser.

Check off what else is important in a cruiser and a 2860 Regal cabin cruiser is competitive in all respects.

Competitive in everything that one looks for in a cabin cruiser and “the best in class” in two points of top importance.

Take a look, there is a sale going on right now.

clean running hull design that is well balanced

Glastron Boats moving

Glastron, a Minnesota-based boat company owned by the private firm that purchased it and Cadillac-based Four Winns and Wellcraft has now made their first boat in Cadillac, MI.

TNT fixes Boat Engines, Sterndrives, and Boat Rigging

They have a huge shop!

It is organized and well laid-out

e-mail: service@tntcustommarine.com

telephone: 305-944-2119

another view of the shop

they work neat and cover up your boat as needed

Volvo sterndrive gas – Volvo sterndrive diesel

Volvo engine with Volvo sterndrive / outdrive

Volvo makes eighteen horsepower gas engines using five engine sizes from 135 Hp to 420 Hp.

Volvo also makes eight horsepower diesel engines using three engine sizes from 130 Hp to 370 Hp.

Volvo-Penta and Volvo-Penta of the Americas are other popular names for these engines and sterndrives / outdrives.

Fountain Powerboat with Mercruiser for 95 mph

42 Fountain Poker Run Edition

 

525 Hp of 8.2 (502) Mercruiser sterndrive

Reggie Fountain offers his 42 boat set-up for serious GofastBeLoud fun with two 525 Hp 502 Mercury Marine cast and built from scratch new engines. Mercruiser offers these same engines from as little as 380 Hp, to these hot rodded up 525 Hp engines, and then the same basic block engine, up to 700 hp with more hot rod parts and machine work. Mercruiser uses a different basic block of 551 cu. Inches for the next engine of 800 Hp.

42 Fountain Cockpit

Poker Run cockpit

Coming, a V-6 powered Cobalt Boat?

After a wildly successful launch of the first of the new “A” series Cobalt line.

Should Cobalt introduce a “C” series line for 2012?

Will the next Cobalt Boat look something like this?

 

If the “A’ is step up from a regular line Cobalt boat, should the “C” line be a step below the regular Cobalt line-up?

What should be the specs of the first model in such a boat?

Number One (and there is no number two). It should bring to the boating world a new value that says Cobalt and is a true Cobalt Boat, but at a savings.

How would this be accomplished?

It must weight less. Weight demands engine power to give the Cobalt standard of performance with a V-6 engine.

So,  make it lighter by shortening the boat somewhat. Changing to the beam measurement to less than 8’. Design into the mold the swim platform and any swim platform extentions. Cut back on amount of seating, as Cobalt seats are plush and that adds weight. A new approach to the engine room hatch for further weight savings.

Make it a sporty boat model with a less deep cockpit and hull.

Use a 30 gallon gas tank size.

Skip the separate anchor locker.

Use a Volvo SX drive for smooth, silky shifting like a Mercruiser Bravo I sterndrive or a Volvo duoprop outdrive.

Use a Volvo-Penta marinized Chevrolet V-6 engine for its low cost as it does not need marine exhaust manifolds with Cataliytic Converters inside those marine exhaust manifolds.

Seabuddy’s suggested specs for a V-6 powered Cobalt Boat: LOA of 20’2” using a updated version of the Cobalt boat hull first used from the later 1980s on. This is a great running boat with a V-6.  She has a deep V running bottom of 20 degrees. Its designers, Jim Wynne and Dan Bramhall, knew their stuff around fast, good handling, boat hulls for both the lakes and oceans. Figure on a Beam of 7’ 5” and a weight of 2,500 – 2,700 lbs.