37 Bertram 6v92 550HP shaft size

There were also BIVENS 16v96's that put out 1700 HP. I know a boat that had those. I also knew someone that ran a boat with 24v71's and they were always constant problems with them, but they had so many hours on them.

He made A LOT of mods for 92's. He even has a patent on changing the valve geometry and several other items. The custom SF from that era had Bivens......Montereys, Jim Smiths, Tributes, etc...….Merritt OTOH seemed to love those 903 cummins. Interesting read, as Bivens was a true mechanical engineer instead of just another DD hot rodder……..

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5590625.html

Breckster, did you ever repower your 37?

With the mechanical Detroits. I hear of guys taking 8v92 DDEC's and switching to 6 port injectors, a larger HEUI pump and having someone burn the DDEC computers with a custom program and reliably getting 1000+ HP out of them.

The Biven’s conversions were not exactly a big hit on the marine pleasure craft market except for a small group of SF builders who were not exactly promoting reliability over top speed.

https://mymarinetracker.com/invento...oit-diesel-8v96ta-biven-pair-w-gears-meg4593/

That's all they were designed for. Bivens was a small producer and all of the custom SF guys looking for the highest top speed used them for their power to weight ratio in expense of longevity (just like any engine, more HP it makes, shorter it's life). These custom SF, like Jim Smith, Tribute, Monterey, revenge etc. were doing almost 50 knots WOT in the early 1980's. Dick Moroso owned the Speed Merchant with Bivens 8v96s and even had Nitrous on them for the CAT Cay bimini starts and had a spare set of complete engines in his garage ready to install........fun times back then......I ran a 1991 58' Stiker that by 2003, had the J+T stock 12v92's majored 8 times, essentially every 500 hours and know of half a dozen other boats I was involved with over the years that the 8v92's or 12v92's only went 1000 hours between rebuilds.

But I hear of people now, getting 1000 HP or more out of DDEC 8v92's by programming the computer and injectors and Huei pump and they seem to have a pretty good lifespan. One Arneson boat that was underpowered with the 760HP, I used to manage the guy did this to them 4 years ago and they're still running fine and the boat runs like a raped ape now. Before with full fuel you had to run it WOT to stay on plane, at 1/2 fuel 90% load to stay on plane......then 80% with a little less. It had to do 27 knots to stay on plane. Now last I heard, 80% load it runs 35 knots and fuel load is not an issue.

There you go, just checking in on a Saturday night, thanks Pops

Must be a big speed difference. Other then that how does the Cabo compare to the Bertram?

The 40' Cabo is a much better boat in every aspect than the Bertram. Speed, build quality, ride, etc.