Reply With QuoteSorry to report that Tahiti has never been a very good boat. They are unfortunately laid up cheap.
I picked up a 1973 18' Tahiti that had a sized 455 for cheap. So I'm getting all the parts to put a Mopar in it. But it also has some floor rot in it. I would like to know if the hull is worth fixing. From some other posts on ***boats my hull looks like a tiger hull.
Sorry to report that Tahiti has never been a very good boat. They are unfortunately laid up cheap.
I agree with HotHallett.
Tahiti Boats are junk.
If you are going to start an older boat project, go with a good hull:
NOrdic
SAnger
Schiada
Hallett
Spectra
Howard
Rogers
etc.
Good Luck,
Brent
[ September 29, 2002, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: SPECTRABRENT ]
I think all the old hulls are worth saving but as stated some of them have some so so glass work. I have put a couple of floors in and if done in an overkill kind of way, it improves the hull strength.
My .02
KC
Well I'm an old Schiada owner but I'll tell you this. We used to have an old 16' Tahiti with a 400 small block and it ran pretty good. We used to take it out in the ocean (not a good idea) all the time to see how much air we could ge off the swells. You would not believe how high we would get that boat.
My friend now has the boat and has not busted it yet. I say save the old girl!!
I agree with S-Dave...throw a new floor in it, stiffen it up a bit, just might turn out to be a halfway decent boat. wink
Hot Hallet is kind of right when he says their laid up cheap. But it's not so much the lamination as the final fitment of stringers and structural components. My dad just bought a 20' 79or 80 i/o, and the floor was completely rotted. We tore up the old floor to find that the keel stringer needed repair because it was rotted as well. Through the process of re-doing the stringer, floor and front bulkhead for the bilge it appears that the hull is laminated fine, its just that they lay one layer of mat over the structural components and then chopergun over it to build it up. Solution, reglass in your stringers and bulkheads with mat and you should be better than new. Now that we're done with the floor, I can honestly say its undoubtedly stronger than new and will sure last much longer. When working with false floors, remember to leave a way for water that will enevitably get under the floor to get out. We used two 5/8 npt bilge plugs (one on each side of the main stringer) to drain the area under the floor when condensation builds up or you're putting the boat up for winter. The rest of the time, the plugs stay in and in theory no water should enter the area forward of the bilge. To do the repair correctly you most definitely should use Marine Grade ply (we used 3/4" for extra strength since the floor ties the boat together in this design) and use only a good epoxy resin. Total materials cost for my dad's floor was around $600 with the wood(the way we laid the floor wasted a lot of wood, but is stronger than the alternative), resin, mat, roving, catalyst, mixing cups etc.
Good luck,
Chris
The stringers look good, But the one thing I don't like is how the stringers that hold the motor end and then there is about 2" before the front stringer and floor start. This looks like the weak part of the boat. I think If I fix it. I will join the front stringer to the ones the motor sits on.
Let me know if you are needing any parts for your RB install. I make everything you may need. Reactor products makes a nice aluminum flexplate with a ring gear on it.
Brian
[ September 28, 2002, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: wsuwrhr ]
wsuwrhr, I have some old Edelbrock front and rear mounts from a v-drive 426 hemi setup. Also picked up some Bassett for a hemi and 383/440 for a good price. But I do need the flywheel and the crank hub for the 1350 u-joint setup for my Berkley pump
Thanks,
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