fund razor

It is sweeter in person than in pics. It is "diamond plate bilge worthy, matching paint tow vehicle worthy, people take pictures at the gas dock, boat is a rock star," sweet.

Looking forward to taking it the rest of the way to the end zone.

End hijack.... For this buyer...I like the Pantera too. I don't like the crusty butt boats. Too much hassle. But maybe that comes from taking two years off as a boat owner and losing a lifetime of experience.

TexomaPowerboater

That 28 ar15meister posted pics of was in an accident. I don't care what kind of boat you have if you run it into the ground its going to show. You will be very lucky to find any apache that is in mint condition, not so much for other brands. There is a reason for that.

Not really fair to compare that old resin bucket to a new 28 pantera. Pantera has come a long way, but if you want to compare newer model pantera's with newer apache's you might want to start with this 28 with twin diesels and pull out swim platform.

ar15meister

Noone was comparing the two boats.

It just seems to me that for a budget minded buyer buying a single engine, newer boat is better than buying an old one cheap, having it blow up and then not having any boat at all cause you cant afford to fix it. I went over this 1000 times in my own head when I boyught my boat.

If mine blew up tomorrow I could repower. My z06 blew up and I bought a new crate motor and got her going again. I could have bought a Testarossa for the same money as the Z06 but ...go price a Testarossa motor.....

TexomaPowerboater

Not everybody has the luxury of buying a new boat. I went over the same thing in my head. I found that it cost just as much to replace two mercury stock engines than to buy one 710hp reliable motor, same with rebuilds. Engines blow up on newer boats all the time. In theory twin stock low hp engines should last much longer than a big hp engine.

ar15meister

Stock power like 454 Mercs arent going to get you the same performance as a built 710 hp.

At least compare apples to apples.

You will need 600 per side in my estimation to run 85mph in a 28 Apache. I rode in one with 650 per side and (although the owner proved himself to be full of **** on other things) the guy told me the best he had ever seen was 86-87mph. I have seen 81.6 in my Pantera and I barely know how to drive it. JO has told me it should run 85-86 with a worked prop and lighter fuel/passenger loads. I havent bothered to try yet.

A pantera with 550-650hp in a bult engine would be a more appropriate comparison. At this point the cost is quite different between a single and twin 'stock' merc's like 454's or 496's. Add to that the ease and cost of maintenance as well as having one less drive to worry about and you can see my point about the budget minded boater.

Big boat might now even care about going fast, in which case a single 500hp Merc blue motor would do the trick nicely. There was a guy selling a boat with a single 'wroked' 500EFI and an XR a while ago who I spoke with. He was asking 42k. Nice boat.....

Tex, single stock power is also an option you forgot to consider.....Sure my motor might not be the right fit for him, but my boat is a race boat. It isnt for everyone.

If my numbers are all wrong someone correct me but I think I am damn close.

TexomaPowerboater

I see where your getting at, but again - to compare the numbers you see with a light race layup is not a fair comparison to an old pleasure built 28 apache . I've never even seen any numbers of what a race layup 28 pantera will run with twin stock power. Single stock power is not an option on 28 apaches......and not a very good option on any 28......or atleast for me. I load my boat up 6-7 people easy. My 24ft boat with stock power had a hard enough time getting on plane - I couldn't imagine doing it on a 28ft with the same power.

I've seen pleasure 28 pantera's set up with a single 500EFI run about the same with twin stock 6.2 mercs. That 500EFI is going to cost about the same if not more than two 6.2's and the 6.2's will last A LOT longer, be easier on gas, and much easier on the outdrives. For a pantera - if you want to go 85+ I agree go with the single race boat layup. If you just want to hit 70 - go with the twin small blocks.

Eric Froberg

That swim platform is fully hydraulic. This boat had T/Yanmar 6LP's, AC and a generator and weighed 6800 pounds.

Eric Froberg

These "knees" are not structural in nature, simply panel stiffeners. In the older boats these stiffeners did not go through the bulkhead. In the newer models they terminated on the bow side of the engine compartment bulkhead. This prevented the seperation you see in the pictures in post #34 & 35.

bigboat28

Ttt