Active Thunder AVH 37 Excess
 

Can any one give me any history on the AHV 37 boats? How do they run in the ruff water and what are the speeds looking like and with what power?

Pat bought the AT company around 1994-95 and moved the company to Florida in 1996-97. The first 37 AVH was built in 1999, I think. It was a completely new bottom designed by Harry Schoell. The step height gets changed slightly depending on the hp of engines.
496's=mid 70's, 500efi's=low 80's, 525efi's=mid 80's, 700's=mid 90's.

This 2010 37 Active Thunder just came up for sale this weekend. I believe it has 600 SCI'S and it's located in Indiana.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...4ad470ec9a.jpg

Saw the ad 198k. SCX's and 600sci's with Stage 4 Whipples = https://whipplesuperchargers.com/ind...product_id=119
That boat was 100% redone about 2-3 years ago.

This is my unicorn AT!

90s with 700s mercs? A39 notec does low hundres with nthe same power

The Nortech is staggered..

A 37' AT with 700SCis can and does run over 100mph. But the NXT is the issue. The NXT's bullet provides so much lift in it's larger design, it lifts the transom out of the water. Accordingly, in order to obtain the top speeds out of the 700SCi/NXT setups that Pat built, you need some really high end custom props to dial out the transom lift, but bite the water as such to get the speed.

And you can't compare a 39' Nor-Tech to a 37' AT. Years back an 37' AT owner took his AT over to Nor-Tech for the weekend when leaving Ft. Lauderdale, and spent a day going over and riding, and driving a new 39' Nor-Tech. He did say the boat was fast, but it didn't have the ride and handling characteristics of the AT; which he kept afterward. The 39' Nor-Tech is a great boat, but that hull just doesn't handle the rougher water like an AT.

2 Much Rev,

What boat are you upgrading from? IMO that needs to be stated to give you an honest answer. IMO, it is probably the best value in a used stepped hull boat. They are built well, and do handle the rough water great up to a certain point. Then due to the way the boat rides in the water, you will be limited on how fast you can go. With my 37, in solid 3-4 footers in Lake Michigan, the boat would ride comfortably at 74. No matter how I throttled, I could not get the boat to stay hooked up long enough to go faster. 2 to 3 footers, It would ride incredible 83 mph top speed, very little throttling needed, it was almost boring because it took so little work. The boats are very solid, but they are a side by side, and that is going to limit just how well they ride in big waves.

The other thing to ask yourself if buying an Active Thunder, are you going to be chasing speed? I'm the kind of person that is never happy with how fast I go. I thought long and hard about adding whipples to my 525s, and swapping the drives to SCXs. I talked to enough people and shops to be told that the 525 hull has a speed limit. After you hit that limit, the hull will start porpoise. A few of the rigging shops that dealt with this all said it is around the 97-100 mph mark. Now remember, that is with a 525 boat, a 600 boat, or 700 boat will be different. Some guys might tell you they worked it out with props but the actual shops said it isn't possible. Active Thunder wouldn't give me a max speed, only "your boat is tuned to your engine." So with all that said, if you are happy with things and have no intention to make it faster, it is a great boat.

I ended up selling my 37 for the reasons listed above. I bought a 39 Cigarette. Does it ride better, yes, for example, the waves the 37 would be limited to 73 (3-4s), the 39 will do 95 and not break a sweat. No comparison at all. However, that comes at a price. 1. the boat is 2x the price. 2. The cockpit is TINY compared to the AT, due to the staggered engines. 3. The cabin is also not even in the same league as the AT. WIth the AT, you can almost stand up in the cabin, in my 39 you are very bent over.

So with all that said, what is important to you? Is it having the best rough water boat? Do you you want room to hang out? Functional cabin? If you want an awesome boat that does a lot of things really well, then an Active Thunder would be very high on my list. For comparison, a 37 AT with 525s will do 83 in fresh water, a 39 Nortech with 525s 89-90, 38 Top Gun 81-83, 39 Cigarette 87, 39 Outerlimits 95.

The above quote is spot on and saved me alot of time typing pretty much the same thing LOL