Saber Everytime

Saber,
and you would get your boat.

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

A 28 Saber with twin Smallblocks did very well racing in P4. Racing against much bigger boats too.

Dang... Got a ton of saber love here.

As with anything else allot of it comes down to personal preference, and everybody has there own.. So here's my 2 cents worth: I have owned 3 Pantera's,, two of them being 28's (1 single & 1 twin SBC) and currently own a 28 Saber.. Both boats are very well built, but with that being said I would have to give an edge to Saber.. The lamination on these boats are absolutely incredible !! I have been on and around allot of boats and I would put their build quality against Anybody's regardless of how much it cost, ect..

I know people often have a tendency to "vote" in the direction that pertains to them, and I understand that.. When I bought my Saber I had already owned 2 Pantera's and knew the boats well.. I had been looking around for a while and looking at both Pantera's & Saber's both, and was pretty sure I would end up in another Pantera... However when the opportunity presented itself for me to get a hold of the Saber I now own, I had some quick decisions to make so to make sure I made them based of first hand knowledge I quickly jumped on it by a few phone calls and basically LSS. I loaded up the family for a 12+ hr drive to West MI. that weekend to lay my eyes and hands on the boat firsthand with intentions of coming back the following weekend with the $$ if all checked out well... So as the story goes it didn't take me very long at all to inform my crew that we would be taking the same road trip the following weekend with ole yeller in tow.. ;-)...

As I've said said Both companies build a great product, no doubt about that and it would be hard to go wrong with either... I'm aware that the OP has also had a good bit of first hand experience with Pantera's and I'm confident that he knows the boats well himself.. That being said and yes in comparing the two boats head to head I do give a build quality nod to the Saber.. However would I own another Pantera after owning the Saber ?? Absolutely !! ;-)

* I'll add that where my knowledge falls a bit short at is the fact that although I've owned a Saber for several years I've yet to actually splash it, so as far as "ride" goes in speaking of these two particular boats I only have Pantera knowledge firsthand.. However I don't have any problems believing the Saber will perform at least every bit as good... As many of you prob. already know my boat had huge power and a rather healthy drive train (for a 28) before I got ahold of it.. And likewise some know as well that although it was Very well & Very meticulously maintained it wasn't in any way babied around Lake Michigan either !!!
I've spent countless hours All over this boat and there is not a stress crack to be found anywhere on the boat !! Some may say "well it only has 67hrs on the hull so it shouldn't have any stress cracks" But when you add twin 605"s that were prob. making in the 700+ range, a pair of # 5's spinning large dia. props, Lake Mich water , and lastly the most important factor would be the combination of a Huge bag of balls and the Velcro wrist strap around the throttles adds confidence in me saying that none of the rest of it will hurt it, or run it any harder..

I'm not on here posting as much as I used to be but if there is something that I may be able to help with, feel free to hit me up because I'm sure I left a few dozen things out,or possibly didn't make complete sense on something I said possibly due to a few dozen run on sentences, bad punctuation, ect..ect.. .. lol..

Scott C.

Something to think about if speed is a factor, I would guess the Pantera with 550 a side probably runs mid 80's? That particular Saber with a retune and prop change is a mid 90's boat. Both are nice boats, Pantera looks good in the pics and I have seen the Saber in person many times.

I've been on 28 Pantera's...there's not much in the way of freeboard with those boats, always seemed to me they'd be better as sit-downs. Anyway, how does the freeboard on the Saber compare to the Pantera?

freeboard on a saber is considerably more. being not the tallest guy in the world i felt comfortable in my pantera's. if your over 6ft you look like a french fry sticking out of one.

That's something I did have some measurements at one point & time because I know this question has came up before and I had my 28 twin SBC Pantera while having the Saber so I had them both sitting here at one point & time and think I remember this coming up during that time.. That being said I don't remember exactly what the differences was, but mine is sitting here in my shop so I would be glad to pull any measurements on mine if anybody wants them for a reference...

To be perfectly honest I don't remember it being a huge difference, However I must toss out the disclaimer that I'm far from the tallest cat on the block, so it was never that noticeable or of much concern to me..

If memory serves me correctly it does seems as if the Pantera has a bit less, and possibly more noticeable in the rear seat than the bolster area... Like I said I'd gladly pull a tape on mine if anybody needs a reference..