350 Verado

[wrecked03]

Anyone out there hang one on a 23' yet?

[caper]

Too heavy - looked in to it.

[Fr. Frank]

Originally Posted by caper

Too heavy - looked in to it.

No, it is not too heavy. The 23' Seacraft was designed to hold up to twin V6 Evinrude Johnson 20" outboards, at 406 lbs each. I had a '77 23' SF rigged with twin 235 Evinrudes, a total of 822 lbs, and even had a dry deck as long as I didn't walk to the very back of the boat

(Yes, I know it was only rated for 400 hp in 1977, but that's because nobody built anything more powerful in '77. The 1978/79 Savage, Sceptre 23', and Seavette 23' were all rated for 500 hp. I don't remember what the '78/79 Superfisherman was rated for)

It will easily carry a single 686 lb V-rod 350 hp outboard.
The last of the 23' SeaCrafts in 2006-2009 were often factory rigged with up to twin 150 hp Verado's at 510 lbs each, for a total of 1020 lbs. The Tournament Edition 26 Seacrafts of 2009 were available with twin 250 hp Verado's, for a total of 1270 lbs of motors, and they were actually only 24' 4" plus a built-in flotation bracket.

[wrecked03]

Should have added I have the Hermco designed for twins.

[Bigshrimpin]

with a 25" transom 700lbs is too much weight. If you drift in even 1ft seas you'll take water over the transom. Add 2 regular size humans (from 2018, not 1973 skinny people) in the back and you have wet feet. The newer 23's have 30" transoms, higher floors, and different weight distribution. I still would try to keep the weight under 600lbs. I helped rig a 350 zuke on a 24 silverhawk this year and it's overkill IMO. When the wind/seas pick up, you still have to slow down to 20knots. It's a lot harder to lift the azz and stay on plane when you have a larger badonkadonk.

These 23's were designed for inline 6 115's (275lbs each) and Johnrude v4 115's and 135's (271lbs). 2thristy5's didn't come around until 1976/1977.

[Blackfin26]

Bigs, I fished next to that Silverhawk with the 350 zuk off Chatham a few weeks ago. Looked like it sat well.
Fr. Frank, The '09 26 TE and MA do not have a built in bracket. Hull extends fully to transom.

[Bigshrimpin]

Originally Posted by Blackfin26

Bigs, I fished next to that Silverhawk with the 350 zuk off Chatham a few weeks ago. Looked like it sat well.
Fr. Frank, The '09 26 TE and MA do not have a built in bracket. Hull extends fully to transom.

Eric's Silverhawk has a big dusky flotation bracket and it flys. The motor is a MONSTER.

[Blackfin26]

Makes sense...a big motor though. Nice set up for navigating inlets and rips.

[captainDH]

the problem goes deeper with the 350, it's not weight because i have a 670 lb 30" vrod on my 05' 23' classic. i could currently easily get the extra 100 HP with absolutely zero weight penalty. for that matter, same case for the 400R. I can still go up the 150 HP easily with no weight penalty. and i will post some pics once i learn how, but my vintage handles the weight of this motor perfectly. no draining issues, scuppers at waterline, etc. unless 2 guys in the back. at rest, she's perfect. best part of all, for me anyway, i already have all of the plug and play smartcraft DTS and guages, rigging, so any of theses motors are simply bolt and go, just plug and play with existing rigging.
the curve ball is the new V8s. they only go to 300 HP "right now"...... and you lose about 60 lbs comparing apples to apples, 30" leg vs 30" leg. so would you get the new 300, pick up extra 2 cylinders for torque, while dropping 60 pounds? or in my case, stay with the same I6 with a blower, same weight, same torque curve, which currently is descent, but would be nicer to have more coming out the hole or in a seaway, as sometimes i steadily work the throttle to maintain clip, but yet you go up 100 HP with the 350.. so in my case, only because i am an existing verado setup, the 350 mainly benefits because i can go up maybe 2" in screw, i will have to, so i can still hit 6200 rpm. therefore you will definitely see increase in cruise speed and top speed. i'm thinking 3-5 mph across the board. but with the new 300, from what i have already ready on THT through published reports, you won't be that far behind with the new 300, and have the V8 torque, and "adaptive speed control" to compliment that torque , so no more on and off the throttle in a seaway, just set rpm and she maintains throttle herself, even if surfing down a swell! very cool technology, so what i am saying is if you want 350 hp, (which i do badly, even the 400R would be , even comes 30" shaft, but warranty sucks and must run 91 or better octane to get the 400 out) it might be better to chill out and see what merc brings out later this year. they promised 3 big product reveals, so far we have seen 2. i have a feeling the 3rd release will make the current 350 and 400 I6 platform obsolete, as many experts seem to agree the new platform has plenty "room for simple tweaks" to make for some mind blowing HP/power to weight ratios in the very near future. So i would kind of chill in the easy chair and get some popcorn because i think by the first of the year were going to see 400+ around 600lbs, on regular marina fuel, 5-6 years warranty, even with a 30" shaft single. SICK..!!!

[Fr. Frank]

Originally Posted by Blackfin26

Bigs, I fished next to that Silverhawk with the 350 zuk off Chatham a few weeks ago. Looked like it sat well.
Fr. Frank, The '09 26 TE and MA do not have a built in bracket. Hull extends fully to transom.

I know the hull extends back, but back in the day (crap, does saying that make old?) we used to call those "euro platforms", and I guess I still got the mind-set to think of them as platforms.