Had a 39 Sutphen for ten years. power for power in the bay the boat was about 50/50 against all those Fountains, Outerlimits and the like. BUT the boat never lost in the ocean, NEVER. Otto

traded it June/July '96 to dealer here for my 32' Velocity. I seem to remember it was sold to a mid 40's ? guy from east of here... Vermont side of Lake George maybe. How long's your buddy owned it or where did it come from to him?

The boat in the picure is THE 39 Sutphen talked about earlier in this post.

AMBUSHER...someday ask him to look for a spider in the gel about the size of a quarter or less, under the blue paint on the port side of the deck. If it's there, it's her! I also had the sunpad vinyl reworked and left off the headrests at that time. Thanks, Randy

THE PICTURE THAT AMBUSH SAYS IT ALL
VELOCITYS KICK BUTT AND LOOK AWSOME DOING IT.

I've got a keen eye for all the "former loves", fleshy or plastic!. I might have the hull ID # around here somewhere. Look for that spider under the paint. Let me know. I can hook your buddy up with a couple of really cool pics of that boat in flight and it's first owner history. PM me anytime. :) Randy P.S. I put a drop in black plastic glovebox in it also, ring any bells? Also mounted a VHF or stereo head unit just outside the cabin door portside in the side of the deck/dash. I'm havin' flashbacks here like I did in the 80's. ;) Small world = :cool:

I called about this boat a couple of weeks ago- it had been for sale for a long time for some reason- the owner races drag bikes and has a radical 36 Skater with the same engine combo as his Sutphen had. It was listed in boattrader at $99K just last week.
The boat (1996) had Chief 622CID blower engines, and dry sump #6's, all new and rigged by TNT. It had started life as a triple 500hp boat, but was converted to full stagger at the Sutphen factory. It ran a true 104 on GPS first time out.
Boat was a steal- I wished I had stepped up to the plate......more than $140K of new driveline there!

Sutphens are truly unique- some may call them ugly, I just think different. They haven't copied anybody, and the design of the PT boat is in their ancestry. There isn't a true rough-water boater out there that won't admit to their ability to spank a lot of boats in big water.

The boat: (graphics were vinyl- boat was all white)

The engines- big CID, low boost, very reliable.

Driveline- new dry sump 6's

Re-rigged from triples to twins by Bobby Moore/TNT- someone got a hell of a boat for the money........

I actually went and looked at this boat. Very exciting, kick ass package. However, you need to actually see it and then make your determination. This is a very FAST rough water setup, which seperates Sutphen frpm the rest. Many v-bottom boats are fast, but none have the ability to maintain controllability and safety at racing speeds, without breaking up I might add, like a Sutphen! This only is developed thru countless development hours on the race course and this has been Richie Sutphen's lifelong passion. There are several good examples but look back at Harahs Zubaz, which I beleive holds the record for the most wins in the old C class, flying off ocean waves for a decade at 90 mph and the darn thing is still in one piece!

I have been watching the price of this sutphen decline for six months or better, Looks nice but alot of big money maintanance for me.

My fears as well, but after making a few calls to the right people, this setup would be quite reliable. It is VERY hard to break a dry sump #6 (these were new), and those Chiefs really aren't working all that hard considering the cubes and low boost. The seller has the same engines in his Skater, and I was told he has run the crap out of them including a lot of Lake 'X', and has had no problems. His spare for the two boats remains untouched at Chief. Their engines 'speak' for themselves.
The big money probably wouldn't be in maintenance, it would be in fuel!:eek: :D
Maybe someday............Sutphen is on the short list.
Jim

I was told this boat just sold for around 65,000.00

32' Active Thunder
 

Tell'em Jesse!!!

YEP MARK YOURS WILL FLY !!!

jesse james,

holy hell, what do you drive?

Jesse---you got the RUNNER!!!
 

Loved your war story Jesse....I'm tellin' ya----those 32' Active Thunders are a RUNNIN' MACHINE! :)

Jesse James What kind of speeds are you running?

So I guess the general consensis is that the Velocity is power to weight ratio the best bang for the buck,SPEED,AND BUILD QUALITY.

I think the general consensus is that the Velocity is anything BUT a conventional V-bottom, which is what the thread-starter asked.
Nice boats, but not part of the straight v-bottom clan.
General consensus appears to still be somewhere between Sutphen and AT.

Fastest V
 

I bet this thing went ok...