(image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Awsome boat nicky!
man thats a beauty! wow...is it a shrimpin boat? kinda looks like on converted over...

thanks for posting those pics!

She is a shrimpin boat from what I read of the description. But she is a sexy one. I like the look of that hull but I could just imagine what the wife would do to me if I pulled something like that home.

it's cool that you are up to overhauling the engines, fun stuff if you have the proper tools.... Obviously you have alot of mechanical experience to be taking all this on....way cool

Heh well I have a couple people I know very into motors that are wanting to play with the 307 since they haven't played with them before. As for myself I am typically the person that knows enough to be dangerous.

Im not sure what the difference is between the 307s and the 350s...might be the crankshaft has a shorter throw or maybye a slighty bigger bore....etc...does anyone here know?

From Yahoo! Answers I got this

Now to the asker... What type engine. Chevy, olds, pont or buick. Chevy and olds both had 307's and 350's and buick and pont both had 350's

Being you said 307 and 350 then I'll stick to the chevy and olds as the are the only ones that had both.

The diff is the bore (the dia. of the piston and the hole the piston fits into) and the stroke (the amount the crankshaft moves rod/piston up and down)

Chevy 350 has a 4.000" bore and a 3.48" stroke
Chevy 307 had a 3.875" bore and a 3.250" stroke
Both engines used 5.7" long rods, both was "med" journal ewngines with 2.45" main journals and 2.30" rod journals

Olds 350 has a 4.057" bore and a 3.385" stroke
Olds 307 has a 3.800" bore and a 3.385" stroke
Both used a 6" long rod

the old valves could be ground, I used to regrind em all the time when I was a mechanic at a Ford Dealership...loved doing valve jobs....

check your valve seats for cracks before ya send em out for work...if theyre cracked...replace the seat or replace the head....
also see how big the ridge on the cylinder are when the heads are off, may need ridge removal and or boring out meaning oversized pistons...a small ridge can be reamed and the cylinders deglazed using a 3 stone honer deglazer

Some of this I will do myself and some I will have a professional do as I don't want to screw it up.

Post some more pics!

I will be. Tonight I will be creating my own gantry crane to remove the second engine from the boat tomorrow. Plenty of pictures of that to come.

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Thanks for all of the informative replies Nicky!

Guess you could make a 327 then using a 350 crank and 307 block?????????????????????????????????????

hmmm I wonder! lol

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Grrr well the wife had other plans for me all weekend and then balked when I said I wanted to spend money on some stuff, namely building the gantry crane. So I had a weekend of penance due to getting the boat and the coming expenditures for the boat.

But hopefully I will get out there and get the other motor out of her and get them both tore down.


Hmm making a 327... Might be possible but I don't know if I really want to go through the work of getting that all done. I am really gauging things on if I can get them up and running and in good order for less than the expense of buying a new motor and all the things to go with it. If I can't then I might as well go new engines so I don't have an extra grief down the road.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

My curiosity about tunnel drives led me to this discussion and I thought you might be interested also. If you have already read it, please excuse me.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=255120

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Interesting article Willy I appreciate you posting it. That is one advantage of the boat that I have read. Mine at 26' can still go in 18" of water. I will have to get some of the spec sheets for the boat most definitely now. As the one guy said you need to be really careful with the right motor, transmission, and props for the boat to get the most efficient use of the tunnel drive.

Though I wish he had linked in the other two Penn Yan forums. I have found one but when I applied to it I never got an email or anything to sign up. It does seem to have some following but not a lot here for the purpose of some of the unique things like the tunnel drive.

But anyways I can't wait to get her running and in the water to find out what those engines can or can't do.

Nick

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Well if you're ever in southern Nevada or SoCal with it, the Colorado river hits a scant 24" in spots......we went down to the river earlier this year and were pretty surpised by the shallow areas! my brother in law plowed through the 24" or less areas at speed without slowing up, WHAT A NUT!

yes he ended up with a prop strike on his nice stainless prop a bit later in the day....
also it was a real fun day, but man that water is cold! 59 degrees when the air temp was 118' F

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

wondering how your'e doing Nicky.....
hope all is well!!!!

Vegas.......

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

PS just read that interesting post thread by WillyClay...
looks like you have a heavy seas boat there Nicky!
great for you and the family! Congrats!

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Hi Nicky any work lately on the tunnel hull?
hope all is well!

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Heyas,
So it has been a month since Vegas posted and in that time period well I have been changing jobs and learning the new one. Along with that it seems the wife has planned and filled every weekend I have off and I don't have a chance to get to my boat. It all makes me really really sad.

Currently though I have an open weekend coming up and I am getting out there and tearing into my boat. I have a really good job which means I have a bigger paycheck which means I get to fix it up even faster, well as fast as the wife lets me.

This weekend will see me lifting the boat and getting that trailer out from under it. Once I get it out of there I will be either getting it fixed or getting a new one if I can't salvage the current one.

I can't wait to get it home so I can do more consistent work with the boat. She has the potential to be a beautiful boat that I am going to really enjoy.

I appreciate you pinging me Vegas. Will post pics from this weekend.

NickyBFWB

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

So when do YOU get to start planning some of YOUR weekends?? Its the only way this will see the water.

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Very soon. The issue has been that the boat is an hour from my house so it is an all day affair to get out there. Once it is at my house my weekends will work a little easier in giving me time to work on it. But the holidays are coming to a close over the next couple of weeks and I will have it home after that.

 

[Oldf*rt]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

I would strongly suggest running someone elses Penn Yan Tunnel boat before investing time and money in the repairs. You may or may not like the trade-offs you make to achive the shallow draft.

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Nice to hear about the new job CONGRATS Nicky!

ya Im surprised you got as much done as you have considering it is one hour away...
gotta get that bad boy home...will make it real nice to work on!

Congrats again Nicky

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

I would strongly suggest running someone elses Penn Yan Tunnel boat before investing time and money in the repairs. You may or may not like the trade-offs you make to achive the shallow draft.

I have heard this mentioned before and I even think in this thread. I don't think I will have much issue with it as it will be my first boat bigger than a canoe/row boat.

Also due to it having the duel motors I think it will be easier to work with for some of the complications I have heard about the tunnel drives but if you have links to reading material over it I will take a look into it.

Nice to hear about the new job CONGRATS Nicky!

Thanks Vegas I was pretty happy with getting the new offer and taking it. It steals more time during the week but I get the weekends off without being on call at all.​

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

HAPPY HOLIDAYS NICKY and family!

 

[chuck in WA]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

So Nicky, how goes the resto lately? I'm sure the holidays slowed things down a bit. I'll be following your progress as I just picked up a basket case Penn Yan myself. It's a 23' flybridge sportfisher (single 350 w/tunnel drive). The shallow water ability is mainly what attracted me to the boat. I'll be using it mainly for fishing on the Puget Sound. It's sitting on the trailer in my driveway, but I haven't had much of a chance to see what exactly I'm in for yet. The engine and interior are known problems, but the hull appears solid except for some rock rash on the keel from a few too many rocky beach landings over the years. Best of luck, and keep us posted!

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Sadly I have been derelict in my restoration, problem with it being an hour away. Now the wife is bugging me on fixing it so I get the man pass for the weekend to go work on the boat. I will be out there and updating what I am doing the entire time. Plan for this weekend is take measurements of the deck, height of deck and everything else and then begin removing it all. I will be removing as much as I can from the boat because then it will weigh less when I pick it up to move it. If anyone has any advice on what to look for/out for feel free to drop a note to me.

Nick

 

[Willyclay]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Plan for this weekend is take measurements of the deck, height of deck and everything else and then begin removing it all. I will be removing as much as I can from the boat because then it will weigh less when I pick it up to move it. If anyone has any advice on what to look for/out for feel free to drop a note to me. Nick

Great to hear from you. Only advice is to take lots of measurements because the hull will change shape as you remove stuff. Temporary bracing might be a consideration. Good luck!

 

[NickyBFWB]

Re: (image heavy) 1972 Penn Yan Tunnel Restoration - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Now one thing that is scaring the bejesus out of me is that I am pretty much positive I am going to have to do a transom job on this beauty. What is the best suggestions for redoing this transom?
Why do I have to do a transom job because this has been open to the elements for 2 years before I got the boat.

And yes it is located here

I have seen some of the other jobs but they always seem to be on smaller boats and so I am wondering if there is anything else I should be looking for wary of.

Nick