Home»Repowers»SHOOTER – 4 Year, 40 Knot, 31 ft. Bertram Odyssey
SHOOTER – 4 Year, 40 Knot, 31 ft. Bertram Odyssey
This is what the Shooter looked like when it was delivered to us in June 2001
The START – Destruction phase – Summer 2001
First things first – old engines out!Let’s see – where do I start with this mess?Let’s see – where do I start with this mess?Old fuel tank – OUT of here!
General Design & Construction
The owner wanted “Tunnels” and you never argue when you are by the hour. This part was a pretty big job as it turned out, but it did really stiffen up the bottom.
Lower cabin & engine box work – This all had to ties together structurally so we could create the strength and stiffness needed for out “projected” 30K cruiser.
They just don’t make them like they did in 1962 anymore. The layups in the main hull were really tight with a minimum of resin. Bertram did a nice job in the mold – BUT, the “add-on’s” – tabbing and deck pieces, stringers additions, mount for the steering gear etc, etc were rough and sloppy at best. Must have had two separate types of crews working in those days.
One piece fore peak or deck – 1″ form core with about 2.5″ of crown.
Anchor locker – “collision” bulkhead and deck supports – extra heavy lay-ups for both.
Custom head Door- I think this took a week to get it right.
Deck supports and bow tie-in.
I am a big advocate of integral tanks for #2 Diesel in a boat like this. Adds a tremendous amount of strength, adds more useable fuel in the same amount of space, and when plumbed right, 99% of the your fuel you carry is useable. With the 31 Bertram, you also eliminate all that used greasy bilge under the tank that is always a mess to deal with.
Because of the HP available, the weight of the vessel, and what I felt he needed, we went w/ pretty heavy running gear for a 31 Bertram. 1.75ā AQ 19 shafts, double custom SS struts & 22ā props.
I am sure it took a month by the time it was finished – It turned out really nice, but was it worth it?
Most all of the structural part is done including the bucks, liquid tanks in the bow section, head bulkheards, cabin floor, etc. Time for fairing, and fairing and more fairing.
Frameless window frame construction.
Cabin & flybridge construction.
SHOOTER is primer-ed and sanded, ready for the 50-60 mil finish coat and lots of hands rubbing and polishing. We went “gel coat” as is so repairable as time passes and the little dings start to add-up.
Engine & Transmission Installation
Asymmetrical Stringers & Transmission Mountings
The above 4 pictures show what a challenge it is to work around the BERTRAM molded stringers and the deep-V hull type. The factory wood “bolt-on’s” are total junk and had to go. So we just re-engineered the molded stringers to fit what we needed to make a structurally sound engine trans mounting arrangement & bed without adding too much weight. Out of the box thinking, robust aluminum “structurals”, epoxy fillers, and SS mounting hardware is all it took to make the Yanmar’s sit as they should. When finished, all of the aluminum was rounded out and looked really nice, but was super strong and stiff, and most important, spread the loads to the hull as we wanted.Yanmar 6LYA2 440 & ZF gear lift-in.
P & S engines installed & ready to go!
System Modifications
Starboard exhaust riser during the design & mock-up phase. 5″ custom low restriction mixers and a extra safe above the fully loaded water line.Custom port exhaust riser – Same deal and like all or of exhaust designs we try and never not use all of the effective height you can in your engine room. In the case of the Bertram 28’s and 31’s, when heavy, most of the exhaust tube under the deck is below the LWL, so without a riser, you are playing with fire.Custom swim step, trim tabs, and 6″ exhaust outlets.AC & DC electrical circuit breakers, cabin bilge pump controls, and inverter panel.Hooking up DC power distribution.AGM Batteries & 2500W Inverter.Direct under the deck fuel fill – No hassle’s, no spilling overboard, no water leaking into the tanks thru a deck or gunnel fill cap, and a super quick “all the way to top” fill-up.ZF controls and custom SS panels for the instruments.
Cosmetics
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Custom Cabin Door & Head
Sliding rear window framing
Custom cabin door
Frameless windowsFramless windows
Custom steps
Custom anchor windlass
Finished product on launch and initial sea trial day
Finished product on launch and initial sea trial day
Some finish up notes: On launch day, we pumped in 230 gallons of #2 and already had 20 in the tanks. So, she must hold real close to 250 gallons. Way too much fuel as you can see, she’s “heavy”. I had at least 200 lbs of tools and other things on board too. We seatrialed with 5 fat guys on board and the engines still made 3450 on the calibrated tachs.Ā
Did she make 40K’s with those 800++ Yanmar ponies? No she did not as the best we saw as 39.5K one way and 39K the other way. But a 32K cruise was easy, but always weather dependent. After a few weeks, I took another quick run with 3 guys total and about 100 gallons of fuel left on boat. We made 41-42K in some nice weather, but realistically, she’s only a solid 30K cruiser when you can hold on.Ā
It’s been about 6 yrs now since the launch and I am happy to report that 1000 hours later, SHOOTER is as pretty and clean as ever, never (and I mean never) gets passed up on the way to the islands 20-40 miles away, and all is still very original. The engines have not missed a beat, and the owner is still a very happy camper.
