Recent content by Trihulled

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    1972 Cathedral Trihull Prop Size

    I'll see if I can determine the gear ratio and post it.
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull Prop Size

    I don't know what the ratio is, only that is is a MR outdrive. Is there an easy way to determine this?
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull Prop Size

    Does changing the diameter from 14'' make any sense? Going to a 14.5'' or 15' diameter or should I stay with the 14'' and try to get a 14x17 or 14x15?
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull Prop Size

    I haven't checked the final timing. I do know it is advancing as you throttle up, to what end I have never officially measured. The CAM was the original from the Mercruiser and the shop that did the machine work specializes in boat motors. Prop is a 3-blade. Guess a general question I have...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull Prop Size

    Carb is original marine unit and motor was rebuilt using marine-grade parts. Ignition is a Sierra electronic distributor and plugs are the marine spec'ed plugs. Timing is verified correct at 6-degrees and the tach is reading accurately (verified with timing light). Engine compression is in the...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull Prop Size

    Hello! I'm looking for help/information on getting the right sized prop for my boat. It is currently not running at the factory recommended RPM range for WOT. Here is a link to a forum post about the boat itself: LINK Boat Specs: Year/Make/Model: 1972 Thunderbird Cathedral Trihull w/Cuddy...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Finished If we had known how much work this was going to be we probably would never have driven to drag the boat out from the woods. But ultimately it was a lot of fun, made plenty of mistakes along the way, but learned a ton as well. Since this project we have developed a boat itch and have...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Engine Rebuild: During this entire process there had been upgrades/repairs done to the motor/lower unit (distributor, alternator, trim pump, carburetor, lower unit, bellows, oil pan gasket, starter, etc.), but had never needed to rebuild the motor itself. When we first got the boat, that was...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    New Paint Job: Over maybe two years we came around to the idea of painting the top cap and hull to where the boat would look the part and forget her Mississippi bayou past. We settled early on not wanting to make another attempt ourselves. Thru a friend I met a guy that worked at a company...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Floor: Next, we moved onto finishing the flooring. My friend who had started this journey with me was really the one the led this effort. First, the stringers had to be trimmed to height. We did this by using a level and transferring the bottom inner hull contact point that were left and then...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Attempt at Painting Gelcoat: We moved on to painting the hull next. In the past I had painted multiple vehicles but had no experience with gelcoat and didn’t really know what we were getting into. We prepped the surface by sanding the exterior and patching the cracks with Bondo...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Metal Plate: After the new transom was in and the stringers installed it was time to cut the outdrive opening in the transom. Before doing this, we decided to reinforce the external portion of the hull in that area. This was mainly because there was a deep crack in the fiberglass hull in this...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Gimbal Housing Repair: One small but critical step that had to be taken pertained to the Outdrive Transom Assembly. From the saltwater and sitting out in the rain the gimbal bearing sleeve had weathered away on the bottom third of the sleeve and came off when we pulled the original bearing out...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Stringers: Next up was replacing the stringers. The rotted portions were already pulled out and sanded flush to the hull. I decided to use regular pine boards from Lowes for the stringers. I bought some 1x8’s for the inner stringers and 1x6’s for the outer stringers. Next, I cut the angle on a...
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    1972 Cathedral Trihull

    Alright… I am picking this back up after a long hiatus and posting the remaining content in hopes that someone else out there finds it useful and knows that it is possible to save a boat that is in complete disrepair. Once the floor was removed up to where the rotten stingers ended the...
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