simmonds re-surfaces
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:27 am
Here we have a Simmonds ski boat that belonged to Birmingham water ski club and stoke waterski club prior to that. It has re-surfaced after being stowed away in the roof trusses of the owners forklift truck repair shop some time in the mid 1980's after the rudder was lost. The owner has sadly passed and the boat was sold by his family after contacting Marcus at the Simmonds motor launch web site (many thanks Marcus). It sits on an original Simmonds trailer and i had a very nervous drive from Birmingham back to Bournemouth towing a trailer that was at least 57 years old and had not been looked at for 35 years!
The boat has a retro fitted ford essex 3l v6 with marine manifolds and raw water cooling via a jabsco pump, so was probably very quick. the dash was over laid with a plywood unit covered with black vinyl which i guess made it look modern when fitted (the aluminium original now looks like a swiss cheese as it had so many dials fitted).
The boat is now stripped out, engine removed and paint stripping well advanced, exposing a bit of filler, a few dents and missing/loose rivets. the vessel has been repaired along the way with a considerable number of stainless machine screws and nuts instead of rivets.
The engine is an issue, the v6 shape with large aluminum water cooled manifolds makes the rear seats virtually unusable due to its width. It is badly down on compression on one valve/cylinder, low on another and only one reads a full 70psi. the hour meter in the boats reads 1400 hours and the engine may have been well used in the Capri or Granada it came out of. current options are: get the v6 re-conditioned and fit with a bowman heat exchanger (i will be using the boat in salt water and would want to avoid corrosion and running cool), try to find an origional 1700cc consul unit with the wedge shaped sump or look for another unit unrelated to the boat. Any suggestions appreciated.
pictures show her previous home and works started at the end of January.
tim
The boat has a retro fitted ford essex 3l v6 with marine manifolds and raw water cooling via a jabsco pump, so was probably very quick. the dash was over laid with a plywood unit covered with black vinyl which i guess made it look modern when fitted (the aluminium original now looks like a swiss cheese as it had so many dials fitted).
The boat is now stripped out, engine removed and paint stripping well advanced, exposing a bit of filler, a few dents and missing/loose rivets. the vessel has been repaired along the way with a considerable number of stainless machine screws and nuts instead of rivets.
The engine is an issue, the v6 shape with large aluminum water cooled manifolds makes the rear seats virtually unusable due to its width. It is badly down on compression on one valve/cylinder, low on another and only one reads a full 70psi. the hour meter in the boats reads 1400 hours and the engine may have been well used in the Capri or Granada it came out of. current options are: get the v6 re-conditioned and fit with a bowman heat exchanger (i will be using the boat in salt water and would want to avoid corrosion and running cool), try to find an origional 1700cc consul unit with the wedge shaped sump or look for another unit unrelated to the boat. Any suggestions appreciated.
pictures show her previous home and works started at the end of January.
tim