Skypirate

I am looking for some input from those of you who have been in a Active Thunder 37 step hull and Cigarette, fountain, Outerlimits, etc. step hulls. I am wondering about the ride and handling differences. I posted a thread "38 Cigarette or Active Thunder 37" and received some great responses. Thank you for all the replies. Some discussion was brought up about racing and the Harry Schoell designed bottom. I have read about the Harry Schoell design and heard the arguments about a single pivot point. I know Active Thunder went to a Marine engineer so they could get it right the fist time and probably paid dearly for that design. But they appear to be the only performance builder using a single step hull. Certainly Cigarette, Fountain and outerlimits have the resources to do the same. AT may well have gotten the best design out there. For those of you who have first hand knowledge, I would greatly appreciate some input.

Thank you for looking.

mmo jo

I whent to the factory for a rid on a 37 avh that was said to run 87mph. It ran 79-81 with 500 efis.It road nice, but I took a day off from work to take this rid and it was a big let down .All I kept hearing was 87mph 87 mph and it had trouble hitting 80.Then the salesmen called a weak later and asked me what my plans where and I told him I was staying with velocity.This guy got real ****y and starterd slaming velocitys.We just got in from Daytona .Scott M.from the factory me and two friends ran from Daytona to St. Augustine on the outside 4-6 and some 7s in my 390 with 500s man what a ride.I swear with Scott driving we ran speeds over 70 on gps. Then we came back on the inter coastal with rough water props and still ran 84 hitting the rev limiter.I bought a velocity for the real speed and service.

thunderdan

SkyPirate - Now this is ONLY one mans opinion, but I test drove or have been in just about every boat out there, Cigarette, Outerlimits, Fountain, etc. The Outerlimits was my top choice until I rode the Active Thunder. The amount of boat I could get for the price was untouchable by cig and outerlimits. The boat rides so perfectly in every condition, it was just totally amazing! I didn't really notice all that much difference between the Cigarette and Outerlimits and they seemed to turn good, but Pat took me thru some wild turns and into smallcraft warnings to prove his point, the other were more cautious. I actually rode in a 37 AVH with 496 HO power, top speed around 78 plus and we were running right at 70 MPH in big seas. This was with a handlheld GPS. NEVER once did the boat stand up, fall on it's side or do anything weird, it just runs so damn level that you wonder why this design is only used by them. Oh, and by the way, we never used any trim tabs! We guessed they were 6-8' with some 10's thrown in, the next day someone didn't believe me and I got the weater report and they were saying it was 7' swells, still, it was an extremely impressive ride. I wouldn't dare run in those conditions on purpose, but it showed me that the boat can and will do whatever it needs too, and SAFELY. This is my second Active Thunder, give me a call!

mmo jo,
When did you go out for your ride? I am surprised that the best you got was 81 on gps? Sorry you had a bad experience, but when I was doing my coparision I never heard Pat or Steve slam another boat manufacturer out there. Good Luck with your velocity.

Ike

Apache's 36ft has a single step and ran 81.5 mph on two gps at lake X with 500 efi's at over 10,000 lbs, out of the box.

thunderdan

That is pretty impressive for a 10k lb boat with 500 efi's.

Steve 1

mmo jo When was this? also By the way there is a 37' Step on the floor Right Now with stock 502s that will run Mid Eighties all day.Active Thunder is a very very Disciplined Operation,Pat has his niche of the market and Loyal cliental,The Main reason being He does what he claims and backs it up. Sorry for your bad experience. By the way why did you not make this post earlier??

Best Regards

AirSpeedEngineering

I must say, I have been following this boat for quite some time and everyone who rides in it seems to be very impressed, well except for one person. But I read the Powerboat Magazine article that certified the standard vee hull at just over 80 mph, so it must be safe to assume the Harry Schoal designed bottom should increase the performance by at least 10% or better. Obviously, I don't think they would be experiencing so much popularity and support if it didn't perform as the manufacturer states - but thats just my opinion.

Red Stripe

Active Thunder isn't the only manufactorer that is using Harry Schoell bottom design. They are just the best one I know of at least one other company that uses the DDC hull but not in a boat bigger then 33'.