'77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

[sasto]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

and now i have a 23ft boat that has never been over 17knots and i enjoy this boat the most

Oh.....Me too. I have one of them and have some great times in her.....But...

We are talking about a Luhrs here. She is a well built battlewagon made to go places, especially offshore is she wishes. There are times that ground needs to be covered. If ya' got places to go, sometimes ya' don't wanna' to spend all day gettin' there.

I would consider another 360, Bert. Do you have the factory specs on her? Maybe it's a cult following around here, don't know, there must be hundreds of 318's and 360's still running.

On a side note. I once was nominated to spent a day at a Luhrs factory in St. Augustine (I think), falsly applying for a job. I was stealing their floor plans and engine room layout! We were a 7 person operation on the west coast of FL building a 35' Sportfish, start to finish.......come to think of it, we never finished that boat!

Hope she brings you many more years of service. She is my kinda boat....and I hope yours too. Good Luck with her.

 

[wellcraft19]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

dont take that diesel out, believe me a few mph just isnt worth it, going fast in a boat is not relaxing at all, i have had boats that went 60mph and now i have a 23ft boat that has never been over 17knots and i enjoy this boat the most, your going to kick your self right in the azz, just fab some muffs on it and enjoy that boat, you did a beautiful job on it and i been following your thread from day one and i was really impressed, you have something different, 28ft boats are a dime a dozen but try and find one with a diesel in it for a reasonable price and good luck, i watched your you tube vids and that boat moves along just fine, if you really want to go faster buy a cheep speed boat and drive it for a little while and i guarantee you will change your mind,

Bert,
I would agree with everything jfalco states, you have done an amazing job in fixing that 28 footer! You will never find anything as economical once you pull the diesel out and put a gasser in. Keep the diesel!

I'm saying that as I am sitting close to the Puget Sound and dreaming of Swedish or Norwegian "double-enders", boats with small diesels that can take ANY weather, and literally only require a fill-up once per season. Yes, they rarely go past 7 knots either, but they are amazingly enjoyable. It's all about the journey.

But all that said, it is YOUR boat, and whatever you do, we will likely follow your upgrades from afar. They have been/are an inspiration to many here on iBoats. You are also one that truly proves that boating is not a "past-time", but a true hobby and and as such one also understands that boats do require much more than just fill-ups for the race around the sound making noise. It's a life style!

 

[Tahorover]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Dakota: I would be ecstatic to see 17 MPH. I don't have a GPS but based on time/distance I think my 6.2 diesel only made 10-11 MPH.

Anyway I'm still mulling over my options. On Saturday I'm going to consult the gurus at my boatyard. If they happen to have a good low-hours 454 sitting there I might pounce on it.

I hope your going to replace the Paragon 300 with a 400.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Bert, thanks for the thread....I just sit here and learn about the bigger boats, this is great! You don't see that a lot on here, good luck with whatever decision you make!

 

[springer59]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Hey Bert, Looking forward to see which way you go on this,man you & everybody here have really got my butt itching to jump off head first on my "little" project.Still thinking 'bout that darn diesel conversion on mine.My question is this,have you considered "prop" & maybe trans ratio changes to gain the top end you are looking for,or are you just really wanting to go gas? My Luhrs 25' is around 5500 lbs. and is supposed to do about 30 knts w/318 - 1.52 to 1 trans,and while lighter & shorter, do you think that a 6.2 could power it to almost stock performance.Do you know the wieght of yours? I finally have mine blocked @ home ready to start as soon as my budget allows. Man keep up that great work you do,its been great following this thread,its been real inspiring ,(d#*% it).

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Hi Guys! Thanks for all the continued interest in my Luhrs.

Springer: From various sources on the Internet and the marina paperwork my 28' is listed at 10,000 lbs. I have no idea if that's accurate though. I thought about changing to a smaller prop but if I spin the engine up to 3,000 RPM it's going to be even louder, and trust me after a couple hours running at even 2500 RPM my brain is starting to turn to Jell-O from the racket.

For a 24-25' boat (and if you install mufflers and acoustic foam in the engine compartment) I think the 6.2 is a good choice. As I said before the fuel economy is excellent.

Sasto: I'm sure the Chrysler 318/360's were very good engines but in my neck of the woods they're a lot harder to find. Almost everybody in my marina has a Chevy/Mercruiser 350 (or 305), plus I've noticed manifolds for them are realtively cheap.

The 454 would probably destroy both my transmission and prop shaft, so that's out. It's also disqualified on the basis of its horrible fuel burn.

There's a sick, sick part of me that wants to put something truly different in, like a BMW V12!

Bert

 

[captkevin]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Can't imagine you would gain much power going to a gas 350. Friend had a 24' Searay Sundancer & it was a dog with more then 4 people in it.

 

[QC]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

350 (5.7) gasser = 250 - 320 hp

6.2 diesel = 180 hp

The Sundancer is a full planing hull, this is a semi-displacement hull and the increased power will translate directly into more speed.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

QC: It's even worse than that. The 6.2 only has 154 HP. (I think in the last couple of years it was produced '92-'93 GM bumped it up to 165 HP or so)

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Geez I didn't mean to cause a fistfight over this! All I know is my little 6.2 diesel never got above 2500 RPM. That was always the limit from the day I put it in the water. It seemed to like cruising at around 1800 RPM which I figure was about hull speed. (around 7 knots)

By the way I've noticed some Luhrs 28's had a Chrysler 318 and some a 360. It seems like the older ones had the 318. Or maybe the 360 was an optional engine. When I bought my boat the Chrysler 360 was sitting on a pallet next to the boat, seized.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

I just remembered I have a photo of it. Here's the 360 that originally powered my boat:

It's a sorry looking lump of cast iron but I bet it ran pretty well for most of its life. Maybe it was even the original motor from 1977.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

At least the wake looked like it . . .

You can tell a boat's speed by looking at the wake?

 

[QC]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

You can tell a boat's speed by looking at the wake?

Sort of. Look at the video. It certainly wasn't plowing like it would be at a slower speed. Put it this way, it was certainly above displacement speeds.

 

[QC]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Hey Willy. The video I am referring to is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Flounder3906#p/u/24/bcDPqqiisyI

You just can't develop a nice wake like this at speeds below say 10 knots. It's just too flat and too pretty . . .

 

[Willyclay]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

I saw that video when Bert first posted it because I have been following this thread since the beginning. However, I did not process the information like you did. My interest has been due to a friend locally who has a Luhrs 25 and I have always liked his boat. Also, as mentioned above, the Chevrolet engine bolt pattern issue that Bert identified got me thinking about that Bertram 20. Thanks again!

 

[Triton II]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Phew! Glad this one settled down.

TII

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Willyclay: a Bertram 20 is probably a very good match for the 6.2 diesel. My situation, I think, is that my 28' is just too heavy a barge for it.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Thanks Bert. If I pull the trigger on the Bertram, hope you won't mind a few PM's. Oil burners are a whole new world for me!

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Willyclay: Sure! By the way I'm secretly lusting after a '79 Bertram 31 that's for sale in my marina. It has twin Cummins diesel V8's! They want $55K for it though, which is more than a little out of my price range.

It seems like Luhrs was sort-of copying Bertram's hull design in the 60's/70's, but used a different deadrise angle. When I look at a Bertram stern in my boatyard it has a deeper V to it than the Luhrs.

 

[springer59]

Re: '77 Luhrs 28 ft. diesel repower SPLASHED!

Bert, see what you started:facepalm:LOL.Man,this is a killer thread!! OK this is what we are going to do; I have a 318 complete & running,I want diesel,you have diesel,you want chry gas,CALL ME MONTEY, CAUSE WE GONNA MAKE A DEAL!!!!! ROFLOL Ain't it funny how things work out sometimes,by the way, the transom being no wood is just too good to be true, I had already resigned myself to that task only to find out from you that now I don't have to do it.Whew, knew the boat was rough when I got it,but wow,what a break.Thanks to everybody on IBOATS!!!Will start my thread on it soon as learn more comp skills.HAHAHA