Got a friend that is an ex record holder drag bike racer (retired) that HAS to have speed. He has a 33" vee hull now, but is looking for more speed. Hes real close to closing a deal on a 40' Ocean Express cat. Hes alittle wary of the surface drive. No boat on our home lake has them and everyone keeps telling him to beware of them. He tends to do alot of rafting up with short runs from here to there in between. What are the major draw backs of surface drives and what are the good sides?

I beleave the OE,s have Arneson/ Second Effort 16 inch drop boxes.

They are a very dependable drive. Some things to look for.
Check the gear oil for water. The screw is right behind
the skeg. The drop boxes have transmision fluid in them.
It has internal chains.

They do not offer counter rotation so this is usualy done in the motors.

Parts can be a little tricky. But outside of hitting something
you wont need any.

They use a 19 spline long hub prop.
There fast and efficient.

Reverse can be a little tricky but being on cat they will be better.

I wouldnt hesitate to own another boat with them.

Don't forget the nasty rooster she throws

And since the drive spends most of its time flush with the bottom of the boat, you probably won't hit much.

Its this boat. Is it a members boat? If not does anyone know the boat? Its out of Canada. Like to know alittle history before we hop on a plane.

Going from 33 inches to 40 feet is a big step

The 33 incher has twins if both people paddle at the same time

It's a 39. If he's a speed demon, he needs to spend the extra $$ and look at a Skater. The Express is a big, deep, robust rough-water cat. But the tradeoff is that they're heavy. A same-sized Skater will probably do 30+ mph faster on the same power.

The boat was designed for the Arneson drive. They run wonderfully and they're easy and cheap to fix- a fraction of fixing sixes.

I beleive that boat is out of Windsor, ON. If it is, the owner never beat it when I saw him out and it sounded nice.

seen it a few times out on the detroit river,,,keeps it at holiday marinia,,,lalsalle cananda,,,,looks like on a lift,,,,one of the best looking boat in our area,,,,,paint job is a 10