Recent content by 76GMC1500

Some posts made on another forum seem to suggest the boat I posted the picture of is a Seabird V-202. Any information you might have on this hull would be great.

This is the Seabird.

I've got a 1968 Seabird V20, also suspiciously similar to the V20. The boat has a round keel towards the transom and I believe it has the hook you mention at the rear of the hull. Is this part of the change they made to the Ray Hunt design to avoid patent issues?

1968, Wellcraft wasn't the first to use the hull, more like the 3rd or 4th.

The point I was trying to make is that in an engine that is frequently torn down, I have not seen accelerated wear using really expensive full synthetics vs. cheap semis. I have seen a difference in cleanliness, though. I went from regular disassembly to remove carbon between overhauls to no...

Probably, I'm not particularly familiar with newer skis, but I doubt they're much different.

Well, not really like a Detroit.  They usually work by covering a portion of the ports to vary the timing/area or by opening and closing sub-ports to change the resonance of the pipe to give a broader power band.  They open based on RPM.  That is why they foul up, they aren't always moving...

4.5" grinder with an assortment of flap disks, resin disks for rapid material removal and surface preparation.  I'm personally a Milwaukee man, the ergonomics of the trigger on their newer generation of grinder blow everybody else's away. For doing large flat surfaces like transoms, a pneumatic...

My limited experience with 2-stroke oils is in 2-stroke dirt bike engines, but it has been an interesting experience.  I generally run whatever "quality" oil is priced right or I can get my hands on.  This ranges from $6 a quart Yamalube 2-R to $16.95 a quart Bel-Ray HC-1.  With an average...

I would think you would fill with the motor down.  The fluid in the reservoir would be at its maximum level.  If you fill with the drive up, it will overflow the reservoir as you lower the motor.  I don't know for sure, I've never had to top off. My pump is inside of the boat.

Once you go Volvo, you'll never look back.  They're way nicer to drive (cone clutches), way easier to maintain (the only time the outdrive needs to come apart is for the bellows and the cone clutches eliminate a lot of shift cable problems), they seem to be lower maintenance, but they cost a...

Hey, what kind of pump are you running to make 78 mph? I've never heard of anybody breaking 65 mph on a 440 pump. The stock ones just can't move enough water. I don't even know if a 750 pump can push a ski much past 65.

Swap out your Mercruiser for a Volvo and it will pull right, instead.  You just didn't want it to pull left, no? On a more helpful note, if I have the drived trimmed to far down at speed, it will pull harder than normal.

My boss used to work for Sea Doo in the 80's/early 90's.  He was in charge of the development of the propulsion system, this included the inlet, pump, and nozzle.  He has some interesting stories including skis jumping out of test tanks with terrified engineers flying through the air.

Kevlar is too flexible and is usually used in conjunction with a wooden core.