Repower To Do List - B28

[Bayside Bert28]

I use my Bertram 28 primarily for a family fun runabout and for coastal fishing. It has 5.7L Vortec's 300hp and has been largely refit except for the engines/transmissions.

My plan is to pull the engines and transmissions at the end of this season and replace with fresh 383 stroker small blocks 350hp and reman Velvet Drive 72C transmissions.

I'm putting together a "to do" list of things I should look at while the engines are out and in advance of the job.

1. Identify my current transmissions - I think they are Velvet Drive 71C
2. Identify my shaft type and size ... get opinion on whether the shafts can handle the additional power and torque.
3. Take a look at struts ... I have read about the strut mounting being a weak point on these boats. I could consider re-setting the struts at this point.
4. Clean up and paint engine bays ... replace any bad wood/reglass where necessary.
5. Most of the wiring is already cleaned up ... but will look for opportunities to further clean up.

What am I forgetting?

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Water intake - consider external strainers and increase size. Consider crash valves. Fuel system - upgrade filtering and add ball valves. Replace fule hoses with larger diameter. Add engine room insulation such as Soundown. Upgrade shaft logs to dripless and consider new shaft tubes. Go with bigger rudders. Upgrade exhaust.

A start.

UV

[Kevin]

Take a look at fuel/oil/tranny cooler on new engines and see if remote mounting would make maintenance easier. How will oil be extracted from engine? Install some adapters and hose were the oil drain plug is if you cant suck oil out thru dipstick.
Pressure wash under the fuel tank. After 5 years of use I am still finding zip ties and hardware washing out from under tank. Annoying.
I think your factory running gear should be fine. Don't fix it if it aint broke.
Most of all have fun!

[Bayside Bert28]

Ok ... some good points ... will look into oil removal method, location of filters in relation to obstructions etc. Will think about the dripless shaft tubes. Crash pump? Got a bunch of Rule 4000's I'm installing now. Will have to suffice. Already got the larger rudders and check valves on the fuel system. Will take a good look at the exhaust. Since the engines are new, the manifolds and risers will be new. Suppose I could replace the large rubber connector tube. I think the rest of the exhaust system is fiberglass.

[mike ohlstein]

Crash pump?

Crash valves. A Y valve, placed between the sea water intake and the water pump inlet. In the event that you hole the boat and the Rule 4000's can't keep up, you can use the engines to pump out the boat.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#three-way-ball-valves/=h350ax

The added bonus is that they make winterizing the engines a snap.

[randall]

what mike said. i rigged my crash valves so i could easily run the engines off a hose or winterize by myself. nice to run some fresh water through there once a week or before a long period of non use.

AND.....the one time i opened the engine hatch (not at the dock) and saw a foot of water in the bilge....knowing i had crash valves didn't hurt my frame of mind.

[Eddy G]

If you operate the boat in salt water, definitely rig up a fresh water flush that is user friendly as the others have mentioned and use it. Also, make sure your engine bay hatches and gutters are sealed and hoses from the gutter go down into the bilge. Keep the salt water off of those new engines.

Eddy G.

[Bruce]

Pay close attention to the engine stringers. I never worked on a 28 that didn't have rot in them unless they had already been done.

[Hyena Love]

I did a bunch of research on this before doing it right.

The 383's don't necessarily offer a whole lot of advantages in the rpm ranges typically used. As such, I would not pay a big premium for them relative to other small block offerings. If its basically the same price or a few dollars more, get the bigger displacement.

Further, if you have a decent fuel set up already, it will deliever adequate fuel for the new engines. My old carb'ed 350's could burn massive amounts when the secondaries openned up. The fuel lines, fuel delivery was never an issue. It was the burn rate relative to the speed.

Additionally, when I repowered I was all ready to pull the struts and remount against an upgraded pad. Then I did a close inpsection, and realized that the typical "decent" strut attachment upgrade for 31's was already installed factory on my hull. So, no real need.

But, I would shave down the engine stringer and remount on solid caps. The way the hatches drain (if you don't have good tubes/gutters) tends to dump water on the inside rear engine mount locations.

[Bayside Bert28]

OK ... I have added several things to my list.

Will verify no water comes down on the fresh engines and transmissions.

Adding crash pump / fresh water flush ... good idea!

Will look into caps over engine mount stringers ... definitely some rot there now.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mike