i hear you panther,

todays racing lacks something, i do not even watch anymore:(

maybe it's too corporation based.

maybe it's because there is (outside of factory class) very little that todays race boats have in common with pleasure boats. enclosed canopies, weird designs, etc. all make them more like a indy car than a nascar car. and who can even name three indy drivers?

brand identity is alot of what makes nascar popular and why nobody even cares about indy anymore.

i know audacity will chime in here, but i'm sorry, i know alot of fellow offshore boaters that have very little or no interest in todays racing. how can a sport become popular when even it's hardcore boaters dont really care?

as far as racing today and boats braking up, or course they do they are not built for extreme rough water duty like boats of yesterday.

"how can a sport become popular when even it's hardcore boaters dont really care? "......funny because they are really not trying to capture that group (hardcore) demographically
:rolleyes:



"as far as racing today and boats braking up, or course they do they are not built for extreme rough water duty like boats of yesterday"......
ok then ask the boat manufactures of yesterday then....like pantera, cigarette, skater, powerplay, DONZI....you get the idea....do you really think they would say their boats are weaker??? i think not....

I'm not so sure about that .... as far as raceboats go :confused:

really....so you think all of these companies would say....yes... are boats just arn't built like we used to build them!....compare them at the same speeds....fulll blown B boats were not even as fast as a 500 hp boat of today. today were really stress'n the **** out of thing by pusing them very hard in corners!

Spin Outs
 

The technology still needs to be refined. All the poplular fast V-bottoms have stability problems in corners.

A good friend of mine and former APBA champion, purchased a Half million dollar pleasure boat last year, and when he turned the wheel at 95mph, he arm was yanked from the steering wheel by the company owner. He said and I quote "You can't do that!"

Whats up whith that????

Boats today are very strong, but they are also like Egg's. If you squeeze and egg the long way it is impossible to break. Squeeze it from the side and it cracks.

fast boats
 

Yes the boats are faster, but they have suffered some ride quality, and rough water capabilities. The stepp is useless in rough weather, and acually hurts it. I haven't had the chance to ride in an Acitve Thunder yet though.

My experiences so far:

28 Skater: hung on for my life at 100mph, new kidneys anyone?
37 Outerlimits: Nice ride, smooth, not as good at Cig. or Apache
42 Outerlimits: Sweet ride, cost's a fortune, runs 8mph faster than an apache with same power.
38 Top Gun: Sippin Martinis
41 Apache: Incredible ride
42 Fountain: my boat ran better in rough water than that thing did.
38 Scarab: 8 people hanging out drinking in rough stuff.
30 Scarab: My boat, not the best rough water boat, its a slammer in the rough stuff, but it is very stable. Girlfiend hates snotty weather, time to move up!

I have a whole bunch others that I have rode in, but I don't care to list them. The only thing I haven't had a chance to ride in is a big cat, but that is a different story all toghether.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of going over 90mph with HP 500's. I have 550's and do about 75mph, but I have transmissions, and TRS drives. But my next boat won't be a light fast boat. My quality of ride is more important to me, and it is also more important that my passengers are comfortible.

thing is they have the potential to go through a turn a lot faster as well...turn a non stepped hull you instantly scrub speed!!...also with a conventional v you really don't have to settle the boat as much....v hulls today have their own unique characteristics....not all v's have the same feel!

"ride quality, and rough water capabilities"....are VERY different my friend....my parrents have a 38 flat deck with 900sc's and i'll put the smack down on that thing any day in rough water or calm with the F2-80 ...but ride quality!!...most of the time i stand on the blower hatch and hang on the arch while doing 70+ in 3's...or i'm in my normal seat.....bent over the engines with tools in hand:rolleyes:

Are you saying the 38' Flatdeck w/900's is not fast enough to keep up with the F2-80 or that it cannot handle the rough water as well as the F2-80. These are also two very different things.;)

todays race boats are definetely built lighter and less strong that boats of years ago, you cannot even question it. faster, yes i agree.

if apba isn't going after the diehards who are they going after? who spends the money of the products that the sponsors sell? do you think average joe who is more into football and nascar spends any money on boat related items?show him a race for free and he might watch, but charge people$25 and you couldn't sell a ticket to anybody but a true boater. so why go after the casual spectator, he's not spending any money.

how many apaches have you ever seen spin out like a step hull boat? these things are dangerous, in all but the most qualified hands.