Wellcraft 27 vs Activator 27
 

What major differences are there between the excalibur/wellcraft 27 and the early activator hulls? I read the bottoms are the same, deck mostly the same, but wondering more about the hulls construction. I remember wellcrafts layup process leaving something to be desired during the 80s. Kicking around the idea of finding an older one , rigging it with a #4/#5 ssm drive.

Do an old school Hemi with modern EFI...........:grinser010:

I had an 85 27 Excalibur,,,,loved that skinny wave crusher,,,,,
agree welcraft workmanship was less than original Excalibur work and activator did a better job
from what I was told activator popped a mold from a 82-85 welcraft hull
bottom was unchanged,,,,top deck was lightly changed with fairing instead of shield and 2 acess hatches removed and a rise in top deck to bow
so not much changes till later they added steps to bottom
my hull was well used and still was solid,,,transom was changed as ran triple offshore merc o/b rest of hull was original and solid still
put in a custom made 35 gallon ballast tank up in the front bow down in the vee with a 30gpm transfer pump for water conditions
and around 110 window the 3 @ 1 1/2" apart blades lifted 5'10" transom so much with the wide strakes it would start getting tail loose
but 0-110 was awesome
we had 1 here long ago that was raced with ssm # 3 and that boat was great running
little slow getting on a plane with prop so high and narrow deep vee hull,,,,but we have better props today than back in late 80s,,,lol
there is still my old for sale thread in Excalibur section to show my resto on the boat,,,,

One thing i notice different between excalibur/wellcraft and the Activator is the activator does not have the notched transom...

thats a cool old setup there. One thing that turned me on with the old 27 excalibur, was the hull design. Specifically the 7ft beam , full length strakes, and transom notch.

Seems like it would have the ingredients for a relatively fast setup over a typical vee. Whether or not thats the case, idk. Ive heard of a couple that ran over 100, that had to be interesting !

mild that's what I explained earlier they have wide strakes all way out rear and lower strake is only 3" above the vee @ the transom
they were probably the fastest planning and dryest riding 27 made and only 5'10" wide at rear would cut great in the rough water
I raced 1 back in the /mid/late 80s and loved it and got another few yrs back and did o/bs for poker runs to run with or past some 32+ boats
dale had his with the ssm and it went past 100 also

His is long gone

Sent you a message and friend request on Facebook the other day Mr. MIFFCO

mild what is ur FB name,,,,ill friend u as I don't keep up with request much
I go there but don't post nothing on my page,,,just use it for finding parts and like info threads
yea I sold that hull last yr ,,,,,resto turned out real nice and cged the hull for the rough and blueprinted the bottom from lower strake to vee
guy that bought it saw it @ tickfaw poker run when I went across poncentrain running with a 33 powerplay
in 3-4'ers keeping pp behind me as knew it maxed out @85,,,,,,lots of air in that little hull for long distance was why was so much fun for a small hull
its typical downfall of being a narrow deep vee hull was hated glassy water,,,rode so high over 75 would chine walk ,,,but 1'ers+ straight as an arrow and being so narrow had to turn into waves and hit them more dead on as if tried to slow walk over a wave hull would want to follow wave and roll on its side some so I drove it with more tacking into the water conditions above 75,,,lol that 26 martini is a cool old scholl hull,,,,,i ran the 27 hard for 3 summers so was time to let go before I wore it totally out ,,,lol

DO IT! They are a lot of fun. I originally wanted to do the #4/5 but after looking at it, couldn't help but go IMCO for my goals. Mine ran high 80's with 625-650HP. 28p LH @5500-5600 is wildly efficient for a nearly 40 year old hull!

I would be torn between another Excalibur that would likely need structural work to stay together vs. a newer stronger hull. I just need Mange to send me a new TS 27 Activator hull.