Rigging questions

[Justin Michael Van Gorder]

I have some questions for re-rigging my 21ft Howard day cruiser current setup velvet drive and 468 bbc I plan on tearing everything down this winter and switching to a turbo 400 trans re doing all the steering components and possibly moving the strut any advice for placement of the strut and tips and tricks would be appreciated.

 

[sintax]

@vdcruiser is prob your man on that hull, i know hes done just that.

He moved his v-drive way forward and put in a new strut w/ proper angle / location

 

[Justin Michael Van Gorder]

@vdcruiser is prob your man on that hull, i know hes done just that.

He moved his v-drive way forward and put in a new strut w/ proper angle / location

Thank you, I went through some of his threads I see that he went with a 7.5 degree strut I’ll ask him for some measurements

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

What is your expected power plant? unless you are going to push big HP numbers its a lot of work to do it right with out much change in performance. We changed the strut location and angle (9 to 10 degrees) on my Spectra 20 a few years back and I am running a mild 496 with future plans of some bigger HP numbers. I also changed the center lap strakes which I would highly reco to help get the boat up out of the water a bit more, I added about 4' to mine, I sure wish I would have taken them all the way to the transom. Driving my buddies Spectra 20 and mine I do feel a little difference and both have similar power, I can tell you that Mine will turn better, not really sure if that was due to the strut change or lap strake or combo of both.

The Howard is a Splash of the Spectra to a T, VdCruiser has a bad ass boat with a lot of power and his mods made a big impact for him, we chatted quite a bit when I was doing mine. The shop I did all my work at has changed several Schiada River Cruisers over the years to 7 degree struts, if you go this flat you will really shove that gear box forward quite a bit so be aware of that. Mine went forward a bit but no issues especially as I cut the center bulk head out that Spectra put in front of their vdrives.

Good Luck!

 

[Justin Michael Van Gorder]

What is your expected power plant? unless you are going to push big HP numbers its a lot of work to do it right with out much change in performance. We changed the strut location and angle (9 to 10 degrees) on my Spectra 20 a few years back and I am running a mild 496 with future plans of some bigger HP numbers. I also changed the center lap strakes which I would highly reco to help get the boat up out of the water a bit more, I added about 4' to mine, I sure wish I would have taken them all the way to the transom. Driving my buddies Spectra 20 and mine I do feel a little difference and both have similar power, I can tell you that Mine will turn better, not really sure if that was due to the strut change or lap strake or combo of both.

The Howard is a Splash of the Spectra to a T, VdCruiser has a bad ass boat with a lot of power and his mods made a big impact for him, we chatted quite a bit when I was doing mine. The shop I did all my work at has changed several Schiada River Cruisers over the years to 7 degree struts, if you go this flat you will really shove that gear box forward quite a bit so be aware of that. Mine went forward a bit but no issues especially as I cut the center bulk head out that Spectra put in front of their vdrives.

Good Luck!

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As for power I plan on going to a 496 stroker with a 871 blower I wanna be around 800ish hp not really looking for triple digit speeds but just want the boat setup nicely so I have the peace of mind, I read @vdcruiser is running a 7.5 degree strut if I’m moving the strut and v drive might as well do it right. Been looking into hydraulic steering as well

 

[vdcruiser]

Hey I just saw this post, glad to see you are planning to improve your Howard. As I added HP to mine it began to get squirelly at higher speeds, (85-95), so I asked Phill Bergeron for help and he told me to change the strut to 7.5 deg. and move it forward 7" so that the aft end of the barrel is 24" from the transom. This caused the V-drive to move forward 13 ", just forward of a little bulkhead that is just about under the dash. I don't know the exact HP of the engine, but it is a 548 BBC with a 10:71 blower @ 11 psi boost running on 100LL Av gas. The best speed with this setup is 110 mph. I don't see any draw backs to running 800 HP with this setup. I checked the bottom for straightness and had to grind a little out of the aft end of the cav. plate recess to keep the plate from causing a little hook at the transom. I will try to find some pics from inside the boat. By the way Bergeron made the strut for me.

 

[Justin Michael Van Gorder]

Hey I just saw this post, glad to see you are planning to improve your Howard. As I added HP to mine it began to get squirelly at higher speeds, (85-95), so I asked Phill Bergeron for help and he told me to change the strut to 7.5 deg. and move it forward 7" so that the aft end of the barrel is 24" from the transom. This caused the V-drive to move forward 13 ", just forward of a little bulkhead that is just about under the dash. I don't know the exact HP of the engine, but it is a 548 BBC with a 10:71 blower @ 11 psi boost running on 100LL Av gas. The best speed with this setup is 110 mph. I don't see any draw backs to running 800 HP with this setup. I checked the bottom for straightness and had to grind a little out of the aft end of the cav. plate recess to keep the plate from causing a little hook at the transom. I will try to find some pics from inside the boat. By the way Bergeron made the strut for me.

Just one more measurement, how far is your engine mounted from the transom? And you’re running a turbo 400 correct? Did you change the ratio for second gear at all or leave it as is? Thank you again for the pictures and measurements

 

[vdcruiser]

Engine Location : I mounted the engine so that the face of the engine, where the engine plate mounts, is 16.25" from the inside of the transom. Because of the rear seat I could not go much further forward, but it seems to work at that location. If you have the room you might consider moving it 3 or 4 inches further forward. I did not change the gear ratio in the trans and I only use first and second for moving around the dock or tight spaces. I also run 48 gears in the V drive.