New Project 79 Chris Craft 22' CC Dory

Ed,

The hatches are approximately 48"x14" with moulded in drain channels and recessed areas for the hinges. These are completely open underneath as we removed all foam from the boat. Also, brushing is not recommended with the MS600 system.

Thanks for the kind words Ed. I have a million photos of the restoration and issues we engineered around so if you have any questions don't hesitate to run them by me I would be happy to help if I can.

As a note to the last photo, we ended up re routing the exhaust outboard of the center compartment to free up room in there for two batteries and all the other goodies you see.

I have the opportunity to pick one of these up. Needs a complete drivetrain.

I have a VP 5.7 FI that will run and can drop right in. The bellhousing is for a Velvet drive. What was the original gear ratio, prop shaft size, prop size and rudder shaft size on these classics?

What have you resto guys changed to make them run better?

I agree with Trapshot, it is a 1" shaft - like him, I will check my prop when I am there tomorrow. I am at a 1:1 ratio too.

One note, I am not a motor head, but I do remember my repower guys having trouble finding a bell housing that had the proper mounting configuration for the new Mercruiser engine and was short enough to fit in the engine compartment. Between the bell housing, the sheer plate and the new engine mounting position, I ended up needing a new prop shaft.

My rudder was frozen in its port, so I ended up replacing the whole thing, it was a 1 1/4 shaft - I have the vendor information if you are interested. I installed the stock rudder, not sure i would do that again as it does slide a bit when turning sharply at high speed. I will post a pic in the AM - somewhere on my computer I have pics of the two rudder options, I will try and find those.

After three coats of Perfection on the hull and topside, I need on more coat on the deck (already have two sporadically - this weather sucks!) and I can re-install the console and hardware and get her running! Looks great - I owe you all some pics!

Rudder Options

This is the one I have.....

This is the one I would get.....

The original prop on my 1975 is listed as a 3212 on the factory hull card which translates into a 13x11 prop. I am currently running a 14x11

Thanks guys, I'm going to check this thing out completely after work today.

I have full access to a machine shop so the prop shaft and flanges won't be a problem. I'll have to check overall drivetrain length and see what I can make work. Overall, the boat is completely gutted right now so all of the in floor storage needs to be completely rebuilt, without templates.

I truely have a blank canvas so what would you guys change?

Are you guys repowering these boats with standard LH CCW rotation or reverse RH CW rotation motors? THe reason I mention this is because they came from factory with a RH prop which turn clockwise when looking at the transom. You may have noticed that the rudder is offset to the port side by about an inch or so off centerline. I purchased a LH power plant with 1:1 gear and am wondering if there will be serious handling issues with a prop spinning CCW with rudder offset to port. I have seen some with the LH motor/prop with rudder to port and wonder if performance is compromised. Ironman did you get your rudder and rudder box from chrisparts.com by chance? Does anyone have any input on the prop/engine directionand rudder location and how the boat handles? Regards, John

I forget exactly what it takes to reverse a motor, since it's been so long since I've delt with that. But it's fairly easy and not that expensive. I think you can do it by changing the timing chain to gears that reverse the motor. Or you can change the camshaft and the distributor gear.

Ed,
My new gear is a Hurth ZF45C 1:1 direct drive. I think there is a setting on the pump which may allow me to select LH or RH like the Velvet drives. Velvet drives are designed to be able to spin a LH or RH wheel with a LH or RH engine so long as you have the pump set up the correct way at installation. I have seen the gears you are talking about with the 1.25:1 and even some have a 8 degree downangle which is pretty neat. You will need to spin a larger wheel and I am not sure if there is room for it, let alone the performance compromise which may come as a result of prop being too close to hull. Your engine will have less of a work out but you also wont have the speed at the prop with the gear reduction. Unfortunately we will never know unless someone has done it and posts their experience, OR someone spends the cash as an experiment and prays for the best. I am going to call Hurth and get tech support on the horn to see what my options are. Regards, John

Ed,
I learned that the Hurth ZF45C 1:1 direct drive must spin a LH prop and be attached to a LH engine and CANNOT be atttached to a RH engine under any circumstance. I also talked to an old salt in south Florida and mentioned my concern about prop offset to port with a LH prop and he said he has repowered several of these exact boats with LH engines and props and there is very very little difference in handling and I am simply way overthinking the whole setup. If there is any push or pull you dont like he said to equip with hydraulic steering and you dont feel a thing and will have no feedback issues. I feel a little better about it now. As they say you cant believe everything you read but they also say believe only 1/2 of what you hear. I am forging ahead with what I got and will make changes only if needed. He told me the ZF45A with 8 degree down angle is a sweet gear and it can spin a RH prop with a LH engine just like you said earlier. You will not have to change the diameter of the shaft but need to make sure you have room for like a 14 inch prop with a little more pitch and make sure to leave a couple inch clearance between prop and hull. He gets about $2K for the gear. Another benefit is that engine can sit at about 4 degrees as opposed to 12 and keep gear from sitting in bildge water. Regards, John

You should not need to increase diameter. You only need to increase the pitch on the propellor, which has nothing to do with diameter.

You guys are too fast for me, I need to check the thread more frequently!

John - I basically had the same conversation as you with the guy in FL (Jim from Chirs parts?) when I was wondering about my tranny. Went around and around on whether I could change the direction of rotation of the tranny i.e. velvet drive and would that improve the performance. I pretty much ended up where you did - that RH or LH doesn't really make that much difference. As I was already set-up to run with the RH, I just decided to leave it alone. Runs great at 3000 rpm

Ironman, so are you are spinning a RH prop (CW) with a Velvet 1:1 drive with a RH motor and rudder offset to port side? If that the case then you are at factory specs. What is your prop diameter and pitch? I will spin LH prop(CCW) with Hurth 1:1 with LH motor and rudder of set to post side and pray for good handling.
I just went out to boat and the prop on boat is 13x12 and blades have about 2.25 inches clearance to hull. Unfortunately i do not know how boat handled with what it had because I bought a total project.
Ed- I don't think there is enough room for bigger prop if you go the 1.25 gear reduction route. Capt Ed indicates it would be OK to keep same diameter and increase pitch.
Al- how much hull clearance do you have on your 14 x11 wheel and what's your gear ratio and prop direction? I am guessing she runs as great as she looks.
Sorry for all the questions but this is unprecedented to have so many people working on the same rare beautiful boats at almost the same stage of the game. INCREDIBLE