whats up with dragon???

[stecz20]

whats up, its been quiet in here????

[Semper Fi]

I guess no new buyers??

[CIG3]

I talked to Scott this morning they are currently sending #7 to Dubai, #8 # 9 going to Holland to a F-1 Driver their a new dealer. Also working on 2 to Belgium. It appears the Europeans who are buying the boats due to the Composite construction first not the logo.

Keep up the good work.

[MANITIE]

That's good to hear.....

[stecz20]

interesting.....

[Schweeng]

...not sure the logo means anything. Boat 7.... they had made 7 boats in 3 plus years... There must be more to it.

[Chris Sunkin]

The people behind the brand certainly have the pedigree so I don't know if it's logo. I know a guy like Bob Saccenti has a rabid following within the Apache faithful and his venture has only turned out one hull so far.

Who knows?

[pm203]

They might sell a few more if they did the open concept version that they had talked about.

[MANITIE]

There is not to many 525 performance boats that are 39' and that can run 100+ stock without cutting down the decks and making changes from there pleasure design to what some manufactures have to do to there race boats.....

[METAL BROS RACING]

My next V will be a Dragon.
I think a 30 would be good for Craigs biz also.

[pm203]

Originally Posted by MANITIE

There is not to many 525 performance boats that are 39' and that can run 100+ stock without cutting down the decks and making changes from there pleasure design to what some manufactures have to do to there race boats.....

Are you saying that the Dragon does 100 mph with stock 525 power?

[MANITIE]

We are running stock 525's staggered and can run over 100...plus the Dragon over in Europe with #6's can run over 100.....both of us are running stock 525's.... we are also running a stock boat.....the deck has not been cut down....

the rest of the Dragons are not staggered....that I know of....

But where the big differance comes in are in the big sea's,
We are running against boats with twin 1000's and that weight over 10k lbs and still can out run them in the big water....we have been out in small craft advisory's in 5 footers and still seen 93+

I'm no expert by no means.....but I have been in stock 525 boats that could not even hit 90.....plus compair the handling at 95mph in 2 to 3 footers....

Take the major manufactures that have 39 foot boats...
How close can they come to 100 mph in a stock 525 boat...

38 Cig
42 Fountain
42 Outerlimits
38 Baja

I have seen a lot of these boats that they have tested and only seen speeds from 88 to 94 mph.....

Take the boats I have mentioned above.....and put in a Mercury power plant to get them to 100.....and then take the cost of the boat and the reliablity of the engines and drives for the higher HP
Now compair them to the price of a Dragon.......

The thing is.....untill you take a ride in a dragon....you will not know of the ride I'm speaking of....

[fountain40icbm]

Well, isnt your Dragon a race boat running stock stag. 525's? Then it should be compared to all the other race boats. OL SV 40 runs well over 100, so does the 42 Fountain. For pleasure boats a Donzi ZRC run's almost 100 and im sure with the new bottom in race trim it would run 100 no problem. I see what your saying about cutting down the deck and making mods, but the ZRC is the same either way and you can buy the SV40 in a GTX form and it would still do 100. The Fountain not so sure. No offense to Dragon they are a sweet boat and run very well just putting this info out there.

[MANITIE]

Mine is a race boat but nothing was done to the deck or freeboard and we are not running ours with a high x dim. we run ours lower and the handling is so much better and we still can hit over 100.....

All the SV race boats are cut down they are nothing like there pleasure versions.....ours is the plesure version with the back half closed off....the Dragon in Europe is the full plesure version....

We are talking about going and buying a pleasure version boat with staggered 525's and doing 100....alot of boats that I have seen tested were staggered.....and did not do 100....even the Donzi.....

Also I have been in a ZRC....and ask them how it runs in 5 footers and can it run over 90 in them.....and I have not seen one run 100...

Most performance boaters want to hit that 100mph mark....
But very few can do it with stock power....without investing more money...and then you start to give up reliabilty....
But also...what is so great about hitting 95 mph and be completley out of control....the ride at 95 in 2 to 3 should also come into play....or even at 90 in 2 to 3's and still be a good ride and be easy to handle....

[fountain40icbm]

As for the Donzi in the rough i think OSG finished ahead of the dragon in every race. Yes they are in different classes and they did have more power but if the Donzi didnt run good it would have been behind. The ZRC with 525's ran 99.?? on GPS. Im pretty sure the new OL GTX which is the SV with basically the top chopped off would run over 100 with 525's, It ran 110 in race trim. And that boat can run fast in 2-3's all day long. I wonder why Dragon never really took off then??

[MANITIE]

The OSG ran in front becasue of the rules....
If you take the OSG boat with the bigger HP and you take the Dragon with the same HP and ran the Dragon whats she can is capible to run....you will see the differance...these boats are set up for bracket racing....also the Dragon had to put in over 2500 lbs to make weight....

I have not seen a pleasure version of the GTX cut down as much as the O/L supervee, the new Lucas Oil O/L Super Vee was cut down a lot...I did not know the GTX was cut down that much.....or a plesure version of the GTX with 525's to see what speeds it would run....

But I will take you word for it....also what is the cost of the GTX? i think Joe S. told me $650k for his Super Vee....

As for why the Dragon has not taken off.....Well we can say the same for a lot of good 39 footers that are not selling good.....take the 39 Skater V....it donimatede in SV and how many have they sold....and its been out since what 03....and Peter has one of the biggest names in the boating industry

Another thing to think about.....is I'm talking about your adverage performance boater...
running a boat at 90 to 95 in 2 to 3 footers....so handling is very important....there are racers out there that can run a boat to most will be out of control but to them have complete control....

[fountain40icbm]

I see what your saying about the handling in 2-3 or larger at speed. Yea the newer GTX will pretty much be the race boat with the top choped off it, maybe a little higher hull sides, im not quite sure yet. Yea i wonder why no one has bought the Skater vee yet or more of these Dragons, strange. I mean the OL GTX's sell pretty well and the 39 Cigarette's. The Cigarette wont run the speeds with stock power though. I think the sit down market has gone down the drain for some reason. I dont know why. The Dragon is a large boat as you well know. I saw the blue one being built years ago and it was sweet!! Craig should build a new pleasure one with staggered 700's and sixes!! That would be quite a ride!!

[MANITIE]

I agree....with ya....and yes the GTX will be a bad ass boat if its cut down to the race version....but also it will be in the 650 to 750k price range....

We were going to put 750's in my dragon for this year....I have the #6's already here...but we are going to have 9 to 10 boats in class 3 this year so I told them I will race it the way it sit's right now....

I think the boat will put up some big numbers with 700's in her...I'm already working on the big HP for next year...we are running numbers from the 750's to the 1050's....

I would love to see a test done with the:

39 Cig
39 Dragon
38 Donzi
42 Fountain
40 O/L

with either staggered 525's or 700's and test them for top end speed mid range acceleration and in 6 footers and then post there prices as tested.

Powerboat mag. should already have some of the numbers since most were already tested

I would even let them drop in the 700's into my boat and let them run it and put in the wieght that the cabin lay out weights.....

[customryder]

Just a thought.. is it a must to wear a seat belt on the dragon in these 6' waves? with out it I think you will have one hell of a headake?

[MANITIE]

We do because we have a full crash cage in ours and I don't want to smack my head on the cross bars...