TOPIC: 48ft chriscraft in philly... the free section

just came across this on craigslist.. and thought i'd post it just incase anyone's interested.. 48ft chriscraft still in the water in the marina...
southjersey.craigslist.org/zip/5468382996.html

i fixed the post..just incase.. but it is listed in the FREE section of craigslist..

Hmm didn't se free on there anywhere but great boat and 427's!!!!!!!!!!!! The Admiral would shoot me for even looking but lots of work right there. Will be great once it's done but long project!

Bob

The boat itself is a write-off. I can say from my experience with the Elco 57 that you're looking at $250,000 to bring that boat back...minimum. The result would be a nice CC worth about $50K on a good day. (See exhibit A) The 427's are worth having I guess but they are only rated at 300 HP (standard 454's are rated at 330 HP and I can coax that out of a small block!) and they most likely need rebuilding. The only people interested in the 427s would be car guys...but they're sticklers for numbers-matching cars so that may not work. Basically, the guy that owns it has realized all this and wants to get out of the monthly/annual slip fees and get his wife off his butt.

Also, I have junked/cut-up a couple large cruisers and it's a LOT of work...weeks! Most of the parts I salvaged are still sitting on the shelves since they too are only good for cruisers.

Exhibit A: 1968 Chris Craft 47' Commander Yacht Fisherman
www.yachtworld.com/boats/1968/Chris-Craft-47-Commander-Yachtfish-2752398/Merrickville/Canada#.VtOmovIrIdU

ASKING price $56,625

the engines look like ford engines to me, not much good in my book. frog

frog,

YEP. 427 CI Fords. = REALLY thirsty, too.

IF a person lived nearby, has a lot of time & some help, you might do OK by stripping the big CC for re-saleable parts, selling those parts & burning or sinking the rest for a fish habitat.
(30 Years ago, I had a 50 foot cruiser, when I was stationed in Savannah, & therefore KNOW how expensive/time-consuming that they are to maintain & pay slip rent on.)

IF a person has the time & money required to own/maintain a large cruiser, there are a LOT of BIG cruisers (that will pass a survey) that can be bought for less $$$$$$ than that "free cruiser" would cost to repair.

just my OPINION, satx

If those motors are really Ford 427's they are known as "side-oilers" ( slang for SOHC ) and they are worth a LOT of money. Why ? Remember the hot rod Galaxies ? Remember the Shelby Cobra ? Most people have no clue that there is a 427 big block out there that Chevy DID NOT make but it's so rare most people will never see one, let alone 2. They were Ford's strongest block and those horsepower ratings are ridiculously low but they had to understate the actual HP rating for insurance purposes. 426 Hemi's were rated at 450HP but made closer to 600. Same for these or the LS 454 series. I'd go nuts for those motors and any Ford guy would freak to know they were just sitting around being ballast. The best Ford factory racers they ever built came with side oilers. It's Ford's version of the Hemi. A rare find and converted from marine use back to stock are worth quite a lot to someone with time, any Ford, and money. Unfortunately I just have the time. Sigh. Thirsty is an understatement Nautilus. Any car with one of them couldn't get 8 miles to the gallon and I can't imagine how many gallons per hour they would burn in a 58 foot boat ! Cost more to run that than a cigarette. Any Ford guys listening ??

Too late. The ad's gone. I hope whoever got it brings those motors back to working order. They truly don't make them like that anymore. Chevy still makes a 427 but it's a small block. I'm into all kinds of old iron but just learning about boats as you can tell. My latest car is a 1966 Chevy Impala SS with a 396 and a three on the tree ! You read that right. An original numbers matching big block Impala with a 3 on the tree ! I always end up with the one offs.

FGP,

I’m sure that ad was gone not long after the original post was made four months ago.
If those were Ford 427 marine engines, they can’t be true side oilers. The 427 Ford marine used a side oiler casting, but was not drilled for side oiling. Also, the heads would have been low compression 352/390 versions.
I believe you were thinking of the SOHC (Single Overhead Camshaft) engines Ford developed for racing in the 65/66 time period, often called “cammers”. There were very few built and they all had side oiling and cross bolted mains.
I don’t think Ford underrated the cammers as they released the HP rating in 1965 on the single 4B as 610 and the 2-4B as 657.
The 427 street engine was built from 1963 to 1968 and ranged HP from 390 to 425. They were quite common on the street back then and I still see them often at car shows.
All 427 cammers had side oiling, but not all 427 engines had overhead cams and side oiling.
So, the value in those blocks, if they were Fords, is that they probably had cross bolted mains. The downside is that if they were seawater cooled the blocks are probably shot.
Some guys have salvaged Ford marine engines, but all that ends up useable is the blocks and maybe the crankshaft.