"Way Big Fun"
 

..that was the title of the test of a 42' Fountain in Powerboat Magazine May '04. Staggered 1100 HP Cobra's...great engines from what I am hearing...# 6 drives...the boat topped out at 120 mph on radar...definitely a fast ride...PB said " It's a true offshore with sophisticated handling manners and a gentle ride..and it can fly"...lists for $ 534,505....probably can do better in checking ...reasonable for the power and all....

...my one and only question....and not asked for any other reason than I am interested in knowing....


..here's the question...

the "speed calculator says it should do 116 mph...so it did better than predicted there....


....this same sized 42' Fountain did 160 mph in the speed trial with similar or slightly less power....

why 120 mph for this boat and 160 for the other?

...now on the speed calculator...you would need a 5,000 pound boat with this power to do 160 mph...the hull is tweaked already so there is only so much you can do there...was the speed trial boat a light epoxy 5,000 lb boat?

...I am not trying to be difficult...but just trying to understand why this boat off the rack with 2200 HP isn't at least 140-150 mph....seem like a reasonable question? I mean i was lead to believe you could do 160 mph in a 42' boat...120 mph is great but 40 mph short of a days wages....know what I mean?

When a boat is run..specs of the boat should be mandated...and published...an educated consumer is the best consumer...right?

Theory sucks.

Get a boat.

AHHHHH!!!!!
 

Please , someone tell me who this guy is..........Please.

Speed calculators are just an estimate. They dont take into consideration enough variables to make the comparisons you are attempting to make.

Just go for a ride with your handheld GPS.

Someone has a calculator online which uses an effeciency cooffecient. You could take the actual speed number and work the equation backwards and come up with the actual cooffecient for the hull. From there you would have a much more accurate estimate for that particular hull only. When I say that hull only I mean only one hull. A sister hull will more than likely be different.

Oh and one more thing... BUY A BOAT! :D

Ron

Catmando is back :D

Oh one more thing. Magazine speeds are sometimes questionable.

A boat I was looking at was advertised to exceed 70 mph. Everyone I looked at had 23" props on it. All the owners said they would do over 70. A quick check with the prop slip formula proved it was a mathematical impossibility. You would need a slip ratio around 1% to achieve these low 70's speeds and stay under the factory rev limiter. But when this boat was tested in the mags it ran low 70's with 23" props. So they dont even worry about their own numbers being possible.

Ron

ok..I must lack reasoning skills...and dumb me thinking that 1100 Hp twins would do 160 mph when it did a few months back in a 42'er...OBVIOUSLY that was a very different 42' custom made boat for one purpose......

..my only point is that a 38' Gun can do about 120+ mph with this power...many say the Fountain 42' is about equivalent because of point in front and platform..so a 38' gun is about equal to a Fountain in efficiency..if not better....

and it's not about speed calulators..it's simply that the speed record 42'er did 160 mph and this does 120 mph...I would like to know why the speed difference..is all

and it has nothing to do about buying a boat...even if I had 20 boats I would still be analytical ...

...Marketing!

..and it's a credit to both...

...and it's not a theory GLH...

why dosen't a 42' Fountain with 2200 HP do 160?

...it did in the speed trials?

...supposedly the OL that hit about the same speed was stock; right?

..I mean I call call 'em the way I see 'em...no slam to anyone...just would like some parity in tests and trials ...right now they mean nothing...

....and that thread where a guy bought a Formula and the spec sheets said one speed and his actual was another..it was the same with my last 2 boats...both were advertised 5mph more than I was getting...and leaving me with the impression that "something was not tuned right"..

...PORSCHE has a policy...their company policy which is ENFORCED to the letter..is that whatever they print in their brochure regarding performance specs are actual specs...if they say a car will do 168 mph and you take it out on a track and it won't they will and have replaced 911's for a silly 1 mph or 2 MPH...why? Because it is THEIR standard....all 911's are Autobahn tested and exceed specs....but knowing that theY are tried and TRUE speaks volumes about them and what they do...

this is about customer service..remember the thread " what happens after you buy a boat"....no service...it all starts here....WALKING THE WALK....WITH THE PRE-SALE
MARKETING

Maybe the 160mph boat had more HP than they claimed:eek: :eek: :D

...if an event is sanctioned..I say they go through the boat with a fine tooth comb...supervise dyno testing etc...watch the build and inspect from a-z....it's just human nature....


...yea Rob..SOMETHING...right?