I agree 100%... went thru a "fresh rebuilt" saga with a new boat. Engine lasted 15 mins... maybe 10 seconds of boost. Complete junk.

by the time I got it built, tuned, and lined out I was sick of it...

The person I sold it to had 250 care free hours with just oil changes at 950hp(last we talked)... so everyone isnt out to screw the pooch when selling.

Also - dont buy into the it takes magic to make marine things live.

yes they're under extreme duty cycles, and that lowers the life expectancy of parts, but in the end it is just metal, gears, and oil.

I havent had any issues once I started taking it upon myself to set things up.

Safest way to buy anything Hi Perf is disassembled in boxes for you to inspect.

Only rumors Apache on Craigslist.

Looks good and a good deal. Should get an extra turn of speed out of the little step.

The interior color is way out of style though.

That's a good looking boat... also nice power and drive setup. I remember reading maybe 7 years ago people were leery of the step addition ? But I'd say for 99% that 41 is a hell of a boat

Only Rumors is a boat alot of us have dreamed of owning or certainly saw it as a "great" Apache 41 deal. Which it very well may be. Top speed? Heard 80s heard 90s who really know if the step works or not and at 850 a side what she actually does. Rotating assembly is arguably middle of the road as well as rocker arms and some other stuff, but that said should live for a long time at 5 psi 850 hp if its all fresh and has a recent dyno report. Only rumors is a cool boat. Some love the cabin and interior. I would be more concerned with the step and the condition of it. Have heard varying reports of its "Status" and integrity, as well as if it ever worked or not. Might want to be a homework project to talk to those involved with the boat in the midwest as well as since its been here on the east coast. $70k seems to be a very fair deal for Only Rumors...

At a minimum thats going to be a thorough survey with moisture test, leakdown/compression on motors, would be awesome to have a recent dated dyno sheet for both engines and #6 maintenance which is where this initially began.... well the old adage if you have to ask it might be too much. That is a $5000 a year or $50,000 a year gamble with 6 stuff. I'll stick to imco or bmax bravo iterations vs 3a or 6 maintenance stuff... not in my tax bracket.

Also be nice to know if its a solid roller or hydraulic camshaft that will certainly affect your duty and maintenance cycles...

If you end up with her let us know how she is. At a bare minimum she is a time capsule and a gorgeous imo boat.

When people are saying 800ish low boost motors should last a while what do you mean by a while?

How many hours approximately?

You know is that 200 hours or 600 hours, for me 200 is way to short to deal with.

Stuff as "exotic" as this I would defer my answer to knowing if it is a solid roller or hydraulic roller camshaft engine. Hydraulic Roller? Hoping that it's a decent Johnson or Morel (before they sucked) lifter. The duty cycle is going to be 200-250 hours. Same for valve springs. At that point we have reached the live-able reliable trustworthy life span of the part. At that point we are crossing into the unknown abyss. Would it last 300? 400? Who knows. Who cares. At that point you have turned a reliable high performance part into a time bomb & a risk parameter. Flat out. Solid Roller? You'll be in there every other weekend adjusting valves anyway and your maintenance cycles are through the roof anyway and its now turned from an enjoyable floating toy to a dragster you mess with all week to use on Saturday. Same for drag Harleys we used to build. Scary fast on the street, but not the intended purpose, got hot in traffic and stop lights in summer, etc. Just out of their wheelhouse and intended duty cycle.

Marine engines experience abuse and stress a drag car or high performance Harley v twin couldn't hope to put on after 100s on passes of 10-11 second bursts. Effectively we start the things, hope they warm up enough between the dock and the no wake and then give the things hell after. These things only live at idle or WOT. And that point we start seeing ridiculous oil pressures and temps and stress internally.

Back to the Only Rumors boat and life span? Let's assume everything is new and fresh as discussed above. They run great, they have no issues, have recent dyno dated reports for both engines and we had a solid survey done. Boat isn't rotten and has great compression. We feel were gonna start "fresh here" for the new owner. First year let's call it 50 hours. Oil Changes in drives and engines. Keeping an eye on fluids in pumps. Alot of washing and waxing. That said we get that first 50 hours maybe were doing good here. Our temps internally are good, our water pressure and everything is "kosher" Then at 200 hours I am yanking them both out if they make it that long. I am or having my guy pressure testing entire intercooler/aftercooler cores. As mentioned above they also have a 2-3 year life span. Max. I am sending blowers to the blower shop to be refreshed. Carbs are going to Pro Systems/Nickerson/ Whoever else in the carb game you like. Lifters and valve springs meet my trash can, fast. Pans are off and I am checking or having my guy check how a few bearings are looking. Main and rod. Maybe having my guy plastiguage everything. Check my end play. If everything looks good I am probably throwing a new oil pump in cause at that point we are here and its cheap insurance. If we got lucky and our compression leak downs look good, headgaskets seem ok, and bores aren't beat to hell she's going back together with new gaskets everywhere. Hopefully our piston to wall clearance is still acceptable between swell vs burning oil. .008"-.009" and maybe we are having that discussion of where we head with this block and bore. Hopefully our compression is good, rings arent fatigued/whooped and bores looking nice still. And at that point we are going to start looking at Calles Magnum Crank Shaft, Oliver Connecting Rods & a Mahle or JE Blower piston and some king XPN bearings since she is apart already and she's on a stand. Maybe then we wanna make 1200. Then we break everything else. Or we leave it turned down to 850-900 and I have some 1300 hp bottom ends and my reliability/comfort level is there.

Then we are getting into the 6s. I have to find a guy who has the special mercury racing tools and knowledge to service them. Hopefully I live in an area with this magical man 2-3 hours drive. Otherwise I am shipping them to a reputable rebuilder. I am working on my rudimentary carpentry skills and building some crates. I am freight shipping them. I wait and pray. I hope I don't need gear sets cause I was having such a good time showing off for that busty blond and jumping waves. Hopefully I didn't tear much up and its a simple shim and relube. But its a high performance over 10,000 lb boat. And an Apache. And it is going to need something. And it's in all likelihood going to hit me for 15-20k. Someone above mentioned 10-15% of the purchase price per year. That seems about right unless stuff goes haywire and you grenade something.

The above maintenance and duty cycles will prevent the "haywire" days where you break a rod, spin a bearing, crack a block or tear stuff up. Tear stuff up is impossible imo to estimate.

That said if someone can afford the 70-80k for only rumors, between fuel and first year jitters I would not enter the arena without an additional 30-35k in a checking account you could care less about for "incidentals". That said I LOVE that boat. I just realize it's a different level of owning a 6 boat. And while I can absolutely make the entrance fee for Only Rumors or Zero Patience the 38 top gun with nice blower chiefs & 6s, I am not prepared to throw 30-35 a year and not care. I hope the guy who started the thread buys it and runs it through big stuff and loves it like she deserves.

Pretty good post,,,,,,,,,, what I am looking at has SSV's on it with BAM transmissions. I didn't think people still used plastiguage, at least on something at that level.

I suppose you could always change the pulley and drop the motors down to 650-700 to save a little..............yea right.

Operator error will make or Break any driveline.
Generally you build it, you know the limitations!.
If you're bat $hit crazy behind the sticks you belong in a race boat willing to die!. No Fear. Good luck with new buggy, love Apache!!!.
B38