mikes280

you know everytime something comes up about velocity's you chime in with this ONE STORY why don't you tell us about the new extreme v fountain that the bottom came out of in keywest this year on the first time they ran the boat or how many have spun out and thrown people out . all boats break most of the time it is drivers miss judgment that is the blame but when the bottom of the boat delaminates that is not driver that is poor building of the boat

Comanche3Six

Here's another story about stuffing a powerboat and build quality.

It's July 1990 and my friend Billy Stedman wants to take his 28' Cigarette for a couple hour tour of duty. The boat is mint. Power is twin small block chevys... merc trans...trs drives. A very heavy duty 65mph boat. We launch at Atlantic highlands at around 3pm..idle out of the marina, then he presses the zero efforts all the way forward and within minutes we are speeding under the Verranzano bridge toward Manhattan. We head up the East river and follow it around till it comes back to the Hudson.
Here is where it gets interesting.
As we turn left to head home we notice the wind has picked up considerably and the Hudson is getting a little nasty. We head into it at full speed. We are loving it! Tight, neat 4' to 5' waves, 65mph as we speed under the George Washington bridge. Wind howling, small blocks screaming and the wave heights increasing to 6', The distance between them is increasing also. The 28' Cigarette made a few leaps forward as it struggled to span the distance between the waves...I glance at Billy,he has a frozen smile on his face with the throttles pinned forward. Then it happens, leap,trip,stuff at full speed into the trough of a 6' wave. The impact shot Billy forward out of the bolster and to the left, striking his head on the boat. I had a death grip on the grabrail and ducked as we entered the wave. Enough water to fill an Oylimpic size swimming pool passed overhead. Then we resurfaced, cockpit full of water, engines still running and Flipper on the sunpad. Holy Hell!! I jump over Billy and pull the throttles back. Amazingly enough the engines are still running, the boat is still floating the bildge pumps are pumping to beat the band. And Bill looks like an Ostrich layed an egg on his head. What a lump! To shorten this story up a bit we made it back to port and later examined the boat. It did not have a single stress crack anywhere. He kept the boat for a few more years. It did not ever make a creaking noise no matter how rough the water was. This Cigarette was as solid as Billy's head.

beachbob

DITTO! Late 80's me and my buddy where coming into Miami around Jedi (not sure what the area called) Stuffed wave so bad broke the windshield in a 38 kv scarab.(the little plastic like black one) Whole cabin fell apart and mirrors broke in cabin! Was thrown onto rear engine hatches when it happen..Boat hull and engines fine and was like 10 inches if water in whole boat, bilge pumped it right out!!was scary as hell!!

BigMike

Mike, Posting at 2:47am??? Shouldn't you be sleeping?

Mike

JohnJan

Even though I STILL regret selling my 26' Thoroughbred to bglz - Comanche's story makes me glad I got a 28' Cig to replace it!

Now, if there were only some waves on Lake Travis....

mr_velocity

Unless there were 14 other boats running with it then it was a different day. This accident happened on our yearly fun run to Kings Piont LI. The run has gotten a lot smaller over the years but back in then there were a lot more boats. If you ever pull that blue tarp off the 36 you should run with us.

The Sonic did make it back on its own power that day. The following year the 35 was gone and a 45 with the identical paint job was on the lift. Now it's a 51 Epoxy OL

The fun run

You can come looking for stress cracks on my '96 41 Velocity. If Panther has an honest moment he'll tell you the boat is run hard. It may not be an Apache but twin 550s will push you well into the 80s and it doesn't break drives.

bglz42

Johnjan, bring that Cig to Galveston Bay!

Your old Thoroughbred has seen some ROUGH water conditions in the bay, and has always come out good. No new cracks! No problems. Flies level and fast!

Jim

Caincando1

Wasn't the Velocity that broke in front of the windshied in Chicago and 22? I'm pretty sure and when the final story came out. The guy was jumping HUGE wakes, much bigger than anyone should be in a 22.

Also are the wieght bare hulls only? I have to believe that Velocity saves some weight in other areas other than just the outer hull.

beachbob

according to thier websites the Velocity is 1500lbs lighter including motor and drives... It's pretty amazing they can make it that much lighter.. It Is faster then the fountain by the way. (you already knew that )

Comanche3Six

Sounds Good!