74 Spectra 20 V Drive

[Sanger_Spectra]

I have been working on this for longer than I want to post, have a couple threads on some other sites going already and I have really enjoyed and benefited from the feedback and insight this boating community provides so I decided to test the waters over here as I am seeing a lot of V Drive cruisers on this site. This is my third boat to restore, the last two have been Sanger flats and I have not gone to the depth of restoration as this thing. Complete trailer rebuild, split the boat new stringers bulk heads, strut relocated, extended center strakes etc etc etc....A ton of work for an old boat but also had a blast doing this with my Dad, Uncle (not blood but he is my family) Brother in law and friends. on the down hill side doing rigging now targeting mid late summer completion.

[Sanger_Spectra]

More pics... had a hick up at the paint shop ended up finishing paint in my garage.

[GotHalos]

Very nice!

[Sanger_Spectra]

Rigging at Dad's shop on the Farm

[djunkie]

I can't wait to see this thing finished. I know it's been a long time coming for you. Hope I can see it in person someday.

[SnoC653]

Beautiful job. How did you determine where to move the strut to and how much to add/remove to or from the strakes? I've had the little voice in the back of my head tell me to someday convert the cruiser from jet to V-drive, but you have a lot more energy and gumption than I do. That looks like a lot of work and you started with one that was already a V-drive.

[78Southwind]

Lots of hard work there. How far up did you move the strut and how far down did you extend the center strakes?

[Sanger_Spectra]

Beautiful job. How did you determine where to move the strut to and how much to add/remove to or from the strakes? I've had the little voice in the back of my head tell me to someday convert the cruiser from jet to V-drive, but you have a lot more energy and gumption than I do. That looks like a lot of work and you started with one that was already a V-drive.

I had been talking with a few guys with similar boats one in particular was a howard VD Cruiser I believe out of Virginia. He did the same thing and i believe went an inch more than I did. I moved 8" forward, no science just advice and experience from a good friend who had done this over the years to several boats. We brought the center strakes back just under 4' they now stop just before the strut. These boats are bow heavy and we wanted to try and lift it as much as we could. Looking forward to see if all the work pays off, I have a friend with the same boat looking to see if there is a performance change, should do something.

Changing that jet over is more money than work... my friend with the Spectra (I posted a pic of his boat below) had a 19' challenger jet boat, he started coming skiing with my family and all the flat bottoms, only took him 1 summer to realize he had the change churches. I am not biased towards v-drives though

[WESTERNAERO]

Wow, this is really looking nice. Good job...

[SnoC653]

Changing that jet over is more money than work... my friend with the Spectra (I posted a pic of his boat below) had a 19' challenger jet boat, he started coming skiing with my family and all the flat bottoms, only took him 1 summer to realize he had the change churches. I am not biased towards v-drives though

I have a couple V-drive projects to finish already, but the nice thing about the Jet boat on the Mississippi is 1) I don't have to worry as much about the stuff floating in the river (logs mostly), and 2) those jumping carp don't jump when a jet boat goes by, just when a boat with a prop goes by. Last thing I want is to get hit by a 30 lb carp while doing 50+. But I do love the mini-day cruisers in either Jet or V-drive.