JERRYBONDO

Mine too can"t part with it

Too Stroked

Congrats on the new Progression and glad to hear it's running well for you. I still love mine too and can honestly say I've never ever driven or ridden in a more solid hull.

Feverz29

Pro27 nice setup. Not second guessing your MPH, but what's in your setup that is getting you over 100 with 700 HP. I'm not familiar with Progression boats, but been looking for more speed in my fever. Obviously the whipple increases HP & MPH significantly, but what I've researched I need 750+ just to get into the 90's. My post is for information to help me and to be not taken any other way. I've seen too many posts where people take it the wrong way and it's not my intent.

pro27

Feverz29 that is a good question,and I don't have a direct answer.I have wondered the same thing reading the amount of horsepower boats need to run my speed.It all comes down to weight and hull design,don't take this the wrong way but your boat is really 27' and I am surprised it isn't faster.Progression has a great hull design and a lite lay up.Wish I had more to add to help you out good luck with your set up.

Indy

Just an observation, if back in the day some "popular heavily marketed" boatbuilder would have made a 27' to 29' boat reaching these speeds with this power it would have been all over the place, the advanced design of the finely tuned stepped hull would have been praised, discussed here ad nauseam, and in every boating magazine.

OL makes a 29 that's trying to reach these speeds and it's getting great press.

Some small boat builder from LI makes a great conventional hull product with excellent performance and it's just crickets.

Not a knock on other boat manufacturers, I'd be happy to own any of them, but this accomplishment is awesome not to mention Progressions are just friggin solid boats to begin with.

pro27

Indy you have a very good point and the 29 OL is really only a26' boat,my boat is 26'11" without swim platform,and has a full cabin.But I really didn't start this as a comparison to other boats,just showing off my boat that I am very happy with.

vbot24

Pro27 where do you usually run this beast out of? Would love to see this screaming across the bay

pro27

Great South Bay from Wantagh Park out to Fire Island,Oakdale,Bayshore,Oak Island.Sometimes run into Freeport.Where do you do your boating.

vbot24

Usually drop in in patchogue at pine neck or heckscher. Run around in big bay. Like to anchor up at the new inlet. Where right in the same area Just off on our timing. Lol

Too Stroked

Feverz29,

As a Progression owner and an employee at what was formerly one of Reggie Fountain’s oldest dealerships, let me offer some thoughts on your question as to the speed of various similar length hulls with the same power. As pro27 has already noted, differences in hull design, weight (and weight distribution), setup, etc. are the main drivers of how fast or slow a given hull runs. And I should also note that how well a hull rides and runs in rough water are also results of those variables. Let me offer some comparisons from personal experience.

First, let’s look at a 24’ Fountain CS and a Progression 24LD. Many will argue that Reggie’s hulls were actually shorter (shorter wetted area) than his competition. That’s only partially true. The 24 CS has a molded in swim platform and the USCG requires that a molded in platform be measured as part of the stated hull length. OK, so the CS actually has a little less length than a similar length hull with a “flat transom,” but the measurement is done according to stated requirements. Everybody else with a molded in platform gets to say their hull is a little longer than the true wetted area / length too.

On the other end of the CS however is the famous “Fountain Beak.” One can say this feature is for looks, but it’s actually a very clever way of reducing wetted hull length – legally. (And less wetted length generally means a faster hull.) I think everybody else is just pissed that Reggie took advantage of a grey area in the rules and they didn’t. But it didn’t always mean a faster hull. Read on.

The 24 LD Progression has a “flat transom” and therefore measures pretty darn close to a true 24’ hull at the stern. It also has no beak on the other end to reduce wetted area. So why does a bone stock 24LD with a 502 Magnum and a Bravo drive run in the low 80’s when a similarly equipped 24CS runs maybe 75 MPH?

Well the Progression is vacuum bagged to increase strength and reduce weight. So it weighs less than the 24CS. Less weight is good for more speed – all things being equal. The 24CS has a 19 degree deadrise hull and the 24LD has a variable deadrise (24, 23, 22 degree) hull. Theoretically, that should make the 24LD better in rough water, but slower than the “flatter” 24CS. And the 24CS should ride like a floor jack in the rough stuff. Well, the 24CS is pretty hard on the buns in the rough and the 24LD is an awesome rough water boat. But the 10 MPH difference in speed? It’s more than just the lighter weight of the Progression. And the speed difference between the 27 Progression and your 27 Fever with the same power? It’s about the same magnitude – if not a little greater.

So without running on for another 12 pages about why these differences exist, let’s just say that there are a ton of variables to be considered. Each manufacturer mixes and matches all of these variables with different results as you have seen. And there is no (or should I say very few) “perfect mix of variables which equals the perfect hull.” (Although the 21’ Challenger comes pretty darn close.) So we all get to pick the manufacturer / hull with the mix of variables we think are the most important to us.

Hope that helps,

Tom