Hey guys, I watch this board a lot but do not post much. However, some comments in this string made me break my silence. I bought a used 1998 32' out of the Clear Lake Texas area last year. I am completely amazed by the speed and the ride. We put ~150 hours on the boat in 2001 (385 hours total) and have no rattles, squeeks NOTHING negative. Rode in some pretty nasty 3-4 foot chop at 60+ and felt comfortable and safe the whole time (Setup: Tabs on 4, drives on 3). There are a lot of well thought out features on the AT that are truly great even for the older models. I don't understand the cabin comments. I can almost stand up (I am 6'1"). The enclosed head is good for the wife and family. There is ample storage. Where/what's the beef? The boat is a classic and I constantly get envious comments/stares when I am out. AT has a well deserved great reputation in the performance arena. Good job to the AT team. "Don't let the bastards get you down."

Miller,
Steve and I have ThunderDan hostage and in de-programing. We will send him back with all those pure thoughts like more HP, open exhaust, Igloo coolers full of beer and big-breasted women in g-strings. All of your ideas are in the toilet now. Sorry but it was necessary. Pat



[ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: ActiveThunder ]

So, keeping the lines out of the way, carrying spares in the engine room, and having an over board draining cooler at the helm don't help you keep going fast with big breasted women and lots of beer? Well, I guess my ideas were just totally off the wall!!

Besides, isn't the beer for drinking responsibly after the trip is over?

By the way, does this mean you didn't like the ideas for the toilet?

[ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: Miller ]

ActiveThunder, Am I going to be de-prgrammed too? I can't wait. I don't drink beer (on the boat) I am not a horsepower freak and my wife already wears a thong bikini (whether the boat goes 90 or not). After you get through with us, we'll need a built in tap (for the Miller Lite keg), a tanker truck to keep fuel in our 1000 SC's and there's no telling what my wife will be wearing (let alone our two daughters )

Wow, I never thought looking for a boat could be so enlightening

Thunder EnLightning....hmmmmm, not bad H2o!

Miller, I love your ideas, man. You never explained to us that we could get big-breasted women with them though! We are back at the drawing board working on them today. As far as ThunderDan goes....I think Steve got carried away with the de-programming. Now he's talking no cabin and keeps mumbling "Keith Eickert, Keith Eickert" over and over.

I should start charging you for my ideas. You're getting some great feedback for free. Let's figure out how I can get back some value. I'm sure I'll think of something.

By the way, check your email. I forwarded you a couple of ideas that I had overlooked previously. They are really minor and you've probably got them included on your boats as standard but in case you haven't I did write them down.

WOW, I just, I mean ThundrousDaze just came up with the name for our boat (if its an AT).

Thunder EnLighting That is awsome.

Thunder Enlighting, that is a great name, I like that alot, I even like that better than Radio Active, If you dont take that one on your Active Thunder (you know, the one that is suppose to be under your christmas tree) with your permission Im going to switch. Oh Steve, Oh Steve where are you, Ive got another change.

I know all of you missed me and here is my tale. By the way h20 that is a great name, I almost named my boat that same thing. And it is WHEN you get your AT you can name it that, just remember our THUNDER RUN.

Well, I am back from my trip down to Active Thunder and my ride in the 37avh. Man was it great. It was nice and calm going through the canal to get to the ocean. As soon as we turned the corner to go out the inlet it hit. The water was slop. We steadily exited the inlet into the ocean to be met with 4-6 foot waves with some 8’s mixed in. And man was it sloppy. There was no rhyme or reason to the way the waves were breaking especially because of the 18 knot winds whipping. But it was a true test of the ride and handling capabilities of the 37AVH. I am telling you the boat handled like a dream. It launched off of some huge waves, always flying level and landing softly. In that kind of crappy water, (perfect test of a boat true rough water hadling capabilities), the boat handled like nothing else I have ridden in. It never even showed any signs of porpising when going through that slop, even with the constant throttling on and off. Never heard any rattles. Then after running at about 70mph in those conditions we headed in. It was difficult to really air the boat out because of the inconsistancy in the waves. They were really coming at you from all angles. We even went down into a perfect storm type of wave, water all around and we shot right out and the boat handled it like a walk in the park. The freeboard in the boat is so deep you feel safe in the boat and you stay dry. So, once inside I got a real good chance to see how the boat handled in flatter water. The boat almost floats up on plane. It really get up effortlessly. I never lost sight of the horizon getting up to a crusing speed of 40mph. (Man are those slow zones you Fla guys got suck) Then Pat tells me to slow down a bit. (Ya I know, you never hear those words out of his mouth) He changes the tab and drive postion, puts the one engine in neutral and turns off the key and throws it on the floor. Meanwhile we are still doing 35mph, up on plane and steering easily in the canal on one engine. I look at Pat like he was crazy shutting off the one, but I could not believe it. We cruised like that for almost five minutes. Then we went into a wide area of the canal, fired up the other engine and we made some sweeping turns at some good speed and never did the boat feel like it was slidding or out of control. It was like doing donuts in the parking lot as a kid. (OK, I still do them also) It was the best riding boat I have been in, and the toughest and roughest water I have been on a demo. I am not sure if once we turned that corner in the inlet that many other boat manufacturers would have kept going. For those of you that are ever considering going into a 37 foot range boat you gotta check out this boat. It truly is LIKE NOTHING ELSE. And Pat and Steve thanks for a great time, and a great ride.