Jeffrey

Some of you may have seen my boat in this month's issue of HOTBOAT. It is the blue colored Cigarette at the Arizona Hotboat Poker Run that says "Cigarette" down the side in chrome vinyl lettering.

The boat weighed in at 7800 pounds with fuel with HP500's and Bravos. It ran about 88 mph on GPS. I have since added two B&M Megablowers with twin 800cfm carbs on each motor at three pounds of boost. Horsepower has increased to about 600. I am now running about 96 on GPS.

The difference between the traditional hulled Cigs and the newer twin steps is night and day. Contrary to popular belief the step hulled boats handle the rough water extremely well.

On a sidenote I am entertaining selling the boat for about $155,000 if anyone is interested. It has a full pleasure cockpit area with no cabin down below.

Havasu Cig

What are you going to buy if you sell the Cig?

As far as rough water ride is concerned we ran the DSM poker run in about 8' swells and were the second ones to finish. The first boat was a 42 Tiger with 900's. The boat flew nice and level, and re-entry was smooth. You can watch the video from the run on 09/11 at 8:00 pm on the outdoor channel. I have not seen it yet, but the helicopter was over us for about 10 minutes when we were running head on into the swells at 75 mph!!!

Jeffrey

Move onwards and upwards to the next logical choice - a Tiger!

thisistank

Hav. Cig....Do you know if you can get a copy of the video from the Poker run?? Or maybe from DSM??

Tank

Scooter

tank record it off of oln 8 pm sept 11, the outdoor channel, can wait to see it hear it from somewhere a while ago, but don't remember where?

thisistank

Scooter, I don't have the channel...That's the prob. Hopefully I can buy it from someone somewhere.

Tank

Havasu Cig

Tank,

I have an order form to order a copy, if you want to order one let me know and I can fax it to you.

Jeffrey, Good luck selling your boat, a Tiger will definitely be cool.

Tres

70-71mph with carb 500s with a box added you will see 2.5 gain. 550hp runs 76 mph. I do more cigs than anyone else thats all we do!! www.tresmartinoffshore.com

dockrocker

Jeffery,

I realize this is something of an apples-to-oranges comparison, but how does your boat (light lay-up, relatively mild power) compare to the more "traditional" boats like D-Man or BCC? If I remember correctly, D-Man is running twin 1000's through #6's, and BCC is somewhere close to that as well? Maybe she has 805's or 900's, I can't remember. Anyway, what kind of speeds are they seeing? I think it's interesting to see how the different approaches to pushing a big 38' boat compare - light weight / steps with mild power vs. more weight / traditional V with big power and surface drives.

Jeffrey

BCC purchased Ruckus from me. I owned Ruckus for almost three years. The original engine package was twin 740HP normally aspirated Cobra motors. I had the two Paul Pfaff 900's built a year after I bought it.

In answer to your question you cannot really compare the two boats (the traditional hull/full cabin boat versus the F-2 boat). The only thing they share in common is the Cigarette logo on the sides. Granted - both handle rough water very well but even then they tackle the conditions in a different manner.

The obvious difference is weight and the steps. The weight factor in combination with the degrees of the traditional Cigarette deep vee helps Ruckus plow through rough water without so much as a hiccup. The added weight of the big motors and drives further contributes to this condition. On the other hand the F-2 boat rarely does any plowing. It literally floats on air above the rough conditions. It sort of skips along the top of the rough conditions and almost has a glider-feel to it. It also flies extremely level which is indicative of a very well-balanced boat.

Overall though - there is no substitute for a heavy traditional hull Cigarette in rough water. Ruckus can turn and run in the wakes of other boats with no problem. Conversely, the huge steps on my F-2 boat make the boat squirrly in quartering seas or when following in the wakes of other boats. It absolutely hates any kind of side-to-side motion and that motion is exacerbated as the speed increases.

The F-2 boat is FAST but it is fast with limitations. It is definately a boat that needs to be driven. You cannot lose concentration for a second at the higher end (85+). The boat will get away from you if you are not careful. I recently added blowers to the motors and the boat is now running in the mid-90's. In excellent conditions the boat is very light feeling - but still stable. In average conditions you do not want to push the throttles to the wall or you chance going for a swim.

Like I said - the boats really cannot be compared. The F-2 is more fun to drive since it is so light and requires more concentration. It's like an Indy car - light and fast. You can push it to the limit but once that limit is passed - bye bye! If you aren't married, have no kids, and don't need a cabin - the F-2 boat is the only way to go.