Question for 38 and 42 owners
 

I currently have a 2000 38' Lightning. Speed is ok at 81 but I want to go faster, 95 or better. My question is to the 42 owners. Did you have a 38 before the 42 or go straight to the 42? Also if you had a 38 before and a 42 now would you go back to a 38? I really like my 38 but not married to that length at all. I have plenty of truck to pull either and don't mind trailering to and from landings. A little back ground: I boat from Florida to Virginia and out to the Midwest. Poker runs and family outings. Have not overnighted in boat but my wife doesn't seem to mind the idea of staying on it for a short weekend. In the future a possibility of playing in the ocean but not right now, or at least I think not now. Look forward to your responses.:drink:

I had a flat bottom 1993 42, then a 2002 47 and now a 1999 42. It's hard to go from a bigger boat back down. I'd like to have another 47. I trailer all my boats, still would rather have the 47.

Up until two days ago, I had a 38 but when I was initially looking I really wanted a 42 and would have bought one if not for my marina telling me it was too big for the racks. I'd been looking to go bigger ever since and finally came to the realization that the 42 was not going to be enough of a step up over the 38 to justify moving out of it. My 38 did 88 all day long with staggered 525's. In a 42, you're not going to see better numbers than that unless you go to a 700 boat with #6's. We do a lot of boating on the ocean and my wife wanted more amenities, so I went for a 47... came this morning..

We had a 38/700 with 6's. Loved that boat, fast, handled great and did what I needed it too. Ran Poker runs from Jax Fl to Northeast MD. That said have been in 3 different 42's they are much bigger boats, the cockpit and the cabin. They are the ultimate wave crusher. The still run plenty fast, 42/700 boat runs about 105, The 42 525/ bravo boat ran 90. The newer 42's 2006's on have the drives mounted very high. One friends boat was throwing blades from his props on a regular basis. It also managed to eat a prop shaft. They ended up putting on spacers to lower the props in the water to eliminate that problem. Slowed the boat down a touch, but dependability was more important.
You said Ocean......if you plan to run in the ocean, and don't mind towing the extra 4 feet go with the 42. I ran in some pretty sloppy water with some 42's they were a lot more comfortable than I was in my 38, We just couldn't run as hard in rough water as the 42's did.
Good Luck with your decision.

When I bought my 29' I wanted a 42, when I bought my 35' I wanted a 42. Bought a 42 9+yrs ago and still have it. It would be hard to go smaller unless getting into another type of boat all together (ski, fish,etc.). Bigger is better!

Couldn't agree more. If I had started with a 42 in the first place, I'm pretty sure I would have stopped there. A 42 with the right power is the boat to have. I went for the 47 though because I don't plan to trade out again and it's a good compromise with the wife to have some "cruiser" amenities and still have a 90 mph boat. And +1 on the ocean thing. If you get in anything bigger than 3 footers, you want bigger than 38... I couldn't get my wife out there unless it was pretty calm...

What kind of power are you running to do 90 ?

Triple 525 EFI's with sportmaster lowers and hering 6-blade props. On the sea trial last week, we got 89.7 mph with three guys on board, 3/4 full fuel tanks and glass-like conditions. Performance report from Fountain shows 94 as top speed.

Congrats! Do you have the 47 from Outerlimits?

Ok back on topic :lolhit:

You're right... sorry

I can't imagine ever going down in size and I just have a 40'. Even just going for a few rides on friends smaller boats 33'-38' last year was a "sore" reminder. I would say go as big as your wallet, storage, and trailering capability will let you!

Uh.... no

Lets just throw a thousand a side at your 38 ......Im kinda curious as to what it would do

Hell I'd be happy with 575sc's or 600's. I actually thought about going that way but it might be easier to finance a boat that already has in it or already does what you want it to do. Unless somebody is interested in giving me a great deal on some bigger power I am in somewhat of a holding pattern.

Actually the speed and fix for the problems with the drive height and props is well documented with Reggie III at RF Marine as with the owner of the boat that paid for it all.

What was done to get a stock 525 boat to 90 mph ??

I'd have to back Beak Boater on this. I know the boat in question, and I certainly don't know if it holds true for all of the 42/525 boats but that one does run. I was running a friends '08 525 38' earlier this year on a poker run as hard as she would go, and I know it was 90-92 MPH GPS for quite some time and that 42/525 boat ran a few clicks behind us and never lost any ground. It didn't make "sense" to me either, but it does it.

Did you have the purple Hallett on lake wylie? What power is in your 38?

90 is cooking for a 525 boat. I get 80-82 from a
04' 525 42

I did have the Hallett but it is now residing at Pier 57 in Chicago. My 38 has 525SC's. Toying with the idea of 540's or 572's and keeping the hull. Not sure which way to go. Put money into new power or take that money and the boat and put it into something that already has the speed and power I want.

Depends on your budget and what's important to you but given some of the things you said you were looking for, I'd upgrade to a newer 42 with 700/#6's for the following reasons:

- That boat will run north of 100 all day long
- Gives you the added length and comfort in the ocean when/if you want to go there
- Stock power so should be less challenging to finance
- If you're already thinking about a 42, it will continue to haunt you....
- Your 38 is already 14 years old; if you put a lot more money into it now; you probably will not recover that later if you sell it
- Easier to sell your 38 with stock power.

A 42/525 boat running north of 85 is rare; BeakBoater's friends 42 seems to have an exceptional setup to achieve that number but most 42/525 boats will run low 80's.

Yes I need to ride in a few 42's.

That's what I was getting at,,,,, a buddy has a 2006 42 525 EX I work on,,,, tried props,,,, drive spacers ,,,,, I have the top speed in that boat in the Lake Cumberland Poker run a few years ago at 86 MPH,,,, and it took a LOOONG time to get there

Heck. 82 in a boat that weighs more then 12k on stock NA power would be good enough for me.

I agree with HyFive578 you have the bug for a 42 you might as well go that route with the power and speed you want

600's will get you maybe 90 w blue printing and set up. 700's will get you 90 with stock lowers and no blueprinting.. if you get good set up and drives you can get closer to a hundred w 700's.. I would rather have a 42 with huge power and 6 drives.. but much more $$ to go 9o plus.. and my 38 set up is around 10,000 puunds w trailer give or take so for me, its better cause i trailer a lot and tow it with mt 38' motorhome

As Paul Harvey used to say...."here's the rest of the story"
A couple of things to look at if you are seriously in search of 100 mph boat......Check with your insurance carrier. It seems to some carriers that 100-110 mph will negatively impact your pocket. I used Stacey at WakeZone Insurance, they will insure it....but you will pay.
The 525's, 600's and 700's from Mercury all used CMI headers, you can do a search and read about the nightmares concerning their failures. At 140 hrs, I put 2 new sets of headers on...not cheap also.
The 6 drives boats are pretty much bullet proof as far as the drive goes, the NXT transmission's a few had problems with them...we never did sold the boat with 150 hrs. With the 6 drive set up, you are locked into either Herring, or Mercury propellers, the 38's ran a six blade the 42's ran a 5 blade.....you may find a used set for $6000-7000. New will cost you more. Not everyone will work on it should you ding it.
Just a few things that came to mind when owned ours. The boat was a rush....acceleration was unbelievable for a couple of 502's with whipples...basicly what the 700's are. Never regretted owning it, ran 110 mph loaded with fuel and 5 people, ran 114 light on its best day.
If you go with aftermarket power you can work around the CMI issues and 700 hp isn't that hard to make reliably, but then you can get into some reliability issues with the bravo style drives on that boat with big power. So its a trade off.

Good luck

Yep best I get is 83-84 and Fountain "birth certificate" for my boat said 87 which I have never seen.

Have you had any drive issues? If the setup is reliable that isn't bad. Pretty much the same speed I get out of a 32, with HP500EFI motors.

Go for the 42' the from 2004 to current all 42 have the same bottoms. all the 700 boats have #6 drives no nxt

I always thought they ran the NXT trans, upper, and transom assembly with a 6 lower?

Yes developed a slight gear whine on port at about 200 hrs. This is after religious annual care and moderate running with minimal air time. I don't go for big air because I know the damage it can do. On my outboard boat I needed lowers after too much "big air". So, got new lowers built and the next 130 hrs. no gear isssues but did have to replace both upper pivot bearings at about 300 hrs.

No, Fountain used the NXT transom assembly, the NXT transmission, and the entire No 6 drive unit. This was the standard for all the 700 / 6 boats. Reason was that the NXT drive did not work worth a chit on the Fountain hull.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...o55027-en.html

is this the boat in question? either way this 525 boat is dialed in :helmet:

With sportmaster shorties,,,,,, Id like to be there to watch him get that thing on plane

It is hard enough with stock Bravos and 5 blades

Yeap . Damn nice boat. But it will throw blades off those herings getting on plane most likley

My new to me 47 has the same lowers and 6 blade herings... but I have three of them... do you guys think I will have similar problems as you're suggesting here? previous owner didn't seem to have that problem...

I think the all white poker run 42 at loto had problems throwing shoes as well. Pretty sure it
ran shorties also.

I would not think so because the transom sits deeper,,,,,,how is it getting on plane?

Do the props blow out easily?