Skater 28 project - at last on its way

[ToffenG]

Hi!

Our Skater 28 w/twin Merc 2.5 Efi Offshores project is at last on its way back home from Dubai. Enclosed a picture. The boat has to be rerigged completly. But most important - its a Skater!

Cheeers, Toffen

[espen]

Hi Toffen !
Cool !
looks realy nice, I am shure you are going to be realy happy with it .
cats rocks !
v sucks.....
Espen

[ToffenG]

Hi Espen!

Up late! The boat has to be rerigged completly with new interior and new paint. See enclosed present interior ...... However, hull should be fine...

Cheeers, Toffen

[espen]

Hi !
Let the pictures come !
Doesnt look to bad , give it a buff with some 3m rubbing maybe with some sanding with 1500 or 2000 grit wet sanding paper first if its bad.... yes you have been trou it with the Phantom...
Get it on the water and try it before you rip it apart...be ready for a big trill !
Hope we can do some boating tougheter next summer.
Are you and Frode Sundsdal having the boat toughether ?
Take care .
Espen

[ToffenG]

Hi!

We will make a test run before we tare it apart.

The boat has to be painted. Do you know about some experienced boatpainters in southern Norway?

We will buy a new gaugeset up with Gaffrig Monster Series (Chrome and Platinum) and trottles, carbon dashboard, new rear bench / seats, change the stringer system in cockpit, etc.

The boat has Latham steering and rebuilt engines (2.5 Offshores).

Waited for two years now, so I look forward to some testing along the coast this spring.

Cheeeers, Toffen G

[espen]

Dont know any boat painters but look for a bus garage and ask the guys if they can paint it , some has automatick trollyes on the wall to paint big arias , or use many painters at once or paint the different parts of the boat in several portions(best) , epoxy primer and Imron or "lastebillakk" in Norwegian.
I am shure there are some guys here that can give you some good advices on what paint to use.
Espen

[Scream And Fly]

Toffen,

Looks great!

How come you had to register again for the forums?

Greg

[at100plus]

What's with the big stringers on the floor?

Congrats on the Skater.

[ToffenG]

Hi!

Thanks Espen! I have seen some of the Pro V guys with nice paint work, so I will call them.

Greg; I lost my password, and my old mail adress (quart@quartfestival.com) does not work anymore. Is it possible for you to activate my new emailadress toffen@quart.no to my old account?

at100plus; I really do not know what the big stringers are. Never seen it before. I will check out and hopefully be able to remove them when the boat hits Lillesand.

I have found two companies in US specializing in dashboards for Skaters and high bucket seats / rear seats. Very nice work - so now its time for rigging.

Cheeeers, Toffen

[Dirk Pitt]

Toffen,
I would not remove those stringers without consulting with Peter at Skater, Ive seen them before in race versions, removing them may have an effect on the structural integrity of the boat, call him with the serial #...........

[ToffenG]

Hi Dirk,

We will not do anything before we have consulted Peter. It was also in my mind that those stringers had a function, although I have never seen that before. Good to hear that you have. Thanks for the input.

What could be expected in speed with twin 2.5 EFI Offshores - apprix. 115 mph...?

Cheeers, Toffen

[espen]

I think the way the stringers are made would make the boat stiff and strong with less weight,seems like it would not make to much hassle right behind the seats. Maybe you could just cut the forward stringer a little .
Its a beautiful boat !
Espen

[Dirk Pitt]

Toffin,
The 28's with 280hp 2.5's are running in the 110 - 115 mph depending on engine height and prop selection, the best guy to answer that question is Charlie Terserro, he has tried every conceivable combination, he runs in the 120 range..

[Markus]

So, it is finally on its way, huh? Great!

Some words of caution ;) :

Keep the stringers - I am sure there is as reason why they are there.

Also, make sure you have some fun with the boat before you tear it down - that way you will know what works and what does not work. In addition, since that kind of projects always take more time than you think they will, it will make it a bit less frustrating to wait for everything to come back together again...

Finally, Skaters tend to be owned by people with lots of money, so if you have found some companies that specialize in that kind of boats, they will probably charge big time for their work. I looked at cockpit covers and boat covers at some point, and the prices were ridiculous.

[Markus]

The color scheme is almost like my boat. (And I know what Frode thinks of those. :D :D )

[Ospreyproduction]

There is a guy in that is a carbon fiber specialist that has built entire moulded dash covers for skater boats. They are very strong and you can then re-cut for your new guages. It's the best thing I have ever seen. He does excellent work. His name is Chris Maros. Company is called 24-7 Innovations. Email is offshore@247innovations.com

He has a 28 himself the he did the dash on. It should be pretty easy for him to pop out another...but I'm not a carbon fiber guy.

With the speed on your 28, those may not be 280 hp offshores and if the are not, expect to speeds areound 102-104.

It looks good!!

[ToffenG]

Hi!

Thanks for the email for the Innovation guy. I lost the email a few weeks back when my computer guy deleted all my mails....

The engines are 260 HP now, but will be tweaked by Mikael Werner to 300 HP each at 8.000 rpms. They have to be rebuilt too.

Cheeeers, Toffen

[ToffenG]

Hi again,

Espen - I may need some help from regarding your alternator solution on your 2.5 engines. As our engines are 260 HP, we need a more powerful alternator. As mentioned, the engines will be tweaked to 300 HP by Mikael W.

Cheeers, Toffen

[espen]

As I told you Toffen, Simon Motorsports are making those kits ,you find a link on the buttom of this page .
One kit is enough for the twin instalation and its a Must have item before anything else.
It just makes it possible to use the boat .... It will normaly just fit under a alien cowling but you could see on my engine this summer that with a heat gun and some pressure with a iron thing it can be fit under the cowling you have.
I was happy with 90-100mph and its plenty fast I promise you:-)
Its like :why look for more...atleast for the first couple of years...
Markus ! Your boat looks great !!!
Have you seen the sport cat on the end of the video I made on the homepage s media section ?
Espen

[ToffenG]

Hi!

I am just lucky to get the boat home at last. 2 x tweaked 260 are great ride for me. The most important is that the engine runs when they are supposed too. According to Frode S, Mikael Werner is a real pro with Mercs.

Speak soon.

Cheeers, Toffen

[espen]

I am shure the guy are good but why not support the s@f guys?
The Lillesand s@f dep supports the s@f guys ??!!
I would rip the powerheads off in Dubai and send it directly to the guys on the board here . How did you get transport?
Do Frode know of more 28s down there ?
Espen

[ToffenG]

Hi!

A good idea really. I could send the engines to JSRE / Wayne Taylor / Eagle One / etc. But Frode has a deal with Mr. Werner.

Did you read my post about low compression. I may have a problem with my PM 300. Do you know about some good engine builders able to balance and blueprint my PM 300?

Cheeers and thanks, Toffen

[Lasse]

Nice skater toffen. The 28 is a beauty.

Just imagine when 4 x 2,5efis are screaming trough Blindleia....:D :D

Looking forward too see how it looks when your skater and the motion is parked in Lillesand.

[Markus]

Espen, I did see the newer Sportcat at the end of your video. The original Hydrolift Sportcats were so much more beautiful, though. You can say what you want about Egil, but he really knew how to make a boat look good.

Toffen, I would not worry about the compression figures until you have figures you know are comparable (same temp and same throttle opening).

Blueprinting the PM300 is a waste of money if you are after real performance. I know of a guy in Denmark with some Merc 3 liter experience if you are after some serious mods. I do not remember if I already gave you his phone number.