Excuse my ignorance as I'm a newbie to these forums and couldn't realy find anything applicable using the seach.
We've got a 22' 1988 Chris Craft 225 CD LTD cuddy cabin that is all original with a Merc 350 Mag sterndrive. The boat has served us extremely well as a family boat for the last 20 years with relatively few problems; however its starting to show its age & we'd like to have a bit more power.
While we've considered a newer boat; this size & hull suit us extremely well because we have a very tight & shallow dock to maneuvre around, and the boat doesn't sit too deep in the water considering its size and the full 8'6 beam. It also planes extremely quickly & doesn't mind the 3-4 foot chop we get on some days.
Rather than simply going out and buying a new boat, I've come up with the thought to completely rejuvenate & try to make it into basically a new boat with a more modern powerplant, electronics, and interior; and possibly go with a 496 Big Block motor as opposed to the 350; or at least a modern 6.2 (if the 496 ends up taking up too much interior space, or maybe patch the transom and go to a dual-engine setup). When dismantling the boat, I'd problably like to add some things lie cold-boxes in the floor, and maybe convert the "engine box with a seat on either side" to a big sunpad and a 4 person bench seat.
My question is; has anyone embarked on a project like this? (to try and rejuvenate an older performance oriented boat) & would anyone have any guidance or suggestions?
We've got a 22' 1988 Chris Craft 225 CD LTD cuddy cabin that is all original with a Merc 350 Mag sterndrive. The boat has served us extremely well as a family boat for the last 20 years with relatively few problems; however its starting to show its age & we'd like to have a bit more power.
While we've considered a newer boat; this size & hull suit us extremely well because we have a very tight & shallow dock to maneuvre around, and the boat doesn't sit too deep in the water considering its size and the full 8'6 beam. It also planes extremely quickly & doesn't mind the 3-4 foot chop we get on some days.
Rather than simply going out and buying a new boat, I've come up with the thought to completely rejuvenate & try to make it into basically a new boat with a more modern powerplant, electronics, and interior; and possibly go with a 496 Big Block motor as opposed to the 350; or at least a modern 6.2 (if the 496 ends up taking up too much interior space, or maybe patch the transom and go to a dual-engine setup). When dismantling the boat, I'd problably like to add some things lie cold-boxes in the floor, and maybe convert the "engine box with a seat on either side" to a big sunpad and a 4 person bench seat.
My question is; has anyone embarked on a project like this? (to try and rejuvenate an older performance oriented boat) & would anyone have any guidance or suggestions?