Wellcraft Nova undergoes a conversion from Sterndrive to Outboard.

[XstreamVking]

Porta makes all other brackets obsolete IMO....... That is one busy transom.....

[tux974]

Porta makes all other brackets obsolete IMO....... That is one busy transom.....

This was my Porta setup . Looking good Joe

[Smoking Joe]

Another way to handle the motor.......

Not really suitable for an older classic style boat IMHO. Very busy and exposed to the elements. This design still puts all the weight and stresses on the transom, interesting concept though.

[Smoking Joe]

Ok, time for an overdue update. Currently I am finding it difficult to find the time to work on the project. Just had 4 days away hunting, (our annual pre-Christmas hunt for venison) saw 11 deer, shot at two, got two, Venison for Christmas.

We have now completed lining the transom with ply, it is now waiting on final glassing and then the fitting of the knees which will cross the hull/deck join and add support to the rear deck. I hope to have this complete before Christmas. As soon as this is completed I will post photo's.

I found on Ebay a set of 280s K planes which I hope to score. This will give me everything need for completion of the transom. Still required will be hydraulic steering and throttle/gearbox controls.



My son Blair with his 8pt Red Deer Stag (buck), his largest stag to date.


On the way home via a long and winding gravel road we stopped and helped one of your fellow countrymen (tourist from the US) who had put his camper van in a ditch. My good old Landcruiser complete with chiller trailer on behind still managed to pull it out in no time. Dude was real thankful, not too many people use this road, he could have been stuck there for quite some time.

Thanks for the support and comments with our project.

Regards,

SJ.

[BottomsUp]

Nice rack.......

[Smoking Joe]

Yesterday we managed to get the transom glassed. We ended up going with only one thickness of 3/4 in Merranti ply with two layers of 600db cloth followed by a third layer of 12oz boat cloth. Longitudinal Bearers now have glue coved edges followed by glass taped. The transom is now ready for a tidy up and glass tape the edges. I will get some photo's up soon.

[Smoking Joe]

After a promising start with the weather for Christmas it then turned to rubbish. So trip away on the boat has been cancelled which has allowed me to get some work done on the Nova.Today we slung the Nova in a mates car workshop using his hoist. After talking with all you guys about setback etc I had guestimated an 18inch setback from the transom.We discovered that 18inch setback gave us a 30% COG. By increasing the setback to 27 inches the COG only reduced to 28.75%. I was surprised that the increased setback had such a small effect on COG. We think that to get say a 22 or 25% COG we would need to have gone to twins for the extra weight.To give us the weight of the engine etc we used 20 litre plastic oil drums filled with water and each individually weighed. It was a really interesting exersize which we both really enjoyed. It was a good opportunity to give the boat a clean up and remove excess tools etc. The next step will be to build the pod.

[Smoking Joe]

[Frank Molé]

nice work joe,HAPPY NEW YEAR.....................

[Smoking Joe]

nice work joe,HAPPY NEW YEAR.....................

Thanks Frank, wishing you all the best for the New Year also.

[hemi2005]

Very nice work. I'm looking forward to more updates.

[Eggsuckindog]

You go Joe

[Instigator]

After a promising start with the weather for Christmas it then turned to rubbish. So trip away on the boat has been cancelled which has allowed me to get some work done on the Nova.Today we slung the Nova in a mates car workshop using his hoist. After talking with all you guys about setback etc I had guestimated an 18inch setback from the transom.We discovered that 18inch setback gave us a 30% COG. By increasing the setback to 27 inches the COG only reduced to 28.75%. I was surprised that the increased setback had such a small effect on COG. We think that to get say a 22 or 25% COG we would need to have gone to twins for the extra weight.To give us the weight of the engine etc we used 20 litre plastic oil drums filled with water and each individually weighed. It was a really interesting exersize which we both really enjoyed. It was a good opportunity to give the boat a clean up and remove excess tools etc. The next step will be to build the pod.

Very cool! Keep it up. And yeah, on set back for a boat that size........I'd guess 36" or so even w/twins. I/O's are pig's compared to O/B's (weight wise) and forward in comparison.

[Greg G]

Nice work Joe, I've found that the sling approach really gives you the data you need, no guessing. Now that you have that data "in the books" what are you going to use for final setback including the setback of the power jackplate? Remember you can always adjust from a 4" power jack to 12" but the pod is the pod. Also go check out HydroTech's website, they just introduced a new design jack plate that is interesting. Thanks for posting, very cool!

[Smoking Joe]

Thanks guys for both the encouragement and suggestions.

I think the next step will be to finalise our setback and then cut the longitudinals. To sum up the COG exercise, more setback is best. That said the aesthetics are also important. What I propose is to now look at tilting the V8 and see what setback will allow me to fully tilt the V8 without having to notch the transom. If the amount of setback allows full tilt of the V8 without compromising the aesthetics then that is the way I will go.
Because the boat originally had a Sterndrive the fuel tank is mounted well forward. In fact when slinging the Nova, at the 30% mark the tank was 50/50 in the centre of the strop.

After completion of the pod and painting completed, I will then mount the engine and complete rigging the boat. Following on water testing I will still have the option to move the fuel tank aft. This will effectively move my COG still further aft. I will look to do this if water testing indicates more setback will give me more performance. This could be achieved with relatively little effort and minimal paint repair. The fuel tank is currently 1/2 full of fuel.

I will post the final setback measurement this evening.