Be a big boy...go with the 6's. The tail is worth any amount of $$$!

Just find mcollinstns recent post and i think it will help you with your decision!!

Thats Tommy's boat, great guy, I know him, but those drives wont last. This is a true offshore cat, its not a lake boat...There are never any bravo style drives that I know of on Skaters, so why put one on a Nortech. I understand the marketing niche, so since the Nortech is actually closer to 39' why not make a cut down version, which would be lighter, shorter, around 34-36' and then this would make more sense for the bravo drives....and less expensive. I know Tommys boat is for sale and at 299k its a super buy, not much more than a Spectre or Eliminator. This is just my take on it, not knocking it, looking at it from a sales perspectase. Thanks Jeff

keep the XRs and you'll regret it. they'll break and limit your upgrade possibilities. get #6s and you'll be wondering who swapped your 525s for 496s overnight. they will cost that much power in addition to costing an arm and a leg... therefore...

ARNESONS!

If you are planning any sort of power upgrade in the future, you will need stronger drives. I hear rumours that Merc is adding an intercooler to the 575SCi and packaging it with the upgraded XR drive, so maybe the new drive will be rated for about 650 HP.

After one season you will probably be ready for more power. You can supercharge your 525EFIs and make about 800 HP. Will the new XR drive take this? We don't know yet, but if you upgrade with centrifugal superchargers, they are known for being easier on the drive since boost is proportional to RPM.

Good luck; it's not a bad thing to be deciding what drives to put on your Nortech. You're getting a NORTECH!

Just want to say thanks for all the responses. GL, why are you so down on the arnesons? I am going to call Terry tommorow and hopefully put this to bed. I think the arnesons are the only realistic choice for me at this point. Again thanks everyone!

Hey Otis, I'm not going to make your run but I'll be thinking about you guys while we are running the Sarasota run. Let me know if you need help getting the Harley home. Jamie mentioned you might want me to grab it. Anything I can do to help out your situation I would be happy to do. Chuck

Are you nuts?? With that boat you will definately upgrade to big power. Go with 6's now this way you are done in that department.

My only concern is re-sale Chuck, only speaking of me I would look at a boat with #6's 5 times more than one with Arneson drives. And this is not a statement regarding engineering or technology it is strictly a marketability issue. Hell Arneson does'nt even answer their phone when you call them in CA (my experience digging stuff up for a friend).

Also I would be curious to know how expensive are Arneson's sized for big power (850HP+) compared to what you were forking over for XR's and how much of a leap after the difference #6's would be. You need trannies for both so that is not in the parameters.

Knowing you those mills will have whipples & intercoolers installed during the winter of 05-06 (btw local guy installed one on a 525EFI and gets 800HP) so plan like that!!! Is that Harley and those snowmobiles of yours stock?

GLH maybe you should check the #


415-485-0788


If it is too early due to time zones, there is and has always been an answering machine.