TOPIC: 1971 Schuster Tahiti Torino

I saw Matt had one off these listed a few years ago. I bought mine after the PO repainted it, did the transom and wiring. Seats need some work and new carpet.

Fast forward a few years to new interior, carpet, engine painted and new decals, new gas tank and buffed a few dozen times

This year the old Evinrude Selectric gave it up, bought a 1984 Merc that was sold as a great motor and it turned out to be junk.

Located a 2011 Mercury 150 HP Opti Max that is gettting hung now, oil injected, changed out the old steering to Hydraulic and a few other modern upgrades.

Karsten

Looks really nice, should fly with the 150 I would think!

Excellent!!!

Bob

Great looking boat. The Opti Max will make it sing

Well I have my boat back and the only thing Vintage anymore is the Hull.

Hydraulic Steering, Mercury Smart Craft monitor, stereo and speakers, control box, all new cables, oil injection and I forget what else other than the 2011 Mercury 150HP Opti Max.

I will never get my money back from this one.

Karsten

That is gonna be scary fast with the Opti on there!

Watch out for chine-walking over 55 mph!!!

At least with hydraulic steering you don't have to worry about slop in the system. But that hull is a typical Sidewinder/Tahiti-style and without a pad, it's gonna get a bit hairy at high speed.

Have fun!..........ed

Ed, I doubt I will see 55 MPH plus on water unless I get really brave in this little 16 footer......Hell I have 3 Corvettes and they don't go over 65 MPH on dry ground.

Karsten

I'm interested to see how she sits in the water and how she handles with the OPTI on the back. Whats the weight diff between the 'Rude and the Merc?
I have '71 17 foot Kona with a 150 TOP. When she finally pops the motor, i gotta decide if its worth going with something like an OPTI MAX, or something else...

Will

Here are specs I found for the Opti:

www.mccarthysmarine.com/Page.aspx/pmid/213874/view/Overview/pageId/111319/OptiMax-25L-150-HP.aspx

431 lbs, whereas the 1350 PT&T weighs around 300; 153 c.i. vs. 99 c.i. for the Inline Six.

150 prop-rated hp which is probably equivalent to 165-175hp at the crankshaft.

Definitely capable of more speed than the boat can handle! With tons more torque for the hole shot.

It won't just be a Beast, it'll be Beast Mode!!!

I check the 1971 Evinrude 125s manual and the old motor weights in at 252 Lbs plus the weight of 1 6 Gallon oval tank. I now have a 13 gallon tanks plus an additional 3 gallon oil tank in the back.

I have a 13 gallon bow tank in the garage I may want to add up front to balance things out a bit.

Karsten

I had some time this weekend and it looks like I will need to raise the floor under the bow to make a larger area for the bow tank. I am thinking a 2x12 cut the fit the triangle floor, screwed and glued in place then glassed. Then a 16"x16 inch plate to mount the tank to.

I has a Faria dress white fuel gauge coming and installed a Faria white 55 MPH speed yesterday and already I am being told to change it out for a 70-80 MPH unit.

I still think the Opti looks monstrous hanging out the back of this little boat.

I need to make a call and see if they added a second power on/off switch as now the stereo that was working has no power.

Someone posted this elsewhere.....this could get scary.

Karsten

I can't wait to hear how she runs with the new Merc. I told my wife what a new OB would cost. Took an hour to peel her off the ceiling!

Will

Willdiver wrote:

I can't wait to hear how she runs with the new Merc. I told my wife what a new OB would cost. Took an hour to peel her off the ceiling!

Will

Ya, after the original 1971 125 HP Evinrude died I went looking for a affordable replacement and found a 1984 Merc 115 Tower of Power only to find out it needed work and the shop didn't want to take it on.

After finding out the hull was rated for a 150 (which surprised everyone) I found a complete boat that was a rental out of Bull Frog at Lake Powell....$4500 for a 2011 Optimax with a boat and trailer for what appeared to be a $8000.00 motor.

Well it turned out good and bad...the motor needed a compressor, plugs and a complete service....good is the motor only has 1300 hour on it, the hull came with hydraulic steering so that was a bonus. The prop had been sent out to be refurb'ed and I finally ran that down.....but I might need a new one if I can hit even close to 5750 RPM's with this one.

I forgot to post this earlier...this was posted on another forum....Same boat with a 10 year older motor.....This could get scary.

www.sidewinder-boats.com/portal/windertalk/showthread.php?threadid=1755

For grin factor I ordered a 80MPH Speedo.

Karsten



Karsten

That guy is nuts.. I dont have a pad, so at 50, things start getting a little squirly. I'm happy at 40 and under. I have 150 on her now, but I prefer to ski, not fly.

But I bet your Schuster would look awesome, with that motor and paint job, doin 80 up the river!

Will

Will, I doubt I will ever see 80 and not even sure I will have any passengers at anything over 50 MPH. '

Karsten

Loan it out to a 20 year old, and watch from shore. She'll do 80. just hope there are survivors afterwards.

Will

Over the last few summers I became a victim of a clever scam while out boating. Simply going out for a day of boating has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don’t be naive enough to think it couldn’t happen to you or your friends.

Here’s how the scam works:

Two very hot 20-21 year-old girls come over to your truck as you are pulling your boat out of the water. They both hang around watching you strap down the boat and make small talk about your boat and where you will be going next, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. They ask for a ride up to the marina or campground, You agree and they get in the truck. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into your lap and starts crawling all over you and starts caressing you & unzipping your pants , while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen May 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, & 24th 29th. Also June 1st, 4th, twice on the 8th, 16th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, three times last Saturday and very likely again this upcoming weekend. So tell your friends to be careful.

P.S. Walmart has wallets on sale $2.99 each

Well changes out the 55 MPH speedo for and 80 MPH and looks better.

Karsten

I love that steering wheel. I have the same brand wheel on several of my boats, but with straight "spokes". I don't remember seeing that one as an option back when I purchased mine.

If the Sidewinder starts chine-walking (rocking side-to-side) you will need to slow down, because chine-walking doesn't 'go away' the faster you go - the deadlier it gets - in milliseconds.

Arguably there might be as much as a 14% loss in power at high altitude, but the direct injection OptiMax - like today's automobiles - compensate and adjust the air/fuel intake as needed to maintain performance at various altitudes.

It will be like your Corvettes in that excessive power is there, but respected.
Not to mention how much you would miss your boat launch encounters if you were in the local ICU, and subsequently 'walking north while looking east and carrying an armload of your own ribs'.

doc Frankenmerc

Had the boat on the water twice now and learning all the new stuff.....The Hydraulic Steering feels sloppy and someone suggested it might need to be bled again.

It will do 30 MPH and on plane in about the length of the boat....GF wont let me go faster just now.

Keep forgetting to take the camera down to the water so I snapped this in the parking lot.

Karsten

Good point from the "Dr.", the Sidewinder hull is rounded at the keel, and will chine walk at higher speeds. I had mine close to 50 as I recall and it was still pretty stable, but be really careful as you approach speeds of 60 or higher.

The hull is fairly forgiving, but you might be really careful about chopping throttle fast when getting a chine-walking incident, sometimes the change in prop loading has an adverse effect on the hull handling.

Another very effective way of backing off a chine-walk, would be to carefully chop throttle while simultaneously trimming-down the motor.

The down-trim will bring the nose down fast and wet more of the hull, stopping the chine-walk and slowing the boat down drastically.

BTW this hull is perfectly stable at speeds under 50. Just be sure if you take any fast turns at speed, to trim down a bit when going into the corners. Otherwise she'll really roll up on the side (they don't call 'em "Sidewinders" for nuthin'!).

My daughter was pretty young when I had my 'Winder in the 80's, and she still remembers riding in that boat and how it would roll up the side. She thought it was fun!!!

BTW tell your GF to "get a grip" (literally) on the hull or windshield sidebar and crank the rig up over 40mph.

Then you'll start having some fun!!

Cheers...........ed

A little update. I was going back and forth about the additional Bow Tank and after the last trip out I will be going ahead with that.

It seems the boat likes a little more weight than just the GF and I at less than 300 pounds (combined Weight). Took the boat out with a couple guys going maybe 225, 180 and my 140 or so and a completely different boat.

Rode a little smoother even in the chop, got up to 45 MPH and cruises just fine.

I am guessing with the hardware, Aluminum 13 gallon tanks and fuel that would add 125-130# way forward....See what that does.

Still no wet pic's yet so I don't have a clue as to how it looks in the water.

I did add Trailer Guide Ons and what a difference that makes for loading.

Karsten

Insurance and video will do. Survivor's tend to get lawyers. LOL

Firstglassproject wrote:

Insurance and video will do. Survivor's tend to get lawyers. LOL

Not sure what are are meaning with this.

Karsten

It's a joke about frivolous lawsuits and how no good deed goes unpunished

Well she has been wet a couple of times and I forgot the camera. This time I had the camera and the wrong lens.

Lost the 15x17p Pontoon Boat prop for s 14.25x20P 4 blade SS prop and what a difference that made. The boat jumps from 20MPH to 30 and then to 40 and smooth as glass.

GF's favorite boat saying was Slow Down at 25-30 and no bumps and now she is okay with running it up to 40 and even 45 for a brief bit. She will even do the bumps and not get rattled.

Jack Plate and maybe a Trim Wedge and I can get it dialed in.

Karsten

Great rig and progress! I added a similar tank in front a very fast outboard boat because I also loved to ski and used a ski tow as well. The leverage of a big guy like me 6' 4" and 230 pounds doing a deep water double binding slalom ski start with a paper light front end would put my 17' 9" bow into the sky...then when it came down, it caused a great acceleration of the ski rope like a sling shot. I would fill the new bow tank (which leveled the launch) and water ski all day using the back tank until it got down to 1/4...then switch to the front tank pulling smaller skiers and general boating in the afternoon to burn that bow tank down...by evening calm water, I could go out and lake race without the added bow weight. I had a switch on the dash to burn them as I desired as the day required. Worked great in my case.

Going back out again Monday and Tuesday to what effect a MI Wheel 4 blade Apollo 14x22P has on the boat.

Didn't get the Jack Plate hung for this trip so maybe the next time. By then I should have a MI Wheel 4 Blade Ballistic 14x23P performance prop here.

Karsten

No time to try the 22P prop out due to rain and low water levels but when we got back this was sitting on the porch.

Now I am really behind and winter is coming.

Karsten