Thread:

Repowering Sanger 21 mini-cruiser

So it begins. I've been boating all of my life. Owned 3 boats (18' Tahiti 455 olds, Jet boat-- Sunk it. That sucked! A 1970 Miller 19.5 V-drive Flattie w/ BBC-- Owned for 12 years. I loved it. My baby, but I sold it when my 1st of 3 real babies came along. Who's heard that before? For the last 5 years we've owned a 2002 Centurion Wakeboard boat). I'm sick of the roll cage boat. Practical but really boring. Did I say really boring?? They're really boring. I've decided that I'm not getting any younger and want another fun boat but with a little more utility than the Miller. We have a house boat and there is always wakeboard boats around to pull the kids. Last half of the summer, didn't even launch my boat on several weekends because it was redundant. This annoyed me. It wasn't even fun to wash/wax. I decided that I wanted an ex ski race boat with a 3 speed tranny and a family interior. And about 700 HP on pump gas-- with a single carb. I want a family friendly sleeper that will WOMP 9 out 10 schmucks that have the misfortune of coming into my sights.. Love the Sciadas but they are just out of my price range. I need to get into this boat for more or less what I get out of the Wakeboard boat. 30 K-ish.
I posted a thread on the old site about ex ski race boats. Received about 6 zillion replies and pictures of stunning boats. It was killing me to look at, but most were turbo/blown, av-gas gulping two seat beasts. Probably not the best for my family situation or financial situation. I received a post from a guy who mentioned his dad had a Sanger 21 cruiser that was ex ski race and he might be interested in selling. Always liked Sangers and I live in Fresno (where Sanger's are made), so I was curious. A couple weeks later, I received a PM from Dave. He owned the Sanger and loved it but wanted to go race his son in a tunnel. He gave me the history and sent me some pics. Woa... ! I liked it very much. Instantly. It did have a blown BBC in it. We discussed money and he mentioned he'd like to sell less motor. He wanted it for his new boat. Now it's perfect for me. I can build the motor I want in a family friendly bad ass boat. Only downside, is that the boat was now in Minnefrickinsota..And it's December. Lake tests are kinda tough, when there is no water that is still liquid.. SO after about 50 e-mails and pictures, I did the deal. Sight unseen. Relying on the honesty of a hot boater and good vibes.

So the deal was done. The boat was shrinkwrapped. Hauling was secured and money was sent. Fingers were crossed and I tried to have faith that I was not the biggest SUCKER on the face of the planet.

The boat arrived in Fresno (my home) last night. I unwrapped it last night and cleaned it today. I finally got a chance to crawl around the boat and see it with my own eyes. The boat was everything promised and actually looked better than the pictures. Boat doesn't even have stress cracks.. Dave G (Jockorace) was awesome to deal with. I can't thank him enough for his honesty in this deal as well as the labeling of the boat as he took it apart. I'll buy the beer if we ever do meet!

All that said, so that I can share with you the steps of repowering this boat. Next post I'll explain my situation (mechanically semi retarded) and start posting pics. Gotta run. Family dinner time!

O.K.-- I had no idea how I was going to do this, when I started this thread. I just decided to start typing and let the chips fall where they may. I guess I'm doing this blog style based on my past 2 posts.

I want to be clear up front. This thread is not going to impress some of the people on this board. I am not overly mechanical nor am I patient. Normally, I either break out a hammer and start "persuading" or adopt a "good enough" attitude, because I can't do any better. I read most of these threads and think to myself, "Who are these freaks?". Mostly, I just admire their work and wish I had 1/10th the talent. I'm more of the planner and dreamer type who has to make due with half assed tools and talent to match.

So without further adieu, here's pics of my project with comments thrown in. Feel free to comment if I'm coming off track. It's most likely because I couldn't figure out a better way...

Here's the Sanger. Shrink wrapped and ready for delivery. Notice the white crap on the ground. Must be Minnifrickinsota.



Same boat. 1 week later. In my garage in Fresno. Ready for me to take my first look. I couldn't stand it. Boat trailer was FILTHY!!! Shrinkwrap was best money ever spent.



Unwrapped and washed on the driveway this morning. Rest of pics are showing you the boat and it's bones.




Cute Ass!



Driver's area



Some assembly required.






Split case casale (37% over) and drive line




Turbo 400




Underside, showing Delta Pad that was added into bottom ( I guess Sanger's chine walk around 85. This stopped that problem. Doubt I'll be fast enough to find out, but who knows?? Steel prop and rudder are surface rusty. I've seen this on other boats but not sure. Probably have prop Mag'd to be sure. Rudder too? We'll see.

I knew I needed one, but wasn't sure exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted single carb NA motor and HAD to run log exausts so that I could utilize 1/2 engine cover and jump seats in the back. I know this is gonna cost me power, but It's a compromise I can live with.

I ended up striking up a PM conversation with Obnoxious001 regarding engines. His replies to motor questions seemed to make sense to me and I seemed to understand his language. Told him my desire for a sleeper. After discussing and ruling turbo engines out ( I was afraid-- I don't want the maintenance even though they're "mostly" maintenance free.. Maybe I'm just a wuss), we started talking Big Inch NA engines. He likes buidling engines and understands that I want a motor that runs for a decade. I'm not the guy that says; " It's Winter time, must "freshen" the engine. i.e. Take apart and rebuild". Everything was comfortable and yesterday, I drove to LA to meet him in person. Think motor head and you can imagine his garage. Complete with BBC Vega wagon and Steam Rollers. To one side he's got his work area, light and cool measuring tools. Think Nascar meets Dr. Brown form Back to the Future. That's Obnoxious.
I dropped off some money to get started and we should have an engine in 6 weeks or so. Keep you posted on that front. We're (he's) going to build (that means me asking lots of questions) a 565CI BBC to run on pump gas and the goal is mid 700 HP.
Engine is to be Dart block, with Dart heads, Lunati crank, callies comp star rods and JE pistons. Will have Roller cam and a single 1050 dominator carb. Obnoxious is building the engine from pan to scoop. I will then "simply" (for you maybe) drop the motor in, plumb it and wire it up. Hit the key and haul ass!!! That's the hope any way.

This engine has a hard budget limit that I don't (can't ) blow. Because of that some choices have to be made. Price this stuff out some time. It's freakin' expensive.. I know why new Schiada's are 180 K...

Everything to be new but obnoxious has a perfect near new (used) Lunati crank. The thing is $2500 new. OUCH.. Was going to go with a Callies dragonslayer crank but saving some bucks switching to Lunati Used lunati is saving me several hundred over the Callies and per Obnoxioius is a much better stronger crank. My choice, but I'm relying on him and hoping to save enough money to afford Dyno time at the end. Obnoxious is handling all parts except Carb I just bought. Cool tip: One of the board members mentioned to me the Holley outlet on EBay for refurbished carbs w/ a full warranty (O.K. it's the only other item that is used). I glanced at the site and found a Marine 1050 dominator (over 900 retail). Even though I screwed up my first transaction on Ebay, overpaid a bit, I still got the carb for $652.00. Score!

Only have one pic on the engine. Here's the crank! Obnoxious is going to have it mag'd to make sure, but it looks pretty. 4.25" stroke. You'll see more as I do.

That`s a great boat. I know Dave that you got it from. When he came to Shawano with it my kids just loved riding in it. Good luck on the repower.

Originally Posted by oldschool

Nice looking boat. Barry's a good dude and from what I've seen and heard will build you one hell of a motor. Keep the pics and info's coming.
I'll have to make it up to Pine Flat to check it out this summer, haven't been there in a while.

Stay in touch if you make it to Pine Flat. Love to meet you and we have a really cool set up with H-boat and property overlooking lake. Fridge full of pops. Plenty to share.

Originally Posted by InsaneInjun

great looking boat brother !i thought i would miss my runner bottom,till got onto a cruiser !i am having more fun now and the family can go also so i hope your family injoys it as much as mine does ,they even help to get ready to go and when we return,my 17 year old help hand tools to keep it shinning and up to my standards,so enjoy,check ours out in my gallery shoots.be safe !

You're 17 year old son still wanting to boat with you (weird age for many)! Isn't that cool! Hope my kids still wanna hang with us at that point. You must be doing it right.

Your boat story was great !
Nice boat !

I'm sharing in the process of rebuilding a cruiser and it's as rewarding, frustrating too, as I hope the results will be. Enjoy and keep up the updates, that's a great looking rig you have going!