44 can be rudder/shafts or a #6, 44 is the same width as a 42... 10'6", no wider than your nor-tech now.

There has to be a reason why all the 44s I have seen are rudder boats, Pier 57 told me this as well. True or not? I may have had a few glasses of wine for lunch that day.....

the mercedes boat, hammertime and spine tingler are all 44 decks with #6 drives.... sterling silver in the other thread is a 44 stand up with #6's

What exactly did they tell you because I own a #6 44 and it is incredible. Very little bow rise, planes by 18.2 mph. I don't know what the drawbacks are except possibly $40-60K. MC can you think of any?

What about the trailers, what exactly does it take to tilt and move?

From what I've been told the 44 with sixes is the way to go. With the rudder boat you have hardly any steering. To me the rudder boats felt too loose runing hard or just didnt feel hooked up like a number 6 boat. Also if you have big power and run crash boxes with a rudder it hard to handle around the docks.

Get a pair of Chief 1,200 Twin Turbos. I hear that they can go a lot longer than a supercharged engine between rebuilds.

Bernie call around and see what inurance is available. The carriers I spoke with laughed.

The fastest I have been in a 40 Skater has been 193 which was an arneson boat. I think for all out speed the shaft drive is the fastest. It would also appear both drives have positive and negatives aspects but both are real cool.

The new 46 Skater that left Monday has turbo charged motors and Arensons should be way cool.

I think he is talking about the 44' being designed for surface drives and rudder. I don't know of any drawbacks either.