Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

The setup cost was about the same because of the Arneson. I'm not sure with todays costs.

As far as the Yanmars not sure but the Merlins were 400hp and built on a Mann Block. Single Turbo.

I would crunch the numbers before you did anything serious. My guess is that the hull was probably only workable to 70-75 max. Cruise would be pretty high though compared to a gas powered package.

AC

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

Great thread. Love the old stories...

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

Brownie has probably forgotten more stories than most will ever experience in a lifetime.......we just have to get him on a roll to tell some of them........I would buy his book whatever the price!

AC

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

:stupid:

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

AC,

I can only imagine. I'm new to this sport but I love the Old School "Tough as Nails" stories of the people that struck out in a different direction to try something new. I would never intend to insult anyone's ability or drive but, I can relate to the guy that has more passion than money.
To the guys that do this for the love of the sport, lets have a drink.

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

WOW!? Just saw this post about a boat I have for sale. I agree that the 39' Aronow is not a 40' Skater. But you have to agree these are different boats that do different things well. If we put a cabin with air conditioning, a wider beam, more storage capacity. larger cockpit with stand up bolsters, swim platform, big sun pad, the same power, and an anchor locker in the bow. A 40 Skater's performance would be drastically affected and would be considered slow. This boat was rerigged and repowered by an owner who knew exactly what the boat would do. He had owned an open class race boat and two big power 47 Apache's as well as several other high performance boats before this. He contracted Mark McManus, who is well known for his high caliber workmanship to do the refit, and purchased two new Mercruiser 800SC / 3A engine packages. He took a boat he loved and spared no expense to make it appear and perform as best as it could with a reliable factory Mercury engine package. I saw an earlier post that said this was too much power for a #3 drive. However this is a #3A drive, packaged and rated for these engines from the manufacturer. We have rigged and serviced several other boats with this package and had no drive issues with any of them. Not long ago a late model straight bottom 38' Cigarette Top Gun came through our shop with the same exact engine / drive package. It ran less than 5 MPH faster than this boat. Overall a Top Gun is considerably Smaller than the 39 Aronow. In my profession I have had the opportunity to run most of the high performance boats we all dream about, with many different engine / drive packages. Over the years I have come to realize that there is no boat that does everything well. It is all a trade off, do you want speed, comfort, cabin space, reliability, rough water ride? We have built pleasure boats that exceed 170 MPH with creature comforts that include cup holders and a stereo piped through your intercom system, running on $6.00 a gallon fuel burning engines that are worn out in less than 100 hrs. Over the fourth of July I rode on a friends boat from Newport to Long Island in the air conditioned bridge, watching satellite TV on a plasma screen while running on auto pilot at 20MPH, with the rest of the crew sleeping in their staterooms below. That's slow!! but it sure was nice. The questions I ask when I speak to a potential customer: what do you want in a boat?, how fast do you want to go?, what kind of reliability are you expecting?, and how much do you want to spend? This will usually narrow the choices down to only a few models. Personally, I like this particular boat a lot. I think it has a great engine package, a lot of cockpit, deck, and sun cushion space, a decent size cabin with air, exceptional rigging, and an attractive price.

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

Well said. My father says, "don't give me a boat that does everything. Give me a fleet, so I can do everything."

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

And that is precisely why I am offering the "Everything Boat" at a one time low price. We used the finest hardware, marine technicians and the legendary Sgt. Bilko to create this masterpiece to solve the needs of everyone. As previously stated most boats can do some things well but are left wanting in other areas. Here for the first time is a boat that does NOTHING well...... a revolutionary "breakthrough" in boating history, that eliminates the feeling that you are only serving part of your boating fantasies. Now you can rest assured that you are serving NONE of them.

T2x........ Who let the salesmen in?

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

Brownie could tell the stories and on the back of the pages T2x could do the parody.

A best seller for sure.

AC

Re: Don Aronow 39' cat
 

No but we have video of both in the "Cats Conquer Offshore" DVD.......

Shameless plug......... :p

T2x