I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the off shore boat market. I don't own an offshore boat but do own a small 21ft cobalt. . I have had the pleasure of meeting Reggie Fountain and was suprised by his approachableness. I also had the pleasure of driving a 27ft fountain with a 502 and was very impressed with that boat outside if its slow planing and cavitation. I have been in a couple of scarabs older 80's stuff one 30 and one 38 down at LOTO which I'm just a mere 45minutes from. I often wondered what is the best off shore V bottom boat built. With the following qualities in mind for a Size 30 to 36ft performance boat. Power Twin engine installation

1. Build Quality (after buying a Cobalt in the small boat sector there really is no substitute for quality. ) Quality in terms of ergonomics, proper heavy duty hardware backing plates, bolts, vinyl and foam quality, quality gauges, controls, engine access, warranty, mold work, glass work, gel coat, wire routing and hardware. etc.
2. Speed for equal Horsepower say on the high end twin 500 hp efi's or something entry level like twin 496's 425 hp engines. Or even small blocks if applicable on the smaller 30 to 32 footers. something reliable, relatively affordable compared to supercharged race motors.

3. Value per Dollar

4. Manufacturer /dealer support..
5. Longevity for instance old Formula's , Fountains, Cigarettes, Scarabs, etc. Which brands in your opinions had the least problems with rot, or other age related failures.

Are some manufacturers really that much faster than other boats similar size?

Here is a list of Manufactures that are pretty popular around here, in no particular order.

1. Fountain
2. Cigarette
3. Donzi
4. Formula
5. Hustler
6. Velocity
7. Profile
8. Baja
9. Sonic
10. Scarab

Cobalt too but their bigger off shore attempts have been pretty slow.

33' Active Thunder for new, 35' Cigarette Playboy/Mistress for old

I here that one a lot here ,, I need to check them out. Thanks for the response I was begining to think it was a dumb question. My wife and I are thinking about getting a bigger boat to use at LOTO on the big weekends like the Shoot OUt and OSS race etc. and maybe someday we can buy one of these bigger boats. We would probably by older used

34 hustler is nice also or 35 donzi ZR .

OUTERLIMITS is all you need to know.

You need to establish a price range first, and then guide yourself to your goal from there.

I believe there are now 6 - 32' Active Thunders for sale in the OSO classifieds. Any of them would suit your needs very well.

They are all good choices excluding the Profile heard a lot of bad things from there owners.

I went to this website and noticed that like my Cobalt there is no wood in these boats. I like that idea. My price range is undetermined at this time. Late this summer we looked at an old Cobalt Condurre that needed engines and it got me interested in learning more about these big perf. boats and their different manufacturers. I think a purchase of one of these boats is a ways out. But it was my wifes idea to not trade our cobalt but to buy a boat for the Ozarks when we decide to go bigger. Mainly I love boats, boating , racing, going fast. I would much rather work in the boating industry than the computer industry. Or maybe one day I could combine the two. Thanks for the responses this far, I have enjoyed looking at these manufacturers that I am not familiar.

Top four offshore boats in no particular order. Listed in ABC order.

-Active Thunder
-Cigarette
-Nor-tech
-Outerlimits

You need to make your list top six. Lets not forget Apache & Pantera.