May 25

May 25 A 1984 Sutphen Ocean Pacer Gets a Fresh Start: Full Restoration and Outboard Power

For John Wilson, ever since his Dad brought home a 1990 31 Scarab, he was hooked on performance boats. His family does their boating on the upper Chesapeake near the Delaware river. When John’s buddy was parting ways with his Sutphen Ocean Pacer, he knew he would have a project on his hands but John had a vision to repower it with outboards, so lots of work was needed anyway. Let’s take a look at John’s awesome transformation and restoration of this classic Sutphen.

Beastly for a 30 with that deep bow and steep deadrise, the Sutphen Ocean Pacer is a classic.

Going in, John knew it was rotten, so everything had to be removed. The old Sutphens’s used marine ply everywhere, so to update the hull, the grueling work of replacing the old wood core with new balsa, and replacing all the stringers, bulkheads and the transom with Coosa board. Using ½” sheets with 1700 biaxial fiberglass between them and laminated with epoxy resin. This work probably made the boat stronger, while being slightly lighter overall.

Removing rotten material is a brutal part of the restoration.

Flooring was replaced with a marine ply. Everything in the boat was overhauled. John then found some good condition Gil Brackets for the Mercury 300XS. Those were sand blasted and painted a black single stage paint. The Gil Brackets are really solid and keep a classic offshore look. I love how he kept it clean with the white paint and black transom. A single stage polyurethane marine paint called SPI was used on the boat.

Balsa is a tried and true core material, light and strong. Combined with Coosa for the structural parts, and a marine ply floor, the Sutphen will be better than new.

Offshore style controls, classic black dial Livorsi monster gauges, and some really nice looking seats really finish off the look. I love it, lean and mean looking. John wanted to keep a restomod look and he really nailed it. With 380 K planes added, the classic Sutphen spins 26” Lightning ETs to 85 MPH, which is incredible when you think of what a wave crusher this is. The Ocean Pacer like other Sutphen’s used a 26 degree deadrise with no steps, built for offshore.

The restomod look is seen here with a classic gauge cluster and offshore controls. Simple and clean.

John did a great job updating this classic. The Sutphen brand has a cult following, for good reason, they built some legendary race boats over the years and had a very distinct look. If you’re in the Upper Chesapeake ares this one should be easy to spot. Thanks to John for sharing his boat. A great restoration and outboard conversion.