Engine wanted

Thanks, Art. I hope to get down to Florida in March, actually. In the meantime I've got an engine to install! 

Art Cozier has been nothing short of a hero in this quest to get a new engine in this boat. He's been in constant communication in his effort to get us this engine, and as is inevitable, it's been complicated. But he is always thinking 3 or 4 steps ahead and between the two of us, we just might make this work. I have a close friend at the marina where I used to work, so we've got all the resources we could want. 

Last week, the engine Art has been working on all summer arrived at our location up here in New Hampshire, in one piece and looking great, unsurprisingly. I can't wait to get this thing fitted up into the wooden boat and get my father-in-law out on the water, along with his grandkids (my kids!) as I expect this boat will become my problem, er, "mine" ... before all that many years pass. 

So we're not up and running yet, but I can't thank Art enough for all the work he's done to get us to this point, which is having a running engine in the same building as the boat that I haven't driven since before my wife and I got married 13 years ago, which we could have taken away from our wedding if not for the issues it has suffered. The structural issues were resolved but the engine has been its weakness. I can't wait to get this thing going again, and thanks to Art, it looks like it might actually happen. 

Stay tuned folks. And thank you, Art. 

Oh, as a side note - Art hasn't moved one penny from the price he quoted me back in May, despite countless hours of his own labor and everything else he's done up to this point. I'd love to give him and his wife a nice night out at a local restaurant or something. And even though I know he'll probably see this, does anyone know the area well enough to give me some ideas? 

One of the challenges will be making the exhaust work, where the old 6 has a single, small straight copper pipe. Aside from joining the two sides of a 302 exhaust, I'd imagine it should be larger all the way out through the transom. I'm likely to be directly involved in the fitting of this engine. I'm lucky to already be talking with someone like Art, he's been great to talk to already. 

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If you would rather not cut another hole in the transom, you might consider upsizing the existing hole to accomodate a 3-!/2" exhaust outlet (or even 3" if the run isn't very long)  Centek sells all sorts of fiberglass fittings and tubing for exhaust applications, You could get a Y fitting in whatever size you choose and tie the two exhausts into one.  If there is room in the bilge for it, you could even incorporate a muffler if you so desire.  I don't think Centek will sell directly to the consumer anymore, but I think that either SkiDim.com or NautiqueParts.com should be able to order anything that you might need. 

Thanks, it is a nice boat. I looked in the brochures from http://www.shepherdboats.com/brochures.asp and the boat we have sure looks like a '53-'54 but I guess that's somewhat irrelevant at this point. 

Good to hear you had a 350 in one that used to have an inline 6, so it worked haha. We might end up with a Ford 302 in there, if all goes well.

One of the challenges will be making the exhaust work, where the old 6 has a single, small straight copper pipe. Aside from joining the two sides of a 302 exhaust, I'd imagine it should be larger all the way out through the transom. I'm likely to be directly involved in the fitting of this engine. I'm lucky to already be talking with someone like Art, he's been great to talk to already. 

Thank you, that's a very generous offer. Let me see what comes up locally and we'll go from there. 

Thinking outside the box, TWO good looking 460's at your budget, 

could sell trailer and outdrives and everything, get tranny and bellhousing and have money left over

sell engine or keep as spare

Indeed Ken, that would be an easy one to put eyes on, as its only an adjacent town away.

This is exactly what I'm hoping to find, but haven't yet. I figured there are a lot of eyes and ears here on this stuff. I can't really travel too far right now but shipping is maybe an option if the engine was known to be good. 

And yeah, thanks. It's in NH on Squam Lake. This boat isn't going out of the family any time soon, in fact it'll be mine next I suppose. 

This is interesting, I'll at least follow up to see if I can learn a little more, before I enlist others, thanks for the tip though you never know. There's an 88 I was looking at and the price came down already on the Craigslist ad. Could be a good engine but the boat is maybe too nice? I haven't had time to go look at it. 

Nice boat.  Is that NH?