bertram31.com

Do the 35 hulls have the same near-flawless sea handling / keeping that the 31s have? I've ridden a bunch of 31s but never a 35.

They have a very good ride. Since they are partially keeled with a deep V they can get a little tender at speed in a following sea.

Most of the guys out of my neighborhood get the best performance by adding a lifting rail down each side of the boat. One of the more recently repowered boats up this way puts down some fantastic performance numbers with QSB's and rails.
With jsut the lift rails some boats are cruising around 25kts with as little as 330hp B Series.

In my opinion they are not as pretty as a 31 what with the short bow & a relatively large house but they make the next logical step up. In reality you can update the boats for about the same money as redoing a B31.

My .02

i friend sent me an email about one that he found in alabama ...total project boat. No engines, no wires, cabin a wreck - windows broken. I really don't want a flybridge boat - but have always thought it would be the project of a lifetime to take one of the 35s or 38s and make an "express/special" out of it. A while back i spoke with a guy with an old 38 widebody who did that and while the fit and finish looked aweful, the lines where actually pretty nice. basically cut the cabin/house off and installed a large windshield on the same footprint, the added a tuna tower. I suspect a 35 could be made to look pretty nice as well with the right windshield and tower lines... I'd imagine without a house/flybridge, the lower wieght and center of gravity would improve what was already a pretty good ride...and could get decent performace with pretty reasonable HP.

,,,may have to think this through a little

forget the express idea and listen to what jp said or call timmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

EZ-er and cheaper to buy a 38 Special.

My .02

I like the lines of the B35. Nice boat. There was a B35 on Yachtworld for awhile that somebody had turned into an express. It looked OK--no better than that. I do think you could make a nice looking express out of one. A few 25s have been made into expresses w/o windshields--CMP did one and there's another one on yachtworld--nice looking boats.

talk to timmy first. you are talking about A LOT of glass work.

Exactly. In fact........ I bet that I know where you could pick up a 41 Hatt hull for the cost of the yard bill.....

A capt. out of Freeport Tx made a center console out of a fire damaged 35 about 10 years ago. It is powered with Volvos and all that I heard was good stuff. I don't know exactly where the boat is now, but I could inquire if need be.

One nice thing about a 35B is you will not get drowned like a rat in 3 foot seas. My 35B runs following seas hands off. The difficulty folks get themselves into is getting too much weight forward. Things like moving the genny to the forward engine room, putting a 200 pound raft on the bow, converting the water tank in the engine room to fuel and then adding a water tank under the v-birth. Some of these things add up to spell trouble with following sea handling. To correct an unbalanced boat folks add spray rails, 1000 pound of lead around the rudder post and or water filled bait tank. Just don't f things up in the beginning and you don't have re trim the boat.
A 35B handles way better then a 31B in any sea conditions; but then it should as it is 4' 9" longer an about 10,000 pounds heavier(with cat3208's).
Making one into an express sure would be a lot of work; but man what a boat you would end up with.

I have some pics of a 35B express that was on yacthworld a couple of years ago. Shoot me an email and maybe I can find the pics and sent them to you..

neil wrote:forget the express idea and listen to what jp said or call timmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Same thought came too mind.

At this point maybe you can get paid to take the Tubbbbb it will save him money in the long run.

All Joking aside a project like that is serious and should not be taking lightly!

Did someone mention express? Why not the original?

I don't know Mikey.

Seems like you have to climb all the way down from that engine box to get into the thick of the action......

Don't let anyone lie to you..thats a big step.


Mikey, are your engine boxes original?

I have the ones with two top covers...nice to get in real quick for a lookey or siome top end work...but a Royal Pain to lift out when I want to work on motors.

Those are Cabrera boxes. Replaced everything in the cockpit.
As short as I am I can manage that huge step. Of course the ladder helps.

http://www.boatersresources.com/bfs_gal ... 0&q7=&mge=

looks pretty nice

That is the boat I was referring to.

Not too shabby.

Thats the 35 express ? ..... sweet !!
but that weren't cheap