New guy - introduction, questions-gctid365124

[Guest]

Greetings! My name is Bob Stack. New to this forum and frankly, pretty new to boating.

I am looking at a 1987 28' Contessa "project" She's a project mainly because she's really dirty and has been in storage for a few years. Only "big" thing she needs is the stern drive. The motor is sound (7.5 OMC) and the gimble (sp?) is there and in good shape. The boat is at a marina operated by a friend and he's comfortable that she's overall sound.

This will be a Lake Michigan boat.

Couple questions if you don't mind:

1) how difficult will it be to find a used stern drive? My buddy thinks that will be about a $4K investment, but he's a sailboat guy so he's not 100% sure. Any opinions on costs?

2) being new to this, I have no idea what a vessel like this will use in terms of fuel. Is there an "average" or expected gallons per hour that I can assume? Figure that we typically would be just out cruising with family and clients so not pushing the boat flat out.

3) My buddy is confident that this not "too much boat" for a new guy. I want to believe him since it's a great size boat for client and family entertaining, looks like there's lots of room. But don't want to get too much over my head either. Any opinions on this? Don't worry, I'm pretty thick skinned.

Thanks!

Bob

[Guest]

Well, first and foremost :wel-

Enjoy your stay!

Is it too much boat? Probably not, but if you're a noob and this is a project boat, you are gonna have your hands full there friend, really full.

The answers that you seek are here, no doubt. But you are going to be one busy, busy guy sorting thru the different systems on your boat - my guess anyway.

But don't be discouraged! If I can handle a 2452 as a freshman last year, you will do just fine. Just be prepared for lotsa work and keep your checkbook handy

Best of luck, enjoy the site!

All the best

Sarah

[iceclimber]

Howdy Bob and welcome !

I went the fixer route too, in order to afford a boat I could not afford ha ha. Sounds like you have a good resource at that Marina so good deal there. Having a proper marine mechanic is huge. I tried to save money on that and it did the opposite.

The Contessa is a great boat, I looked hard at one before I got the 3270. You get a lot of boat and the advantage of being able to trailer it. I wanted a little bit more space and two engines.

I doubt it's "too much" boat although a single engine can be a challenge to drive for a new guy. I'm sure an experienced captain will be happy do provide some lessons.

Cheers !

[Guest]

rstackjd wrote:
Greetings! My name is Bob Stack. New to this forum and frankly, pretty new to boating.

I am looking at a 1987 28' Contessa "project" She's a project mainly because she's really dirty and has been in storage for a few years. Only "big" thing she needs is the stern drive. The motor is sound (7.5 OMC) and the gimble (sp?) is there and in good shape. The boat is at a marina operated by a friend and he's comfortable that she's overall sound.

This will be a Lake Michigan boat.

Couple questions if you don't mind:

1) how difficult will it be to find a used stern drive? My buddy thinks that will be about a $4K investment, but he's a sailboat guy so he's not 100% sure. Any opinions on costs?

2) being new to this, I have no idea what a vessel like this will use in terms of fuel. Is there an "average" or expected gallons per hour that I can assume? Figure that we typically would be just out cruising with family and clients so not pushing the boat flat out.

3) My buddy is confident that this not "too much boat" for a new guy. I want to believe him since it's a great size boat for client and family entertaining, looks like there's lots of room. But don't want to get too much over my head either. Any opinions on this? Don't worry, I'm pretty thick skinned.

Thanks!

Bob

my brothers first boat was a 40 ft searay with twin screws he took a boating course and lessons and was quite good ay it by summers end. welcome to boc

[Guest]

welcome to the zoo.....I'm not an omc guy but I understand that they are hard to get since they don't make em anymore.....

first order of advice is to take a boat safety course.....second....never ever approach the dock faster than your willing to crash into it....

3rdly...have fun..

:arr ar

[Guest]

Thanks for kind welcome's everyone. I see no one wants to touch the fuel consumption question - I guess that tells me something right there! lol

The real question at the moment is "how much do I want to have in it" when it hits the water. Thus the issue of the stern-drive and what that will cost. I realize there's going to be lots of small stuff to deal with, but having spent more than a couple years racing cars, I'm somewhat used to get nickle and dimed every time I turn around. It's the half-dollars and dollars I'm worried about!

Thanks again, hopefully we'll decide to pull the trigger on this shortly.

[Guest]

seapuppy wrote:
..second....never ever approach the dock faster than your willing to crash into it....

:arr ar

Seems like sound advice!

[Guest]

Welcome to BOC!

[2850Bounty]

Welcome Bob!

As mentioned, there is no support for the KC drive any longer, so my advice would be to steer clear of the KC system... not necessarily the 460, but the KC drive. Exhaust manifolds are available, but are excessively costly. Engine drive couplers are difficult to find, and when you do these too are very expensive. You'll have difficulty with drive parts and finding qualified people to work on it.

If the owner isn't asking much, and if you are open to a project, there is an option that one of our members did several years ago.

He had a similar situation and removed all of the KC components, kept the 460 Ford, and did the DP-C1 swap.

He is very pleased with the boat's performance now.

This works if you are capable of the modifications yourself... of which are fairly straight forward.

Otherwise, it may be too costly if you were to hire it done.

Bob, if you were to go back at least one year model, the Contessa boats were Volvo Penta.

If you were to go forward several years, the models change and they'll be Mercruiser.

As for jumping into a 28 right off the bat, kudos to you.

Many of us move up in length anyway, and this saves you those steps and expense.

You won't have any trouble handling a 28 if your skills are there to begin with.

Take the boating safety course as mentioned. Money well worth spending.

Good luck!

.

[Guest]

Hi there and welcome.

I started last year with a 21ft with everything to be done. These guys here took me by the hand and with my knowledge of cars I did my 21 ft and had one of the greatest times in my life. So I got a deal in a 2655 this year and I started my 2nd boat. Thanks for boc and my crazy wife.

A lot of very knowledge people around here.

Talking about gas. When I was doing my research I almost went with a contessa like urs and from what I was told Decent load of gear, 4 people, on plane, 0.5 mpg I don't know how reliable the source was could give u an idea of consumption.

Don't be intimidated and ask all the questions u need.

Safety course and always full tank is my advice.

[Guest]

rstackjd wrote:
Thanks for kind welcome's everyone. I see no one wants to touch the fuel consumption question - I guess that tells me something right there! lol

The real question at the moment is "how much do I want to have in it" when it hits the water. Thus the issue of the stern-drive and what that will cost. I realize there's going to be lots of small stuff to deal with, but having spent more than a couple years racing cars, I'm somewhat used to get nickle and dimed every time I turn around. It's the half-dollars and dollars I'm worried about!

Thanks again, hopefully we'll decide to pull the trigger on this shortly.

I too used to be in a racing team or two when I was alot younger...(and dumber).....so....let me leave you with this thought..

BOAT= Break Out Another Thousand....

that flushing sound is your wallet!!....enjoy!!!

:arr arrrrr

[itsabowtime2]

First, welcome to BOC.

Will the boat be too much. If you are confident, no. Practice, practice and more practice.

You have a few options on the drive. You can replace the missing one with a like unit or replace with a Volvo unit. Volvo would be a better way to go since OMC is no longer in business.

Fuel. The only boat I have owned is mine so I can not give numbers. If you do a forum search you may find what you are looking for.

Suggest taking a safety course.

[Guest]

Ok, take this for what it is worth, because i am a noob myself, and know very little about these things, however I found the following formula estimates when I was looking at purchasing my boat, they give the gph at full throttle, in general. Not for a specific engine.

Diesel engine, multiply your horsepower of the engine by 0.0985

Gasoline engine, multiply your horsepower of the engine by 0.1138

Take that with a grain of salt, but it may help for ballpark purposes.

JB

rstackjd wrote:
Thanks for kind welcome's everyone. I see no one wants to touch the fuel consumption question - I guess that tells me something right there! lol

The real question at the moment is "how much do I want to have in it" when it hits the water. Thus the issue of the stern-drive and what that will cost. I realize there's going to be lots of small stuff to deal with, but having spent more than a couple years racing cars, I'm somewhat used to get nickle and dimed every time I turn around. It's the half-dollars and dollars I'm worried about!

Thanks again, hopefully we'll decide to pull the trigger on this shortly.

[Guest]

One more thought on docking: if you can use the boat again, it was a good one! Welcome!

[Guest]

nickatnite wrote:
One more thought on docking: if you can use the boat again, it was a good one! Welcome!

Yup, and who cares if it isn't the one you were aiming for!