31 gallon fuel tank run time

Haha! Flush Nautique. U funny guy.

skutsch,

A extension can be added to the blower for deeper water but then its harder to pull up,then you need a A frame and a winch or 2 to 3 guys to pull it up.If you have to get out of there in a hurry because of bad weather or the wave got big all of a sudden and you cant get the blower up fast then you have a problem.My little blower is light enough that 1 person can pull it up quick,i will cut anchor lines then come back later to retrieve them later just to get out in a hurry.I have cut them on the half reale when my crew didnt work fast enough.Ending up on a reef or the beach is no option.

This 18 inch blower will blow a 10 to 18 foot hole in 5 feet of water all the way down to the hardpan.

skutsch,

We dredged a canal 100 foot long and 5 foot deep on a friends lakefront house with a jet ski with 2 stern anchors and 20 feet of septic drain field hose attached to the jet drive.Took 2 days to do it.Just have to have cool neighbors,they might call the DEP on you if you do it without a permit at least here in florida you have too.

Striker37 wrote: The Mel Fisher group no longer owns the 1715 fleet wreck site.

Interesting John,I have two neighbors in the Keys that were telling stories last winter,one was a diver for NOAA in the Keys,the other had a salvage and charter operation in Long Island who specialized diving the Andria Doria. Got to hear alot of stories,seems like everyone knows each other too.

I pretty much know or have heard of everyone in the treasure biz.Most of the older guys that worked the 1715 fleet have passed the bar so we are the younger guys taking their places now.Its fun to find treasure,cant really make a living off it unless you find over a million dollars worth in 1 hole.Helps to have a investor or 2 cause there are costs involved,fuel,lodging,food,water and scuba air.And of course boat problems.Last summer one boat blew one of their trannys the first day out,then another bent 2 80lb danforth anchors like pretzals.i helped them straighten one of them out so it was usable.We broke a anchor the second day out and lost one of our anchor balls,one of my crew forgot to pull it in an it got wrapped around the prop.Then we lost 20 feet of hookah hose that got wrapped in the prop after the diver got back in the boat.The first day that it was nice out there were thousands of bull sharks swimming on our site an no one wanted to get in the water.Then we had the keyway in the rudder fall out and disappear in the bilge somewhere.had lots of slop in the steering for coming into the inlet that wasnt fun.2 other crews their metal detector head phones died.1 of ours the coil cable got pulled out by a shark.No one died last summer and millions in treasure was found.we werent the ones that found the millions so maybe it will be us this summer.

Gary thanx for the good luck wishes.Back in the late 60's my dad took me to Art Mckee's museum he gave us a personal tour too.Nice guy.His daughter Karen Mckee worked with us last summer for a short time.

According to the hour meter in the dash that was still wired to the ignition switch it has 199 hours on it.I do have a spare engine.Its a ford 302 holman moody cobra that came out of a 1972 formula 20 foot boat.Its still like brand new,dont think it was run much.Hes a pic of the chyrsler 318 in my ski.I just finished rebuilding the carter AFB 3213S carb.I still need to find a spark arrestor for it with a throat of 4 1/2 inches.I dont think the exhaust has any mufflers on it.its just straight rubber exhaust hose out the back.Has anyone ever replaced the hose with the newer 3 inch fiberglass exhaust pipes and used silicone couplers to hook it all together?

I do have a all aluminum 1968 Striker 37 foot Sportfish i could use for treasure hunting,but i just moved it from sebastian to sanford to have it pulled out of the water to restore it back to original condition.New aerospace epoxy paint mostly.and getting rid of the wood and fiberglass stern deck and replacing it with aluminum sheet.Plus i have to have 2 stainless steel heat exchangers made for both diesel engines as the brass ones have very little life left on them.Both engines have 5000 hours on them.Most of this boats lift was cruising the ICW in fort lauderdale.The prior owner was my uncle.I plan on using the boat for fishing tournaments and scuba diving offshore.The engines are DAF-DS-575's inline 6 bangers.They are precision engines built like rolls royce engines,very quiet and fuel burn is 2 1/2 gallons per hour for both engines.This boat is supposed to do 18 knots and plane at 12.The fastest i have ever got it up to was 11 1/2 knots.The bottom is in rough shape,bottom paint is patches right now which i suspect is keeping the boat from going faster.I had both props re pitched several times cause they were putting a bad load on the engines.I had a bad vibration on the starboard shaft an it was due to a sloppy cutlass bearing.I replaced it with a cutlass bearing removal tool underwater.Took 30 hours to get the old one out and the new one in,now no vibration.The port side one will need to be replaced too but ill do that one on land this time.This boat has a 2 1/2 foot draft so getting in close to shore wouldnt be possible plus the thought of beaching it from a big wave would be real costly to get back off.The little ski nautique would be perfect for this work.If i beach it one of the other treasure boats could yank me off the beach.Plus it lives on a trailer and not in a slip at a marina that charges $15 a foot.And it will be a go fast boat.I like to go fast!I appreciate all the info and help you guys have written.ski boats arent just for water sking.My body cant take that kind of abuse anymore.Heres a pic of the striker at its new home on the st johns river.paint falling off an all.an another on our way to sanford just rounding hontoon island.

I'd like to see a picture of your Holman Moody

Now you're talking, a 6.2 or 6.5 diesel with closed loop cooling! Would be nice to find a Peninsular already set up for it though.

Something I wonder about - you need prop thrust to do the work with the blower. I don't know what achieves that best, a gas motor with a 1:1 transmission running 2,000 - 2,400 rpm with a smaller prop, or a diesel with 2:1 transmission running 1,500 rpm with a bigger prop.

This is the most fascinating thread I've ever read....

Striker37 wrote: skutsch, We dredged a canal 100 foot long and 5 foot deep on a friends lakefront house with a jet ski with 2 stern anchors and 20 feet of septic drain field hose attached to the jet drive.Took 2 days to do it.Just have to have cool neighbors,they might call the DEP on you if you do it without a permit at least here in florida you have too.

i did the same thing and got served with a notice if next years lake areal shots showed another lake bottom change i would get a 10k fine, it worked great tho

So this guy is putting a mailbox on a Nautique.

I'm putting all-Y'all on notice I never want to hear any crap about my boat again!