Let's just put it this way...I don't think you could get a flat bottom, full cabin gun fast enough to be a handful!!

You calculations, well at least what I've seen with Arnesons on these non stepped TG's, is off.

840hp Kurt's Marine motors will put one in the 105 range.

1000 hp, konrad drives, 102 mph in 3 footers. you wont find a better ride at that speed in those waves on any other boat. you don't feed unsafe in that boat for one min.

So I'm the spoil sort, why would someone do this 20 years later ?

Rik,

No doubt the Arneson setup will run faster with less power. The V's have to be sucking 60-70 hp or more just in rolling resistance when wound up high enough to achieve these speeds. Even with V's these boats will still be dragging gearcase too. My routine is showing 992 lb of drag per gearcase at 100 mph (set 3" below hull bottom). If I change the paramters for an Arneson setup, I'll probably see close what you are saying.

Did you do anything special to get bow lift your rigs, or do they go okay out of the box?

What props are you using?

From the few rigs I've checked, this one runs right on the predictions. The Konrads seem to consume a little less power than the SSM V's.

Before you confuse yourself, & anyone else trying to learn about these boats in this thread, it's better if you don't try to compare the TS Cigarettes to the non-step Cigarettes. There's no comparison between the two hulls, so their characteristics are totally different from one another.

Non-step Top Guns run better & better, with more & more power. The non-step Guns I've been in with big power & drives, all ran MUCH smoother than the ones with small power & bravo or TRS drives. I haven't been in a non-step at any speed that felt like the boat was becoming a handful, and I've been in a few with 1000+hp & 6's. They're too big & heavy to "lighten up" enough to get out of control, unless the operator is REAL stupid.

You will not be able to put enough power in a non-step to make it fast enough to become unstable. It would take substantial power to make one even kind of fast, so you're safe putting as much as 1200hp in if you wanted to. The more power you have in a non-step, the better the boat will ride.

Good post B.

When I first got my 88 kevlar Top Gun, it had 1240HP X 2, huber 1450's and wet sump #6 drives. It ran 112 mph. I believe that there has been no other side by side TG's that have run faster than 108mph or so. Bill Proctors staggered 90mph TG ran in the 114-115 range with Cobra 1200's.

How did it run @ 112mph? Extremely stable.

Thanks Blee, I really wasn't as confused as a sounded like, sorry. I know that step guns are very different from their flat bottom brothers ( all step boats for that matter) I learned that when I had the chance to drive my friends 35 fountain. I just wanted to know if you can overpower a flat gun. Thank you, that's the best explanation I have heard. I am curious though, you said that big power guns are smoother than small power bravo or trs boats. How does the ride and attitude compare between the trs/bravo boats and bigger power SSM boats?