Just when I thought I'd seen 'em all.


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...233arneson.jpg

I never knew it was possible to order a 233 LS from Formula with optional Areneson drive.

The 233 has a generous amount of rocker, so I imagine a surface drive would work well.

That's truly amazing! I wonder what boats in that era were actually equipped with the Arnesons?

I'll bet the 233 in that ad is the only one that got rigged with an Arneson. In those days, prop technology wasn't terribly sophisticated. That boat was probably a bit of a handful around the docks.

Hustler's 1980's 32 in both SE and LE configurations were equipped with Arnesons and could do better than 110 MPH.

A friend of mine had one and it remains one of the most impressive boats I've ever seen, but it too was difficult to maneuver.

Using eared props instead of the usual cleavers has to help some, but it still seems a might tricky to get that water around the transom when reversing.

Not a problem maneuvering around docks.


Jeff

It would be interesting to learn where this 233/Arneson boat is, and what condition it's in, is it being used, etc. Are there any boats being built today with drives similar to the Arneson surface drive?

Bit of a long shot!
 

Hey Mate, would you still have this hull by any chance?

233
 

Owned 3……fantastic boat!

The Formula 233 hull design has proven itself for almost 50 years now. In the places around the globe where boaters are facing tough sea conditions, they often rely

on their good ol' Formula 233, or newly produced variations of them, to get themselves back safely to the harbor after spirited runs. I often wonder why so many boat

manufacturers try to keep inventing the wheel? Somehow I got the feeling that offshore boat designers were more knowledgeable 40-50 years ago what truly works

than they've been the last 25 years. Boat construction materials, techniques, and drivetrains have vastly improved, the hull designs not so much.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...00045e932a.jpg