Wellcraft Nova undergoes a conversion from Sterndrive to Outboard.

[Smoking Joe]

That 25inch offshore mid is very rare.

You are so right. It was so rare I couldn't find one. I showed a picture of STV Keith's ones to my engine tech. He built this for me using my 20 inch offshore mid and grafting it onto my 25 inch mid. I sure hope he is as good at building OMC V8's as he is at doing all the other stuff.
He's a real talented guy.

[OMCD]

Check out the V8 OEM decals in the for sale forum, they are perfect for your engine color.

[Smoking Joe]

Check out the V8 OEM decals in the for sale forum, they are perfect for your engine color.

Thanks for the thought. On Thursday I collected new decals for my engine cowl from the shop. As is often said "it is all about timing"........

[Jcooperpcola]

Smoking Joe, I just read the entire thread. Awesome build! I had the idea eight months ago for an outrigger stringer bracket but was unsure how to go about it. I knew it would provide more support than a conventional bracket. I have an 83 Wellcraft V20. Its getting rebuilt now. New stringers, new everything. So its a prime candidate for an outrigger bracket. I have a 2.5L Merc going on it. But in the future its getting twins. Based on the power to weight ratio it might just get twin 2.5L Mercs. I am excited to get started on mine and yours is awesome. Did you just glass the longitudinal bracket supports to the stringers or are they bolted too?

[Smoking Joe]

Smoking Joe, I just read the entire thread. Awesome build! I had the idea eight months ago for an outrigger stringer bracket but was unsure how to go about it. I knew it would provide more support than a conventional bracket. I have an 83 Wellcraft V20. Its getting rebuilt now. New stringers, new everything. So its a prime candidate for an outrigger bracket. I have a 2.5L Merc going on it. But in the future its getting twins. Based on the power to weight ratio it might just get twin 2.5L Mercs. I am excited to get started on mine and yours is awesome. Did you just glass the longitudinal bracket supports to the stringers or are they bolted too?

Thankyou for your kind words and support. In this build everything has been glassed, no through bolting what so ever. The beauty of this design is that everything is supported and load shared to the rear of the hull. Because I have not got a lot of weight hanging off the transom my transom build is considerably lighter (weight saving) than would normally be the case. In my boat the original engine bearers were rotten as was most of the transom. You will note that I have used epoxy resins, I am not a fan of using Polyester resins with timber. I had considered using foam for my cores but finally opted for ply (cost). I have it on good authority that the Wellcraft's are prone to rot in bulkheads and stringers so check carefully.

Good luck with your build, 20ft and twin V6's, she will be fun.......

SJ

[Jcooperpcola]

I am planning on epoxy resin from US Composites, unless someone on here has a comparable price, for the bracket. The rest of my stringers will be polyester due to cost. I am building this boat solely on tips and wages from delivering pizza. I work two jobs and the other barely pays the bills. Its hard to tell but will your bracket be wide enough for twin motors or will you have to modify it? I have two Wellcrafts here at the house. Both have severe stringer and bulkhead rot. I thought my V20 would have almost no rot based on what I could see before pulling the cap. And I agree on the benefits of the outrigger bracket. Superior strength with less weight. The only real challenge i foresee is mounting the motor mount to the longitudinal supports aka outriggers. Looks like you figured it out. If I wanted it flush all the way across and not see the outrigger ends I think I can use heavy aluminum angle on the inside that is bolted the glassed over. Cant wait to see more pics!

[Smoking Joe]

I am planning on epoxy resin from US Composites, unless someone on here has a comparable price, for the bracket. The rest of my stringers will be polyester due to cost. I am building this boat solely on tips and wages from delivering pizza. I work two jobs and the other barely pays the bills. Its hard to tell but will your bracket be wide enough for twin motors or will you have to modify it? I have two Wellcrafts here at the house. Both have severe stringer and bulkhead rot. I thought my V20 would have almost no rot based on what I could see before pulling the cap. And I agree on the benefits of the outrigger bracket. Superior strength with less weight. The only real challenge i foresee is mounting the motor mount to the longitudinal supports aka outriggers. Looks like you figured it out. If I wanted it flush all the way across and not see the outrigger ends I think I can use heavy aluminum angle on the inside that is bolted the glassed over. Cant wait to see more pics!

If you are building your pod similarly to mine you should not need to use aluminum. Just an extra and unneccesary cost. The reason I have not built the hydraulic jack plate flush with the rear of the pod was to stop the spray normally associated with using a jack plate.

My pod is designed for one engine only, that said my longitudinals are heavy enough that if I were to modify for twins this design would mean that I would only need to make external changes.

If you look at the engine/jackplate mounting photo's you will see how thick I have made this. That is to give a good glue footprint which is then glassed internally (within the pod and on top of a good glue cove) and externally which is the recess for the jackplate. If you wish to have a flush finish to your pod (engine mounting plate) then you would make some of the thicknesses of ply to fit within the pod and some to fit across the rear of the longitudinals (aka outriggers). The following external wraps of glass tape will give any amount of strength without having to then add aluminum bracing. I hope all this makes sense for you. If not don't hesitate to ask. Do it once and do it right!

[Jcooperpcola]

Ok, that makes sense. I was also thinking of staggering my layers of ply for the outriggers so the mounting pad has two sides bonded. Basically the outriggers and mounting pad are doorstepped together. Another question. For the nonstructural, flotation parts of the bracket do you think divinycell would make a big difference? Its 50% the weight of ply. Costs more though. My bracket is going to be 45" wide 30" setback, and about 20" tall. About half of that is submerged. My stringers are 34" apart.

[Smoking Joe]

Ok, that makes sense. I was also thinking of staggering my layers of ply for the outriggers so the mounting pad has two sides bonded. Basically the outriggers and mounting pad are doorstepped together. Another question. For the nonstructural, flotation parts of the bracket do you think divinycell would make a big difference? Its 50% the weight of ply. Costs more though. My bracket is going to be 45" wide 30" setback, and about 20" tall. About half of that is submerged. My stringers are 34" apart.

I would be concerned with the amount of setback you are going with. My V8 at plus 500lbs worked out at a total of 20 inches of setback (includes the jack plate). I would think that twins would need to be mounted directly to your transom.

[Smoking Joe]

Well we have progress. On Saturday I collected the V8 from the engine tech. Total spent so far on the engine including original purchase is $NZ14K. Still to come is fit gearbox to the mid, start up and tune. Engine has had a total rewire, anything that was not quite right has been redone. The gearbox was leaking oil. On examination it would appear that the gearbox has seen very little use, inside was mint. He fitted new seals and water pump.

The transom has been completely bogged/faired and almost completed the sanding. I am a fussy bugger and on this "small" boat it is a bit more fiddly than what I am used to.

I have decided that the top side of the boarding platform will have a teak veneer surface.
I hope to complete the sanding this week. It is great to see some progress.

[hemi2005]

It sounds as if it's comming along, thats great! Always happy to hear about your progress.

[Smoking Joe]

Ok so since I have to stay home this Christmas I am having a big push to finish the Nova to painting stage. Painting is scheduled for February. We will do a final trial rig also so will take photo's.

[hemi2005]

Ok so since I have to stay home this Christmas I am having a big push to finish the Nova to painting stage. Painting is scheduled for February. We will do a final trial rig also so will take photo's.

I was wondering how things were going. Belated Merry Christmas to you. Did you find the rest of your parts for final assembly?

[Smoking Joe]

I was wondering how things were going. Belated Merry Christmas to you. Did you find the rest of your parts for final assembly?

And all the very best to you and yours Marc. There has been very little progress for the last three months (work commitments). I now have a three week window so will push on. Parts wise other than things like hydraulic steering tube and cabling etc I pretty much have it all. I had a real win, scored a set of K Planes here in NZ, got the planes, brackets and pumps for $NZ500.
Currently I am working on rear seat and tubes to allow camper covers to be stored aft of rear seat.

I am enjoying making progress, it is tough seeing that engine all good to go and no completed boat.

[rgsauger]

You damn jackass! Leave grandma and her damn oakley sunglasses the hell out of this thread! Bah humbug you jackass. Go piss up a rope you wanker!