I talked to Tom once already. He was on voice mail this morning... Have you been on the boat??

No. He called me one day and said he was going out, but I was not home and did not get a chance to go for a ride. I live across the channel and can see the boat from my living room and bedroom windows!

Staggered boats are less maneuverable around the docks- and can be somewhat hard to back up. The bigger the boat it seems the more the effect.

The 3's are a liability. Parts are getting more scarce and more expensive. And if you want to put power into it enough to run it much over 75, you'll either need 6's or spare drives.

A 6 conversion is a big job- you'll need a completely redone transom and the x-dimension changes. Everything on the transom moves.

I'm sure chris would sell you his 41...its bout halfway done by now.

Sure, if I can get out of it what I have in it....

I would agree with everything you say for the most part. I think that the person running the boat has a lot to do with how it's handled around the docks and how long the equipment lives. If you want to get a good idea on how to move one around in close quarters and to keep it together watch Magnum Mark run his. He seems to have it figured out well enough to where He makes it look easy.
As for the parts lasting, I think that He was able to put almost 300 hours on the last engine, trans, drive combo (water pump to prop nut) before deciding to put the current set up in it. And when He did, He drove it on the trailer with everything in good operational order and without any parts sticking out of places that they should'nt or laying in the bilge. Proper care and maintenence is a huge factor in how long something lasts. If I were ''sufficiently funded'', I think that that would be the only boat that I would buy without first having a survey done.

I agree with Rogers statements. Proper care of the equipment goes a long way in the reliability. #3's will tolerance 750HP all day if you maintain them properly. You all know that OLD 41 Saber with the triples was pushing 850 HP with an operater that gave now mercy. Drives were never an issue.

If you are looking at going to #4a's or #5's you will have to go with boxes to get the drives back far enough to be able to get her on plane.

[QUOTE=CIG3;2691616]I agree with Rogers statements. Proper care of the equipment goes a long way in the reliability. #3's will tolerance 750HP all day if you maintain them properly. You all know that OLD 41 Saber with the triples was pushing 850 HP with an operater that gave now mercy. Drives were never an issue.

If you are looking at going to #4a's or #5's you will have to go with boxes to get the drives back far enough to be able to get her on plane.[/QUOTE


were they not 800sc pkgs from mercury?.....yellow boat...first one after they bought tooling from t.g......if so 800sc is 700hp and 800ft lbs torque......m.m..

They were gone thru at Sterling and were just over 800Hp. Cannot remember the torque numbers.

[QUOTE=el indio;2691754]

Mark's boat ways way less than youre average 41 Apache. I mean WAY less- like 3 or 4 thousand pounds. Makes a big difference on drive life.

The 3 will take 750hp but only with 50 hour disassembly intervals. Obviously longer if you cruise a lot, way less if you hammer it out of the hole or get sloppy on the throttle. Keeping them tight dramatically lowers your parts bills.

Realistically speaking, most guys aren't going to do the maintenance on the drive and virtually everyone I see is harder on drives out of the hole than they probably should be. So, you're going to see lots of broken 3's on big boats like the Apache.