Tom Brown's comments on the CVX16 ...
CVX16 ...
That's a lot of very specific questions about your boat. You wrote that all input is welcome and I have a CVX-16 so I'll take a shot at answering a few of them.
When the floor and stringers are that rotten, the hull will loose some of it's shape. The hull itself is quite plastic. In the same way, you can straighten it. I built a torsion box out of MDF, set the hull on it, and then put large amounts of weight on the stringer when I glassed it back in. The weight was in the form of a couple of anvils and some sandbags. That straightened things out pretty good. I only had to fill about 1/8" of hook to get the pad straight.
My pad was not horizontal coming out of the mold but it was close enough. It doesn't have to be that accurate. Mine was built in Austin.
I'd be more worried about the hook in the pad than making it horizontal. For best speed, knife edge the back but understand it will be very difficult to make paint stick to a knife edge.
I wouldn't move the tank, particularly if you care about rough water handling.
I modified the pad and inner strakes quite a bit. What I learned is that I should not have modified it. There are benefits but not significantly so. If you extend the inner strakes to the back, the extensions will be extremely difficult to get to stay on. Just look at the cracking behind the inner strakes you have now. All CVX-16 hulls are cracked there. There is a lot of flex in that region, particularly in your case with a really heavy engine and then another heavy lump of jack plate.
Oh yes... 150hp e-tec. Nice engine. Good power. Pretty heavy for a CVX-16 but not the worst I've seen. I'd nix the hydraulic plate, though. Keep it light. Consider a manual RapidJack. I think the manual 6" R-J is only about 35 pounds and it's a stout piece. My handling improved noticeably when I ditched a heavy CMC plate in favor of the RapidJack 6" manual.
Hydraulic steering is great. A foot throttle is a requirement.
70mph is extreme speed for a CVX-16. You'll have a hard time getting there with a 150hp e-tec ho. 60mph is easy with that power. 65mph is possible. 70mph is a stretch, to be honest. It's possible but not with a heavy boat and you don't seem at all concerned with weight.
Keep it light. Don't modify the hull. Straighten the pad, sharpen the inner strakes and trailing edges a touch, and leave it at that. Nothing else matters at speed. Even the pad and inner strakes barely matter at these speeds. It's a lot of work for little gain. It's worth it if you're rebuilding a hull but just barely.
For all those hours you are going to put into that hull with glass work, there are more gains to be had by simply removing the windshield.
The CVX-16 is a great little hull. I still enjoy mine but I enjoyed it less when it wasn't as hard core as it is now. Once you start modifying the pad, jacking the engine to the moon, and doing all the stuff that is required to go fast, you will probably discover it's not as fun. It will be more exciting, though.
They make a great ski boat. Make sure you glass in some hard points to mount a boarding ladder at back, when you rebuild it.
Oh... and loose the floatation foam. It will just make you sink faster, at this point. Once it water logs, that stuff is like rock. Forget it. You don't need it.
