A new 41 or 44 DCB?

[sirbob]

I had heard recently that there was a new build taking place or about the take place of either a 41 or 44 DCB???

I did find this image but wondered if anybody had seen it or knew what the status was. I believe it is an upgrade from a current owner that has a well run 35.

Any news??? I was told 41 but found this image of a 44 in the color I was told it would be.

 

[RiverDave]

Well those are Magoo's colors so if he's upgrading that would make sense that it would be a 44.

RD

 

[sirbob]

Well those are Magoo's colors so if he's upgrading that would make sense that it would be a 44.

RD

I was told at DS he was doing a new one...

 

[RiverDave]

I was told at DS he was doing a new one...

He runs the hell out of that 35 he has.. I hope he does do one! That said I don't think it's going to be as Sporty as that 35 he has, even with additional power (if he chooses to go that route). The 41 is a bad ass boat though.. It's so docile / smooth / and predictable in corners just about anybody can drive it with basic knowledge.

RD

 

[sirbob]

He runs the hell out of that 35 he has.. I hope he does do one! That said I don't think it's going to be as Sporty as that 35 he has, even with additional power (if he chooses to go that route). The 41 is a bad ass boat though.. It's so docile / smooth / and predictable in corners just about anybody can drive it with basic knowledge.

RD

Ya I'll bet he can match his hour meter with pretty much any of the 35s for high hours! He usually one of the last boats off the lake at night.

I can only imagine how big and smooth one of those 44s must feel on the water -

 

[RiverDave]

Ya I'll bet he can match his hour meter with pretty much any of the 35s for high hours! He usually one of the last boats off the lake at night.

I can only imagine how big and smooth one of those 44s must feel on the water -

You could add a couple of the other 1350 boats together and he’d still win on hours. Lol

You don’t have to imagine, I did a full tilt write up with onboard videos when the first one hit the water! You ever see it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Andy01]

Why not just call DCB? Speed on the water hasn't done a write up on it yet?

That 44 pictured is being built, should be a amazing boat when it is done. Will be one of the nicest M series ever built, if not nicest boats ever built.

 

[Andy01]

Ya I'll bet he can match his hour meter with pretty much any of the 35s for high hours! He usually one of the last boats off the lake at night.

I can only imagine how big and smooth one of those 44s must feel on the water -

He's close to 500 hours from what I have heard. He does a lot of boating, and a lot of events around the US.

41's at 155mph are like a regular 26 cat at 35 mph on a calm morning. Absolutely amazing.

 

[WAAZ]

I was talking to athe Mercury Racing rep at DS. He told me the 1350's are due for a refresh at 200 hours at 50k/per.

 

[JD D05]

I really wish all you guys would stop discussing and posting pics of my build.

 

[RiverDave]

I really wish all you guys would stop discussing and posting pics of my build.

Lol

 

[sirbob]

You could add a couple of the other 1350 boats together and he’d still win on hours. Lol
You don’t have to imagine, I did a full tilt write up with onboard videos when the first one hit the water! You ever see it?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I didn't see it but I will look for it - I was probably traveling for work that week...

Why not just call DCB? Speed on the water hasn't done a write up on it yet?
That 44 pictured is being built, should be a amazing boat when it is done. Will be one of the nicest M series ever built, if not nicest boats ever built.

Why not call DCB? or look at a Speed on the water write up?

I did a couple of google searches looking for articles and press releases - did not find anything. I went to the DCB web site to see if they had anything on it. Thats how I found the graphics image.

I did not call the shop for a number of reasons...

Me "Hello - DCB. I'm just some random tool calling to see if you are building a $1,000,000 boat for Magoo"
DCB "yes we are"
Me "OK thanks - bye"

On the other hand, I visit a boating forum regularly and thought it might be a good topic to throw on the board and get a few comments...

You know - stuff like...

"He runs the hell out of that 35 he has.. I hope he does do one! That said I don't think it's going to be as Sporty as that 35 he has, even with additional power (if he chooses to go that route). The 41 is a bad ass boat though.. It's so docile / smooth / and predictable in corners just about anybody can drive it with basic knowledge."

or

"He's close to 500 hours from what I have heard. He does a lot of boating, and a lot of events around the US.
41's at 155mph are like a regular 26 cat at 35 mph on a calm morning. Absolutely amazing."

or

"I was talking to athe Mercury Racing rep at DS. He told me the 1350's are due for a refresh at 200 hours at 50k/per."

or

"I really wish all you guys would stop discussing and posting pics of my build."

You know, just guys BSing and talking boats...

I didn't call DCB because I thought it might make for good relevant content on a boating forum.

 

[c_land]

Me "Hello - DCB. I'm just some random tool calling to see if you are building a $1,000,000 boat for Magoo"
DBC "yes we are"
Me "OK thanks - bye"

LOL. I wonder if they have considered opening a call center to field these type of random tool phone calls.

 

[Englewood]

I didn't see it but I will look for it - I was probably traveling for work that week...





Why not call DCB? or look at a Speed on the water write up?

I did a couple of google searches looking for articles and press releases - did not find anything. I went to the DCB web site to see if they had anything on it. Thats how I found the graphics image.

I did not call the shop for a number of reasons...

Me "Hello - DCB. I'm just some random tool calling to see if you are building a $1,000,000 boat for Magoo"
DBC "yes we are"
Me "OK thanks - bye"

On the other hand, I visit a boating forum regularly and thought it might be a good topic to throw on the board and get a few comments...

You know - stuff like...

"He runs the hell out of that 35 he has.. I hope he does do one! That said I don't think it's going to be as Sporty as that 35 he has, even with additional power (if he chooses to go that route). The 41 is a bad ass boat though.. It's so docile / smooth / and predictable in corners just about anybody can drive it with basic knowledge."

or

"He's close to 500 hours from what I have heard. He does a lot of boating, and a lot of events around the US.
41's at 155mph are like a regular 26 cat at 35 mph on a calm morning. Absolutely amazing."

or

"I was talking to athe Mercury Racing rep at DS. He told me the 1350's are due for a refresh at 200 hours at 50k/per."

or

"I really wish all you guys would stop discussing and posting pics of my build."

You know, just guys BSing and talking boats...

I didn't call DCB because I thought it might make for good relevant content on a boating forum.

HAHA...Love it!

 

[JD D05]

I didn't see it but I will look for it - I was probably traveling for work that week...





Why not call DCB? or look at a Speed on the water write up?

I did a couple of google searches looking for articles and press releases - did not find anything. I went to the DCB web site to see if they had anything on it. Thats how I found the graphics image.

I did not call the shop for a number of reasons...

Me "Hello - DCB. I'm just some random tool calling to see if you are building a $1,000,000 boat for Magoo"
DBC "yes we are"
Me "OK thanks - bye"

On the other hand, I visit a boating forum regularly and thought it might be a good topic to throw on the board and get a few comments...

You know - stuff like...

"He runs the hell out of that 35 he has.. I hope he does do one! That said I don't think it's going to be as Sporty as that 35 he has, even with additional power (if he chooses to go that route). The 41 is a bad ass boat though.. It's so docile / smooth / and predictable in corners just about anybody can drive it with basic knowledge."

or

"He's close to 500 hours from what I have heard. He does a lot of boating, and a lot of events around the US.
41's at 155mph are like a regular 26 cat at 35 mph on a calm morning. Absolutely amazing."

or

"I was talking to athe Mercury Racing rep at DS. He told me the 1350's are due for a refresh at 200 hours at 50k/per."

or

"I really wish all you guys would stop discussing and posting pics of my build."

You know, just guys BSing and talking boats...

I didn't call DCB because I thought it might make for good relevant content on a boating forum.

I call DCB all the time say I want to build a M44 and than yell hello hello hello and just hang up.

 

[Sigus]

Rumor has it on good authority there is a BIG Banana on the drawing board.

 

[sirbob]

Rumor has it on good authority there is a BIG Banana on the drawing board.

That sounds like a confirmation of a 44 to me ;-)

 

[Rvrluvr]

I didn't see it but I will look for it - I was probably traveling for work that week...





Why not call DCB? or look at a Speed on the water write up?

I did a couple of google searches looking for articles and press releases - did not find anything. I went to the DCB web site to see if they had anything on it. Thats how I found the graphics image.

I did not call the shop for a number of reasons...

Me "Hello - DCB. I'm just some random tool calling to see if you are building a $1,000,000 boat for Magoo"
DBC "yes we are"
Me "OK thanks - bye"

On the other hand, I visit a boating forum regularly and thought it might be a good topic to throw on the board and get a few comments...

You know - stuff like...

"He runs the hell out of that 35 he has.. I hope he does do one! That said I don't think it's going to be as Sporty as that 35 he has, even with additional power (if he chooses to go that route). The 41 is a bad ass boat though.. It's so docile / smooth / and predictable in corners just about anybody can drive it with basic knowledge."

or

"He's close to 500 hours from what I have heard. He does a lot of boating, and a lot of events around the US.
41's at 155mph are like a regular 26 cat at 35 mph on a calm morning. Absolutely amazing."

or

"I was talking to athe Mercury Racing rep at DS. He told me the 1350's are due for a refresh at 200 hours at 50k/per."

or

"I really wish all you guys would stop discussing and posting pics of my build."

You know, just guys BSing and talking boats...

I didn't call DCB because I thought it might make for good relevant content on a boating forum.

Well you thot wrong MR.!!!

 

[was thatguy]

LOL. I wonder if they have considered opening a call center to field these type of random tool phone calls.

 

[Flippindough]

Ive always wonder is he in the banana business or just love bananas?

 

[Bigbore500r]

I did not call the shop for a number of reasons...[/SIZE]

Me "Hello - DCB. I'm just some random tool calling to see if you are building a $1,000,000 boat for Magoo"
DBC "yes we are"
Me "OK thanks - bye"

R O T F L M A O

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I came in hoping to see pics of said goat.

 

[Tommy Gun Images]

I was talking to athe Mercury Racing rep at DS. He told me the 1350's are due for a refresh at 200 hours at 50k/per.

Magoo was telling me all he's ever done is general maintenance. Never did the refresh. Just under 500 hours and ran over 160 in the shootout if I recall. I've owned the Pink Taco for 17 years and don't have that many hours on it LOL

 

[Meaney77]

Ive always wonder is he in the banana business or just love bananas?

X2- I believe he has a house in Camarilio too which is a few minutes from where I live. Waiting for the day to see his boat going north on the 101.

 

[DWC]

Magoo was telling me all he's ever done is general maintenance. Never did the refresh. Just under 500 hours and ran over 160 in the shootout if I recall. I've owned the Pink Taco for 17 years and don't have that many hours on it LOL

Damn, wish i had the cash to not worry about blowing a couple 1350’s. Think he’s just rolling the dice or constant diagnostics.

 

[BAS]

Ive always wonder is he in the banana business or just love bananas?

I believe he owns a automotive consultant company that researchers values and damages for customers in the warranty and insurance industries. I could be wrong though

 

[RiverDave]

Damn, wish i had the cash to not worry about blowing a couple 1350’s. Think he’s just rolling the dice or constant diagnostics.

Refresh is a refresh, so long as nothing breaks..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[YOLO]

Magoo does an amazing job taking care of that boat. I’ve boated with him a lot. With as much as he uses it it still looks brand new but he still uses the shit out of it. He started in the custom car world with his father and then moved into the automotive inspection business. He is a wealth of knowledge about failures and how they happen.

I hope he builds the big banana. It will surely be the nicest one built to date but that’s kinda DCB’s deal anyway.

The Mercury Q engines are pretty amazing. I had the pleasure of putting a couple hundred hours on the ones I had. They were on the tail end of their life when I purchased the boat so I ran for another season and then refreshed at 277 hrs. They were first gen engines and as everyone knows had had been under water once and the shit run out of them! One of the signs of use is valve lash. First inspection is at 25 hrs. They moved every single valve(32 of them) a bunch on first inspection when the boat was new and by the time we got to 277 hrs we were simply out of shims to adjust. We pulled the engines and sent them back to mercury. I could’ve pushed it another season but, like any engine, are cheaper to rebuild when you send them back running! I actually requested to go back and see the engines broken down and meet the guys putting together the new ones. It was a great trip and educational. Dan Koch, the Q shop manager, spent a couple hours with me taking me through all the aspects of the engines, building processes, and quality control. They had inspected my engines and asked why I didn’t run them another season? He said they would’ve most likely run fine for another 50-75 hrs. Pretty crazy for that high of hp engine. We did all the upgrades and brought the engines up to Gen 5 standards. I asked Dan how long he thought they would run with being brought up to spec and his reply was it depends on how well you take care of them. He told me that there were a couple of things imperative to longevity in these engines. First was to let them warm up properly. They have an oil thermostat in them and run at 175 to 245 on oil temp. With all the dissimilar metals being used it was imperative to let them warm up to 175 degrees before rolling the boat over and putting boost into the engine. Second thing was letting them cool off. After making the exhaust valves glow on a big run let the engines idle until oil and water temps are back down to certain levels. And finally, keep up with the services and valve lashes. These are all things Magoo taught me when I bought the boat. As Dan at the Mercury told me with the the longevity of these engines, assuming you follow the advise fore mentioned, depends on how much heat you put through them. If a guy runs them WOT all the time then they won’t last very long. The reason I believe they run such long hours in the West coast boats is for several reasons. First, we aren’t running them in Salt. As we all know it’s hard on stuff. Secondly, the boats they are being installed in, for the most part, are not that heavy of hulls. Therefore they aren’t working that hard, like they would with say a big v bottom. Finally, we don’t run WOT all the time like a lot of the guys can do in Miami. We have to lift and turn on our lakes and that gives the engines a little break in between pulls. BTW, I only had to move 1 valve on my 25 hr initial lash inspection and I believe Magoo has had to move less than a dozen in 500 hrs. I know many guys that have had to move almost all of them on first inspection. It’s a tell, tell on how hard the engines have been pushed.

Magoo has taken great care of his engines and they have served him well. He knows that he is on borrowed time. Yes, it’s $100k to refresh but everyone that has owned one knows in the back of their mind that it’s not a matter of if but when you’re going to have that conversation with your wife!

 

[JD D05]

Magoo does an amazing job taking care of that boat. I’ve boated with him a lot. With as much as he uses it it still looks brand new but he still uses the shit out of it. He started in the custom car world with his father and then moved into the automotive inspection business. He is a wealth of knowledge about failures and how they happen.

I hope he builds the big banana. It will surely be the nicest one built to date but that’s kinda DCB’s deal anyway.

The Mercury Q engines are pretty amazing. I had the pleasure of putting a couple hundred hours on the ones I had. They were on the tail end of their life when I purchased the boat so I ran for another season and then refreshed at 277 hrs. They were first gen engines and as everyone knows had had been under water once and the shit run out of them! One of the signs of use is valve lash. First inspection is at 25 hrs. They moved every single valve(32 of them) a bunch on first inspection when the boat was new and by the time we got to 277 hrs we were simply out of shims to adjust. We pulled the engines and sent them back to mercury. I could’ve pushed it another season but, like any engine, are cheaper to rebuild when you send them back running! I actually requested to go back and see the engines broken down and meet the guys putting together the new ones. It was a great trip and educational. Dan Koch, the Q shop manager, spent a couple hours with me taking me through all the aspects of the engines, building processes, and quality control. They had inspected my engines and asked why I didn’t run them another season? He said they would’ve most likely run fine for another 50-75 hrs. Pretty crazy for that high of hp engine. We did all the upgrades and brought the engines up to Gen 5 standards. I asked Dan how long he thought they would run with being brought up to spec and his reply was it depends on how well you take care of them. He told me that there were a couple of things imperative to longevity in these engines. First was to let them warm up properly. They have an oil thermostat in them and run at 175 to 245 on oil temp. With all the dissimilar metals being used it was imperative to let them warm up to 175 degrees before rolling the boat over and putting boost into the engine. Second thing was letting them cool off. After making the exhaust valves glow on a big run let the engines idle until oil and water temps are back down to certain levels. And finally, keep up with the services and valve lashes. These are all things Magoo taught me when I bought the boat. As Dan at the Mercury told me with the the longevity of these engines, assuming you follow the advise fore mentioned, depends on how much heat you put through them. If a guy runs them WOT all the time then they won’t last very long. The reason I believe they run such long hours in the West coast boats is for several reasons. First, we are running them in Salt. As we all know it’s hard on stuff. Secondly, the boats they are being installed in, for the most part, are not that heavy of hulls. Therefore they aren’t working that hard, like they would with say a big v bottom. Finally, we don’t run WOT all the time like a lot of the guys can do in Miami. We have to lift and turn on our lakes and that gives the engines a little break in between pulls. BTW, I only had to move 1 valve on my 25 hr initial lash inspection and I believe Magoo has had to move less than a dozen in 500 hrs. I know many guys that have had to move almost all of them on first inspection. It’s a tell, tell on how hard the engines have been pushed.

Magoo has taken great care of his engines and they have served him well. He knows that he is on borrowed time. Yes, it’s $100k to refresh but everyone that has owned one knows in the back of their mind that it’s not a matter of if but when you’re going to have that conversation with your wife!

Great info really neat when guys with your experience take the time to type something like that out.

I see this with everything...Boat engines and drives / snowmobile belts etc / truck transmissions. Things happen sometimes but than you ride with the guy that bitches and always has issues and he is running 9K up and down every hill for 45 min at a time.

 

[MooreMoney]

This was a great read, i really enjoyed it. I have heard similar stuff second or third hand but nice to hear from the source. Are you missing the 35 yet?

Magoo does an amazing job taking care of that boat. I’ve boated with him a lot. With as much as he uses it it still looks
brand new but he still uses the shit out of it. He started in the custom car world with his father and then moved into the automotive inspection business. He is a wealth of knowledge about failures and how they happen.

I hope he builds the big banana. It will surely be the nicest one built to date but that’s kinda DCB’s deal anyway.

The Mercury Q engines are pretty amazing. I had the pleasure of putting a couple hundred hours on the ones I had. They were on the tail end of their life when I purchased the boat so I ran for another season and then refreshed at 277 hrs. They were first gen engines and as everyone knows had had been under water once and the shit run out of them! One of the signs of use is valve lash. First inspection is at 25 hrs. They moved every single valve(32 of them) a bunch on first inspection when the boat was new and by the time we got to 277 hrs we were simply out of shims to adjust. We pulled the engines and sent them back to mercury. I could’ve pushed it another season but, like any engine, are cheaper to rebuild when you send them back running! I actually requested to go back and see the engines broken down and meet the guys putting together the new ones. It was a great trip and educational. Dan Koch, the Q shop manager, spent a couple hours with me taking me through all the aspects of the engines, building processes, and quality control. They had inspected my engines and asked why I didn’t run them another season? He said they would’ve most likely run fine for another 50-75 hrs. Pretty crazy for that high of hp engine. We did all the upgrades and brought the engines up to Gen 5 standards. I asked Dan how long he thought they would run with being brought up to spec and his reply was it depends on how well you take care of them. He told me that there were a couple of things imperative to longevity in these engines. First was to let them warm up properly. They have an oil thermostat in them and run at 175 to 245 on oil temp. With all the dissimilar metals being used it was imperative to let them warm up to 175 degrees before rolling the boat over and putting boost into the engine. Second thing was letting them cool off. After making the exhaust valves glow on a big run let the engines idle until oil and water temps are back down to certain levels. And finally, keep up with the services and valve lashes. These are all things Magoo taught me when I bought the boat. As Dan at the Mercury told me with the the longevity of these engines, assuming you follow the advise fore mentioned, depends on how much heat you put through them. If a guy runs them WOT all the time then they won’t last very long. The reason I believe they run such long hours in the West coast boats is for several reasons. First, we aren’t running them in Salt. As we all know it’s hard on stuff. Secondly, the boats they are being installed in, for the most part, are not that heavy of hulls. Therefore they aren’t working that hard, like they would with say a big v bottom. Finally, we don’t run WOT all the time like a lot of the guys can do in Miami. We have to lift and turn on our lakes and that gives the engines a little break in between pulls. BTW, I only had to move 1 valve on my 25 hr initial lash inspection and I believe Magoo has had to move less than a dozen in 500 hrs. I know many guys that have had to move almost all of them on first inspection. It’s a tell, tell on how hard the engines have been pushed.

Magoo has taken great care of his engines and they have served him well. He knows that he is on borrowed time. Yes, it’s $100k to refresh but everyone that has owned one knows in the back of their mind that it’s not a matter of if but when you’re going to have that conversation with your wife!

 

[Flippindough]

He does live in Camarillo, over on Sterling Hills golf course. Ive seen his caddy truck with a big banana on the back window.

 

[ArizonaKevin]

Magoo does an amazing job taking care of that boat. I’ve boated with him a lot. With as much as he uses it it still looks brand new but he still uses the shit out of it. He started in the custom car world with his father and then moved into the automotive inspection business. He is a wealth of knowledge about failures and how they happen.

I hope he builds the big banana. It will surely be the nicest one built to date but that’s kinda DCB’s deal anyway.

The Mercury Q engines are pretty amazing. I had the pleasure of putting a couple hundred hours on the ones I had. They were on the tail end of their life when I purchased the boat so I ran for another season and then refreshed at 277 hrs. They were first gen engines and as everyone knows had had been under water once and the shit run out of them! One of the signs of use is valve lash. First inspection is at 25 hrs. They moved every single valve(32 of them) a bunch on first inspection when the boat was new and by the time we got to 277 hrs we were simply out of shims to adjust. We pulled the engines and sent them back to mercury. I could’ve pushed it another season but, like any engine, are cheaper to rebuild when you send them back running! I actually requested to go back and see the engines broken down and meet the guys putting together the new ones. It was a great trip and educational. Dan Koch, the Q shop manager, spent a couple hours with me taking me through all the aspects of the engines, building processes, and quality control. They had inspected my engines and asked why I didn’t run them another season? He said they would’ve most likely run fine for another 50-75 hrs. Pretty crazy for that high of hp engine. We did all the upgrades and brought the engines up to Gen 5 standards. I asked Dan how long he thought they would run with being brought up to spec and his reply was it depends on how well you take care of them. He told me that there were a couple of things imperative to longevity in these engines. First was to let them warm up properly. They have an oil thermostat in them and run at 175 to 245 on oil temp. With all the dissimilar metals being used it was imperative to let them warm up to 175 degrees before rolling the boat over and putting boost into the engine. Second thing was letting them cool off. After making the exhaust valves glow on a big run let the engines idle until oil and water temps are back down to certain levels. And finally, keep up with the services and valve lashes. These are all things Magoo taught me when I bought the boat. As Dan at the Mercury told me with the the longevity of these engines, assuming you follow the advise fore mentioned, depends on how much heat you put through them. If a guy runs them WOT all the time then they won’t last very long. The reason I believe they run such long hours in the West coast boats is for several reasons. First, we aren’t running them in Salt. As we all know it’s hard on stuff. Secondly, the boats they are being installed in, for the most part, are not that heavy of hulls. Therefore they aren’t working that hard, like they would with say a big v bottom. Finally, we don’t run WOT all the time like a lot of the guys can do in Miami. We have to lift and turn on our lakes and that gives the engines a little break in between pulls. BTW, I only had to move 1 valve on my 25 hr initial lash inspection and I believe Magoo has had to move less than a dozen in 500 hrs. I know many guys that have had to move almost all of them on first inspection. It’s a tell, tell on how hard the engines have been pushed.

Magoo has taken great care of his engines and they have served him well. He knows that he is on borrowed time. Yes, it’s $100k to refresh but everyone that has owned one knows in the back of their mind that it’s not a matter of if but when you’re going to have that conversation with your wife!

I had the pleasure to see your boat and Mr. Magoo's while you guys were on your way to Loto going through Flagstaff (I was working the front desk at the hotel and drooling all shift) and both boats are even more impressive in person than they are in pictures. I can't wait to see what they come up with for a 44 (if he elects to build one)

 

[YOLO]

This was a great read, i really enjoyed it. I have heard similar stuff second or third hand but nice to hear from the source. Are you missing the 35 yet?

You know it’s kinda bittersweet. I was very proud of both my F32 and M35. I miss them both but life has a way of shifting priorities. I now have two young kids and want to spend more time with them. The high performance boat world is not a very kid friendly place. I may buy something a little more reasonable and kid friendly. Something like a deck boat. I’ll be back on the water soon enough and eventually back into a high performance boat. It’s not something that is easy to stay away from long. I’ve always wanted to build a Schiada with big power and may go that route for a change of pace. I think a 21 with a Merc 1550 would be fun.

 

[Davemagoo]

Magoo does an amazing job taking care of that boat. I’ve boated with him a lot. With as much as he uses it it still looks brand new but he still uses the shit out of it. He started in the custom car world with his father and then moved into the automotive inspection business. He is a wealth of knowledge about failures and how they happen.

I hope he builds the big banana. It will surely be the nicest one built to date but that’s kinda DCB’s deal anyway.

The Mercury Q engines are pretty amazing. I had the pleasure of putting a couple hundred hours on the ones I had. They were on the tail end of their life when I purchased the boat so I ran for another season and then refreshed at 277 hrs. They were first gen engines and as everyone knows had had been under water once and the shit run out of them! One of the signs of use is valve lash. First inspection is at 25 hrs. They moved every single valve(32 of them) a bunch on first inspection when the boat was new and by the time we got to 277 hrs we were simply out of shims to adjust. We pulled the engines and sent them back to mercury. I could’ve pushed it another season but, like any engine, are cheaper to rebuild when you send them back running! I actually requested to go back and see the engines broken down and meet the guys putting together the new ones. It was a great trip and educational. Dan Koch, the Q shop manager, spent a couple hours with me taking me through all the aspects of the engines, building processes, and quality control. They had inspected my engines and asked why I didn’t run them another season? He said they would’ve most likely run fine for another 50-75 hrs. Pretty crazy for that high of hp engine. We did all the upgrades and brought the engines up to Gen 5 standards. I asked Dan how long he thought they would run with being brought up to spec and his reply was it depends on how well you take care of them. He told me that there were a couple of things imperative to longevity in these engines. First was to let them warm up properly. They have an oil thermostat in them and run at 175 to 245 on oil temp. With all the dissimilar metals being used it was imperative to let them warm up to 175 degrees before rolling the boat over and putting boost into the engine. Second thing was letting them cool off. After making the exhaust valves glow on a big run let the engines idle until oil and water temps are back down to certain levels. And finally, keep up with the services and valve lashes. These are all things Magoo taught me when I bought the boat. As Dan at the Mercury told me with the the longevity of these engines, assuming you follow the advise fore mentioned, depends on how much heat you put through them. If a guy runs them WOT all the time then they won’t last very long. The reason I believe they run such long hours in the West coast boats is for several reasons. First, we aren’t running them in Salt. As we all know it’s hard on stuff. Secondly, the boats they are being installed in, for the most part, are not that heavy of hulls. Therefore they aren’t working that hard, like they would with say a big v bottom. Finally, we don’t run WOT all the time like a lot of the guys can do in Miami. We have to lift and turn on our lakes and that gives the engines a little break in between pulls. BTW, I only had to move 1 valve on my 25 hr initial lash inspection and I believe Magoo has had to move less than a dozen in 500 hrs. I know many guys that have had to move almost all of them on first inspection. It’s a tell, tell on how hard the engines have been pushed.

Magoo has taken great care of his engines and they have served him well. He knows that he is on borrowed time. Yes, it’s $100k to refresh but everyone that has owned one knows in the back of their mind that it’s not a matter of if but when you’re going to have that conversation with your wife!

Thanks JC... kind words which are very much appreciated...
Yes, my 1350s have about 480 hours, I say about because the ECUs were replaced at approximately 340 hours ???, and the new ECUs now have 140 hours.
A total of 8 valves have had to be relashed, by Eric at DCB, and the last valve lash adjustment took place 30 hours ago... that's out of a total of 64 valves between the 2 engines....
The key, as stated above, is heat management. No secrets here, NEVER roll the boat over until the oil temp is at 180 or above, and I NEVER, shut em off, until the oil is below 194... however long it takes. Also, I don't run WOT for extended periods. 2 reasons,
first... depending on props, most the time the conditions won't permit running 170+++, weather and traffic just don't always allow safe operation at that speed.
Secondly, the cylinder temps over sustained 6000+ RPM get so hot, the valve starts to tulip, meaning the valve gets so hot, that the valve springs start pulling the stem out of the center of the valve, resulting in a longer valve stem and a loss of valve lash, which is the distance between the top of the valve and the cam follower... as the valve lash decreases, so does the amount of time the valve is seated in the head per revolution. This causes the valve to get even hotter, as it has less time to dissipate the heat into the head/ valve seat. The valves need to be relashed when the valve clearance gets too small. A thinner valve lash is then installed to adjust the valve clearance back to factory specs.