Converting to an express my 37sf

[Doug Rowe]

Greetings from the Bahamas. Ive been thinking about taking my 1978 37 sf and converting to an express, a friend of mine did it to an old Merritt's sf. Dose anyone know if its been done before? Looking for the pitfalls, cost, etc. Iv'e had the boat for 8 years and have run alot of Hatteras's in the last 20 years as a professional capt. I just got my computer and look forward to being a regular in the chat room, I know most of the Hatteras's pretty well. The sams people are top notch in my book! Spray rails I put on 2 year ago are great the ride is amazingly drier.

[37 hatterascal]

IT CAN BE DONE AND THEY TURN OUT GREAT,THE BEST PERSON I KNOW THAT CAN DO IT RIGHT IS TOM SLANE OF SLANE MARINE WEB SITE WWW.SLANEMARINE.COM
JIM

[jim rosenthal]

if you have never seen what Tom Slane does, you should make a trip to HP and see for yourself. It is impressive. He has done several boats which were SF designs, cut down and rebuilt as express boats- a 36 and a 53, for two. You would probably end up rebuilding most of the boat, but his finishing team is top-notch- their glass work, paint, carpentry, wiring etc are all flawless. I would rather have a Slane rebuilt boat than a new anything else, including a new Hatteras. If he ever builds a new boat, watch out...

[saltshaker36]

I have been on a 46' Hatteras that Tom converted to an express and all I can say is wow. I own a 46 so I realy can apreciate how much that boat was changed. At one point, Tom, myself, the captain and another guy were standing in the engine room between the 800HP Rolls Royce V8's, with room to spare! Before you make any decisions talk to Tom. He can tell you what will work and how much it will cost to do it right. As Jim said, if I were to build or heavily customize, I wouldn't waste my time looking with anyone else. I did a simple repower a couple of years ago regret not bringing the boat to Slane Marine. In the end the cost of getting the boat down there was offset by the overages from the yard that did the job and I know the work would have been top notch.

Jack Sardina

[giessmanac]

I have had several dealings with Tom Slane and I wish that more people in the industry were like him. Not only is he one of the most knowledgeable people out there on these vessels, he is a true southern gentleman. One item I added to my 53c was a couple of weeks late but the quality sure made up for it. I am in the aviation industry to pay for my boating habit. I wish Tom Slane was. His work is our kind of quality. Any questions feel free to email me @ giessmanac@hotmail.com.