Second on the 5.3. My buddy just recently put a 5.3 on a 14 ft Panther with stainless rigging. I think he paid about $700.00 for the engine, I gave him a cam I had out of my LSA, he bought a Holley FI system and bought headers from Norman Clay. All in he's got less than $3,500.00 into the engine and...

Seven3 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 08, 2019 3:34 pm

Diggin you have a set of those boxes in yours...better make sure there’s no residue left in them LOL. My new one has a set as well.

If there's any residue in there, I'll have to blame the previous owner.

The older thurman hulls had heavy taper to drop the nose farther, those boats were built specifically to have a proper sized drawer on each side to haul a certain size package(s) that were extracted from certain areas back in the good ole boy days, wink wink. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: This guy.

Here's my setup. Triple in the back, side by side driver, double jump in front. I never had to worry about small kids so the rear driver didn't matter to me but I understand the concerns of people that advocate that. The boat is a Diamondback, titled as being 15 feet but the only way you get 15 out ...

So what you're saying is you believe that a gear box has more parasitic losses than a transmission, at least 2 u-joints, a differential, axle bearings and tire/surface interface? Or are you saying 500 whp is more than 500 crank hp? If the latter, duh. Do you think so? [emoji12] Sent from my SM-G950U...

Ran across this article today and thought I would share. Lots of great info.

https://www.lsxmag.com/tech-stories/eng ... to-riches/

Tim, here is a link to an article I stumbled across just this morning. It will definitely help you if you choose to go the LS route. My buddy just built a 5.3 and it pushes his 14 ft Panther great. Only mods he made is he put the old cam from my LSA in it and used Holley EFI and runs it through a 2....

Here's a link to the article my buddy had. I was a bit off on the specs. The 5.3 with the LSA cam made 389 HP at 5,600 RPM, not 385 at 6,200. Pretty interesting article. Could give you some good ideas to work from.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hotrod ... rison/amp/

So the LSA's are totally bad ass when set up properly, just a bit pricey for me now but if I had the extra ching it would be an LSA motor. Lots to read and learn on these LS motors, and lots of opinions on what to do here. I'll prob just go w a fuel injected 5.7 and your standard 2.68 box and hopef...

Speaking of accommodations, there is also Westgate River Ranch which is just a few miles from Grape Hammock and is a great place to stay; rodeo, saloon, trap and skeet, horseback riding.

I would imagine you could get good results with a Google search but another possibility is to call Grape Hammock, which is located at the south end of Lake Kissimmee, and ask them for a reference. I would bet good money more than a few guides work out of that camp. Another option would be to contact...

:rebel: You sure you want to run willows with that nice paint job. :rebel: As much as possible, I'll avoid them but unfortunately the trails around my camp are loaded with them. Luckily, I've opened the main trail to camp a good bit but a couple nearby trails that I'll have to use from time to time...

Gary S wrote:Why the expanded metal? It really chokes the air down.

That's the way Wayne built it, I guess. I know it's not ideal but at the same time there are large openings at the top and on the sides. One thing for sure, it will stand up to the willows a heck of a lot better than wire.

timmmyy wrote:Boy that boat is looking sweet , what going on with your first boat . for sale ?

Not sure which boat you're talking about, the DB or the Don Davis. I still have the DB and plan to keep it. Got to have something to haul camp supplies with. Sold the Don Davis beginning of last year.

Just a thought but perhaps at 3,000 RPM, there's not enough vacuum to open the secondaries. Perhaps a 2-barrel might be the way to go?

Outside.

Other rudder.

I'll post some more when I can.

Outside.

The rudders have been done for a while. I have both sides of each rudder painted.

Just picked up the grass rake today.

I will be putting a SV 540 on it with a 72" 5 blade RazorX. Here's a side view of the hull.

This is what it looked like when I bought it. 1989 Thurman with Wayne Cone rigging.

I've been tinkering around with a project for the last couple years. Most of the time was coming up with a theme for the paint and the wife won that conversation. :lol: Not that I mind, particularly for the way the boat is turning out. The theme is Game of Thrones, Swamp Edition. I found a local who...

The best value out there is the Broward County Airboat and Halftrack Club. They own the Boars Nest camp in Area 2A. You can have full access to the camp by paying your annual dues (which last time I checked was somewhere around $50.00). The caveat is that you must participate in club events, particu...