sonic's history
 

Just curious on what peoples opinion is on sonic..
Especially the older ones .. I've heard that the original sonic's
were very good rough water boats..... other people i talk to
say stay away its nothing but a lead sled....

Sonic's are a good rough water boat, Yes they are a little slower to a comparable size and powered offshore but on the plus side they usually have a larger cabin than many boats it their class.

I have a 1990 30SS with 2 x 640hp and runs mid 90's. The rougher the water the faster she runs. Flies straight, lands smooth, no chine walkin. Never a scare. Small cockpit with generous cabin. Can't beat the walkaround deck. I have not been in any other boats this size or bigger but am very happy with it.

You can't go wrong with a Sonic, I belive it was Powerboat magazine that called Sonic" boatings best kept secret". I'm on my 3rd year with my current Sonic and have no complaints.

they are a good boat had one for two years ready to up grade to a 35 sonic

My only complaint about Sonic is that a 80's Sonic looks just like a 2002 Sonic.

Why should the looks change? I hope my wife looks the way she does now 10 yrs. from now.

Fred, you get that damn thing in the water yet? At this point I think I am anticipating it more than you!!!:p

thx guys, i'm am looking at an older model , actually its probably a classic 1980 33 rs , the boat looks to be in near mint condition.
it has trs's with nosecones, and fresh 440 bbs in it, what can i expect for top speed at wot?? i'm hoping for 65 mph, that would keep me happy for now...... I loved the post about "apache whats in a name"
any kind of history about sonic's ? Have they ever raced in offshore with the big boys?
sonic's are definitly bad ass looking boats.....

A LEAD SLED.......
 

I wasn't gonna post on this because of course I'm partial, I have a 26 Sonic.......but, I'd like to talk to the person who call's a Sonic a lead sled.... :eek: Yes, they are heavy boats but if you ever ridden in one flat out, its GREAT!!!! Like Ken said "no chine walk, no scare". They may not be the fastest but they hold there own with a whole lot more ammenities than most of the "faster" boats. It all boils down to what kind of boat you want.... a narrow hull with less ammenities, weighs less = quicker boat or a wider hull + luxury = slower boat.... but then again you can make any boat go "fast" all it takes is$$$$$$$$ and there's always gonna be somebody faster....:D
Mrs. Prowler:)

XCAV8, what part of the Hudson valley are you from?
Do you ever boat on the Hudson?

I don't know about slow, I've never lost a race to a similar powered boat in flat water. In rough water (5'+) I've NEVER lost a race to any boat. Although most of the time when I do get blown away, I always have a guest to witness the humiliation!! And they always refuse to jump overboard to lighten the load!:p

Mrs.Prowler

yes i boat on the hudson, i'm from the poughkeepsie
area, my boat is moored at norrie point,

well all i can say about the guy who called it a lead sled owns
a hustler....

Mrs. prowler one ??? do you work for a general contractor
with the initials S.C.S

Here is a pic of the boat im interested in

I just sold a 1988 Sonic 30ss which I had for 9 years the boat seem to get better with age. We never had any hull problems or stress cracks. We re-powerd it a couple years ago with 450 Hps and bravo 1 drives and were very happy with the performance. In fact the only reason we sold it was to upgrade to 42 Sonic which we purchased a little over a month ago, so far we have no regrets.



Steve

What I've always wanted to know about Sonic is what is with the arch? Does it increase structual integrity or something? Even the newer ones, come on not everyone puts radar on something 28'.

Becca, the arch has one critical function and no other known uses. There are photos at the end of BN's " Arch or No Arch" post of this use. Its for the hotties to hang onto!!:D

The only thing I've seen it used for is a diving board ;)

Becca - go4broke i like the arch, that particular boat did not come with the arch.... the present owner added it for the sonic look.....

Plus the hotties need something to hang onto ;)

Lead Sled?!?!? Take a look at this!!

http://www.offshoreonly.com/gallery/....php?photo=449

I LOVE my 26' Sonic. I too get walked on flat water sometimes by similar size and similar powered boats. I don't care! When it gets rough, I get on the dash and stand on the trottle, (JK), and I have never had a scary moment, not even in the pic linked above!

Go4Broke, that's pretty funny.....I'll go one better, we had a little 19 ft. Lazer w/ a 2.4 merc. ob tricked out, that dumped all of his people to come after us, well, geez we only weigh 4000lbs. more than him, what are some people thinking???? I had 70 gall. of fuel 15 gal. fresh water and two huge anchors plus a full cooler, and he's dumping people.... should I have started throwing things overboard and dumping fuel??:rolleyes: then he tells us he does 86 mph on gps after telling us he dumped everyone to come after us. He was worried about getting that little extra...UNREAL!!

Becca, I love the arches, they are Sonic's trademark and when we go to a bigger Sonic it will have a Arch. I hope they never take that factory option away. Of course, it won't be for hotties, been married almost 15 yrs. it's all about the LOOKS!!!

XCAV8, we boat on the Hudson too, up North more by the Rip Van Winkle bridge, you should come up this way some time. Are you talking about Black Cloud (hustler)? He used to come up this way all of the time. If you put them motors in a Sonic you'd go pretty quick too!!! Ps. I don't work for a general contractor, I work making my hubby dinner every day...etc.:p
Good luck on your Sonic purchase....maybe we'll see you on the river sometime......:)
Oh yeah, there was a older 30ft. Sonic in the Catskill creek this weekend with a big AC unit in the deck hatch, I wonder who that was? They stayed the weekend. Also there is a Sonic that does offshore racing, team boathouse, I believe, thats about all the info. I know on that, but you see them every once in awhile on the tv. I do believe the driver or throttleman posted once on this forum..cool!

well what did you guys think of that
the classic sonic i posted??? eehhh or what?

Black cloud hmmmmmmm Maybe

I maybe wrong on this (Boat beer talk) but I thought the 38 Sonic was from the 38 Cobra Race boat Hull The 38 Cobra was an one Hell of an Offshore rough water boat, The best of the time !and a Champion to boot.
A foot note the Cobras Mother was the 44 MSV Guess what the “S”= Saccenti
:)

XCAV8 - That boat looks very nice for a 1980.

I need to chime in on the led sled comment. There is a well known name (Cigarette) that also needed a lot of power to get it moving before they came out with the stepped hull option and you have to pay a lot more for those boats. Sonics and Cigarettes may not be speed demons, but they run very respecatble speeds especially in the rough stuff.

I think that the Sonic is a great boat. If we ever get rid of ours, it will be for another Sonic.

I just sold my 42SS to my buddy, we loved it, especially the room, you can't beat that, unless you have a Black Thunder. The boat was good in rough water, thats where this hull excelled, the ride was also dry, and overall quality of fit and finish and rigging was good, not the best, but these boats are fairly priced and Jay at the factory was a decent guy to deal with. The other thing we liked was the arch, (I know I am one of the few), it stood out and I thought complimented the hulls lines as well as gave it that legendary Sonic look that we loved, just my .02, good luck in finding a boat, you won't be disappointed.:D

Oh, and as for the arch ... Enough Said :)

I knew someone would say that.:D

It's OK - just don't tell me they're using a 25 year old mold.

Kind of pointless buying a 2003 31 when I could buy yours and have the same boat for a third of the cost!!

Steve 1 -- now i have heard that the sonic came from the coyote
hull ?? not sure though....

anyone have any idea how fast that thing will go with twin 440s ?

Sonic just like any other builder has it's strengths and weaknesses. It was and is made to run in big water and provide the owner the ability to have extended stays in the cabin. (I sell them so yea I might be biased but I also see a lot of boats so I think my perspective isn't all that scewed). Anyone can dis anything if they work at it. All depends on what kind of boating YOU do, not the next putz. As far as being a sled...well in flat water they definitely are not as fast as some but put it in a poker run or a romp to Bimini and then let's review. When you take the wife and kids out and get into the snot see if your spinchter isn't somewhat less tight with all that freeboard fiberglass keeping you in the boat. It all comes down to PREFERENCE....:D

"Take a look at this!! "...man is that dude ever out of control. scarry!

i like sonics,,, lots of head room in the cabin

:D

Lead sled it is not. My husband and I bought a 1999 45 in February and loved it. 3 500's and she runs low 80's with gen. a/c all the amenities. In May also bought a 28 for the short trips. You will be very happy with the ride and if you are married or a girlfriend she will love the amenities.

I worked on one 28 Sonic. Mercruiser warranty, trim problem. Motors are not very mechanic friendly. they obviously install the motors, then put the deck on. The owner wanted a qoute for a 100hr service. We told him a $1000.00. He went to one of our compettiters, and wound up paying $1200.00. The owner of Sonic contacted us, and wanted to know if we would become a west coast warranty station? We refused?

X,
That 1980 Sonic is a work of art. I like it a lot, and you should definately go for it. You will not be disappointed.

Audacity, we were NOT out of control. Albeit the launch was unexpected, the boat was solid throughout, including a soft, yes soft, landing. We had just launched twice and on the second re-entry, we drove up the third swell like a sheet of plywood; only clipped the swell with the aft 3rd of the boat. The boat re-entered like a warm knife falling into soft butter. CheckmateF1 was on board with Mrs. CheckmateF1, as was my g/f at the time. I hesitate to think of what would have happened if I was in a pad bottom 25/26' lake boat, and hit that sequence of swells at speed. I think the only boats I would trust in that situation would be a Sonic, Cigarette, or AT.

Team Gary,
Did that 28 have twin BB or SB? I will agree that the 28 Sonic is too small a boat have a twin setup period. Even the 31 can be with blowers. This is because of the much liked walk rail around the boat, which does take up some cockpit and engine compartment width. I plan to skip the mid 30' range boat, and go directly to a 35-38' Sonic, AT, or Cigarette. In this range boats, the AT and the Sonic, extend the width of the engine compartment out to the edges of the hull, and delete the walkrail around this area. This makes the boat much more mechanic and twin friendly. I would vote for Sonic dropping the 28 Sonic, or at least the twin option on the 28. The boat is too much like the 26 Sonic, and it does not need twins, just a big single. If you want a mid size twin, go for at least the 31ss.

OFS, does your 28 have twin BBC or SBC? How do you like the engine compartment? Your 45 is absolutely beautiful!!

sorry brian, that's a hard sell on that one. who in the boat exactly is controling it when it's in the air like that???

examples of control:

http://www.checkeredflagphotography....ct_daytona.htm

Sydwayz-
Never been in a 28' Sonic, but they are good looking boats- have been in a few 31's, and they have a great ride.
I have to disagree with you on the twin install on a 28'- don't know how it works out on a Sonic, but I have twin 350MagMPI's in my 28' AT, and I love the boat! If you want twins in a 28' AT, all you can get is SBC. The other two AT twins made have Scorp power, and are very quick boats in any water.

Nice choice in boats you would trust in that situation- I'd have to add Pantera and Powerplay as well.
BTW, my AT flies VERY level considering the weight of the twin SBC package.;)
Jim

Audacity,
I considered myself in control the whole time. I do understand where you are coming from though. I do not beleive that everytime you launch a boat you are out of control. If I was coming down crooked on some of the launches, and chine walking, or anything abnormal to staight controlled direction, I would call that out of control. Even when the best of the best trip and stuff in the races and such, they are still in control of the boat, just not in control of the seas, which caused them to trip and stuff. I had time in the sequence to adjust the throttle and not launch the boat if I wanted to. I elected to power on through, and we landed safely, and given that this is boating in general, anything could have happened, and we too, were lucky. I just don't find myself out of control in that instance. I have been there before, and that was not one of those times.

Jafo,
AT, what can I say, I have not seen ANYTHING from AT that I do not like. I was referring to the the 28 Sonic and twin applications. Given the 28 Sonic is not much bigger than mine, there is NO WAY I would want twins. My Sonic also flys level in gereral. I have never duplicated what happened in the linked photo, only because we lanched three consecutive times, and landed with the aft 3rd of the hull on the face of another swell, twice! I elected to power up each swell to avoid falling off and stuffing.

"they are still in control of the boat, just not in control of the seas, which caused them to trip and stuff"...sorry bro this is tottaly incorrect...have i stuffed??..YES,,,have i put it up on its side and removed the deck...YES....delaminated??YES....i take full responsibility for my actions....all i can say is it got away from me.

"I considered myself in control the whole time"...

wish i could say that?...

XCA
The MSV = Coyote = Cobra ? IMHO :)

It was said (posted) yesterday:
"Accidents do not happen, they are made to happen."
Every time I have been piloting, and been out of control in a boat, on a PWC, in a sports car, on a crotch-rocket, or on a snowmobile, I have been doing something stupid to get to that point. In that instance I was not doing anything of that sort. (Only exception was skydiving when the packer did not pack my chute correctly). I had three people very close to me on the boat that day, and would never consider it. Please read my last two sentences of the post you quoted from. When something gets away from me, I have done something, or not done something, to allow that to happen.

Jafo,
Nice additions, I have not been on either make, but I would have to add Pantera shearly from the standpoint of a LIFETIME HULL WARRANTY for the original owner. Isn't AT now doing this too? Is that fricking unheard of or what???

bikes:D ...well back in my day:rolleyes: ...no,,, anyway,....bad inputs translate into bad outputs....what is control???...how do you know where it starts and stops???....hummm...i used to look for it more than i do now, i'm old! and i don't get paid for it anymore...at one time i used to count the crashes...hell i even saved the first 20 helmets that i broke....

there is just an increasing # of people tossing away boats, bikes, snowmobiles....even ice climbing has become so main stream, i never know what i'll witness when i go out....

I was on the boat with Brian in that pic. The bow may be a little high but the water was very flat that day. These rouge rollers is what got us. Much different from a Factory 1 race where you run as fast as possible for the water conditions that are present, we were cruising along at 45mph or so enjoying our day and swoosh....in the air we go. It wasn't scary and didn't feel out of control. The sweet Soinc soaked up the landing, Brian and I looked at each other, smiled and continued on our 45mph cruise to Fairview beach.

Just another great day on the water, with a little altitude for kicks!

Eric :D