Favorite Offshore 25ft and smaller?
 

this thread got me thinking


http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=192991

Of course a good rough water 24' won't even tough the big dogs....

So what is your favorite 25' or smaller offshore V hull?

I did not include Cats because the 24 skater is faster, handles rough/slop better then most V hulls in this size range.

So let's try to keep it on track and talk V-hulls.

I personally like my progression of course, 24 ft 300 hp single outboard and 80-85 mph. Maybe not the absolute best in rough, maybe not the absolute fastest, but general all around its a very good boat for me.

Other notable boats that I also like include the pantera, superboat, Sunsation agressor....

What do you like and why?

24 Pantera and 25 AT(not made anymore) are great rough water boats.

Had A Couple Of 24 Superboats,, Not Bad Good In The Ruff Not The Fastest Out There,,,,, Didnot Like When 2 Guys Were On One Side Felt Like It Was Gunna Tip Over With The 7 Ft Beam ,,25 Powerplay I Had Was An Outrageous Boat Twin 225 Promax Went 85+GPS Handled Great ,Wide Beam, In The Real Ruff Rode A Little Hard But Not That Bad,,,,,Had a 22 Activator With a 280ROS Motor 85+ Good For A Bay Bomber,,, Best Bang For The Buck 25 POWERPLAY

If you want an outboard,Ocke Mannerfelt B23 or inboard,Ocke Mannerfelt V24.Excellent boats...fast in calm and handle great in rough!

Easy question...35 foot fountain, hands down winner.

1980, 24 ft. Jaws Super Sport by Lorequin Marine in Florida. Great looking boat and rides great in rough water.

Yes, because a 35' Fountain fits the bill of 25' and under... :cool-smiley-011:

:D:p:angry-smiley-038::party-smiley-004:

hahahaha.

Someone told the best bang for the buck was on Craigslist erotic services section:party-smiley-004:

Advantage 25' Citation with two 6.2s would treat you right.

Good in the rough, Deep hull, a great way to go.

Easily the 25 Tantrum from Active Thunder......Nothing even compares for handling, comfort and cabin space. Best all-around-not the fastest, but I'd rather be in a 25AT than a 29 Fountain in 3-4's!
2nd would probably be the Pantera or Powerplay....

I have to 2nd that on the A.T. Great all round boat, getting tougher to find though.

Best 24? For my money.........
 

I think this is going to come down to an East West preference thread.

For my money - Id go with the Laveycraft 24 Nuera why-?

Molded swimstep vs bolt on- much nicer.
Vacuum bag construction makes for a lighter stronger hull vs non bagged.
Lavey will power it with whatever you want- check out Quents 24 with an Ilmor 700 in it.
I prefer Gelcoat to paint and you can get it painted just like you see here or any way you want - standard by Jeff Camire himself.

Lavey consistently wins quality and worksmanship awards, and has racked up a highy impressive set of ocean wins against the whole world OSS & POPRA

The owners are awesome people Ive known for almost 20 years.

What else looks good-?

Eliminators Eagle is either a 23 or 25 depending on how you count the swimtep.

Gotta like Active Thunder as well- they do have really largest hull per foot of boat which translates to LARGE cabin areas. This probably also equals weight however. - you pick your tradeoffs

Never seen a Pantera that small, but I heard they have made them, if cared for- it will be a solid boat if you can find one.


Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan
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I would have to say the 24 Superboat is the best I have owned to date.

[QUOTE=Uncle Dave;2689357]Lavey consistently wins quality and worksmanship awardsQUOTE]


I`ve always wondered what Powerboat Magazine charged for those "awards". :party-smiley-004:

drumroll please.........
 

[QUOTE=Donman;2689380]
Quite the well though out, high quality, informative addition to this thread.

Your vote would be and why?

Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan

No particular order; just notes:

The 25' Baja Outlaw is a pretty good value boat. There are also thousands of them out there which helps folks get into them cheap.

The 25' Active Thunder is a great rough water boat. The boats are VERY solid throughout. There are not many out there, and they are no longer made; so scoring one is tough.

The 26' Sonic (actually 25' of running surface) is a great all around boat. Quite a few out there, well built, very solid; not bad in the rough. The wide walkrail costs a bit of cockpit room, but the cabins are well planned. They tend to be pretty heavy, so will not be the fastest.

The 251/253 Checkmates are pretty nimble and run pretty good in 2-3 footers due to a narrow beam.

The 24/7 boats which include the Superboat 24, Pantera 24, Sunsation Rocket/Aggressor, and a few others... I'd compare to go-karts on the water. Small, light, fast, narrow, and nimble, but not something you really want to take on a long trip in rough water. They all derived from the same hull, but topsides vary greatly. There was a thread on here which discussed all of the 24/7 boats in detail. These are great starter boats.

16/18/20/22 Donzi Minx/Classic will remain timeless as 2nd boats, dinner cruise boats, and just overall fun toys. They really were not designed to run well in rough water; more of a lake/river cruising boat. I'd love to have one someday; unless I can land an extremely rare 22' Active Thunder Banshee (but it's also not really an offshore boat).

I do also like the active thunders, been noticing more of them lately, they look like a pretty good rough water boat.

Progression still my favorite (of course I am biased...duh)

If you can find one the 80's 24 Sonic. Huge cabin for a 24. Not saying its the best, but fun to drive. Most all are outboards

Got give them credit for actually designing their own boat- a lot of the "makers" just splash someone elses saves lots of money.

I looked at their site, don't know how the "variable deadrise bottom" concept works in reality but the idea seems sound.

Vacuum bagging is the way to go (or resin infusion which is REALLY expensive)

Paint/gel is right out of the 70's




Uncle Dave

Laveycraft 2750 Ilmor-710
Laveycraft 20.8 Sebring 406 SB
Fleetwood nitrous toy hauler
Yamaha raptor 700/Kawi KFX 450
Nissan Titan

Brownie's 24 nova :drink:

I love the old school look on the gel. My boat is mostly white with a black outline and grey accents so its not all fancy like the newer boats but not totally dated either.

I don't know much about the variable deadrise in how it actually compares to performance of other boats, but I can say it seems to land pretty soft and handle a fair amount of water for its size.

Thanks again for the pp25 it's a great boat

The AT is spalshed off a cigarette 24'

Just little biased here, but the 25 Magum Sport has the "V", the beam (8 ft) and the weight to put it with the front of the pack when it gets rough. It also performs exceptionally well with a decent sized single.:cool:

Love someone's comment on the 24' bat boat. Hands-down THE winner of this best rough water 24' and under....just ask anyone on the Boyne Thunder poker run last year!!! We were consistently passing boats in that rough Lake Michigan water - especially a certain red 38' Donzi ZX...:evilb:

I'm sure there are a ton of great 25' and under boats out there but I only have first hand experience with my Pantera. I rarely get into bigger water but when I do it really shines for a small boat.

When I was shopping I had Superboat, Active Thunder and Pantera on my short list.

I agree with the Bat Boat. I've seen some of those run great in big water.

simple! the TD sting ray!:evilb:




sorry...i had to!

---------My short list of great 25 and downers would be the discontinued 24 foot DONZI in any one of its four deck styles. Beamy with good flair at the bow and a Harry Schoel (sp) designed 24 degree hull add up to a 24 that can do just about anything you want it to do. They were built like battleships and other than transom rot have very few problems. Wish they were still made. Heard that there is a pop out there but Id like the DONZI name on the title.......Bill S

Ya so what wasn't splashed from something.(except A.T. 37/33/43) I know the boats and it would be alot easier and cheaper to find a very nice 25 A.T. than to restore a 24 Cig and the Thunder has more freeboard. He asked and I answered IMHO and experiance.:ernaehrung004:

The thunders are nice boats. It was meant as compliment. The banana and others used the cig too.

24 Skater, I know you said V's only, but you wanted to know what the best is.

UMMMMMMM ....... :cool:

I gotcha....:ernaehrung004:

26 Corsa (of course) Actually 25'3".

Yep!!

Had a buddy with a 1974 24 foot Donzi Doral with twin sbcs and volvo 270 drives.
Great 24 footer.

disqualified :party-smiley-004::food-smiley-007::eek::eek:

I am going smaller, 20 Baja Outlaw, Holy Chit those are fun to drive, especially with the 350mag. I have to give credit to a 22 Checkmate also, WOW, talk about going airborn:ernaehrung004:

WILL