26 shamrock repower

[jawz12]

gotta sweet little 26 shamrock in for a repower....
she's gonna get a 2006 350 merc horizon package with a hurth gear...
also gonna get a new engine harness,all the guages,throttle and shift cables,new prop shaft with a dripless packing,it's also gonna get replacement battery cables,and while the engine is out,it gonna get a little engine room face lift....
by doing all this when repowering,you've left very little to chance...swapping out engines without all the accessories is kinda like taking a shower and putting your dirty clothes back on ....

here's the "before" pictures.....

the engine/gear i took out ran real well...it's listed in the sale forum on this site....if you're looking for a decent power set up for a good price...check it out....

[jawz12]

here's a little update on this rig...
the engine has been pulled as well as the prop shaft....it had a transom mount transducer - not a good thing on an inboard boat,it will not "see" above idle speed...we're gonna swap that out with a new fishfinder and a thru hull 'ducer....had to glass up the holes....
the wiring under the drop down helm was "a little rough",as you can see in the pictures....the existing engine harness has been removed,along with the throttle and shift cables,the battery cables were also removed and thrown away...the racor fuel/water seperator was the wrong style-it has a plastic bowl-not good,it's against cg regs as well as abyc codes to have that set up in an inboard or sterndrive boat...the wash down intake hose is also the wrong style-it's regular water supply,should be certified engine intake/exhaust hose...
numerous connections in the electrical system were corroded beyond belief-all will be repaired,followed by heat shrinking the connections.....
this is why we repower,and include all the above mentioned ..it avoids problems....
these are all "before" pictures......

[Colonel Angus]

Jawz, keep us posted. I bought my 84' Shamrock with a new repower and saved the headache that you're going through. It was however covered in blisters and barnacles. I did a complete re-wire, gauges, hardware, trim tabs, paint, cosmetics etc... I'm very happy with the boat, you can't get a softer riding 26' and the keeled hull tracks like an arrow. If you're not familiar with www.fishtheclassic.com you should be, there is a wealth of info and knowledge about these boats on there. Good luck, Dave.

[jawz12]

Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

Jawz, keep us posted. I bought my 84' Shamrock with a new repower and saved the headache that you're going through. It was however covered in blisters and barnacles. I did a complete re-wire, gauges, hardware, trim tabs, paint, cosmetics etc... I'm very happy with the boat, you can't get a softer riding 26' and the keeled hull tracks like an arrow. If you're not familiar with www.fishtheclassic.com you should be, there is a wealth of info and knowledge about these boats on there. Good luck, Dave.

hey dave...that's a great looking rig you've got there !!!!
the owner of this boat decided he wanted to have it repowered...he uses this quite a bit-it has 1,300 hrs on it !!
the shamrocks,in my opinion are a very well built solid boat...i like 'em !!!

[jawz12]

here's an update on this rig...

engine area has been awl coated,the thru hull transducer for the replacement fishfinder has been installed,the fairing block was also cut at the appropriate angle,the thru hull for the washdown was installed....the engine harness along with the control cables and replacement battery cables were ran,and the engine/gear combo was dropped into place.....the engine was aligned to the shaft,it's plumbed and the exhaust is all hooked up....we're ready to fire the beast !!!!
i made up a quick little guage panel from starboard to replace the sad looking old one....
i should be sea trialing this rig on tuesday or wednesday,i took a rough guess at the size of the prop i would need....with repowering a boat,the props are usually a guess at first...with this repower,i removed an old school waste of space ford engine(351 cid 260 hp) it should've turned 4,200...the boat had a 16x17" prop on it....common sense tells me this will never work-too big!!!
pat whelen of eastrn prop,ran a program,it came up with 15x15 cupped...this is what we're gonna try...a sea trial will get the exact rpm...we're looking for 4,800 fully loaded....i'll post the completed pics as well as performance data....
here's a few pics...

[jawz12]

here's the update on this rig...

it's done...waiting for the prop...when a boat is repowered,it's all a guess with the prop-the programs available will get you close,however,they're rarley "on the money" for prop work in the nj area,i highly reccomend pat whelen at eastern prop,he's located in seaville.at his shop,he has a hale "mri" machine,there's no guess work with that...he will provide a printed report of the prop before and after...pat specializes in performance work,he can and will get what you need...
here's a few pictures-please pardon the dirt-i had to move the boat outside and it rained,all the crap on the deck drained into the bilge...the bilge area will be scrubbed again before the customer gets the boat...

this picture shows the dripless packing along with the pick up hose for the sea water wash down....the zip ties are to keep the hose clamps together,that way they won't cut you when you're working down in the bilge...

the engine was running while i took the pictures...

the engine is a mercruiser 350mpi with the horizon package,the gear is a hurth/zf 1.5:1 ratio...this is an excellent repower package,these engines are very powerful as well as fuel efficient.with the engine being mpi,it has a "key start" operation,it also has a very smooth power band..the engine should spin 4,800rpms under full load...

i will post the results from tomorrow's sea trial,including pictures of both the tach and the gps...

[Proheat]

Jawz- from the looks of your pictures- it looks like the new engine sits higher in the compartment- I assume the engine cover is tall enough to cover the new engine.

Higher engine should give better access to things like spark plugs , wires , belts, etc.


Your job looks great!

All your jobs that you post look good.

[jawz12]

sea trialed this rig today...
here's the results...
at 3,200 rpm the boat speed was 23 kts....at the fullrpm the engine would turn it reached 32.5 kts...the engine was reaching 4,700 rpm,the engine is rated for 4,600-5,000 rpm we got 4,700 fully loaded
the rig is smooooooth as silk !!! here's a few pictures from the sea trial....
look close at the hand held gps-we call it the "lie detector" !!!!!!!

[jawz12]

Originally Posted by Proheat

Jawz- from the looks of your pictures- it looks like the new engine sits higher in the compartment- I assume the engine cover is tall enough to cover the new engine.

Higher engine should give better access to things like spark plugs , wires , belts, etc.


Your job looks great!

All your jobs that you post look good.

hey !! thanks !!!!
there's absolutley no clearence issue on this rig....the spark plugs are a little "tight" but not impossible....anything was better than before...

side note here..the owner told me the most rpm it would turn before the repower was 3,500 and the most speed he saw was 21kts....we beat that with ease...the prop that was on the boat previous was waaaaaaay toooo big-it was 16"x17"
i told him what the speed was i got on the sea trial and he was stoked !!!

the fuel economy of these engines is pretty incredible too....