'77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

[sprintst]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Slick drive. The most elegant with the fewest moving parts is always the best design.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower

I took a vacation day today to work on the boat. R&D Flex coupling arrived yesterday:

The center hub is really tough. I can't flex it at all with my bare hands. I'm just guessing but I think it must be either nylon or ABS. My boat didn't have a flex coupling before. It was rigid flange to flange. If the flex coupling reduces vibration even a little bit it's well worth installing it. Are any of you inboard guys running one like this?

I also tested out the tranny with my drill-driver hub:

Note the paper towels sopping up 2 quarts of ATF I spilled, from opening the case like an idiot without draining it first.

It takes quite a bit of torque to drive the tranny/V-drive. The pressure looked good.......over 100psi. Forward-N-Reverse all works. Next step is priming and painting. I also have to un-seize the adjustable-height mounts.

 

[zach103]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Looking great. Can't blame you for putting in the 8" hatch. I would have done the same thing most likely. I have got 2 in my boat, 1 at the fuel hose connections and 1 at the sending unit. (But it is just a small little bowrider compared to yours )

Keep up the good work!

I second this post.. i have two in the same locations i would have done exactly what you did.. why spend more time now removing the tanks just to have to spend more time removing them again if something goes wrong with the sending unit.

 

[Blue Crabber]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Any updates yet? I know it is starting to get cold around here, but this weekend is looking to be pretty nice. You heading back over to work on it some more?

Can't wait to see your first sea-trial, which will be here before you know it. Keep up the good work!

 

[mpdcam]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Great project! Can't wait to see it finished. This coming from a fellow diesel freak!

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Hi guys! Thanks for inquiring. Yes........even though I haven't posted in awhile the wheels have been in motion. I've mostly been making stuff at night in the machine shop where I work. Custom engine mounts (well partly custom), adapters to mate up standard fuel level sending units to my tanks, etc. I also ordered all new gauges for the helm.

I'll post up some new pics on Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks again, and I wish you all a good boat-working-weekend.

Bert

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower

This week I've been working on my engine mounts, every day after 5pm in the company machine shop. I painted them today and did a trial assembly:

(again don't look too close at my welds. They're crappy but strong enough)

The part with the triangular flange that bolts to the engine is a standard Chevy 350 marine mount. Also the black Duo-Flex mount is standard. The part with the 2 triangular gussets I custom made. It has to be that shape to clear the OSCO exhaust manifolds, which sit kind of low on the cyl. heads to allow access to the injectors from the top.

The bottom plates welded at a 90-degree angle are to distribute the weight of the engine over a larger area of the stringer, plus allow me to easily bolt in from the side of the stringer. There would be no room to drill and bolt into the stringer through the top plate with the engine directly above.

My design philosophy can be summed up in one phrase: "Slots are your friend". I can't even remember how many times I've been saved by slotted bolt holes.

Anyway I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

 

[sasto]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower

The center hub is really tough. I can't flex it at all with my bare hands. I'm just guessing but I think it must be either nylon or ABS. My boat didn't have a flex coupling before. It was rigid flange to flange. If the flex coupling reduces vibration even a little bit it's well worth installing it. Are any of you inboard guys running one like this?QUOTE]

Hi Luhrs, as an ex boatbuilder we installed the flex couplings on almost all boats we built. All were diesel powered sportfish. Our 65' Viking has them also. One boat had a jack shaft and required the coupling or the thing would vibrate your teeth out, I was told. I can't tell you the difference it made since I never ran one with and one without, but I would think it is a wise choice on your part.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

I've been thinking I have a lot of stuff to mount (raw water strainer, dual fuel filters, glow plug relay, dual remote oil filters, new fuse panel, etc.) and no place to mount these things. So last weekend I made 2 plywood panels to go in front of my fuel tanks:

I installed them yesterday, screwed in top and bottom:

I also ran a new 1.5" PVC pipe up through the cabin to the flybridge to serve as a wiring conduit, as the original one was jammed full of wires and control cables. I have a bunch of new wires I need to run, and the new conduit is going to make that much easier. Among other things I'm adding temperature senders to several places on the engine/transmission so I can tell from the helm that everything is OK. With the engine/trans sitting in my shop there's never going to be an easier time to attach sending units.

 

[Scotsman2000]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Bert, great project you have going there. I have had my 1978 Luhrs 280 since 2003 and have done extensive renovation. These are great boats to work on and I have never regretted buying mine. My boat has a single 360 Chrysler and a 4 hp Vetus bow thruster (we had it installed in 2006). A great combination of economy and maneuverability (sp??). My boat was made during the last month of the last year for this model. Attached are a couple of jpegs. Bruce in Upstate NY

 

[Scotsman2000]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

I just did my first posting and for some reason my attachments came in as thumbnails, instead of bigger pics. To post these, I went to my iPhoto collection and exported these two photos at 600 X 400 to my desktop. Then, I used the exported photos as attachments in my reply. I have done this procedure many times with other forums with no problems. Can someone on the forum give me some advise on has to what I did wrong? Thanks a bunch. Bruce

 

[sasto]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Bert, great project you have going there. I have had my 1978 Luhrs 280 since 2003 and have done extensive renovation. These are great boats to work on and I have never regretted buying mine. My boat has a single 360 Chrysler and a 4 hp Vetus bow thruster (we had it installed in 2006). A great combination of economy and maneuverability (sp??). My boat was made during the last month of the last year for this model. Attached are a couple of jpegs. Bruce in Upstate NY

That's one beautiful boat you have there, Scotsman.

 

[sasto]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

I just did my first posting and for some reason my attachments came in as thumbnails, instead of bigger pics. To post these, I went to my iPhoto collection and exported these two photos at 600 X 400 to my desktop. Then, I used the exported photos as attachments in my reply. I have done this procedure many times with other forums with no problems. Can someone on the forum give me some advise on has to what I did wrong? Thanks a bunch. Bruce

Woodonglass has a video I believe under "non boating tec topics"...photo topics. good stuff!

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Scotsman thanks for the photos. Yours looks terrific with all that blue canvas.

I'd be curious to hear what's involved in installing the bow thruster. I thought that was something that had to be designed into the boat at the factory. I'm sure it helps tremendously with docking. People keep telling me a big boat with 1 engine can be a real pain to back into a slip.

Scotsman: 2 other questions if you don't mind.

1) What's your max. knots? And at what engine RPM?

2) Do you know what prop you have? Mine currently has a 15" dia. I don't know what the pitch is.

I'm expecting my boat to be slow with the diesel engine, but hopefully not too slow.

I just realized I'm hijacking my own thread!

Thank you,

Bert

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

The raw water pump bracket is one of the trickier things I've had to do so far. You have to think 3-dimensionally to figure out how to make it, and there are only a couple of tapped holes available on the engine near where I needed them. I started with the junk bracket I stole off the original Chrysler 360 V8 that was in my boat, and just kept cutting and welding stuff until it fit.

The bracket by itself looks real goofy:

But I'm pretty happy with it 'cause the pump is rock solid, being bolted to the block/head in 3 directions.

I'm almost ready to bolt the rest of the exhaust together, hook up a couple of batteries and test run this puppy!

 

[fat fanny]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Luhrs just 3 things 1 nice looking motor, 2 get that rusty nut off there, 3 you need to practice your welding if your gonna continue to fab. I did'nt realize you were that close to a splash looking foward to see how that diesl runs.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

No it's not close to splashing. I'm only talking about test running the engine on the pallet with water fed from a garden hose.

My welding is starting to improve but I don't think I have to fabricate anything else. I have time so maybe I'll run another bead over my old welds.

 

[parrisw]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

About the welding. Yes, needs to be better, that's ok though, everybody has to start somewhere. Only concern is that the Diesel will rattle your welds to crack. I've seen diesels break brackets before.

 

[Triton II]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Just caught this thread today... great looking boat Luhrs and the work you've done will make it all worthwhile. Enjoy the rest of your restoration - can't wait to see her splashed.

TII

 

[sprintst]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower - just beginning

Looks like you've got the hang of laying the pieces out in space to have them fit later. The brackets look great. The welding will come in time and you can always go back later to build up the welds.

Looks like you picked good materials to build your engine mounts as well. They look good and beefy.