TOPIC: Video twin Bearcat 55 outboards, Lake Ontario

Here's a link to a video of Paul's twin Bearcat 55 outboards running at speed in some chop.

docs.google.com/file/d/0B12m8o-uqmwPUEtwdHJnSUtkYk0/edit

Sounded (and looked) pretty sweet!

What size boat does he have?

Are you serious? That was freakin' sweet! I making an offer on Miles' outboard. Maybe I'll have two.

I can't recall if his boat is a 19 or a 21, Paul emailed this morning and is going to register here so we can all hear his details.
Interesting, his email says they have seen 24mph with two adults and two teenagers aboard. Also, he says "it really is amazing how little fuel they burn".

That reminds me of the time I went to sell my 18C Power Cat, I met the potential buyer at a lake. The twin Bearcat 55s showed themselves, he thought they were cool. On that boat, I had two 6 gallon fuel tanks, and neither was full. He commented about the hassle of fuel tanks and switching while underway. So I took two pieces of black electrical tape and marked the fuel level. We left the ramp at 11:00am, we returned at about 2:00pm, 3 hours running time we never shut them off. At the ramp I told him look back where the new fuel level is, (after mostly running around putting, but a few runs to 34mph etc), and it was down about a gallon and a half each. I hauled her out and he had the check written by the time I pulled the boat alongside his car.
And yes I wish I still had it! That was the nicest riding classic boat I've ever owned.

55's in stereo, sounds awesome!

Yes it sounds nice, but hey Dick, you have enough of them running for the first Qaudrophonic Bearcat Symphony....
He's got these on 20" centers as I recall, the original tie bars set them at 20" apart, then the OBC/ABYC rules changed and they set them at 26" centers.
On my Power Cat catamaran they were really far apart. Boy that boat maneuvered nice at the dock, could spin her in a tight circle.
Paul registered today, so pretty sure Ken will have him approved tomorrow and he'll answer some questions.
He's got another motor or two to get running over the winter and will be winterizing in the next 30 days. He's made a lot of progress and stuck with it on this project, so bravo to him. He's pretty happy so far, wants more power but doesn't have tachs hooked up so we don't yet know if prop'ed correctly.

Hi Everyone,

My father worked for a Whaler dealer in the '60's and used to take me out bluefishing on the demo's with Bearcats and ever since, I've been wanting to set up a boat with two of them.

The '68 twins are mounted on a 19.6 Aquasport CC. I filled in the low spot in the center of the transom and raised the whole transom another 1", which put my cavitaion plates even with the bottom of the boat (on the inside edges of the cav plates). I bought a new old stock (I think) motor coupler from Bill R. which put the motors about 20" appart; had to make up a few stainless plates for each end of the coupler and one for the end of the teleflex cable - that stuff was all easy.

The hard part was trying to figure out why my port motor wouldnt pump water. I tried everything! Had the lower unit on and off 4 times, opened up the block panels to flush out the rust, took out the thermostat, flushed and checked everything with no results. Then in a conversation about it with Bill Roberts, he suggested I drill some holes in the shift linkage plate on the exhaust housing. I was reluctant to bother because I ran the motor in a barrel with the plate completely removed and it still didnt pump. Well, I drilled 8 1/8" holes in the plate and brought the boat down to the local pond. Didnt pump. Frustrated to the point of "Dont give a damn if I burn it up at this point", I ran the boat down the lake. A few minutes later, I looked back and the teltale looked like a firehose - and has pumped like crazy ever since. Why one motor needed that mod and the other didnt, I have no idea, and I dont care because they sound so cool! With 5 people in the boat, it'll run about 24 mph. I probably wont get 2 tachs intalled for this season but I'd like to get the boat up closer to 30, maybe with different props and a little fine tuning I'll get there, but either way, it's a lot of fun, and if I hadn't intalled a new sending unit and fuel gauge with the new tank I'd think that the gauge wasn't working - stuck on full. Thanks again to Bill for all the help.

Driller,

WELCOME ABOARD.

yours, satx

Nice video! Those twins sure do look good together.

Paul, do you have a pic of the entire boat?
I'm pretty sure that's a heavy 20'er with a liner.
Have you run the boat with just two people in it and noted speed?
Some of the Aquasport boats had Homelite 55 from the factory, here's a pic:
i76.photobucket.com/albums/j7/GoneFission/22-2_June_1965_Yachting.jpg

Driller wrote:

The hard part was trying to figure out why my port motor wouldn't pump water. I tried everything! Then in a conversation about it with Bill Roberts, he suggested I drill some holes in the shift linkage plate on the exhaust housing. Well, I drilled 8 1/8" holes in the plate and brought the boat down to the local pond. Didn't pump. Frustrated to the point of "Don't give a damn if I burn it up at this point", I ran the boat down the lake. A few minutes later, I looked back and the telltale looked like a firehose - and has pumped like crazy ever since. [/quote]

What's strange about this is all the one's I've ran that had the holes drilled in the covers I replaced with solid no hole covers, all have pumped water fine. ????????????

There are probably 6 or 8 service bulletins on cooling.

I've seen Pauls case where needed relief holes in shift cover plate, have seen Dick's case where not required.
The basics are:
1. Clean out block yourself so you know it's clear, there is a big passage under the bottom cylinder above bottom of block, that MUST be totally clear.
2. New impeller
3. Restrictor in telltale hose (E model with Y telltale routing AND recirculating thermostat a special case here)
4. Water up to spray plate at minimum at rest not underway.
5. you should be able to blow back through telltale and see bubbles at water inlet plate above prop.
6. Ram tube at front of lower unit clear, if plugged you can have cavitation and also suck exhaust gasses into water pump inlet. (Melts impeller, I once did this while tuning an 85 in a barrel, sucked the exhaust gas right into impeller and roasted it in short order.)
All those items true, you should be good for idle cooling flow, and good flow at all speeds above.

Over winter I hope to scan the bulletins and get them to Andy for upload to Fiberglassics, along with a bunch of other items you will all enjoy.
PS: posted this in haste between jobs, there are other subtleties etc but the above should be a good start, see bulletin attached

Who knows why some water pumps cant overcome that exhaust pressure and others can. What's interesting is that the motor is no louder with the holes drilled in the plate. I have a nice late model 55 that I picked up with one of my twins as a parts motor. The previous owner assumed it had a cracked block because he couldn't get it to pump. I'm going to clean out the scale (which it looks like he never did) and drill out the plate and maybe I'll get lucky and have another good motor. Then I'll have to find another boat- a '16 Sakonet Whaler would look too cool with a Bearcat on the transom!

Here's a shot of the whole boat.

Paul is new, had some trouble with pics so I posted the pics he sent in his post above.
Nice looking classic Aquasport! Shallower deadrise aft than I expected. Looks like a useful boat with lots of space. Space not taken by a zillion gallons of fuel to make it back to the dock

I pulled out the original rotten 50 gallon below deck tank and replaced it with a 32 gallon aluminun tank, more than adequate for running all day. Had to weld on different fill/vent pipes and installed another supply tube for the second motor. The boat is a comfortable fit for the Bearcats, floats a little lower standing still than it did with the 115 Merc but I think the added weight of the second motor actually makes for a better ride. Would still like to try for that 30 mph mark with a little fine tuning in the spring.

plenty of fuel for all day play.
yes will be interesting to see what speed we see.
i got 34 on gps running 13 props on my powercat, which was lighter I'm sure than your boat.

Well, the twins are being moved to a new home. I found a deal on a '73 Boston Whaler Revenge 19 that I couldnt pass on, literally got it for peanuts with a trailer, 150 Johnson and 20 Johnson kicker (both of the 2 stokes will be sold immediately). I like the Aquasport but the Whaler is what I was after when I first brainstormed this twin project. The Revenge looks heavier but according to the specs it weighs about the same and has a reputation for planing with minimal effort and as little as 65 hp.

SO far the first challenge will be engine spacing. I'd like to stick with the 26" spread but that may mean filling in the single engine notch in the whaler transom as I did in the Aquasport - otherwise my spacing would be 32+ inches. I don't mind a little glass work, the concern is altering the original look of the Whaler transom. My father sold a lot of these whalers with Bearcats but I was too young to be paying attention to things like engine spacing. If anyone thinks 33" center to center spacing is OK, feel free to chime in.