just got my new baby got some questions for you guys

[GR8WHITE]

first off hi guys i am glad i found this place cause my pops lives in arizona and isnt close enough to really help me so here i go hey guys i am new to this forum and i just purchased an old supposedly 1965 18 ft. v-drive flatbottom with a 1969 427 bbc, i grew up with a 19 ft kalawain that my dad had and i have always wanted one so bear with me cause i have a couple questions. first is the cavitation plate on the back is not stainless steel it is some kind of plastic composite material and it only sticks out about 3" past the rear of the transom and it is two pieces split in the middle, where can i get a stainless one or can i get a sheet of stainless and make my own? second question is where is the fill and drain hole for the casale v-drive cause before i take it out i want to check the fluid in the v-drive? and last the boat is supposed to be a lebell which i have never heard of so i dont even know what hull this thing really is. thanks for the help guys. oh and i will try and get some pics up for you guys to see. oh and one last thing the boat has four stringers, it has two straight down the middle and one on each outer side so when you sit in the boat your feet sit in between two stringers, i personally have only seen flatty's with two stringers, odd?

[N!ck]

My dad (AzDon) has got a Lebel daycruiser, and I'll tell ya...the extra stringers don't surprise me. The 'cruiser is the heaviest, sturdiest boat we've ever had; the hull is very thick and when you walk on the deck there is zero flexing. So it seems like Lebel just did structural overkill on his hulls

[PE 316]

GR8White,

Welcome to the best v-drive enthusiast site on the web!!

PICTURES, son we need PICTURES!!!

Is your Casale v-drive a "top loader" (square case) or the current "split-case" design??

[GR8WHITE]

GR8White,

Welcome to the best v-drive enthusiast site on the web!!

PICTURES, son we need PICTURES!!!

Is your Casale v-drive a "top loader" (square case) or the current "split-case" design??

I believe it is the split-case with just neutral and in gear thats it, i will have the pics up later today also the bow isnt straight across it comes out closer to the driver and below it where you could put your gauges is wood, the guy i bought if from said if i sanded down the bow it is all wood, all the stringers are in great shape, i have just been fixing stuff that i want to change but the cav. plate has me totally confused.

[major_justin]

WELCOME !!! i dont know enough yet to give advise but alot of these guys here are awsome and give out great advise that some go to college to learn.... I want all info these guys got....

[RiverRacer]

first off hi guys i am glad i found this place cause my pops lives in arizona and isnt close enough to really help me so here i go hey guys i am new to this forum and i just purchased an old supposedly 1965 18 ft. v-drive flatbottom with a 1969 427 bbc, i grew up with a 19 ft kalawain that my dad had and i have always wanted one so bear with me cause i have a couple questions. first is the cavitation plate on the back is not stainless steel it is some kind of plastic composite material and it only sticks out about 3" past the rear of the transom and it is two pieces split in the middle, where can i get a stainless one or can i get a sheet of stainless and make my own? second question is where is the fill and drain hole for the casale v-drive cause before i take it out i want to check the fluid in the v-drive? and last the boat is supposed to be a lebell which i have never heard of so i dont even know what hull this thing really is. thanks for the help guys. oh and i will try and get some pics up for you guys to see. oh and one last thing the boat has four stringers, it has two straight down the middle and one on each outer side so when you sit in the boat your feet sit in between two stringers, i personally have only seen flatty's with two stringers, odd?

You don't need stainless for the plates it's expensive and don't bend easy, most boats out there use aluminum cheaper, easier to work with and bends easier!..... The fill plug is on the top on the forward case, the level plug is on the rearward case towards the bottom level with the shaft, you fill it to the threads, they're easy to find since they are the only pipe plugs on the cases!.. But actually you should pop the case and drain the oil and look around in there make sure there's no leaks and no junk, then give it a fresh batch of oil!..

[GR8WHITE]

thanks racer for the help, should i just try to find a place to get a sheet of aluminum and about what thickness should i get? about the thickness of the original im guessing, and is there a reason for the plate being so short? i left my camera at my buddies house with the pictures on it so i am trying to get him to send them out to me.

[RiverRacer]

What thickness is the old stuff?, usually 3/16 is the norm, make sure the grain runs fore and aft on the material and use 6061T6. Lenght all depends on the setup, mainly strut location!..

[TonkaDriver]

last the boat is supposed to be a lebell which i have never heard of so i dont even know what hull this thing really is.

I saw a Lebel flat at Castle Rock. Neat looking boat. I am going to try to post pics. Hope they come thru and help


http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd67/tonkadriver/Firebird%2007/vdrive/CastleRockSep07071.jpg



http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd67/tonkadriver/Firebird%2007/vdrive/CastleRockSep07103.jpg



http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd67/tonkadriver/Firebird%2007/vdrive/CastleRockSep07072.jpg



http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd67/tonkadriver/Firebird%2007/vdrive/CastleRockSep07083.jpg

[GR8WHITE]

thats it exactly, i have never heard of these boats and see how small the cav. plate is. except i cant see how the bow is shaped, and mine needs a paint job. this boat is built like a $hit brick house. thanks tonka you nailed it perfect, does anyone know anything about these boats?

[lebel409]

Cool, so now there are three of us on here:D.

My down plates were anodized black...they might be mistaken for plastic. I had them stripped and polished...which I'll pay for later.

Mine has 4 stringers also. If you look carefully they are tapered, 1 3/4 at the bottom to 1 1/8 at the top.

There's plenty of wood in the deck, but it's not a wood decked boat...just around the gunwales and dash.

[GR8WHITE]

thanks lebel mine are plastic material for sure and they are kind of a translucent brown color, do you know where could i get material to make aluminum ones? hey lebel do you have any pics?

[67 Wickens]

Welcome aboard...
Glenwood marine has cavitation aluminum stock.


http://www.glenwoodmarine.com/Catalog/CAVITATION%20PLATE.pdf

http://www.glenwoodmarine.com/Catalog.htm

[GR8WHITE]

all i could find before on glenwoods site is cav. plate steel and a 20" piece is almost $750.00 ouch! i didnt see any aluminum.

[67 Wickens]

all i could find before on glenwoods site is cav. plate steel and a 20" piece is almost $750.00 ouch! i didnt see any aluminum.

Click on this link, it's a direct link to the catalog page. Here's the part number and info. 541 22453 16" X 36" PLATE STOCK EA 85.00
Bottom of pg. 68 in the catalog.
http://www.glenwoodmarine.com/Catalog/CAVITATION%20PLATE.pdf

[GR8WHITE]

aha gotcha thanks, glenwood isnt too far from me. thanks

[GR8WHITE]

Cool, so now there are three of us on here:D.

My down plates were anodized black...they might be mistaken for plastic. I had them stripped and polished...which I'll pay for later.

Mine has 4 stringers also. If you look carefully they are tapered, 1 3/4 at the bottom to 1 1/8 at the top.

There's plenty of wood in the deck, but it's not a wood decked boat...just around the gunwales and dash.

hey lebel does your boat have two pedals to control the cavitation plate? cause i think i want to put the handle on mine.

[lebel409]

Just a down peddle and a locking handle.

After I get the steering back in I'm gonna get on that next.

[GR8WHITE]

hey lebel (by the way my name is justin, what is yours?) i saw the pics of your boat on the other page and wow is yours gonna look great, but that is the boat that i have but the bow lines are a little different on mine, mine is straight across but where the steering wheel comes in my deck comes closer to me the driver and is recessed on the passenger side but not all the way to the front of the stringers lik yours, and has wood where your gauges are and not fiberglass like yours, basically the wood dash piece is not a single piece with the deck. i got the boat from an old timer in northridge who owned the boat since 1986 and was retiring and had the boat at his shop that he was closing which he owned for 25 years and i got the whole thing and it runs for $2800.00. i will be taking it out to pyramid lake in the next week or two and see what happens. and i have the original dual axle trailer with baby moon wheels with the old school black and yellow license plate ha ha.

[lebel409]

John...

The deck was 1/3 modified when I got it...the cut out was done and kinda glassed in. When I had the gel done they wanted to fill the cut out in so it would be stock, but I thought that I'd have more room/seating this way. 'm gonna have the drivers side back to back and the passenger side feet to feet. I shold have room for a small cooler in there somewhere:D.

My hull is probably the same as yours, but my deck isn't. My deck was the plug for the deck mold...he put it on and sold it with about 30 lbs of bondo and only one layer of glass on the wood. The bondo's gone and the deck has 3 layers of glass now.

This weekend I'm going to put in new gas tank vents and get on the steering...waiting for a couple of pulleys to route the cable under the V drive and motor plates.

I wonder if he put a piece of wood into the fiberglass for appearence sake on your dash?

On my drivers side 4th stringer in the back under the gunwales I had the "built by Bud" and "Lebel" and "005" in pencil on the stringer. Maybe you have something back there?

Nice price on yours...I hope it was well taken care of.

[GR8WHITE]

i will check back there this weekend and see if anything is there. the boat has been sitting inside of a shop for 22 years, there arent even any cracks on the inside of the boat, there are a couple around the back on top of the transom but all in all i could take it out right now. if you dont mind my asking how much was it to do the gel coat, i am gonna paint mine cause i just dont have a huge budget but i am curious? and another obstacle i have right now is how the hell can i fit 4 people, well atleast my buddy and i and our two girlfriends in the boat, i am gonna have to come up with some imaginative thinking on this one, how long until you will have this beast up and out on the water?:eek:

[TonkaDriver]

thats it exactly, i have never heard of these boats and see how small the cav. plate is. except i cant see how the bow is shaped, and mine needs a paint job. this boat is built like a $hit brick house. thanks tonka you nailed it perfect, does anyone know anything about these boats?

You have to take the angle of the transom into account when thinking about the plate. Ask Art about it. The plate is simply an extension of the hull. From everything I have read from the experts here, a very important number is shaft angle and length from strut barrel to back of plates. The plates on the boat in the pics are probably dead on if you look at the angle of the transom and the length of the plates under the hull. Just a thought. Ask the Pros on here.

Kurt

[GR8WHITE]

i see what you are saying because of the 55 degree angle of the transom with that angle it has a smaller cav. plate because of the distance from the prop to the end of the plate.

[RiverRacer]

Hmmm, makes sense anybody measure it??..:D

[lebel409]

I think Bud was just copying what the racers had found out...you don't need 10" of downplate behind the boat. Changing the angle did the trick, the rest is just drag. Short plates means a bigger angle change but less drag.

My glass bill was $8800. That included grinding the deck down to the bottom layer of glass, relaying the deck, finishing the cutout, tying the bulkhead to the deck, patching 1/2 the stringer holes, re-gelling the entire boat, gelling the floors and stringers.

I'm not sure what the true angle of the transom is...just eyeballing.

[GR8WHITE]

how many of these boats are still left? if there were only like 20-30 made i wonder how many survived over the years, and lebel i noticed your boat has 5 drain plugs wow! mine has 3 and i thought that was alot, and another question for you lebel, does your boat also only have 1 skag?:confused:

[lebel409]

We can account for 6 hear, mine, yours, AZDon's and my father in laws two (cruiser and drag boat). He also had one go to the dump

http://www.narberthpa.com/Bale/bmp/dbc/CPH/col_070_CR_5c.htm

Mine had two skegs, the one he flipped had one, his current drag boat has two. His flat has three drains.

From what I'm told Bud was...a curmudgeon. He'd throw people off the lot if he didn't care for them...not a good way to sell boats. He'd been in the Navy, and worked for a defense contractor like Lockheed (could have been another one) and then started building boats...the way he wanted. His was one of the first "fiberglass" boats...meaning he didn't splash a wood boat and get a fiberglass mold. I'm pretty sure he didn't base it on anything specific, just ideas from the more successful B boats, Raysons, etc. I'm sure none of his are the same. All custom. The other very non standard item of the Lebel besides the angle of the tramsom is the width of the boat at the dash...much wider than a B boat. My father in law tried to get Bud to make a narrower version for drag racing...not gonna happen.

[GR8WHITE]

where was he located where he made and sold these boats?

[lebel409]

I think Glendale...or Gardena. I'll ask tommorrow.

[Roaddogg 4040]

i will check back there this weekend and see if anything is there. the boat has been sitting inside of a shop for 22 years, there arent even any cracks on the inside of the boat, there are a couple around the back on top of the transom but all in all i could take it out right now. if you dont mind my asking how much was it to do the gel coat, i am gonna paint mine cause i just dont have a huge budget but i am curious? and another obstacle i have right now is how the hell can i fit 4 people, well atleast my buddy and i and our two girlfriends in the boat, i am gonna have to come up with some imaginative thinking on this one, how long until you will have this beast up and out on the water?:eek:

Forget four people... Just leave your buddy on at the dock and have one of the girls sit on your lap...:D:D

Steve

[RiverRacer]

you don't need 10" of downplate behind the boat.

No but you need an inch!..:D

[GR8WHITE]

here are some pics of the boat, is it okay to post them here since this is the original thread? or do i have to put these in the photo section too?

[RiverRacer]

Of course you can post pics it's your thread, you don't have to put them in the photo section if you don't want to, but it's just more pics for everyone(all over the world) to see!..:cool:

BTW, that's a nice clean piece you got there!..:cool:

[GR8WHITE]

John...

The deck was 1/3 modified when I got it...the cut out was done and kinda glassed in. When I had the gel done they wanted to fill the cut out in so it would be stock, but I thought that I'd have more room/seating this way. 'm gonna have the drivers side back to back and the passenger side feet to feet. I shold have room for a small cooler in there somewhere:D.

My hull is probably the same as yours, but my deck isn't. My deck was the plug for the deck mold...he put it on and sold it with about 30 lbs of bondo and only one layer of glass on the wood. The bondo's gone and the deck has 3 layers of glass now.

This weekend I'm going to put in new gas tank vents and get on the steering...waiting for a couple of pulleys to route the cable under the V drive and motor plates.

I wonder if he put a piece of wood into the fiberglass for appearence sake on your dash?

On my drivers side 4th stringer in the back under the gunwales I had the "built by Bud" and "Lebel" and "005" in pencil on the stringer. Maybe you have something back there?

Nice price on yours...I hope it was well taken care of.

well the wood panel on my dash is where my steering is attached and runs through the wood panel so i am guessing its original, and i looked on the far left stringer next to the fuel tank and nothing saying bud lebel or anything of that sort.

[lebel409]

Are you taking it to Irvine? I'm hoping I'll have mine done by then...

[GR8WHITE]

is that a meet in irvine, and when is it? i kinda want to paint this thing before i bring it anywhere, it looks decent in the pics, but not so hot up close.:(

[hm66Howard]

is that a meet in irvine, and when is it? i kinda want to paint this thing before i bring it anywhere, it looks decent in the pics, but not so hot up close.:(Why don't you just buff out what you've got? Lotsa work tearing it apart to paint it right. JMO :cool:

[GR8WHITE]

[QUOTE=hm66Howard;1656]Why don't you just buff out what you've got? Lotsa work tearing it apart to paint it right. JMO :cool:[/QUOTE

its got alot of chips in the paint all over the hull and in one place on the side next to the driver about a 8 inch piece is separated and lifting.

[hm66Howard]

I understand. :)

[GR8WHITE]

I understand. :)

its a twenty foot looker in my opinion, but i am also one of those picky kind of people with certain stuff, that doesnt mean that im not gonna take it out on the lake or river until i get it painted.:D

[lebel409]

I don't think anyones gonna bust your chops on a 40 year old boat.

Head down to Irvine Lake(weekend of June 10 I think), and soak up the ideas.

I have the current plan, the updated plan, the probably not gonna happen plan...

[GR8WHITE]

I don't think anyones gonna bust your chops on a 40 year old boat.

Head down to Irvine Lake(weekend of June 10 I think), and soak up the ideas.

I have the current plan, the updated plan, the probably not gonna happen plan...

first where is irvine lake, and second are you guys just trailering your boats there or are you taking them out on the water?

[RiverRacer]

You can run your boat, but there's a 75 boat limit don't know if there's still any openings yet or not, but there's also a show that you can put the boat in!..

Irvine Lake! (http://irvinelake.net/map.htm)

[GR8WHITE]

You can run your boat, but there's a 75 boat limit don't know if there's still any openings yet or not, but there's also a show that you can put the boat in!..

Irvine Lake! (http://irvinelake.net/map.htm)

well i think i will pass on entering my boat in the show, but it looks like it might be fun, whats the speed limit 5mph ha ha:eek: looks like a fishing lake, i think there are gonna be some pissed of fisherman that weekend. and what weekend is it?

[dry]

I think you ought to enter it in the show it would probably be fun, you know it will draw attention...........

[GR8WHITE]

I think you ought to enter it in the show it would probably be fun, you know it will draw attention...........

so i need to know when and how to get into this thing, cause i need to see if my broke ass is gonna have enough money for gas to bring it down there, its 120 miles from my house.

[lebel409]

It's a fishing lake 51 weeks a year...then the V drives come out!

I thinks it's $100 for a weekend camping site and to be entered in the show. Another few $ to run on the lake...Mine might make the show, but probably won't have gotten wet yet.

[RiverRacer]

They're also having a K Boat shootout for time, should be interesting!..

[FC-Pilot]

well i think i will pass on entering my boat in the show, but it looks like it might be fun, whats the speed limit 5mph ha ha:eek: looks like a fishing lake, i think there are gonna be some pissed of fisherman that weekend. and what weekend is it?

I don't think any of the boats that will touch the water that weekend will be able to idle at 5 MPH:D

We will be there, but we won't have a boat in tow.

Paul

[GR8WHITE]

They're also having a K Boat shootout for time, should be interesting!..

dates guys i need dates:confused:

[Roaddogg 4040]

GR8white... If they are full I can sell you my ticket as I won't be able to go. Just let me know...

Steve

[GR8WHITE]

GR8white... If they are full I can sell you my ticket as I won't be able to go. Just let me know...

Steve

i would still need to know when this is happening to know if i can even go?????? I NEED DATES!!!!!! :rolleyes:

[Flatmvn]

Here are the dates June 13th, 14th, and 15th and a link with more info.

http://www.performanceboats.com/html/forums/showthread.php?t=3736&highlight=irvine+lake+regatta

[GR8WHITE]

Here are the dates June 13th, 14th, and 15th and a link with more info.

http://www.performanceboats.com/html/forums/showthread.php?t=3736&highlight=irvine+lake+regatta

we have a winner ding ding ding!!!! thanks flat i appreciate it :D

[67 Wickens]

Can Events and Shows be posted on the Calendar by anyone? It would be nice if shows and events were on the calendar. Just a thought.

[RiverRacer]

Done, so is this weekends event!.:D

[GR8WHITE]

well even if i cant bring my boat out atleast i will come out.