Aero Craft Trihull?

[reelfishin]

I looked at a pretty neat looking boat today, it's an early to mid 60's era trihull, made by AeroCraft. The hull is not a very pronounced trihull and more resembles the more modern style hulls.
The floor has a few soft spots but the transom is solid, the floor looks like it only spans the forward section of the hull and that the rear of the deck is actually the bottom of the boat? The bilge forms right at the back of the floor. The soft area is actually under the dash area between the two hull humps formed by the trihull design.
Has anyone had one of these apart? I'd be interested to see how these are built.
The transom appears not to have any wood, or at least none that's glassed in. The only wood I see is what looks to be a 2x6 which is glued up into the top of the transom where the outboard clamps are. The rest apears to be only plain fiberglass. The hull is 17' long, with a 6' beam and weighs only about 700 lbs or so. I can lift the boat from the side off the trailer fairly easily.
The floor is also pretty thin, it's only about 3/4" thick at the rear, and there's no sign of any stringers leading from the transom?
I can reach around the gunwales and feel both sides of the floor, so what ever they used, it's less than an inch thick.

It's got an early 50hp Chrysler on it now that runs but needs some work on the fuel system, someone has bypassed the fuel pump and is running it direct to the tank, (no pump and it runs???) I like the open floor design of this boat, super light and very simple.

Any pro or cons on these in particular? I realize that the Chrysler motor is a drawback, but it's clean and runs good as is with excellent compression, (124lbs on each cyl.). It actually started by accident on me while just turning the flywheel, so it cant be in too bad of shape. (There's no key, just a starter button and a kill button, so I guess these were magneto motors?)
The closest pic I can find online is at Fiberglassics.com under AeroCraft Maverick. This one is older and a bit longer, but looks to be about the same boat.
From my first impression this looks to be a very well built hull? The fit and finish is near perfect, this boat is in great shape having been garage kept all it's life, and looks to have seen little to no use.

My main concern is what am I in for as far as the floor, I've done several other fiberglass boats before, but this looks totally different to me, it's my guess that this only has a small section of plywood thats used more as a filler panel to flatten the floor up front, with the rest being solid glass. there's just not enough room to have stringers under the floor anyplace, and the outer hull is solid with no flex.The floor goes flat just behind the drivers seat and is solid there, it's the area between the trihulls that's soft, too soft to stand on. The floor is glassed over completely and the soft area feels like a rag, with only a support beam in the center about two feet long down the middle in the forword floor area. The area below the front bowrider area is solid and the under compartment is actually the outer hull, no subflooring.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

it looks to be a strong, stable boat. kinda copy cat of the Johnson/evinrude boats. i had a tri hull, 1 side console, open boat built similar, and all there was the ply glass over to smooth out the tri like you said. here's link to the picture http://www.fiberglassics.com/aerocraft/aerocraftb67007.jpg

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

I realize that the Chrysler motor is a drawback, but it's clean and runs good as is with excellent compression, (124lbs on each cyl.). It actually started by accident on me while just turning the flywheel, so it cant be in too bad of shape. (There's no key, just a starter button and a kill button, so I guess these were magneto motors?)

Yeh, Yeh some of us dearly love our Chrysler's and yes they are good motors IMHO. I am not super familiar with the 50, I run 45's on my boat.

We'll need to move the motor discussions over to the Chrysler forum: http://forums.iboats.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

you can look up the parts list for that motor here: http://www.mercruiserparts.com/selectModels3.asp?type_id=CHRY

Good luck

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

I plan to get the boat this weekend. The motor has me stumped, I have been told that the earliest Chrysler outboard was 1965, yet all of those I have seen already have that boxy style engine cover. I have a buddy with an old 45hp on a 60's runabout, and this 50 hp dwarfs that motor. It's only a twin cylinder, but it's huge and has an odd rounded glass engine cover. The closest engine cover shape I have seen to this is a late 40's Elgin, but they were small.

The boat looks real simple to fix, I'll cut out the small piece of soft wood, replace it with starboard and some aluminum supports and reglass it all in. I may do a complete floor overtop of that just for protection, that way the hull won't get worn or damaged with use. Even if I just toss in a fresh sheet of plywood each year with some carpet. It will get stored indoors, so it won't have any moisture concerns.

One odd thing I noticed was that the bilge drain was not at the bottom of the transom? It's about 3" above the bottom. If water was to accumulate, it would have to get 3" deep before it would drain out. It looks factory, it has a threaded style plug and a tube that is glassed right in the transom.

Attaching seats may be interesting, since the bottom of the boat there is the floor. I'll have to either use seat boxes and glass them in place or glass in a mounting plate.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

install a bilge pump.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

As for the motor.. Chrysler bought out West Bend outboards, yes the pots and pans company, in 1967. West Bend used the rounded hood and some early Chryslers that I have seen also have this hood. Take a look at this and see what kind of hood you have: http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,360,00.html

Either way, if you take the hood off there should be a model number tag right below the intake to the carb on the lower half of the hood. West Bend and early Chrysler's used 5 numbers for model numbers. My 45 is a model 45521 and my early 55 is a 55721.

Chrysler eventually switched to a 3 numbers and 2 alpha character model naming scheme.

Probably the most active forum for Chrysler outboards is on Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thechryslercrew/

Get me a model number and I can date it for you.. I might also have the service manual for that guy..

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

There is a tag below the carb on the starboard side, but it's worn away by the fuel line or whatever was laying on it. I can make out a few numbers, 5??63??, and the first digit being a 5 is a guess from what I can still make out. I am not sure what position the 63 belongs in, the tag is pretty worn down from something rubbing on it, I can't tell weather there are one or two digits between the first digit and the '63' digits missing. the same goes for the last digit or digits.
The cover is sort of like that in the pic of the one from eBay in your link, but this cover is more rounded looking. The side emblems look similar, but there's a red band under the Chrysler letters. The front "50" emblem is larger, it can be seen from the sides as well, it sort of sticks out and wraps around more. The basic shape of the pan looks the same, but I'll have to go back and compare the pic to it side by side. It seems more rounded to me, but I could be wrong. There is definitely some red in the side emblem though, I took a pretty close look at that since one of he letters was cracked and falling off.
Your link explains why it looks so simple, it has the "tower" type linkage shaft and a magneto ignition, which probably means no charging system? The boat has no electronics other than fore and aft lights, no dash lights and no other instruments. The battery that's in it is an old Cadet Deep Cycle from Pep Boys.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

How about model number 50463?? Which would make it a 1964 model.. Oh, try doing a rubbing of that plate and see if you can pick up any more information. Hold a piece of paper over the plate and run the side of a pencil lead on it, you should get an inverse image of the numbers.

These are very servicable, as long as the magneto coils are ok.

I know the 35, 45, and 55 are all the same model series, but I don't know about the 50's. you might have to talk to Franz at Franzmarine.com He is the chrysler guru on this stuff.

If and its a big if, that uses the same parts as the 35 - 45 - 55 then these parts will work:

Parts - Sierra #
Tune Up kit 18-5010
Points 18-5162
Condenser 18-5238
Carb Kit 18-7037
Needle & seat 18-7057
Fuel Pump Kit 18-7806

P.s. the serial number on that might help Franz pin down the model and year of that thing..

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

Points shouldn't be too much of a problem, a local marina told me that they have a good supply of older parts, but they weren't familiar with the rounded style cover.
The model plate is worn from the fuel line resting on it, it's almost worn through diagonally through the middle. If I can get it off, the numbers may be visable from the back. I should know what it is when I get the title, he said both the boat and the title have out of state titles. We don't have titles on motors here, only the boat, but that may tell me more about the motor.
How many digits should I have? I was thinking that this was a 6 digit number, but it's too beat up to tell for sure.

It does have a bilge pump, it's an old brass foot operated pump at the rear of the boat. It basically has no electrical system so I guess they were trying to keep it all real simple.
I will add a deep cycle battery and a fish/depth finder and some modern lights. I'll just have to keep the battery charged, but I don't see that being a real big problem. I'll use LED lights, and the fish finder don't draw much at all.

What sort of performance should I expect out of this motor?
Were they comparable to other 50HP motors of their day?

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

I don't know about the boat weight and length.. but Chrysler outboards can be fast runners. The 35 HP at one time check the attachment was "World's record for A.P.B.A. class 36 outboards: 45.009 mph" Check the attached ad..

The lower units are slimmer than a similar year OMC outboard, I have a 1960 40 HP Evinrude Lark and the LU is ALLOT wider.

For example THEORETICALLY, my 45 can do 40 MHP as propped. I have not been able to get out on the lake yet this spring because I now have a GPS and I can check the speed more exactly. And I will hopefully this weekend..

Also my 45 on a 14 ft ski boat pulls a water skier like nothing, my kids are not yet good enough to try double and now that we have a 2nd set of ski's we're going to give it a try..

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

The boat measures 17 1/2' and has an 80" beam. I would guess is weighs in at around 850lbs at best. I can lift one side off the trailer rollers myself, so it's pretty light. The boat is sitting way forward on the trailer, the axle is nearly at the very rear and I can lift the tongue and move it around in the grass with no problem. It's a trihull design, but the outer hulls are very minor, it more resembles a skiff up front. The hull is built with self contained air space for floatation, with no foam. There's a plate stating not to drill or cut into the gunwales and that they are the main source of floatation. There's a lower panel the seals the lower side of each gunwale that forms sort of a float tube. The floor is a single layer of glass, no sub floor or stringers, and the transom is all resin with only a small wood insert that can be removed from beneath the rear deck.
I am wondering if someone may have added the controls or swapped in a later set on this, the controls look newer, and are mounted almost behind what would be a comfortable drivers position. I don't have the original seats, and can't even picture how they mounted since the floor is totally flat glass with only a small filler panel glassed in up front to flatten the inner hull area up by the drivers feet. Someone has glued down a couple of 2x4's and made up a clamp on seat. I was trial fitting another seat, and with the seat in place where I feel comfortable at the controls, the engine controls are behind me.
There's enough cable to move them up where they belong, but there are no old holes, only the two holes that it's mounted on now.
The more I think about this boat, the more I like the simplicity of it. There's very little to go wrong with this on the water. I'll put in a fresh water pump, maybe a new set of points and give it a test run.
I never had an outboard with points before, but obviously they ran ok way back then, so I don't see that as a major drawback. I may ad a capacitive discharge ignition to make the points last longer.
Where I plan to run this boat, it will get launched in freshwater and only occasionally venture out into saltwater, but the return trip is about 10 miles in freshwater so it will have a pretty easy life here. I like the idea of a boat like this that don't weigh too much and can be launched and loaded easily. The plate on the boat says it can handle 100 hp, by the look of this thing, I figure that it would just plain fly with a 100 hp on it, but the transom design looks better suited for a 50 hp or so. I think a 100 hp would be a bit much.
I really like how easy everything is to get to on this motor, there's nothing in the way and there's plenty of room to work. The only drawback is that it looks heavy for a 50 hp.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

Is your boat the same as the one at the link Tashasdaddy provided? That one looks like it had back to back lounge seats and a control mounted on the gunwale, or could someone have run something up from the seat base come to think of it.

Does your control box look like the one with all of those Chrysler pictures I provided, or is it more square? The square ones are the newer Chrysler built controls..

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

It looks just like the boat in that brochure, but it measures 17' 6" long with an 80" beam width and is all white gelcoat with the floor and under-gunwale areas being aqua green. It's just slightly larger than the one in that brochure. Other than that it looks to be the same.

The controls say Chrysler on them and are sort of square in shape, the handle has a black round knob and is all the way forward on the control box. It's a pretty long looking control box too. It is nothing like the Morse controls in your link above. The steering and shift cables look like new, and may be. If you look at the pic in the link that Tashasdaddy supplied, my controls are at or just behind the drivers seat back on the gunwale. They wouldn't be out of reach of the driver, but not very comfortable. There is plenty of cable to move them forward.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

So you have to chrysler built controls then. I'd move the controls, as I plan to do in my boat, they just not in a position where I can sit and hold the throttle all of the time.. I am most often towing a skier or tuber and want to be able to cut power immediately if something happens..

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

I was looking online to find a set of controls like mine with no luck, the control box is fairly long, with a round forward section that leads back into a long rectangular box. The handle looks like the one on the Morse box in your pics. It attaches with two bolts. They appear to attach from inside the box or under the aluminum Chrysler logo, the bolt heads are not visable from the left side of the box. I was able to unbolt the box and the two bolts are secured inside loosely. I will simply straighten the cables a bit and move the box up next to the steering wheel at my right hand. There's plenty of cable to do so.

The main project will be to find a way to mount a set of pedestal seats up front, I'll have to glass in a couple of brackets or something to attach too. The seats sit right on the bottom of the boat now. I was thinking of taking a sheet of plywood, setting in some stainless inserts on the back side and just laying it over the bottom of the boat. I wouldn't even have to attach it. If I take a 5x10' sheet of plywood, seal it well and attach the seat to it, it would be removable if need be, and it would hold the seats securely. I want to have something on the bottom to protect the bare fiberglass anyhow. Right now it's only gelcoat that you walk on, no carpet of mat at all. I guess the original seats were like those in that brochure at Fiberglassics.com, but I have no idea how they mounted them, unless they were just glued in. There are no marks where anything was attached before, only a pair of 2x4's that someone attached with some resin to clamp a seat too, and that's no more than a bass boat seat on a homemade pedestal with two c clamps on the bottom welded to each side that clamp onto the 2x4's. In other words, a real rig, the pedestal is made from super heavy iron pipe, and the flanges are 1/2" plate steel, but the seat is an old kitchen chair bolted with carrage bolts all the way through the top. I was supprised to see that rig in there being that the rest of the boat is so clean.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

If I take a 5x10' sheet of plywood, seal it well and attach the seat to it, it would be removable if need be, and it would hold the seats securely.

Silicone caulk or 3M 4200 would make a good 'glue' that you could remove it necessary. I would put a couple of beads near the edge on the bottom side of that plywood and this them down. This would also help keep the water out..

I would want the bases mounted securely so they don't move around in rough seas, just when you're trying to make it back in as the weather closes in..

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

I think the idea of decking over the floor in plain plywood and bolting the seats to the wood, I can then seal the edges of the wood and glue a rubber mat to the plywood. It will protect the inner hull and floor if something gets dropped, and if it does go bad, I can toss it and make another real easy. Since the floor has no wood or stringers I don't see any problems with even a bare wood floor. I would resin the wood on all sides before setting it in place, and with a 5x10' sheet, I can make it one piece. The floor is almost a perfect 5x10' as it is, I will only have to notch the forward corners a bit to clear the outer hull bulges up under the dash. It may even help quiet the boat a bit. I will convert the vintage lights to LED, ad a battery and a new fuel tank and give her a try, hopefully in a week or so. I want to take a buffer to the hull too and give her a good coat of wax as well and I want to make a few changes to the trailer too.
I picked up a pair of nice used Pompanette seats on 12" aluminum pedestals today. I didn't need the pedestals on my other boat, but they will work great on this one, I will use a lighter set of seats in this boat, I want to keep the weight down as much as posible.
I'll probably have to find a fuel pump rebuild kit for the Chrysler 50 too just to be safe, I'm not sure how long it's been sitting dry.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Aero Craft Trihull?

I'll probably have to find a fuel pump rebuild kit for the Chrysler 50 too just to be safe, I'm not sure how long it's been sitting dry.

If you motor has the aluminum looking 'double bowl' fuel pump on it like this:

Then you need sierra parts kit: 18-7806

Here are ALL of the parts kits that I use on the 45, now whether these also fit that 50, I don;t know...

Parts - Sierra #
18-5169 - Condenser
18-5149 - Contact Points
18-5013 - Tune up Kit
18-3084 - Water Pump Impeller
18-2636 - Lower Unit Seal Kit
18-7806 - Fuel Pump Kit

THe water pump impeller and the lower unit seal kit, are very likely the same, the points, condenser, tune up kit, kind of depend on what type of ignition you have. Those # are for magneto ignition..