Who know's about 27' Uniflite Express?

Probably 16, or 18" dia. Would depend on the engine rpm and the gear reduction ratio. See a prop shop for more specifics. 120hp w 2.5-1 much different than 80hp w 1.5-1 reduction.

Easy

 

Easy,
You say the 27' express isn't an efficient hull for slow speeds. What about on plane, and about what speed would typically be required to get this boat on plane? I've seen a few 27' boats on the market recently, one a single diesel, another twin gas. I'm guessing the fuel burn on the twin gas would make a person shudder, but single diesel might be interesting. Any feedback would be great. Also, what about the 23' Salty Pup? This would actually be my ideal find but I'm curious how they might perform also.

 

No Uniflite yacht is efficient and the're less efficient at slow speeds. The Tollycraft is narrower at the chine and lighter (I believe) but w less stability. The older 31' Uniflite is my favorite and I think it's a shorter, (less tall) narrower and generally smaller and lighter boat. I think the 27 is more like the 31 and therefore more efficient. On a medium-fast plane the 27 won't be very far behind the average 27' boat. The Uniflites are heavy and nice riding boats with a quality lay-up but if you want efficient find a lighter narrower boat. I don't know anything much about the Pups. Don't remember hearing anything good or bad about them. They look nice though. All the above is based on what I've seen and heard and is my opinion.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'd rather sacrifice a little efficiency for stability, sea keeping ability and general sturdiness of construction, and so as long as there might not be a huge increase in fuel consumption to achieve the above, its worth it to me. I see a lot of lightweight outboard rigs that can run at 40 kts on smooth water but are held to less than 20kts due to sea conditions because they are too light and stern weighted. I just want to be able to get to about 20kts cruising and be able to hold that in a moderate sea - probably just what you can get with some of the smaller Uniflites. Thanks.

 

TTT,
Sounds like we like the same sort of thing however I've designed and built a very light 28' outboard that was extremely seaworthy.

 

I know this is old, but like so many boats, it's new to me!
Any updates on repowering or satisfaction on the 27 from Sniffer?
I owned a 1974 28 ' sportfisher (NOT the Mega) until I sold her to travel in my retirement years. Looked like a Salty dog hull with a house and a flybridge. It was probably the highest quality thing I've ever had. The blister years were '75 and later. I'm considering a 27' single to repower with diesel - but have not searched for one yet. Also, Easy's outboard idea isn't so far fetched if you really like the boat and use it. I saw a 28' Salty Dog for sale with a bracket and twin outboards.

 

captndon,
Since my last post I happened across a old 1964 23' Uniflite that was originally an express cruiser, stripped to a bare hull and rebuilt as a pocket flybridge sportfisher with single diesel. Power is a Pleasurecraft Marine IDI 6.9L (International motor, marinized by PCM) rated at 170HP at 3300RPM. Gear is a twindisc with 1.54:1 ratio. Prop is 14x17. The former owner designed and rebuilt the boat. It sat for many years on the trailer before I picked it up. The motor seems to run fine, but the coolant has coagulated so I'm having the block flushed, exchanger boiled out before I take it out for trials. Former owner told me to expect 11 to 13 kts at cruising rpm (around 2700-2800). Its appears to be a heavy boat with the rebuild, but solid and incredibly spacious for a 23' boat. I should have it in the water in a couple weeks. I'll report back on performance. Attached are a few pics of the boat. Exterior cosmetics need attention, but I've already done some reconstruction in the cabin (took out enclosed head bulkheads, made a convertible dinette/ bunk.) It now has forward berth for 2, convertible dinette/ bunk for 1, 35 gal ice box prepped for cold plate, 10 gal water heater, galley sink with hot/cold water, shower, electric head under dinette seat, 3 fuel tanks (120 gal total) with transfer pumps, 40 gal fresh water tank, windlass with remote bridge controls, full swim step, wash down system and more. It may end up being slow, but it sure is complete.

 

TTT
I'm impressed by the conversion aesthetically and functionally. It's one of the few "backyard" house additions that I've seen that look right to me. The guy has some real skills and that engine cover shot really tells a story. Maybe he's more pro than backyard. If you had not stated 23 feet I'd have guessed 28 or more. How long before you cast off and what's your primary intent? Cruising? fishing? Do post more when you get some results.

 

captndon,
Thanks for the complements. I appreciate it even though I can't take credit for the overall work, only what I've done since I bought it.

The former owner was in fact a Uniflite dealer in So. Cal at one time, and was a dealer for a few other boat brands (including blow boats) as well. He was born and raised around boats, and his parents held many billfish records from the 1920s and 1930s. The former owner was also an accomplished fisherman and free diver. The former owner is himself now elderly and has been unable to be on boats for a number of years (hence the reason he finally had to sell this boat after it sat unused for 6-8 years.) He did all the construction work himself, but hired a professional marine electrical company to wire the boat (I have the receipts.) I feel lucky to have acquired this craft, and look forward to getting it in bristol condition.

I have so little free time, I'm having a local marine mechanic do the coolant flushing and boiling out. He should have it ready to go in another week. I will splash it immediately after on the weekend, and see how it goes, so I should be able to post some results on performance in a couple of weeks.

Here's another few pics showing the new dinette/ bunk I built and the cockpit and bridge. Please ignore the people in the photos, but they're the only shots I have at the moment. I'll post up again with performance results.

 

Actually the people make the photos:the family/friends out on the boat enjoying themselves.


Those without boats: this is what it's all about.

 

Good to see this old thread isn't totally dead yet. Especially since my old Uni is one of my favorite topics to talk about!! Problem is, around these parts, there are very, very few Uniflites, so nobody knows what it is. To most boaters locally, it's just another ordinary, if not ugly, old boat. Truth be known, it's anything but ordinary.

I'm fifty years old and I've owned boats or been involved with boats as long as I can remember. I was born into a boating family and have owned maybe 10 boats or so myself during my adult life. At this point,two years into ownership, I'm almost (ALMOST!!) ready to declare my 27' Uniflite as my best boat ever. I really think the only thing that holds me back is my nostalgic fondness for some of my old Lymans. There is no doubt, though, it's absolutely the best-built boat I've ever owned. Simply unbelievable construction quality.

It's really a great boat. Handles very nicely, rides the infamous Lake Erie chop as well as any hard-chined boat that I've been aboard, and generally breeds great confidence in the skipper and crew. The twin 318's are well matched to the boat, and don't need to pushed hard at all to get her to perform. In fact, I almost never run the boat above 3000 RPM. No need to. 2700 RPM gets me a honest 20knots (or even a little better sometimes) all day long, which is plenty fast enough for me. WOT will yield 30+ knots, however these engines have over 1600 hours and are 42 years old so I'm just not going to push them. They've been thankfully reliable, and I feel that if they get spark and oil-pressure, they'll get me home. But they're older technology V-8's, so they're not at all efficient. Repowering would be a dream, but maybe not a financially practical one.

If there is any complaint about the boat that I have, it would be the interior layout. For a 27', it really has a huge amount of space inside and storage galore, so that's not the issue. It's the layout itself: Uniflite back then kinda had a "Small-Medium-Large-Extra-Large" thing with their Express Cruiser Models. The 23' was "Small", the 27'-"Meduim", a 31' that was" Large" and the 36' that was the "Extra-Large". The 27', 31' and the 36' Express Cruisers all had the same interior layout, configured as 6-sleepers, done such that the only difference was the proportional size of the accommodations. So, as the 27' Express, my boat is layed-out exactly the same as the 31' and the 36', except my berths are for a crew no taller than 5'6"!!! Guess what, I'm 6'3" !!

So here lies my next major modification: A new cabin layout. Maybe some of you have some ideas??

Otherwise, I love the damn thing. Yeah, it is the best boat I've ever had.

 

Gluesniffer,
Do you happen to have a layout diagram for your boat from any old brochures or other material? Glad to hear how happy you are with the boat. Gives me comfort that I'm not alone in preferring vintage quality-built inboards. Around here, and maybe the same most everywhere, I'd guess that 90% of the trailerable boats are outboards, and most of the remaining 10% are I/O. Exceptionally few small boats are inboards. About the only other small inboards I've seen are my own 20' Shamrock center console along with a couple of other local Shamrocks, and maybe the occasional Penn Yan tunnel drive.

 

Thanks you guys for posting the updates. I'm so crazy about these boats that I'm possibly going to ship one by container to here in Thailand where I've retired. I cruised the west coast of Thailand, the ******* Sea for 5 years on my 50 ft liveaboard and now I want to downsize to a quality inboard day cruiser. Maybe another Uniflite. I was thinking of a power cat but refurbing an old Uni might be less ambitious.

hmmm - some kind of spell editor will not let me post the name of the sea - string together and a man.

 

First Sea Trial

I have the cooling system now under control on the 23' custom Uniflite in prior posts, and took it out for a couple of short runs to make sure it stayed at proper operating temp. Engine temp is now right on, hits about 190 degrees, goes just over and holds, then at lower rpms drops just under 190. Engine oil temp gets a little higher, so maybe it needs a separate cleanout of oil cooler, but at least I was able to run it up to speed for a mile or so.

Although I didn't tabulate and document the results, for anyone that is interested I was hitting about 19 kts at 2600 RPM, and with a little trim and going downhill I topped 20 kts. WOT was less only about 3000, instead of the 3300 rating on the engine, so the drive train is not exactly optimum, but I might be able to improve this a little with some more test runs. Only 1 person on board and less than 40 gals of fuel in the tanks, so likely numbers will drop with more weight on board. Still, this is better than I expected. The boat seemed to jump up on plane at around 12-13 kts. If I can manage a solid 16-17 kts running with normal loads, I'll be happy. 20 knots would be better, but not realistic in this boat with this drive train.

Motor: PCM (International) 6.9l IDI (circa 1983)
Gear: Twindisc 1.54:1
Prop: 14 x 17 with slight cup (3 blade)
Weight: unknown, but I'm guessing in the 7,500 to 8,000 lb range
Hull shape: 1964 hull that has very little deadrise at stern at probaby no more than about 10 degrees - modified V (hull design was changed in 1965 to more deadrise and maybe a sharper entry as well)

 

I am new to this forum. i just recently purchased a 27 Uniflite Express Cruiser. I really like the boat and the layout. My boat is incredibly clean and in outstanding condition.

Gluesniffer...Is there an way that I contact you to talk about your boat?

Are there any Uniflite owner clubs out there that I can contact to find out more about my boat? In Particular any clubs out there for Uniflite 27s?

THANKS!!