You should take a good look at Sunsation boats I love mine!
:D :D :D

Huh?
 

Whippled? Why?
Clay,
You've seen a lot of nice boats suggested here. Some better than others, soome faster than others.
At the risk of disagreeing with 27Fountain and Bosco, I have a 25' Active Thunder in full recreational trim, sleeps two, (I've slept in it alot myself), and has run over 81MPH with a Butt Stock Mercury HP500 and Bravo-I drive.
Any questions?

Gordo,
Not that I'm doubting the fact that your boat runs 81 with a stock HP500 but what exactly is "full recreational trim" ?
A good friend of mine has a 97 AT Tantrum with a 540 (625hp)in it and that boat only runs 81. Why the big difference ? I will have to admit that his boat is the best riding 24-28ft boat I've ever been in.

26Scarab,
Fair question.
Mine has the usual V berth with opposing setee's, but does not have the small sink/cabinet that I think comes in most other recreational 25 Tantrums. The biggest differences are probably weight, (mine is a race layup, stronger/lighter), and slightly higher X dimension. Other than that, just fine tuning stuff.

Clay:

Although I am partial to the 280 Velocity, if softness of ride and room are the deciding factor you could also look at a Baja 29 Outlaw with a large single. With a Whippled 500EFI you might get 75mph+. It has a huge interior and cockpit for a 29' boat.

Gordo,

I am not familiar with the 25 AT, 500HP set up. Also maybe I should clarify, I consider a reliable speed, what the boat can do full of gas and normal load of people. I can radar 75, but not with 5 people a full of gas. Maybe your boat can again I am not familiar with that set up. I am curious what prop are you spinning to get 81mph on a 500?

Will;)

Clay,

I don't think that you need to get a cruiser to have a good sized cabin. Our boat has a large v-berth in the cabin. I am about 6 feet tall and I can fully stretch out when sleeping in the boat without having my feet hang over the end of the v-berth. My wife is about 5'2" and she can stand up inside the cabin of our boat. Our boat is a true 29' long (no integrated swimstep) with a 102" beam.

There are a lot of great boats out there, and you will know when you find the one that is right for you....Have fun shopping!!

Just before the LOTO Shootout, we were doing some prop testing with approx. 1/2 tank fuel and two people in the boat, high humidity, 98* air temp and 83* water temp. A stock 25p Hydromotive 4 blade would run right at 76.5 mph. That same prop ran a radar 78 with just me and 1/4 fuel on the Missouri river. The best top speeds and cruise rpm's were with a lab finished 28p Bravo 4 blade.

So how fast would a "production" model Tantrum run with a HP500 ?

Hey Mike did you check to see if a spark plug wire or two fell off ?
because someting sure is wrong with your boat to cause it to go that slow. Simply compare it to a 29' Fountain F1 race boat with a stock HP500 and they are runnin 89+MPH all day long.
:p :p :D