1969 Owens/Concorde 33 Brigantine Repower

[CamaroMan]

Hi all - ive been rolling through various ideas past few months- on a tight budget and I own a small marine repair shop. We acquired this boat with no trans/engines and im looking at what options I have.

First off - all I want from this is a fairly economical island fisher with a 120 mile range if possible - if i can cruise around 17-20kts ill be ok with that. Im not sure if keeping the HP levels down is better or worse for economy as the 12v is an all mechanical engine and there are mods you can do to raise/lower the hp - and im not sure if a higher hp motor (say 310hp/400) working less hard will use the same/less/more fuel than say the same engine in a 210hp form.

Thoughts?

My 1st plan was to go with two 12v marinized cummins around 250hp each.

Current shafts are 1.250" at 15 degrees. Originally I believe engines were small block chevys. I measured last week and came up with around 5ft total from gland to wood - not good for an inline! And no I did not cut the shaft. Either way I will need to upgrade the struts and shafts anyway 1.250 seems just too small for anything over 250ft lbs of torque. I also only see one set of exhaust down each side of the boat going back to the mixers.. like they had inlines in there- anyway i dont see any way a cummins inline and tranny would fit in there.

So now im tossing between using a closed coupling setup and pointing the 5.9s backwards however not sure how this would affect the weight distribution moving the engines rearward -

I wished cummins would make a v6 diesel! Picture courtesy of SBMAR.

 

[CamaroMan]

Ok now this is a little interesting - looking at a bertram 33 (bottom/hull and shape looks almost identical to ours), the twin cat 3208 engines (2000Lbs each) sit up against the cabin area - our owens has significantly more rear deck space so if i swap the fuel tanks FORWARD of the packing and put the two cummins backwards there would be a slight change in weight but i dont think all that much- the cummins are almost 900lbs lighter than the 3208 anyway- then i could run two inlines on a vdrive

 

[CamaroMan]

and on a second note - I found a bertram 33 sport fisher with two 350hp cummins cruising at 20kts . 17gph - thats my goal so I guess in rough terms it seems a 350hp cummins is possibly the way to go - easy with a 12v and some minor mods.

https://www.huckinsyacht.com/photos/yachtDocs/88.pdf

 

[O C Diver]

I've seen two 31 Bertrams with 330 or 375 HP engines. While they were both rocket ships, there was significant weight between engine drive trains and fuel. In any sort of seas, they were both very wet rides. Also, when propped to achieve top end speed, they became very fast at idle. Think tough to dock because of speed and easy to be pushed by wind when out of gear.

Ted

 

[BruceK]

Not your first TF thread on the topic but guess you needed the survey added. Maybe not a good question for CF.
Knowing the hull design would help? Planing, semi displacement, something in between?
Cummins 330s or 370s seem huge for that boat. 210s might suffice, and no aftercoolers to contend with. But if you have access to 250s, why not. Same block same weight? Just less throttle.
Are you considering V drives to move the engines aft? A complication, simple can be best.

 

[CamaroMan]

Not your first TF thread on the topic but guess you needed the survey added. Maybe not a good question for CF.
Knowing the hull design would help? Planing, semi displacement, something in between?
Cummins 330s or 370s seem huge for that boat. 210s might suffice, and no aftercoolers to contend with. But if you have access to 250s, why not. Same block same weight? Just less throttle.
Are you considering V drives to move the engines aft? A complication, simple can be best.

Hi - I have been told the 33 owens/concordes could get on plane. Originally came with 327 chevys. Spoke to another guy and he stated id be better of with two 383 strokers - which i kind of argue against.. i dont think two gassers would get anywhere near the range i would with 2 5.9s.

And yesterday another member posted a pic of same boat with an inline 210hp turbo diesel, so i MIGHT just be able to snuck two in there. I did notice the owens engines sit considerably more fwd than the bertram due to a much larger aft deck, and having looked at a few photos the bertram really seem to cruise at an awful angle / nose up where the owens seem to cruise flatter which i really prefer.. esp if it has two 3208s, those thign weight dam near 2k lbs each!

owens 33 on plane:

vs a bertram 33 on plane:

The owens has a significantly more centered engine placement. Ill be back at the shop today and will measure the room I have.

I did look at a vdrive option to install the cummins backwards and put the fuel tanks in front (tank/engine swap basically) and that would only maybe have a slight change when tanks get low (which could benefit in heading back with following seas).

I could slap two 450ft lbs of torque 383s together for not much and have a total of 900 ft lbs of torque running off two quadrajets. But im pretty sure two 250hp 5.9s would get much better range.

 

[CamaroMan]

and yes im posting on multiple places to get some ideas and experience others have had. Ill do some basic measurements today on the concorde and drop the specs in here- shes a beaut and i cant wait to get started!

 

[ranger58sb]

An alternative: repower with small block V8 (or even V6?) gassers, sell it off as a classic, get a different boat that does what you want.

??

-Chris

 

[MacPhid]

I would think the 250 Cummins would work, those hulls originally had 225-250 HP gas engines. You want a range of 120 miles, is that one way or return and what is your fuel capacity?
Your planing pictures show a Bertram Mark2 flybridge cruiser, not the Mark 2 sport fisherman, probably the cruiser is 2500# heavier. The Bertram’s are known for their deep v, I wonder if the Owens is flatter aft giving a flatter planing attitude.

 

[BruceK]

The least cost approach is replacing what was there with more of the same, minimizing modifications. But you get the gas engines not everyone likes. What you do could depend on your intentions, if it`s re-engine and sell it`s different to keeper.