Staggered? engine mounting...

[Verytricky]

Hi,

I want to look at installing TWO v8 engines in a boat. Unfortunately the boat is not wide enough to take them side by side, so I want to place them one behind the other, and have some form of shaft taking the power to the outdrive.

I saw this done before with my tripple engined Sunseeker Apache, which had three KAD42 engines to DPX drives, one placed in front of the other two.

But my beem wants to be much much smaller..

Questions...

1) For a smallblock V8, what sort of width would be required so I can run the shaft of the forward engine past the rear engine? Is there a plan or measurement list someplace so I can look at the dimensions on paper before going down this route.

2) What length can the shaft be, and how much power can you reliably transmit down such a shaft.

3) can I mount the engines on a slope? ie at an angle so that the shaft is in the right place, but the engine bulk leans into the boat center, allowing me the narrow width I want so much.

[jehardiman]

Been done before in the 20's and 30's, but not common now due to wider planing hull design.

1) If you can thread by the oil sump on the aft engine, hull width would not be much wider that a single engine.

2) Someone would need to work on shaft length/size, but it may be a moot point depending on how you design the line shaft bearings.

3) Fore and aft is no problem for most set ups, and EFI and dry sumps even make it easier. Side to side is a little tricker....need to look at engine specific oil drain paths out of the heads and block V-angle to prevent pooling where you don't want it.

[Frosty]

What about a sinlge Lamborgini engine or a turbine.