V drive questions

I've been looking for a good 20' Campbell V Drive for about 4 or 5 years. I live clear up on the Canadian border in eastern Washington so there just aren't a lot of v drives up here. I found one in southern California and drove down to buy it this last weekend. 1,290 miles from my house to the Lake Castaic ramp. It was beautiful. Even better than I expected. I spent two hours driving it and in the end I passed on it and drove home. There were a couple of things but my main reason was when you would romp on it as if you were pulling a skier up, it would really shake. It was momentary and did not vibrate when running around about 3,000 rpm. There's a 35 mph speed limit and two boat cops out there so we didn't run it too hard. No speedo. He said that's just typical for a v drive. And the v drive itself made some pretty bad noises. I expected and could live with gear whine. Actually kind of liked it (don't know that my wife would have) but when you were just idling in gear there was a "clicking" (or light clunking noise) come from it. It was a Cassale. I questioned it and he took the floor board off of it so I could hear it and you could actually put your hand on it and feel it. Give it a little throttle and the noise and clicking would go away. But I think that's possibly where the shudder was coming from when you took off. I talked to a guy on here who's into Campbells and he said his is silky smooth as are others he's ridden in. He said the v drive probably needs to be rebuilt and I believe that's probably true. But I've talked to three or four other owners with these Campbells on different Craigslist adds and several said "it has the usual v drive shake or vibration". So is that just the nature of the beast? I've ridden in a pretty fast flat bottom when I was a teenager and I don't remember any of that but that was forty some years ago. This boat had electric cav plates and that took some getting use to. It was pretty choppy out on the lake and he seemed to keep the nose pretty buried for a better ride. I drove it quite a bit and it seemed like if you brought those plates up even not going too fast it would get pretty bouncy. I was wanting to see it and hear it go by (I live on a lake and it is solid homes so I wanted to know just how bad I'd be pissing off my neighbors) so I had him drop me at the ramp and make a couple of passes. It was much louder than I had expected from shore, but I'm sure I could quiet that down a little. But It looked funny. He had the nose so buried it looked funny and I think when I was driving it that was probably where it felt like it wasn't bouncing. I wished I was in an area with more v drives so I could take a ride and see what's "normal". I've been looking for that exact boat for years and when I found it......I didn't really like the way it drove and I don't know if it was that boat or the nature of the beast. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

It should not shake or vibrate, or click.

Sounds like it could have a bent propshaft, damaged propeller or a few other issues. Nothing that isn't fixable.

Brian

Do you know if it was a "splitcase" or C500? Do you know the difference?

Both should have the "gear whine" but the c500 should be quieter.

Brian

Did you look at the underwater gear, or was it launched already when you saw it?

Prop, strut, propshaft, cav plates and turnfins if it has them.

wsuwrhr said:

Did you look at the underwater gear, or was it launched already when you saw it?

Prop, strut, propshaft, cav plates and turnfins if it has them.

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Thanks for the replies Brian. I looked it over pretty closely. I didn't see anything about the underwater gear that looked wrong. My dad was with me and he seemed to think the prop looked bad. I didn't. Shaft looked straight fins looked straight. Plates looked good. The motor was a 460 Ford with a C6 behind it. Supposed to be 550 hp. I don't know if it was a split case or not. The boat seemed slow to me for the rpm's. But with no speedo it's just guessing. Here's a video he sent me before I left: [video=youtube_https;8gW1Ni0jLJs]https://youtu.be/8gW1Ni0jLJs[/video] I think the guy was pretty straight up but he really didn't know a lot about the boat. He'd only had it 3 months (red flag for me and I think he was selling for the same reasons I didn't buy). The boat isn't an option for me at this point just because it's so dang far away. I'm just wondering if I should give up on wanting one of these old v drives or if it was just problems with this boat. I thank you again for your comments.

Swim step looks sooooouper high and prolly makes it pretty hard to deep water board the boat.

Prop shaft doesn't have to "look bent" to vibrate.

Id say if a Campbell/Howard/Spectra is what you want, then you are on the right track, this boat just may have been more than you wanted to tackle.

Brian

Crackerbox said:

Thanks for the replies Brian. I looked it over pretty closely. I didn't see anything about the underwater gear that looked wrong. My dad was with me and he seemed to think the prop looked bad. I didn't. Shaft looked straight fins looked straight. Plates looked good. The motor was a 460 Ford with a C6 behind it. Supposed to be 550 hp. I don't know if it was a split case or not. The boat seemed slow to me for the rpm's. But with no speedo it's just guessing. Here's a video he sent me before I left: I think the guy was pretty straight up but he really didn't know a lot about the boat. He'd only had it 3 months (red flag for me and I think he was selling for the same reasons I didn't buy). The boat isn't an option for me at this point just because it's so dang far away. I'm just wondering if I should give up on wanting one of these old v drives or if it was just problems with this boat. I thank you again for your comments.

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I scanned through the video, but didn't see a close up enough to see the prop, or even if it was a 2 or three blade.

Kinna looks like a small three blade in the still shot.

wsuwrhr said:

I scanned through the video, but didn't see a close up enough to see the prop, or even if it was a 2 or three blade.

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It was a 3 blade. I believe it was Brass as was the rudder.

Crackerbox said:

It was a 3 blade. I believe it was Brass as was the rudder.

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OK.

A two blade will vibrate a little more than a 3 blade.

The vibration you are talking about sounds like mechanical damage of some type.

It could be as simple as the prop was to small. I had a V-drive cruiser that vibrated during hard acceleration. Dumped the brass prop for steel prop with larger diameter and bigger blades. The vibration went away.

bocco said:

It could be as simple as the prop was to small. I had a V-drive cruiser that vibrated during hard acceleration. Dumped the brass prop for steel prop with larger diameter and bigger blades. The vibration went away.

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It seemed so slow for the rpm's I was wondering if it wasn't propped wrong. I sure appreciate yours and Brian's comments. It's making me wish I had probably bought the boat but at the same time I really wasn't looking for a project. It's nice to know it doesn't sound like it's just a v-drive thing and it shouldn't shake rattle and roll.

Depending on what v-drive is in it you may get a slight rattle of the gears at a very low rpm, that's a steel 3 blade prop on it just raw so there's some surface staining. If the trans has a 1st gear then the v-drive would've been turning real slow and you could get some rattling. If the price was right the couple of issues don't sound all the terrible at all. Personally I would've passed because the paint/gel is not traditional Campbell. Keep searching, something always pops up. I'm in Castaic, I would've cruised up to check it out for you.

Nailhead said:

Depending on what v-drive is in it you may get a slight rattle of the gears at a very low rpm, that's a steel 3 blade prop on it just raw so there's some surface staining. If the trans has a 1st gear then the v-drive would've been turning real slow and you could get some rattling. If the price was right the couple of issues don't sound all the terrible at all. Personally I would've passed because the paint/gel is not traditional Campbell. Keep searching, something always pops up. I'm in Castaic, I would've cruised up to check it out for you.

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Thank you. I appreciate the offer. I use to make that drive every week for years hauling produce but it sure seemed a lot further than I remembered. It'll be a while before I make that drive again. I sure liked that boat. It was hard to drive that far and not bring it home, but I just didn't like how it drove. I don't have any seat time in a v drive so I didn't know if I just had unrealistic expectations or if it wasn't quite right. I was ready to start looking for a more modern v drive like a supra or supreme or something but talking to you guys makes me think I'll just keep
trying to find the right old Campbell. Thanks for all of your information.

my 21 ft eliminator v drive rattled like a bitch at idle and shook at different rpms while accelerating put a new prop shaft and traded the 2 blade for 3 and new strut bushing and whala no more vibration..nice and smooth

I had a guy drive from Saskatchewan to Castaic a couple years ago to buy our Cole jet boat. Showed up when he said he would, looked at it for a few minutes, shrink wrapped it and took off back to Canada.
V-drive boats are a different breed, they only back up one way, have their quirks and noises and definitely aren't for everybody. We love our 24' Campbell and it's quirks. So much so that we probably could buy a new boat for the amount of work and money we are putting into it. Hope you find what your looking for

I tell you what, them two blade props will shake worse than a dog shitting a peach seed when you first get moving. And, my Casale is clunky why idling around in first gear, especially if you blip the throttle. Vdrive boating is hot rodding. If you are the type that loves to do your own repairs and upgrades, testing and tuning, then this is for you. If you are more of a sports car guy, then get a Nordic rage, or Howard bullet, or a Hallet 210 or 240. I am about a 50/50 run time to maintenance/tune time on my boat. But that's the shit I love to do though.

I have the idle on my flat real low and the casale rattles around until you get moving, with the speed you need to remember that you aren't in a flat bottom, the day cruisers are heavy beasts. I just went thru this as I finished my Spectra v-drive and put a bigger motor in it than I have in my flat, but you just wont get the accelerating feeling unless you go big horsepower.

The vibration you felt could have been something as simple as worn out strut bushings. When the boat was trailered, did you go under the boat and grab the prop and try to move up and down, as well as side to side to check for strut bushing wear? (you shouldn't have been able to feel any movement up/down/side to side in the prop shaft) It's a common problem in v-drive boats, and can cause a vibration like you experienced. Very inexpensive fix if you can pull the prop shaft yourself.

welldigger00 said:

I tell you what, them two blade props will shake worse than a dog shitting a peach seed when you first get moving. And, my Casale is clunky why idling around in first gear, especially if you blip the throttle. Vdrive boating is hot rodding. If you are the type that loves to do your own repairs and upgrades, testing and tuning, then this is for you. If you are more of a sports car guy, then get a Nordic rage, or Howard bullet, or a Hallet 210 or 240. I am about a 50/50 run time to maintenance/tune time on my boat. But that's the shit I love to do though.

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I sure appreciate everyone's comments. I am thinking the boat didn't have as big an issue as I thought at the time. I have three street rods and my dd is a '66 land cruiser pickup so I'm use to having to work on things to keep them working and running right. I just don't have any seat time in one of these and didn't want to buy someone else's problem. I should have posted some questions BEFORE I drove all the way down there so I knew what to expect. Hopefully a good one will come up a little closer to home.

I know you said you have been looking for a Campbell. But if you are interested in another brand there is a nice looking Spectra 24 V drive on performance boats for sale. Seller has a few boats on there as part of an estate sale. The Spectra looks to be in very good original condition.