1966 Byers drag boat

can you post pictures of the area in question?

ethyl wrote: I just bought this boat and have only taken it out at slow speed due to the fast current and nasty weather but was told by the previous owner that it porpoises at around 55 mph. It is a 18 foot flat bottom with 352 Ford, dual quad Holleys, Velvet drive, Casale in/out v-drive. There are 1/4 inch aluminum plates across the stern with turn buckles but the plates are solid and bolted flush with the bottom and through the bottom. I am wondering if these can be adjusted. Looks like activation of the turn buckles will flex the plates away from the bottom and cause leakage or breakage. The bottom does not have any hook that I can detect with a straight edge. Thanks in advance for any information. John

Hi their,
I have a flat with a 502 chevy 1:1 PCM and Aero Marine V-drive. Your Byers is not a drag boat but a old school west coast ski boat. Drag boats tend to go inxcess of 90 mph. A good start for more information on set up for your boat is not on this web site as the flats DO NOT CHINE WALK but porpoise. keep in mind that your boat is not equipped to go much faster than 55-60 mph, and unless you have a down pedal and steel underwater gear you are pretty much stuck with what you have and should not try and make it go faster with out big changes.
The Byers has good potential as a lake rod and can handle big HP just have to do it with the thought of saftey first.
A good source for V-drive informaion is this web site www.v-driveboat.com.
I also will be more than happy to help out as I have over 40 years experiance with these types of boats.
Please dont take me as harsh with this post but a lot of people have stepped into these boats have found that they can be a handfull and have gotten them selfs hurt badly. These boats are fun and can be real fast. Mine will run nearly 85 MPH.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=194&pictureid=1208[/IMG][/IMG]

eric lavine wrote: read up on stuffing a boat...

Never stuffed a flat but kite-ed and blew over a SST-150 tunnel hull one time.
Got tossed out of my Stevens at about 70 mph one time luck had it I was wearing my lifeline jacket. Had a Barron sprint SS boat that had the tendency to want to swap ends going into a turn, had the plate set wrong.

ethyl wrote: Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like I better ease into this one. Will try to post some photos.John

John, Where are you and the boat located?

FI Inc., "We" are located on the Mississippi near the Quad Cities. I really apreciate your comments and respect your expreience with these boats. I was attracted to this boat mostly due to it's style and of coarse the engine looks cool with the dual quads. I don't really want to go over 60 or 70 with this thing especilly on the river. Take care, jJohn

Hollywood wrote: Jody, I think you have to be a member (logged in) to view photos from v-driveboat. Also, the url goes []between[] the IMG tags, same goes for making a hyperlink. You are close.

Yes you do have to be member to view photos and post on the forums. It is free unless you want to be an insider $25 per year to be an insider , and it is worth the while to be a member to see what these guy's are doing with their boats and hardware. I have been a member on that site for a couple of years.
Thanks for the computer lesson however that is useless as to the life of me I can not post nor down size my pictures to post on this web site.

FI Inc. actually we are in south east Iowa so that is why I have not been able to play with this machine yet due to the temps and high water this Fall. I was underneath today to take some photos. There are two 10-12 inch long Nicson fins midship about 3 inches apart and slightly diverted from each other at the tips. Looks like the shaft log has been replaced with one with a slightly shorter base as there are two plugged bolt holes aft of this one. She has an old looking HallCraft foot throttle with no return spring. My old Donzi has a Nicson foot throttle with a spring which makes sense in case of a mishap. I will attempt to post some photos( I'm not much of a computer type). Thanks again for your interest, John