86' Fish Nautique (gettin' put to work)

another note, I know people recommend gel coat over paint most days. i usually urge against it when awlgrip is an option.
I detail boats for half a dozen commercial/pleasure boats that see a lot of use. and to be specific two of them are 37 Duffy hulls. both came out of the mold within a year of each other and both fish together probably 80% of the time so very similar use. except one has awlgrip(dark blue) and one is gel coat (also dark blue)
9 years later(today) the awlgrip boat looks brand new when i am done with it and the hull with gel coat doesn't change much. also under the cleat where we hang fish the gel coat has completely rubbed through to white base rendering it unfixable without a big job. The same spot in the awlgrip gets a quick wetsand compound and polish and you never know.
when it comes time I will be using awlgrip 100%

you will find that the slightest adjustment of the trim tabs (if it were equipped) will change that spray a lot. After spending half a season with and half a season without mine I wouldn't think twice about dropping the dough on them considering a kit is relatively cheap and live a long life..
I have also noticed the faster i cruise the dryer i am in most chop. I am planning a re-power and re-prop for this season to get a few knots for those choppier days.
Good to hear the west sys holding up, I have done a lot of work with west system and have never been let down by it. during my re-power I will be coating my bilge with the west and mixing in their graphite additive. I have done it in the past in fish holds and other places that get oily and stinky, and for some reason mold will not grow on it with that additive. makes it a pleasure to clean.

Thanks for the update Rick. How come you are doing the repower and other work and then selling it? Nice to see the fresh water cooling, whether for you or for the next guy!

Tony, dual ram on the tabs with that size boat? Or single OK?

I was wondering about the prop as well, thought a 3 blade might be more suited to the use of that boat.

Well, I bought another project boat and will eventually need more funds to do the work to it. That is the main reason I have decided to sell her. I will always love the lines of the Fish Nautique. There are a lot of boats out there, but not a lot as pleasing to the eye.... The hard thing to compare with the 2 props that I also changed motors at the same time..... The first motor was a 1978 block sbc 350 that put out an estimated 260-270 hp. At that time I was running a 14X11 RH prop. The main problem I had at that time was when I had a heavy load the prop would slip and mpg would really suffer. I now have a updated 350 sbc with vortec heads, roller lifters, ect This engine is supposed to be puting out aprox. 300+ hp... The new prop is a 4 blade 13X13 LH as this motor is regular rotation now. So when compairing #'s you have to keep that in mind.

Here's the #' s ( full tank of fuel) empty boat
Old motor 3 blade 14x11:
2800RPM   19mph 1.7mpg
3000RPM   22mph 1.9mpg
3200RPM    24mph 2.25mpg

New Motor 4 blade 13X13
2800RPM 21mph   2 mpg
3000RPM 24.mph   2.2mpg
3200RPM 26.5mph   2.4mpg

The thing I've noticed that I like so far with the new prop is that even with a full tank and a fairly decent load of people on the boat 4 + myself (1000lbs) the numbers don't change with the 4 blade like they did with the 3 blade. you could knock off 2 mph and .25-.5 mpg with that load running my old 3 blade. I guess One way to compare apples to apples now would be to put the ol' 3 blade back on and run it with this motor and record the #'s....

I think my current #'s would be a bit better with tabs for sure. unfortunately I think I would have to install small ones due to the exhaust placement.





Since I know everyone on here likes pics I thought I post a few of my new project boat I'll be starting. It's not a CC but I was looking for something in the 26-30' range. I'm planing on putting a 315hp. 6BTA Cummins Diesel in it. Gunna cost me some $$... It's a 28' Pacemaker on paper but total length is 29'10" with an 11' beam.

Tony, I think its what they call the sportfisherman..... not sure tho. It is a Pacemaker, but hard to find info on it.

I think manifold vacuum numbers with those stats, as well as WOT rpm
would help tell the full prop/motor combination story. Too bad its got to go, its been in good hands.

That Pacemaker looks like it will be a great all weather boat. 11' beam is a lot of cockpit room!

Obviously the 4 blade was a solid improvement, the numbers tell the story.

63 Skier wrote: Obviously the 4 blade was a solid improvement, the numbers tell the story.

It is def an improvement, but.
I have a sneaky suspicion that boat can perform much better than that with the fresh 300hp 350.
I'm running a 13x11.5 3 blade on my fish now and pulling about 28mph @3200. Thats with the 260ish HP 351. I get about 22mph at 2800.
That hull is capable of much more if propped correctly, I have heard of guys running upper 30's with similar HP as your 350

Those velvet drives are capable of running either direction if you ever wanted to run a RH wheel vs a LH.

DayTony wrote: Those velvet drives are capable of running either direction if you ever wanted to run a RH wheel vs a LH.

Correct but keep in mind it needs to match the rotation of the engine.

My 4 blade is cupped also.. i ran the boat yesterday with a half tank of fuel and at 3400 I was doing 28-29mph. At WOT I was 33mph at 4000rpm with half tank of fuel (40gal) Tabs would probably help me see the largest improvement.. Part of the reason I went to a 4 blade and went down in size was because with a full boat (6 people plus myself and a full tank of fuel 80gal) I could not reach 4000rpm with the old 14x11. I would estimate the total weight at well over 2000lbs, especially with cooler, ice and tackle....BTW Awesome vid Tony.... I have a borg Warner Valvet 1:1 and yes its easy to change the rotation of the pump, but it must match the rotation of the engine. you cannot make a RH motor spin that trans LH ect. It makes it easier to swap out transmissions as they are not RH or LH only.. I also found it hard to find RH props for an 1-1/8' shaft. This is due the the fact that a RH is considered a counter rotation motor, which means you would have a LH and a RH. There are not to many small shaft small boats out there with twin screw that run a 14x11. 11" pitch is a small amount of pitch for a twin. So finding a used RH was a bit tricky.. The new boat project will be on hold until both my other boats are sold. I keep thinking if I put tabs on my Fish it ill make me procrastinate on selling it... lol...

So Rick, was the WOT 33 mph at 4,000 with a full complement of people and gear? You say half tank of fuel but not sure what your load was otherwise.

One of the brochures lists a Fish at 3,800 lbs., then add your 2,000 lbs. of fuel, people, and gear and you are at almost 6,000 lbs. That's a pretty hefty load for a 300 HP small block. Not that it's not up to the task, and can do it efficiently, but I'd guess your results are pretty solid considering. A few more rpm at WOT might help.

Tony, Those ZF's have quite the reputation... I'm looking at putting a 1.64/1 ZF in my new boat with the Cummins. I'm still doing some research on them tho. Skier, that WOT 4000rpm and 33mph was 1/2 full fuel tank just me on the boat. That est. of (2000lbs) is just passengers, myself, and fuel. If you add a 25 gal live well (200lbs), tools, spare parts ect. (50lbs), cooler w/ ice (100lbs), rods, reels, tackle (50lbs) and boat (3800lbs) you hit a total of (6200lbs)... That is with me and 6 people @188lbs /ea.... That is a pretty steep bill for a single 300hp 350 sbc... I can tell you this... when I get a group of 6 that could all be football players I shiver and cringe... lol but, a family group of 2-3 adults and 3 kids... omg what a difference.... 3 adults @150lbs and 3 kids around 100ea. puts me right around 1600lbs instead of the 2000! ,.... and that 400lbs is a huge difference. Unfortunately its hard to explain that to folks on the phone.. I try to be gentle but honest...

Yes, that SBC is feeling a bit flogged I would think! I've toyed with the idea, future project (and not likely, but I can dream), of putting a Peninsular 6.5 diesel in one of the larger CC's. I almost bought a running takeout engine with 2:1 transmission just to hold for the future, didn't pull the trigger. HP ratings can be mid 200's to I think a bit over 300, but torque numbers well over 400 lb.-ft. Not sure what the performance would be compared to the gas engine but economy would be great and I doubt it would care nearly as much what the load was.

Interesting thread - enjoyed the posts. I'm in the middle of a total refit of an 85/86 Fish Nautique, hope to splash it around Easter. It is powered with a reman 351 (.030 over), GT-40 heads, Carb, and DUI. Drive is a new PCM 80A - 1.23:1. Replaced the shaft with a shorter ARE shaft and re-propped with a 3 blade 14X 13 w/# 3 cup. Boat has 12" Bennett tabs. We've also added an additional fuel cell (16 gal) in the floor compartment closest to the console. That will give us a little over 100 gals when full.. Note that the position of the engine and shaft log has changed from original due to the PCM reduction drive.   Performance numbers and pics will be shared when done.