After a year of struggles the Bertram 28 is back in the water. Fort Lauderdale new river water test

The 1979 bertram 28 needed a new velvet drive transmission for its starboard crusader engine. Between that, the starter, shaft seal and miscellaneous parts she was apart for a long time from “mechanics” who were less than honest.
Today we were able to trailer the Bertram 28 down to Cooleys landing boat ramp in Fort Lauderdale and water test her. With her new boat paint she looks beautiful

[@rjtassie]

I have been feeling depressed with all of my boat problems..............until I watched this video. I am not alone!!

[@DesmoProfundis]

Nice work. Owning an old school Bertram is a never-ending project, but man... when you get 'er in the water, it makes all the work worthwhile.

[@BobHGarage]

100% true. I dreamed about owning this boat for years and it meets all expectations

[@d.powers3428]

Your video brings me much happiness. I know I am not alone. After a number of disappointing sea trials you will get it out. Happy boating have fun and be safe😊.

[@BobHGarage]

Thank you!

[@jmp.t28b99]

Enjoying your videos and feel your pain. I live aboard my DeFever 44 and have had some similar mechanical problems over the years as time passes by. Keep up the videos , I like watching how you roll with the problems and Macgyver your way to a repair or solution. Bertrams have always been an attraction to me but I never owned one.

[@BobHGarage]

Thanks I’ll have more soon, I finally got approved for a wet slip so if all goes to plan she’s going to be in the water in the next week which of course will lead to more things to fix

[@politicallyincorrectandpro5856]

Nice boat 👍👏

[@kevinsummers7155]

Great work Bobby!

[@BobHGarage]

Thanks Kevin!

[@VenturingVic]

Great videos. Hope more bertram content to come.

[@BobHGarage]

Coming soon I hope! In the middle of starting a new business so leisure time has been greatly reduced but I’ll get back to the Bertram one day!

[@seved6154]

I love it!!! Happy to see you both !!! Seve

[@BobHGarage]

We’ll have to meet up at the sandbar soon!

[@seved6154]

@@BobHGarage Your gonna have to take me out on that Bertram! I moved to Naples so my boat is over here now

[@BobHGarage]

@@seved6154 oh damn dude didn’t know you went that far! Get my number from Josue and we’ll for sure take her out when you come over on this side again

[@Micington]

Just found your channel. Love it! I feel like I’m going to have similar problems once I get mine ready for the water hahah I looked into getting a single jet drive for my 25 Bertram when I first bought mine and was blown away with how expensive the jet unit was going to cost. Think they asked for over $80k! Just for the Jet unit! Not including a 500hp motor! But Jet unit has good maneuverability. Gonna check out your other videos! Cheers!

[@BobHGarage]

Take a look at American Turbine. Their Hd jet for fiberglass boats is around $7k between that and marinizing a junkyard Ls you can keep the costs relatively low. And thanks for watching the videos!

[@dawolyan13]

Bro!! 😂😂😂 You are my brother! You hit the effin bridge!! ❤️

[@injectortrouble]

Amazing. Please keep going

[@BobHGarage]

I think I’m going to paint her again. Might do that video this weekend and then try and drop her in a wet slip permanently in a week or two. Definitely will get back to the videos

[@ZoneTelevision]

Holy Sh*t you're back ! Oh I didn't realize you got the Dual Helm 28. Very rare.

[@BobHGarage]

Thanks! Glad to have her back on the water

[@ZoneTelevision]

@@BobHGarageis there any way we could convince you to equip her with a couple of Detroit 6V53’s ? Used Cummins?

[@BobHGarage]

Unlikely. Plan is twin LS motors hooked to SD312 jet drives

[@glennangelo3372]

Beautiful hull,but you need a lot ofTLC,manifolds,elbows,tuneups,waterpumps,etc,etc.end up with killer boat.

[@nicolasmabru]

Great to see this project moving along!! There seemed to be some slight dripping from the port side rudder seal as well but could be as simple as just tightening down on it. 20k to go with new engines and jet drives seems a bit optimistic from my view. I would think 20k for engines alone doing all of the work yourself and I would think that jet drives would be transom mounted which would require pretty extensive modifications although I have never actually researched that conversion. I had enough headaches with my jetski and swore that I would never own anything with a jet drive after that experience. Good luck!!

[@BobHGarage]

Thanks brother, you’re definitely right about the rudder seals. I tried getting access twice now and I haven’t figure out how to make myself fit! $20k is $16k in AT jets and home built LS’s with turbos, dry exhaust and no marine stuff. But then exposed engines and not really a useable family boat, just a hot rod. Maybe one day but mostly fun to day dream about. At the moment just waiting for space to open at the Lauderdale small boat club so she can go live in the water

[@nicolasmabru]

@@BobHGarage Looking forward to seeing you out on the water, it took me forever to find a reasonable slip to keep the boat at. For the rudder seals, I worked on that part with my back cover off so it was a breeze. I think the only way with the cover is to just go in head first.

[@BobHGarage]

@@nicolasmabru I think you’re right. Probably going to have to take the whole thing off

[@TheDyson]

What's the update????? Been waiting for another video to see what's up. Haha. Love the channel.

[@BobHGarage]

Thanks! Been real busy with a new business venture but it’s going the right direction so I’m hoping to have the Bertram back in the water soon! Next video will likely be about cabin modification and new paint job

[@TheDyson]

@@BobHGarage Love it. I have the same exact bertam and I get excited when your videos come out. Glad to hear your good. Keep us posted!!!!!! Team Bertram!!!!!!

[@johnb2044]

That trailer needs to be a triple axel ....lol

[@BobHGarage]

So badly. It’s the original trailer from my Bertram 20. But she’s getting off the trailer into a wet slip soon enough

[@johnb2044]

@@BobHGarage have an old girl 1965 FB 25' twin inline 165's set up for Salmon fishing here in BC Canada

[@BobHGarage]

@@johnb2044 that’s awesome, I love those 25s. Enjoy her!

[@larryjohnson5597]

Man if you love it and you’re going to use it and if it’s your forever boat then save yourself a lot of trouble and aggravatetion And by new engines when you’re abeal to 😢❤

[@BobHGarage]

Brother, she’s getting 6.0 Ls motors and jet drives as soon as I can come up with $20k to light on fire. Not worth dumping money into inboards and outboards are not the move in the current economic environment.

[@anthonypeterson4820]

Did either engine use a ccw starter?

[@BobHGarage]

Yes I believe it was the starboard engine that uses the ccw starter but don’t quote me. There’s a Crusader diagram somewhere on google that you should be able to find that shows the differences.

[@SneakyPeteNJ]

Is the hull color updated?

[@BobHGarage]

Not since about 10 months ago. It’s called anodized bronze semi gloss. It does look different since I painted everything above the rub rail plain white vs it’s previous ivory color. I’m considering sanding off the bronze and going with something like a gloss dark blue. Not sure yet

[@dakotacleland7088]

Where did you get the new windshield

[@BobHGarage]

Made it from a piece of acrylic. Pretty sure I bought the acrylic on ebay

[@dakotacleland7088]

@@BobHGarage when are you bringing it back to the channel

[@BobHGarage]

Soon. In the middle of starting a new business venture taking a ton of my time

[@TeamhuskyTeamhusky]

i want to make a shifter kart with a honda crf 250 motor and make it california street legal can you make a video showing parts and having the links for the parts in the description

[@TeamhuskyTeamhusky]

and would it be cheaper to buy a shifter kart or build one when engine swapping it

[@BobHGarage]

Just buy one and add lights and everything listed in my old video

[@Spy_cakes-1]

U good ?

[@BobHGarage]

All good brother! She’s going in her wet slip next week!

[@Spy_cakes-1]

@@BobHGaragegood

[@fx-dm2wx]

here in Australia your trailer would be illegal to use on that size boat I got a 25ft bertram and got triple axel trailer you guys get away with so much over there. this size boat would be great with tween diesel engines and lot cheaper to run

[@BobHGarage]

Brother it’s illegal over here too. The boats beam is too wide for the streets as well without “Wide Load” permit and signage etc. It’s only about 2 miles to the boat ramp so I was willing to risk it. Not again though. This things next and final journey on a trailer is to drop her off at her wet slip. As far as diesels, you’re right it would be safer and cheaper to run but it would cost about $50k more than what I paid to have a boat that’s cheaper to run 😂

[@fx-dm2wx]

@@BobHGarage wish i live in America boats are lot cheaper to buy and so are the parts i bought my boat trailer in florida and had it shiped to Australia as it was $8k cheaper to do it that way and all my parts I get from America too as here they just rip you off. example to buy a whole impeller kit with housing and gaskets +o ring from America $30 here just to get impeller $35

[@BobHGarage]

@@fx-dm2wx wow that crazy, I had no idea

[@FISHGUTSANDSLUTS]

Bro your trialer is way to small for that boat 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@BobHGarage]

😂