1979 Schiada RC, The Boss

[ChrisV]

by any chance did you weigh the boat when you first got it?

 

[lenmann]

by any chance did you weigh the boat when you first got it?

I did not. I did however weigh the bare hull when I flipped it, she came in at 1500 lbs. That was before the topside gel and balsa floors were finished so maybe add another 30-40 lbs.

 

[lenmann]

@BassLakeCruiser asked about the 32 gears that came out of my old Casale v-drive. They are pretty rough, I think, and were headed to the scrap yard but what do I know? They were pushing the boat around for the previous owner and sounded OK when I test drove it. Just broken in? or Ticking time bomb?

 

[ChrisV]

yikes! definitely replace those.

 

[lenmann]

Still waiting for anodized aluminum parts, but I have stayed busy with all the stuff that needs to be done before the drive train gets dropped in. Once the motor is in place it gets pretty tight inside the boat.

As mentioned previously I had IMCO fab up new tanks. The old ones were ugly, bloated and well, 43 years old. The new tanks are sleek, pretty, and well, new. They also have 1/2" NPT fittings to better feed fuel to the motor, and return bungs i the event I jump from carbs to EFI someday.

Mocking up the location for the tanks.

Laying out the gunnel/tank straps and the foot pad locations. If you go back far enough in this thread you will see that I glassed aluminum plates on the bottom side of the floor to be able to drill and tap for the foot pads. I chose to stay with the OG style tank straps instead of doing bulkheads on both ends because I like how the straps support the gunnels while securing the tanks. Looking back now, the bulkheads would be much less work. Bending, welding and locating the strap style mounts is a lot of work and pretty finicky getting the tank fill to line up with the fuel fill hole.

Thanks to a "Pro Tip" from @schiadastan I had IMCO build the tanks without the filler necks so I could align the filler location with the existing hole in the hull, mark, then drill and weld the filler necks in place.

My original plan was to try to figure out how to gel coat the new tanks in the same colors as the outside of the boat like Schiada does but I couldn't achieve any level of confidence that I could get gel coat to stick to the aluminum. Plan B was automotive paint but getting it color matched and material cost was a challenge so pragmatism took over and I decided to Plan C, and powder coat the tanks to match the interior gray base color. Keep in mind that 2/3rds of the tank will be covered with upholstered side panels and seats, so not a total deal killer.

Another benefit of bulkheads vs. straps would be not having to "shoe horn" the tank with three straps on it up into the hole under the gunwale without scratching the balsa floor or the polished stainless pads.

It's hard to see, but I lined the SS straps with self-adhesive loop velcro to cushion any abrasion or pressure between the tanks and straps.

And another lesson learned...as you can see in the pic the fuel cap isn't centered in the textured strip (white under the blue film) on the gunwale because I used the original hole as drilled way back in 1979. Once I figured out how to duplicate the texture I should have filled the fill holes and re-drilled it in the center of the texture. At least that's what my OCD is telling me...shhhhh.

 

[ChrisV]

badass work man! Did you build the tank with the same dimensions? I was thinking about making bigger tanks for my float. Would extend all the way to the dash. Not sure if thats bad for boats.

 

[Backlash]

You're right Lenman the bulkhead method would be a lot easier, but probably not nearly as cool! Sure does look good though! You could always add some color over the powder coat in the areas where the tanks will be visible. Just a thought. As always, your work is impeccable Sir!

 

[lenmann]

badass work man! Did you build the tank with the same dimensions? I was thinking about making bigger tanks for my float. Would extend all the way to the dash. Not sure if thats bad for boats.

Thanks! I had the tanks built to the what I believe the original size was. They should be about 30 gallons each.

The tanks that were in my boat when I bought it had a 20" section added to front of them for an additional 15 or so gallons of capacity for longer ski races like the Catalina Ski Race. I could see how that much weight forward of the CG could effect the balance of a boat but at the same time lots of ski race Schiada's have ballast tanks in the nose to do the same. How would it effect your outboard, damn if I know.

 

[BamBam]

You're right Lenman the bulkhead method would be a lot easier, but probably not nearly as cool! Sure does look good though! You could always add some color over the powder coat in the areas where the tanks will be visible. Just a thought. As always, your work is impeccable Sir!

The bulkhead type is in some ways simpler, but the straps are by far a better method of mounting. Not only are the tanks supported in the middle with the straps, but the straps also add a ton of rigidity to the hull by tying the gunwale to the floor. This crates a lot of structure making the boat feel much more solid as its pounding through the wakeboard waves all summer long. The bulkheads for the tanks only go as high as the lower portion of the deck and allow for flex above that.

 

[lenmann]

Some more odds and ends.

Installed the old rub rail after polishing it up nice and shiny. I had to do some (torch) adjusting at the corners to get the fit right, the discoloration polishes right off.

There were a couple of short (15") sections of the original rub rail forward of the dash that looked crappy so I fixtured them up and welded them to the longer 12' sections along the side. Its a small detail but two fewer joints is better. once they were polished up you cant tell they were joined.

I want the boat to have full navigation lighting because once in a blue moon we get caught out after dark. I absolutely wasn't going to cut a big hole in the textured deck for one got those swing around nav lights so I had pretty much decided the solution was the old suction cup flashlight dealio. Then I found these cool very small led rub rail integrated nav lights from Taco Metals. There isn't much rub rail left after drilling the hole so it needed the two extra screws to keep the rub rail pulled tight. I am thinking this will be better than the flash light.

So while the tanks were out at powder coat I decided I needed to install the cleats. This isn't going to be one of those trailer queen Schiada's. When I am not out embarrassing 100 mph jet boaters she will spend a fair amount of time tied to the side of our houseboat on Shasta. As much as it pained me to drill holes into the gunwales it really needed to done. I picked the smallest pop up cleat I could find and set about to locating them in spots that I hope maximize fucntionality. I hate it when the aft cleat is so far aft that the fender rolls around the transom and the hull smacks the dock or your buddies boat when you are rafted up. So I made sure the cleat location was a little more forward, about 12 inches from the transom corner.

Using hole saws on gel coat is kinda sketchy. Your can run them in reverse to get through the gel and help prevent stress cracks but they always seem to grab and tear the backside glass up a bunch so I decided to try a diamond hole saw like the granite and tile guys use. It worked great, super smooth and even cutting and a clean exit too.

Nice and tidy.

Remember when I said the tanks were out at powder coat and how I moved the cleats forward a bit? Well, I should have waited until the tanks were in to layout the cleats. They are about 1/2" too far forward and I had to trim the barrel off the bottom of the cleat to clear the tanks. Once the motor is in it will be really hard to see, until then it's the first thing I see when I look inside the hull.

Last chapter in this update. The IMCO power steering helm unit is a big ol chunk of cast iron and steel. When I hung it from the dash and the tilt column I could grab the steering wheel and it just didn't feel very solid. The weight of the helm catilevered behind the 3/4" plywood and glass dash was a little flexible. I could see crashing through some dock crusher wakes and that thing wobbling all over the damn place. Whoever rigged @SFV2RVR boat built a super cool billet support to address this issue so I did a similar thing with a little different style. It's three pieces of laser cut 1/8" stainless welded together and uses the helm itself as a stressed member. I kept it up high so it wasn't visible from in the boat. Solid as a rock now!

Next update should include a whole bunch of clear anodized aluminum stuff and a truckload of brand new stainless fasteners.

 

[lenmann]

The bulkhead type is in some ways simpler, but the straps are by far a better method of mounting. Not only are the tanks supported in the middle with the straps, but the straps also add a ton of rigidity to the hull by tying the gunwale to the floor. This crates a lot of structure making the boat feel much more solid as its pounding through the wakeboard waves all summer long. The bulkheads for the tanks only go as high as the lower portion of the deck and allow for flex above that.

Very true, the gunwales are super solid now.

 

[Toolman]

Very nice!

 

[ChrisV]

Some more odds and ends.


View attachment 1087175
Installed the old rub rail after polishing it up nice and shiny. I had to do some (torch) adjusting at the corners to get the fit right, the discoloration polishes right off.

View attachment 1087178

View attachment 1087177 View attachment 1087179
There were a couple of short (15") sections of the original rub rail forward of the dash that looked crappy so I fixtured them up and welded them to the longer 12' sections along the side. Its a small detail but two fewer joints is better. once they were polished up you cant tell they were joined.


View attachment 1087181
View attachment 1087182
I want the boat to have full navigation lighting because once in a blue moon we get caught out after dark. I absolutely wasn't going to cut a big hole in the textured deck for one got those swing around nav lights so I had pretty much decided the solution was the old suction cup flashlight dealio. Then I found these cool very small led rub rail integrated nav lights from Taco Metals. There isn't much rub rail left after drilling the hole so it needed the two extra screws to keep the rub rail pulled tight. I am thinking this will be better than the flash light.


View attachment 1087185

So while the tanks were out at powder coat I decided I needed to install the cleats. This isn't going to be one of those trailer queen Schiada's. When I am not out embarrassing 100 mph jet boaters she will spend a fair amount of time tied to the side of our houseboat on Shasta. As much as it pained me to drill holes into the gunwales it really needed to done. I picked the smallest pop up cleat I could find and set about to locating them in spots that I hope maximize fucntionality. I hate it when the aft cleat is so far aft that the fender rolls around the transom and the hull smacks the dock or your buddies boat when you are rafted up. So I made sure the cleat location was a little more forward, about 12 inches from the transom corner.


View attachment 1087196 View attachment 1087197
Using hole saws on gel coat is kinda sketchy. Your can run them in reverse to get through the gel and help prevent stress cracks but they always seem to grab and tear the backside glass up a bunch so I decided to try a diamond hole saw like the granite and tile guys use. It worked great, super smooth and even cutting and a clean exit too.

View attachment 1087198
Nice and tidy.


View attachment 1087200
Remember when I said the tanks were out at powder coat and how I moved the cleats forward a bit? Well, I should have waited until the tanks were in to layout the cleats. They are about 1/2" too far forward and I had to trim the barrel off the bottom of the cleat to clear the tanks. Once the motor is in it will be really hard to see, until then it's the first thing I see when I look inside the hull.

View attachment 1087204 View attachment 1087205

Last chapter in this update. The IMCO power steering helm unit is a big ol chunk of cast iron and steel. When I hung it from the dash and the tilt column I could grab the steering wheel and it just didn't feel very solid. The weight of the helm catilevered behind the 3/4" plywood and glass dash was a little flexible. I could see crashing through some dock crusher wakes and that thing wobbling all over the damn place. Whoever rigged @SFV2RVR boat built a super cool billet support to address this issue so I did a similar thing with a little different style. It's three pieces of laser cut 1/8" stainless welded together and uses the helm itself as a stressed member. I kept it up high so it wasn't visible from in the boat. Solid as a rock now!

Next update should include a whole bunch of clear anodized aluminum stuff and a truckload of brand new stainless fasteners.

Wow thats fucking cool!

 

[lenmann]

FINALLY got the parts back from polish + anodize. It feels really good to be doing some final assembly work finally.

Cavitation assembly all put back together and plumbed the pick-ups. Really happy with how this came out.

Mounted up the engine rails, steering cylinder, cav actuator, bilge pump, oil coolers, fuel filters and strainers. Got started in on the plumbing. I didn't really like how the -16 hoses were lining up so I straitened things out by welding up some extended fittings. I had to pull back some of the protective film to mount up the strut braces, it's really exciting to see small pieces of the boat in final form.

Next up, I'm taking a month off to go camping and off-roading down Havasu way. After that more assembly, plumbing and wiring. Getting closer to the finish line!

 

[HydroSkreamin]

Absolutely beautiful work, @lenmann. You’re on the home stretch and you can see the finish line.

Can I tempt you to consider swapping out your hard 90° fittings on your strainer inlets for sweepers? I’ve done a lot of work with this stuff and those flow about half of a sweeper, or even a hard 45° fitting. It’s unbelievable how much flow loss there is in a hard 90° fitting. Plus your welded and polished sweepers look absolutely bitchin!

Great work, sir! This stuff doesn’t come out that nice by accident. Your thoughts and planning are paying off.

Enjoy your camping!

 

[lenmann]

Absolutely beautiful work, @lenmann. You’re on the home stretch and you can see the finish line.

Can I tempt you to consider swapping out your hard 90° fittings on your strainer inlets for sweepers? I’ve done a lot of work with this stuff and those flow about half of a sweeper, or even a hard 45° fitting. It’s unbelievable how much flow loss there is in a hard 90° fitting. Plus your welded and polished sweepers look absolutely bitchin!

Great work, sir! This stuff doesn’t come out that nice by accident. Your thoughts and planning are paying off.

Enjoy your camping!

Thanks man, and thanks for the feedback on the elbows. As much as I am loath to take something back apart, I think it would look nicer and more consistent with fabricated sweeps. Time to order some more tube ends...

 

[AZLineman]

Beautiful work

 

[Toolman]

Wow, those first two table pics I would call “Billet City”. You know at Christmas time when your wife takes you up to the front part of the house and goes “oh look at the cute little Christmas village I set up”. Then you take your wife out to the garage and go “oh look at the little Christmas village I set up”!

 

[Toolman]

Looks like she’s coming together beautifully

 

[Sawtooth]

Hi Len, You sir have my upmost respect in your rigging skills.....WOW!!! It's guys like yourself that give the Schiada's the folklore reputation and following they have. I know you told me you have never rigged a V drive but I'm starting to wonder . I can't thank you enough for photo documenting and the time to share your journey here, not only is it awesome to look at and follow along but for some of us it gives motivation and a level to obtain on our own projects.......at least for me anyways! You are so close I don't know how you can walk away for a month at this point , but good on you enjoy your time with family and friends on your camping trip! Such a badass piece!!

 

[Backlash]

This build falls into the "Epic" category! Lenmann Sir, you are doing an incredible job and you have raised the bar higher than most. Absolutely beautiful work!! Congratulations and enjoy the well-earned break! Safe travels and I look forward to your future updates!

 

[025]

Looks great Len! Top notch. Looking forward to seeing pics of you on the water enjoying it

 

[025]

Thanks man, and thanks for the feedback on the elbows. As much as I am loath to take something back apart, I think it would look nicer and more consistent with fabricated sweeps. Time to order some more tube ends...

I lost a brand new race motor to a hard 90 oil fitting. It was a very painful lesson on flow.

 

[lenmann]

I lost a brand new race motor to a hard 90 oil fitting. It was a very painful lesson on flow.

Oooo, tell me more about that.

Are standard 90 * hose ends OK? Just avoid the forged tight 90*? Or are we talking about using the high flow AustralIan hose ends only?

 

[lenmann]

Thanks for all the compliments, this phase of the project is really fun. I will tell you the thought of bailing on the trip to Havi crossed my mind a bunch.

Wifey said no f-ing way, time to take a break…

 

[Boat Anchor]

FINALLY got the parts back from polish + anodize. It feels really good to be doing some final assembly work finally.

View attachment 1091366 View attachment 1091367

Cavitation assembly all put back together and plumbed the pick-ups. Really happy with how this came out.

View attachment 1091370 View attachment 1091371 View attachment 1091372
View attachment 1091373

Mounted up the engine rails, steering cylinder, cav actuator, bilge pump, oil coolers, fuel filters and strainers. Got started in on the plumbing. I didn't really like how the -16 hoses were lining up so I straitened things out by welding up some extended fittings. I had to pull back some of the protective film to mount up the strut braces, it's really exciting to see small pieces of the boat in final form.

View attachment 1091374

View attachment 1091375
View attachment 1091376 View attachment 1091377

Next up, I'm taking a month off to go camping and off-roading down Havasu way. After that more assembly, plumbing and wiring. Getting closer to the finish line!

 

[Boat Anchor]

Where did you get your tight 90 degree radius tube segments from to fabricate your extended 90 degree fittings? Awesome job on the extended fittings, as well as everything else that you have done on your Schiada.

 

[lenmann]

Where did you get your tight 90 degree radius tube segments from to fabricate your extended 90 degree fittings? Awesome job on the extended fittings, as well as everything else that you have done on your Schiada.

Thanks, the 90* are from McMaster Carr

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

 

[Boat Anchor]

Thank you Lenmann, I'll check it out.

 

[025]

Oooo, tell me more about that.

Are standard 90 * hose ends OK? Just avoid the forged tight 90*? Or are we talking about using the high flow AustralIan hose ends only?

I used a forged 90* on the line going between the dry sump pump going into the block pressure side. A #10 or #12 if I remember right. Motor was making metal after dyno and we continued to monitor it. It lost a rod bearing in about 50 test miles. We caught it in time and only needed minor crank repair and 4 rods. Dry sump manufacturer gave me a good ass chewing for using that fitting. We now use std 90s and in critical spots the Australian sweep 90s. My Schiada still has some forged 90s and I haven’t had an issue there but will phase them out whenever possible. I took one off the steering in the race truck too and had a noticeable improvement. Now there are none on the race truck. Unfortunately not my only blown up race motor stories, some are way worse.

 

[welldigger00]

I used a forged 90* on the line going between the dry sump pump going into the block pressure side. A #10 or #12 if I remember right. Motor was making metal after dyno and we continued to monitor it. It lost a rod bearing in about 50 test miles. We caught it in time and only needed minor crank repair and 4 rods. Dry sump manufacturer gave me a good ass chewing for using that fitting. We now use std 90s and in critical spots the Australian sweep 90s. My Schiada still has some forged 90s and I haven’t had an issue there but will phase them out whenever possible. I took one off the steering in the race truck too and had a noticeable improvement. Now there are none on the race truck. Unfortunately not my only blown up race motor stories, some are way worse.

Yeah, that was a bad day. Oh yeah, and a bad trip down the peninsula

 

[lenmann]

Yikes! Three plus months off without an update. I have been working on the boat, lots of little stuff, but haven't really felt like I had anything "meaty" enough for an update. Well lots of little stuff has added up.

First, some highlight pics from a couple of trips down Havasu way.

Robbie Gordon at the Desert Bar telling me I will hate my RZR Pro after a ride in the Speed Car. While I do like the Speed car, I'm gonna keep the RZR for now, cause well you know...bird in the hand and all that.

Stumbled (Parker bar crawl) across a couple of Schiada's, in the wild no less.

And best of all were the two brand new RC's that @RiverDave had in the RDP Desert Storm display. The detail and innovation that Stan and Lee have built into these two boats is simply amazing.

So, fully inspired, back to my heap.

Finished up all the plumbing and wiring on the motor.

Planned destination:

Feels sketchy as all hell having all that weight hanging over the boat.

Home sweet home, for hopefully the last time.

Next up: more plumbing, wiring, control cables, and lots of detail stuff. Getting closer.

 

[Hammer]

Yikes! Three plus months off without an update. I have been working on the boat, lots of little stuff, but haven't really felt like I had anything "meaty" enough for an update. Well lots of little stuff has added up.

First, some highlight pics from a couple of trips down Havasu way.

Robbie Gordon at the Desert Bar telling me I will hate my RZR Pro after a ride in the Speed Car. While I do like the Speed car, I'm gonna keep the RZR for now, cause well you know...bird in the hand and all that.

View attachment 1122268

Stumbled (Parker bar crawl) across a couple of Schiada's, in the wild no less.

View attachment 1122269 View attachment 1122271

And best of all were the two brand new RC's that @RiverDave had in the RDP Desert Storm display. The detail and innovation that Stan and Lee have built into these two boats is simply amazing.

View attachment 1122274 View attachment 1122275 View attachment 1122273 View attachment 1122272

So, fully inspired, back to my heap.

Finished up all the plumbing and wiring on the motor.

View attachment 1122348 View attachment 1122349 View attachment 1122350
View attachment 1122351 View attachment 1122352

Planned destination:

View attachment 1122353

Feels sketchy as all hell having all that weight hanging over the boat.

View attachment 1122354

Home sweet home, for hopefully the last time.

View attachment 1122355 View attachment 1122357

Next up: more plumbing, wiring, control cables, and lots of detail stuff. Getting closer.

Solid Work!!

 

[Boat211]

No other words than just plain beautiful. Can't wait to see it at the lake.

 

[Gone_Flat]

Was great meeting this past weekend , cant wait to see it on the lake .

 

[jstnoc]

Incredible work! Looks great Len! Definitely getting close.

 

[eand28]

Just read through the entirety of the thread and I’m super impressed. Can’t wait to see it done

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

If I ever come across you on the water, I am going to make sure to put my stuff back on the trailer and just admire your boat... WoW!!!!!

 

[Backlash]

This has turned out absolutely INSANE!!!!! What an amazing piece Len! Good Lord that is beautiful from every angle!!!!

 

[One2go]

That's impressive work right there. !!!

 

[lenmann]

I need some inmate input on a design choice related to the exhaust tails. Keep in mind there are no wrong choices here, everybody is a winner.

I am in the process of mocking up the exhaust tails. I am going to weld up the 3 1/2" inner core on the boat so it fits just right, and ship them off to IMCO to have the outer tube fabbed, welded, polished and shipped back. Some may ask why not just do the whole thing myself? Great question: 1. I don't have a good source for polishing up here. The one guy that does good work here is close to 80 years old, has emphysema (yes, a lunger), and just cant handle big heavy stuff anymore. 2. I have plenty of other stuff on the project to keep me busy as I inch towards the finish line. 3. IMCO does really nice work. So outsourcing it is.

Virtually every Schiada I have pictures of ( I have collected close to 2000 pics ) has the tails exit the transom at 90* which makes them point down to the water. I am guessing, but not sure, that this helps with noise levels? It's is also easier to fabricate so I am guessing little cheaper?

When I mock up my tails that way they look weird to me. All of the cav hardware comes off the transom parallel with the long axis of the boat, which makes it all look sleek and streamline-ish. The traditional tails, 90* to the transom, just look out of place to me. It may be that the cav pillow blocks are longer now than in the past?

So, is there any reason the tails have to point down vs. straight out? If it was a blower motor I would say noise might be a concern, but with a turbo motor the sharpness at low RPM's is muted a bit.

What do you think looks better? Traditional or straight out?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[SoCalZero]

I like the straight out. Follows the lines better I think.

 

[FlatNv]

wow this is coming out awesome.... kinda like straight too.,. amazing skills

 

[ChrisV]

Striaght out. Angled looks weird.

 

[chvynhra]

Straight 90 to transom.

 

[eand28]

I definitely think straight out looks best

 

[Eliminator21vdrive]

Straight for me as well.

 

[lenmann]

I just realized that "straight or angled" can mean different things depending on your frame of reference. Lets try this:

Option 1 or Option 2?

 

[Boat211]

I dont think option 1 looks weird but I do kinda like option 2 better.

 

[EPL]

From this angle I think #1 looks better.