How Long......

[63stevens]

The cavatation plates on my 78 Continental (spectra splash) cruiser are only 6" long. I want to put longer ones on it and would like some idea on how long to make them. I was thinking of going 10" but I have seen photos of other cruiser that have even longer plates on them. Any thoughts guys?

[SGettmann]

The cavatation plates on my 78 Continental (spectra splash) cruiser are only 6" long. I want to put longer ones on it and would like some idea on how long to make them. I was thinking of going 10" but I have seen photos of other cruiser that have even longer plates on them. Any thoughts guys?
63 Stevens - Check your PM. When you email me, I will send you a photo on my cavitation plates on my 21 Schiada. May want to check in with Hallet as well, his 21' was set up for the NWSRA circuit as well. If you wanted to go crazy, could add a ballast tank under the deck. :rollside:
When rigging, pay attention to the length of the swing arm to get full play in your range on the plates. I'm in the process of having a longer arm made.
If having it done, check in with Alexi at BoostPower. They do custom rigging and have been able to help me out quite a bit with information. It seems like everyone knows more information on my boat than I do, but then again, that's what happens when you're new.

[bigkatboat]

Your plates should extend 9" beyond the back of the boat. I rigged/ sold/ owned a number of those hulls and it runs well. You may also take a closer look at it, it has less V, it is wider, and longer than a Spectra. Talk to the people at "Silverwing Boats" (Wilkes) they still have the molds. He may have built a V- drive one. Cole built some but not V- drives, Finish Line did, and Dana built a bunch of them, and I rigged many of their V- drives. My own personal 22' had an 8 degree shaft angle, and it ran right around 97/102 with 29's and a 11lbs turbo motor.

[old rigger]

Your plates should extend 9" beyond the back of the boat. I rigged/ sold/ owned a number of those hulls and it runs well. You may also take a closer look at it, it has less V, it is wider, and longer than a Spectra. Talk to the people at "Silverwing Boats" (Wilkes) they still have the molds. He may have built a V- drive one. Cole built some but not V- drives, Finish Line did, and Dana built a bunch of them, and I rigged many of their V- drives. My own personal 22' had an 8 degree shaft angle, and it ran right around 97/102 with 29's and a 11lbs turbo motor.
?
good info, but he has a Spectra bottom, not a Schiada/Silverwing/Cole/Dana. Never seen a dana v-drive. How many did they build?
Rick, when I had my 21 Spectra and was changing it from a jet to a v drive, V Drive Tom also told me to go with 10 inch plates.

[bigkatboat]

I do believe the Silverwing Boat is the old Lemke molds. It's not a Spectra. It's no where near a Schiada. The Continental is one of the names the Lemkes used for that boat. Smiley Sanches laid up a ton of them, for a lot of builders. I've rigged a lot of Spectra/ Howards, and more than 6 Continentals, it ain't the same boat, top or bottom. Dana did a few V- drives, they had a bay area circle racer do a 20', and I've done a few 20' and 22', and some "backyard" guys did a few also. No V- drives that I know of ever were done by Dave or his guys at Dana.

[old rigger]

bigkat, when were you rigging at Howard? I was there rigging in the early 90s for a few years. Only did 3 of the 20 v drives and one of the 18 semi vee's (the old schiada) when I was there though, everything else was mostly I/Os and jets. Marty Hatchel (hornet boats) was there for a brief time too during my stay there, about a month if I remember right.
Our paths must have crossed somewhere along the line.
Despite what you said about the continental not being the same as the Spectra/Howard, I believe the continental Rick has here is the same. Maybe another builder using that name, I don't know?

[63stevens]

From what info I was able to obtain the contiental I have was built in anaheim and the people who built it were only in business for about 2 years. I would have to put it next to a spectra to really see the differences but was told that it is a splash of a spectra. Whether it is or not doesn't matter i just want to put longer plates on it and would like to get the right length. Like I said before the plates right now are 6" from the transom and was thinking of going another 4-5 " .

[bigkatboat]

First off, IT DOES MATTER what I said about the plates and set up are 'right on'. "Rigger", I did not work for Howard Brown, a guy named John did his "in house" stuff. I own Finish Line Engineering Corp. we did a ton of Howard's (and others) V- drive rigging (motor rail, full on blower stuff) back in the 70's and 80's. Others did some too. Howard's boat is directly off of the Spectra (he said so), but the Continental has less V (aprox. 10 degrees), and is 21', 4" long. (63 stevens) Measure your boat. I owned a few 22' Continentals (Finish Line) and they need the strut/ prop (motor) way back, this requires a different balance, but it gets the entire boat out of the water. With the shallow V, it needs to get the spray off of the rear chine areas, so you must lift the boat out of the water with the prop/ horsepower. Early 90's would be Gene? in Irwindale? I stopped by that shop to pick up a hatch for a 24' that was the last one I did as a turbo V- drive. I don't know Marty, but I do know Len Metz of Hornet. "Rigger" you and I need to get together next time I'm in California, George

[old rigger]

bigkat,
Yeah, I knew John at Howards, mostly from the time I was at Rogers, 80-85, and we'd trade parts back and forth to get a boat done. And yes, you're right about Gene owning Howards when I was there, up in Irwindale, well I worked for Gene and Brett and what ever deal they had before that went south. But I knew Howard Brown from the time I was a little boy, he lived 6 doors down in the 60s and in the late 60's he rented a house form my dad for a year or 2 when he was married to Mary. I wonder if that 20 deck is still on the roof of Howards old building on Lkwd blvd that Gene and Brett threw up there when they moved? Be kinda funny if it still was.
Marty was Hornet boats. He was a rigger from back in the day at Tahiti with my dad, in the 60s, and later branched out on his own to fire up Hornet. I don't know who Len was. lol. Maybe his partner?
Howard told me he was the first to splash the spectra when it came out. Don't know if that's true or not, it was either him or Dick Schuster, but I always liked Howards later deck a lot, the one where he straightened out the gunnales. Beautiful boat, that one is. Always liked his whaler version too, we sold a few of those at Roger's.

[63stevens]

here is a picture of my continentalhttp://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/524/199Conthaulin.jpg

[UltraLucky]

Do you guys know where the Gaylord fits in to the mix ? It measures 20' 11"
down the centerline and appears similar to the Spectra/Howard/Cont. Sorry for the jack but I am also looking for setup info.

[old rigger]

Rick,
pretty much looks like a spectra splash to me. nice looking boat. Wasn't that the boat owned by one of the members on the board here? Corleone I think?
I sure wish I could have found a 20 v-drive that I could have afforded when I was looking. I like our I/O, but would really rather had the v-drive. lol
here's our '79..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/flyin-t/IMG_03143.jpg
ultralucky,
Gaylord was also another spectra splash. They're the same gaylord of Gaylord truck bed covers in Paramount, Ca. In fact when they moved to a new building last year they still had on old 20 sitting in the yard, white and blue, that I thought about picking up. It was layed up to be a v-drive, recessed for plates and strut, but I passed. It was dirt cheap too. I was actually at their shop looking to see if they still had the molds for the 20, but they had been cut up long ago. My friend bought that last boat they had and has it at his shop over in orange now. Gaylord was much more known for their flatties back in the day than the cruizers.

[UltraLucky]

Curious as to why you passed on that hull. It appears to be layed up very light and has one pretty funky tapping job. Do you think it will hold up under decent power or would it need some additional glass work.
Your Spectra looks very well cared for . Nice

[old rigger]

Curious as to why you passed on that hull. It appears to be layed up very light and has one pretty funky tapping job. Do you think it will hold up under decent power or would it need some additional glass work.
Oh, you saw it too? lol
Very light lay up and one of the worst tape jobs I've ever seen. Looks like they taped off the mold with duct tape.
I wasn't worried about the lay-up but the reason I passed was I didn't really feel like re-geling a boat. Plus the trailer had been beat to death, nothing that couldn't be fixed, but I just didn't want to deal with it.
Did you buy the boat? Last I saw of it it was over at Sals shop. He told me that he ended up with it for swaping out some work or something. Maybe he was blowing smoke, I dunno. The last time I was there, this summer, it was still sitting right in front of the office door. Did you buy it from gaylord? He also had 3 casales in his office he wanted to get rid of too. Did you snag those along with the other v-drive parts he had?
I lucked out on our spectra, thanks. Original gel, only 400 hours on the engine and bought it from the original owner. Kinda wierd owning an I/O, power steering, engine cover, nice stereo, it'll lull you to sleep on the water

[UltraLucky]

Yea. I bought it from Sal he had put a new Transom & added some glass to the floor and ended up with the boat after the guy went another way. I passed on the trailer as it was not correct for the boat. The Whte gel came back with some 1500grit and Fine Cut. The blue flake below the rail will also come back but the blue on the deck will have to be fixed. I would be interested in one of those Casles if they still have them as I have no hardware @ this Point. Still in the thinking/planning stages of this project.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/3230P9080034-med.JPG http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/3230P9230037-med.JPG http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/3230P9230038-med.JPG

[63stevens]

[QUOTE=old rigger]Rick,
Wasn't that the boat owned by one of the members on the board here? Corleone I think?
Rich Yes you are right. I picked it up from John in sept. Have had it out a couple of times. Really a fun boat

[Norseman]

The cavatation plates on my 78 Continental (spectra splash) cruiser are only 6" long. I want to put longer ones on it and would like some idea on how long to make them. I was thinking of going 10" but I have seen photos of other cruiser that have even longer plates on them. Any thoughts guys?
Just curious, why do you want to make them longer????
Do you think the ,longer plates will correct a problem with the boat??
Or is it for the way the longer plates look??

[63stevens]

The short plates don't give me much movement. I would like to have a little more down pedal. Besides with longer plates that moves the prop further under the boat. The boat seems to ride rather wet. I'm hoping with the longer plates and a gear change I will be able to carry the front better

[Riverkid]

I do believe the Silverwing Boat is the old Lemke molds. It's not a Spectra. It's no where near a Schiada. The Continental is one of the names the Lemkes used for that boat. Smiley Sanches laid up a ton of them, for a lot of builders. I've rigged a lot of Spectra/ Howards, and more than 6 Continentals, it ain't the same boat, top or bottom. Dana did a few V- drives, they had a bay area circle racer do a 20', and I've done a few 20' and 22', and some "backyard" guys did a few also. No V- drives that I know of ever were done by Dave or his guys at Dana.
Every Dana cruiser that Dave Stockton built came to us for the seat and carpet installation. We did all their interiors. I towed them all. You are correct, Dave never sent us a V drive.
The Silverwing mold is Lemke's old mold. Jimmy Wilkes still has the molds. He built one a few years back in a V drive for a customer in the movie business that ended up getting sold again right as it got finished with a 502/502 package. It was a nice cruiser. The price it sold for was a felony. Guy gave it away.
When we did Continental interiors none of our Howard or Spectra patterns fit. We didn't have patterns for the Speed & Marine/Silverwing boats that I can recollect.
I'd say your 100% on there, my man. Happy new year!

[bigkatboat]

THANK YOU! "Riverkid". I knew I wasn't going crazy, it is not the same boat. It is difficult to see anything in one still photo, but your Continental looks as if it is a little low in the tail. The hull has less V than the Spectras and it needs the prop further back. You also want it to ride with the nose not so high. At speed you should have 1/2 of the fin showing, and the chines all the way back, should be in the air. Often when the strut is moved forward and the shaft angle is 9 or 10 degrees, more power/ speed will cause the nose to go up and the tail to drag thru the water. I would make plates 15" (6" under hull, 9" out back), no more than a 5" gap between plates at center. Stagger two rows of mounting bolts @ 2"X 4". Either cut plates with extra material, or add on 45 degree angles (up) to the insides of the plate edges toward the center. This will keep water off of the tops of the plates at speed. You should only need 2" levers on your plate hardware, this will give (aprox.) 3/4" travel at plate ends. To add more length to plates adds drag, but does NOT change the balance of the mass (boat) vs it's leverage (prop/ shaft angle) as it attacks the water. The longer the distance from prop to plate ends, the greater the 'prop slip' will be in rough water.

[63stevens]

Bigkat,Thanks for the info. I went out and did some measuring and this is what I have found. The recess under the boat for the plates only extend 4" from the transom. Not possible to put in two rows of bolts. Second the gap between the two plates is 11 1/2" . Sure I could redo the bottom to accommodate a wider and longer plate but is doing all of that work going to make alot of difference in a 70mph family cruiser?

[tfitschen]

the continental was built by speed & marine assoc. in orange. we changed the name of the boats to silverwing, when we did the silverwing 27' and 34,, that we sold to hallett back in 1987. jim wilkes is still building the 20' silverwing tunnel.