Outboard Speeds
 

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Who is running the fastest 26 foot or greater---outboard powered boat on the East Coast?

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I mean in a race/pleasure version versus a full race boat with no amenities at all.

There is a Skater with triples that was an awesome boat but it was a one off type of boat and no longer running high top end numbers---so I'm told.

GPS photos are welcome and so are photos of the boat.

It can be any class/type of motor from 2.5 Offshore to 2.5 Drags to 300X or 300XS.

[No nitrous stuff but all other performance enhancements are fine.]

Curious as to what types of speeds boaters are seeing from their platforms.

KAP

P.S. You can leave out the distant friends and there was this one time when the planets were in alignment stories----really want to hear from the boat owner if possible.

P.P.S. I have a side bet going there is probably less than 10-15 boats on the entire East Coast in the 120MPH range in a 26ft or greater hull powered by outboards:boat:.

I hit 122 in my 28 Skater with Diamond Marine 2.5`s 340hp ea on the Dyno. Charlie T has gone 126

My 32 Skater ran 137.5 with quad 2.5's

Single 2.5 on this I ran 91.5 mph average for an official UIM speed record on Coniston Water England, the leisure version reached 64mph on the GPS with a 250 Verado

I know of 4 on Long Island and 2 in New Jersey, all 28 foot Skaters........ and your number is not far off.

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I posted on Performance Boats forums and one guy with the triple 28 Skater claims a top speed of 132MPH---that was it not many if any on the West Coast.

It seems like the hull of choice is Skater in the go fast outboard arena---not surprising.

I was hoping some other manufacturers would chime in ie...all the Doug Wright people but I would venture to guess or estimate that there is probably only two DW's currently running at all.

Thank for posting up:

Offshoresteve, tzrider, cookee and T2X---hey T2X what types of hulls are those other guys running I assume 28 Skaters.

It is really interesting that this area of boating has largely been ignored ie...larger performance boats with outboards. The majority of O/B boats are the little river rockets STV, Mirage, etc...

KAP

Kap
In Regards to the Doug Wright, we ran 121.9 at the Kilos in NC a few years back.

Not a 26 but I had an 18 foot Mirage with a stock 280, 14 1/2" 32 Merc cleaver that ran 119 on gps. It was a great driving rig. My wife was terminally nervous about the boat so I finally sold it. It was aptly named the "Nervous Mother".

Stop fishing dude and Man Up...You need to step up on the west coast and run the boys in the DCB's down with a 26' RPM:kiss: See you in 23 days...Havazoooooooooo:drink:

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Fishing I wanna hear what is out there it is usually referred to as doing your homework ie...G-2 groundwork.

I was just at DCB and they have a M-31 in the works with some HUGE power that will be debuting in the Poker Run.

I wanna hear from the Outboard crowd to see what everyone is running----Not many boats hitting the kinda numbers that will make me happy----Except for that 120MPH 28 Skater with twins which allegedly hits that number with ease.

Still waiting for the real deal outboard boat owners to chime in and blow me away with some ungodly stats.

KAP

Back in the early 90's there was another company called Redline that had a 28 that ran 118+ with old school power, I would guarantee if you put todays technology behind it it would run some crazy speeds and handle like a dream. Profile has the molds now and only produce it in an inboard version.

All of the Long Island hulls, over 26 feet, that have achieved over 120 and are outboard powered are 28 foot Skaters.....as are the NJ boats. My 28 Skater w/2x300x motors ran over 122 flat out on a cool day with 20 gallons of gas and a single driver..... it ran over 120 with a passenger on a couple of occasions. I never removed seats or other hardware, safety equipment etc. Mine was not the fastest but it was typical of what a pair of stock 300x motors could achieve if set up properly. Ex Offshore racer, Charlie Tesauro, has seen north of 126 in his...but that was with the interior stripped and some highly tuned/modified 2.5 mercs.

In typical midsummer boating my boat with a fuel load and a couple of passengers could bank on 117-118 any time I wanted. That's a lot of speed for the typical knucklehead and more than most can handle.

I would love to do an A-B comparison with 300x motors on a 32 DW and a 28 Skater.

T2x

SkaterJim from Georgia is probably the fastest 127 and some change.

I would love to see that comparison.

Honestly, I would put my money on the DW in every category speed, handling and rough water capability----well the only category I could see the Skater besting the DW in would be standing start acceleration. That is simple physics smaller somewhat lighter boats will have the holeshot everytime until about the first turn.

KAP

P.S. I'm running 118+MPH in a deckboat currently hows that for your family boat---with my bimini top up cruise at 85MPH no problem 9.5 foot bimini:drink:.

P.P.S. Hence, if I went to an outboard boat it would need to be in that realm of speed---which would be fast enough--- anything more and things get a little to flighty for my tastes.

The problem with that comparison would finding a pleasure 32 dw to do it with. The 28 Skater in calm water will be faster. On the race course the 28 can not touch the DW

You could complicate this by laminating the Skater as light as the DW......and...... widening the tunnel in scale with the DW. At that point the 28 Skater would become a whole different animal and 130+ would be easily attainable. I wish Peter would try one of these but, as a custom boat the price might get a little steep for a smallish outboard. The DW is very light...and very wide in the tunnel area.....and that is the basic "secret" to its speed. They are impressive no doubt and I have been pleasantly surprised watching them at the races.....

T2x

I run a '73 MAGNUM SEDAN w/twin 300X's, boat weighs over 5,600#, GPS @ 78, @ 6,300 RPM. Prop work being performed to get to 6,800. Not the fastest but for and old straight V-bottom, solid glass hull...it does the job.."HIGH LIFE"

We tried to dupilcate the 32 dw with my 328 cob race skater. 60" tunnel. 72"tunnel tab, light weight carbon/foam layup,deck cut way down, but it was a big boat, with wide sponsons, and an overall width of 10'3". Best we saw out of it with 15" 2.5 mercs was about 110mph, about 10mph off the DW pace.

Yes fast and fun boats.

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I couldn't agree more with the highlighted section above. Nice to hear it from another source the width of that DW makes it very fast ---packs the air and lets the sponsons tip toe over the water---aka air entrapment hull.

The Doug Wright people are like phantoms I mean how many boats race---pleasure are currently on the water 4-5 maybe and I mean within the last 5 years.

KAP

I was talking about widening a 28......or even a 30. The 32 Skater is, indeed, a big boat......probably too big for twin outboard maximum speed use. No doubt Doug Wright hit on something with his 32....but is having difficulty re capturing magic in a bottle at larger sizes.

You want to see real air entrapment?......Watch my "wing" run.


T2x

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Can you post some photos of this boat it sure would be nice to see it---sounds like a fun project.

What was the problem with the boat carbon/foam layup should be very light---I would guess the overall weight or the CG was not right for outboards---just a guess.

You can elaborate and fill in the blanks I always like hearing from boaters with experience aka hard work, and headaches from trying new things.

KAP

P.S. T2X don't hold back you can post a video it doesn't seem like were gonna have any guys chiming in on their top speeds probably need to post at Scream and Fly but that site is not an offshore site more of a river rocket site.

I ran 115-117 with my 30' Motion with triple 280's. Unless you are full race light hull the 120 mark is about it for a pleasure outboard cat. If you want faster you need to go I/O power. A dead reliable setup is my 32 Skater with twin 700 EFI and Dry Number Sixes. 130+ mph. With the extra weight they are handle much better at top speed than the outboard boats. Outboard cats get real loose at high speed. Shogren Performance has the 32 for sale for only $114,995.

Would like to see one of these with twin 300's. :drink: Be curious to how it would run.

it's now racing as Spirit of UAE in the x cat series. I know rich narrated some video of it running in the hudson river poker run. The issue was that the sponsons were much wider than a dw and there was just more boat to push. Acceleration was better 60-100 though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEz7rZ10gHo

quick shot at 55 sec and again at 2:40

http://www.skaterpowerboats.com/2007nycprvideo.html
here's a better clip with rich narrating. @:29 sec

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Generally speaking, I think your conclusion is correct there is always an exception boat but your right ie...120MPH is about the max. Second, size matters when your in the ocean so a 28 footer is really tiny for the Pacific Ocean.

A better set-up is a flat deck 30 with those motors and NXT drives [less weight with the NXT]. I'm not knocking the 32 because every foot counts when your running in the ocean it probably kicks azz:).

Funny you mention that----as it is a contender in my book. The only draw back is 26 feet is awful small for the ocean---lakes and rivers no problem---also if you run a Mirage, STV everything else seems huge but it's not:drink:.

The second video was such a teaser nice looking boat seems from the clip that it runs strong and dry carrys the bow real good. Hey thanks for sharing those clips I love that stuff nice to see the envelope being pushed surprised Mr. Hledin did not perfect that idea and smoke the competition like he always does---guess you can't win every category:).

KAP

Profile did make a couple of the 28's with outboards. I have one of them. I have a 1998 profile 2800 cat with twin 300's. I run mostly and Lake Michigan and it runs great through the slop out there. I have been nothing but happy with the boat.

I want to move up to a little bigger cat, with more I/O power, but just not in the finances right now. I have toyed around with listing my boat for sale, but the market just sucks right now and don't want to lose my ass on my boat. I would be happy getting what I owe out of it, but that is even difficult these days.