You gotta point there man. It's not like I own anything that has good gas mileage anyway.

I would be interested in that pantera, Joe... Is there any way to get me some pics of it?

What do you think of this matt?
http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.com/files/19721.jpg
1998 pantera twin 454/365 hp.new interior new exhaust alum trailor 290 hours second owner boat has been winterized so please be real interested when calling

Yea well dream on. Reality sucks.

If you are going for older late 80's early 90's, look for some 454/365HP 454/420HP engines. They will be a good base for adding blowers/upgrades down the road, and in stock form with decent hours they are pretty much bulletproof. I have seen too many issues with "custom" rebuilds and stuff. TRS drives are nice, but require transmissions, which adds to the weight, and is also one more thing to break. TRS were pretty much extinct on production boats after 1989 or so, with the exception of some cigarettes and custom boats that had them till 92 or 93. Bravos are readily available used, and drive upgrades are easy. Konrads are the best upgrade for a trs boat, but are not cheap, a pair will cost around half as much as the boat me or you will be driving.

So far I have had 4 go fast boats, and Ive pretty much had to go thru each boat mechanically, from rebuilding motors to replacing drives, etc. My first boat I got "lured" into the "built" engine with all the custom heads, big cam, big carb, and speed numbers. From april to sept I got to get about 8 hours of run time out of that heap. But when you are ready to pull the trigger, matt and I will come down and go over the "new" boat before you hand over the check, to look for possible issues like stringer and transom rot, compression/leakdown tests, delamination signs, etc. No worries, you will be running with the right crew :cool-smiley-011:

Yeah I know that for sure. Thanks for the help!

I was thinking 92+ year wise... I think it will be easier to get financed and I like the idea of updated cockpits and interiors. I do like the idea of stockish power for reliability's sake, I'm not made of money and want something that makes sense.

What do you think of this from the first page?
http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o19721-en.html

I saw that pantera in Tommy's shop a few months back. He had that 28, a 30ft sutphen with kaama surface drives, both boats 25g and supposedly ready to run complete. The pantera looks like the one in the pic you posted, but without the cat eyes, its pretty much all white if I remember correctly. But Matt can change that and do something cool paint wise should you decide to go that route. Never been on a pantera, but I know they are built solid and handle the rough well for a 28.

I like it. 454 mags and bravos would make for a reliable package, and those engines with the correct maintance will run. Franks old 375 Stinger had 900 hours on his 454/365 engines and he was definitly not mr. maintenance. 900 hours and the intake was never off, not too mention many many full throttle runs for 15 minutes straight were quite common when he had that boat. My favorite merc motor. They respond really well to cam, exhaust, intake, and carb upgrades. You can bump them to 425-440HP very easy.

You may see this go by you at 100 :cool-smiley-011:

Ooooh oooooh that is a bad ***** ya got there... Matt told me you looked at it today- 92 on GPS?

I dig all white boats. And I am sure I could design something for matt to paint on there, I love cooking up that kinda ****.

92 now, but with some forced induction plans it could run really nice. Same hull ran 122 on radar with 750's and arnesons in new york.

Matt and I are going to have to go to jet engines to keep up. Congrats on the boat, going with a blower or a turbo setup?