spilman

Easily the 25 Tantrum from Active Thunder......Nothing even compares for handling, comfort and cabin space. Best all-around-not the fastest, but I'd rather be in a 25AT than a 29 Fountain in 3-4's!
2nd would probably be the Pantera or Powerplay....

cosmic12

I have to 2nd that on the A.T. Great all round boat, getting tougher to find though.

Uncle Dave

I think this is going to come down to an East West preference thread.

For my money - Id go with the Laveycraft 24 Nuera why-?

Molded swimstep vs bolt on- much nicer.
Vacuum bag construction makes for a lighter stronger hull vs non bagged.
Lavey will power it with whatever you want- check out Quents 24 with an Ilmor 700 in it.
I prefer Gelcoat to paint and you can get it painted just like you see here or any way you want - standard by Jeff Camire himself.

Lavey consistently wins quality and worksmanship awards, and has racked up a highy impressive set of ocean wins against the whole world OSS & POPRA

The owners are awesome people Ive known for almost 20 years.

What else looks good-?

Eliminators Eagle is either a 23 or 25 depending on how you count the swimtep.

Gotta like Active Thunder as well- they do have really largest hull per foot of boat which translates to LARGE cabin areas. This probably also equals weight however. - you pick your tradeoffs

Never seen a Pantera that small, but I heard they have made them, if cared for- it will be a solid boat if you can find one.


Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan
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t-islands

I would have to say the 24 Superboat is the best I have owned to date.

Donman

[QUOTE=Uncle Dave;2689357]Lavey consistently wins quality and worksmanship awardsQUOTE]


I`ve always wondered what Powerboat Magazine charged for those "awards".

Uncle Dave

[QUOTE=Donman;2689380]
Quite the well though out, high quality, informative addition to this thread.

Your vote would be and why?

Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

No particular order; just notes:

The 25' Baja Outlaw is a pretty good value boat. There are also thousands of them out there which helps folks get into them cheap.

The 25' Active Thunder is a great rough water boat. The boats are VERY solid throughout. There are not many out there, and they are no longer made; so scoring one is tough.

The 26' Sonic (actually 25' of running surface) is a great all around boat. Quite a few out there, well built, very solid; not bad in the rough. The wide walkrail costs a bit of cockpit room, but the cabins are well planned. They tend to be pretty heavy, so will not be the fastest.

The 251/253 Checkmates are pretty nimble and run pretty good in 2-3 footers due to a narrow beam.

The 24/7 boats which include the Superboat 24, Pantera 24, Sunsation Rocket/Aggressor, and a few others... I'd compare to go-karts on the water. Small, light, fast, narrow, and nimble, but not something you really want to take on a long trip in rough water. They all derived from the same hull, but topsides vary greatly. There was a thread on here which discussed all of the 24/7 boats in detail. These are great starter boats.

16/18/20/22 Donzi Minx/Classic will remain timeless as 2nd boats, dinner cruise boats, and just overall fun toys. They really were not designed to run well in rough water; more of a lake/river cruising boat. I'd love to have one someday; unless I can land an extremely rare 22' Active Thunder Banshee (but it's also not really an offshore boat).

UP_ROKTOY

I do also like the active thunders, been noticing more of them lately, they look like a pretty good rough water boat.

Progression still my favorite (of course I am biased...duh)

Aqua Banshee

If you can find one the 80's 24 Sonic. Huge cabin for a 24. Not saying its the best, but fun to drive. Most all are outboards

Uncle Dave

Got give them credit for actually designing their own boat- a lot of the "makers" just splash someone elses saves lots of money.

I looked at their site, don't know how the "variable deadrise bottom" concept works in reality but the idea seems sound.

Vacuum bagging is the way to go (or resin infusion which is REALLY expensive)

Paint/gel is right out of the 70's




Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan