Best Boat For Speed -Search of new Boat
06-25-2012, 07:35 AM
#11
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I have run across a number of unmarked fishing nets. My brother has hit a submerged log. A buddy of mine was with a guy that hit a submerged picnic table. Ice fishermen drag all kinds of crap out on the ice and then it floats around until it gets waterlogged and sinks.
06-25-2012, 06:12 PM
#14
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Choose a speed. Sounds like you said 80 was your goal.
A formula 353 with HP500's will run 80 with a light load.
There are so many options out there because there are so many different targets of speed-vs-features that people want.
Formula is a well built boat - so are Cigs. But then again there are MANY well-known and Not-so-well-known manufacturers that build a great boat. There are also the ones that are not built that great.
Where will you boat? Ocean? BIG lakes (like Great Lakes)? what water conditions will you normally see? What is your definition of "comfortable ride" in rough water? Different people like different things.
I have a 17' boat that will run high 90's in its current state of tune. It will run very fast on moderate lake chop. It will beat the snot out of you in whitecaps and is a totally undriveable deathtrap in offshore-class water.
I sold a 311 Formula that would take anything a medium-to-large lake would throw at it. But even though the boat was very happy in 3' waves at 50 mph, your mother would never call it comfortable in that water. A buddy's 44 MTI cat would run in that water and your mom would go to sleep in the seat.
A 38 Special is a comfortable boat compared to most 27-33' boats. You'll find it difficult to compare a 27' hull to that 38.
Whatever you do - test drive your prospective boats in the roughest water you plan to ever boat in. Run it as fast as you ever plan to run it in that water. Determine THEN if it meets your needs regarding comfort in rough water.
Choose a boat that - with STOCK FACTORY POWER - will run 10mph faster than you ever plan to go in choppy water. If you want to run 70 in relatively rough water (not nasty water, but your "normal choppy), choose a boat that will run over 80 under optimal conditions.
If you want to top out at 80, then choose a boat that will run 80 with a normal load of gear, half tank of fuel, and three people in it.
If you want creature comforts in the cabin, then make sure you get them - but also make sure that it is rigged so that in rough water the microwave doesn't rip loose and fly across the cabin, or the cabinet doors don't pop open and spew cheerios and fudge rounds all about.
There are MANY things to consider.
MC
A formula 353 with HP500's will run 80 with a light load.
There are so many options out there because there are so many different targets of speed-vs-features that people want.
Formula is a well built boat - so are Cigs. But then again there are MANY well-known and Not-so-well-known manufacturers that build a great boat. There are also the ones that are not built that great.
Where will you boat? Ocean? BIG lakes (like Great Lakes)? what water conditions will you normally see? What is your definition of "comfortable ride" in rough water? Different people like different things.
I have a 17' boat that will run high 90's in its current state of tune. It will run very fast on moderate lake chop. It will beat the snot out of you in whitecaps and is a totally undriveable deathtrap in offshore-class water.
I sold a 311 Formula that would take anything a medium-to-large lake would throw at it. But even though the boat was very happy in 3' waves at 50 mph, your mother would never call it comfortable in that water. A buddy's 44 MTI cat would run in that water and your mom would go to sleep in the seat.
A 38 Special is a comfortable boat compared to most 27-33' boats. You'll find it difficult to compare a 27' hull to that 38.
Whatever you do - test drive your prospective boats in the roughest water you plan to ever boat in. Run it as fast as you ever plan to run it in that water. Determine THEN if it meets your needs regarding comfort in rough water.
Choose a boat that - with STOCK FACTORY POWER - will run 10mph faster than you ever plan to go in choppy water. If you want to run 70 in relatively rough water (not nasty water, but your "normal choppy), choose a boat that will run over 80 under optimal conditions.
If you want to top out at 80, then choose a boat that will run 80 with a normal load of gear, half tank of fuel, and three people in it.
If you want creature comforts in the cabin, then make sure you get them - but also make sure that it is rigged so that in rough water the microwave doesn't rip loose and fly across the cabin, or the cabinet doors don't pop open and spew cheerios and fudge rounds all about.
There are MANY things to consider.
MC
06-25-2012, 07:56 PM
#15
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Chesterfield Michigan
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Great info MC.
More or less when I bought the Special, it was a compromise between a cruiser that i wanted and a go fast that my wife wanted. However, after about 8 weekends out, I have spent a total of 30 minutes in the cabin, maybe. Oh and my wife refuses to sleep on the boat, which I intended to do (many weekends).
So my needs are changing. Now I want loud exhaust, not so much cabin, maybe a bit more color - eye catching. I rack store and do not have an electrical cord, so microwave and fridges, etc are useless to me.
I only drive a little ways, maybe 10-20 minutes rides....in a smaller lake off great lakes - Lake St Clair, by Detroit river. You get some choppiness, but my 38 cruises over anything. However it was a bit scary because I think I was in a pretty deep swell this past weekend, but came out. Anything under 25' probably would have capsized.
I like a couple of the Cigarettes around 2004 (color scheme), but I'd need to sell a motorcycle or my sports car to afford that.
I also don't like giving $4,000 away for storage. A 32' is roughly $3000, and a 29' is $2,500....if I had a house on canal, no biggie...but I still don't like writing checks for that much, haha. Oh well.
Just novice to the entire "speed boat" environment.
More or less when I bought the Special, it was a compromise between a cruiser that i wanted and a go fast that my wife wanted. However, after about 8 weekends out, I have spent a total of 30 minutes in the cabin, maybe. Oh and my wife refuses to sleep on the boat, which I intended to do (many weekends).
So my needs are changing. Now I want loud exhaust, not so much cabin, maybe a bit more color - eye catching. I rack store and do not have an electrical cord, so microwave and fridges, etc are useless to me.
I only drive a little ways, maybe 10-20 minutes rides....in a smaller lake off great lakes - Lake St Clair, by Detroit river. You get some choppiness, but my 38 cruises over anything. However it was a bit scary because I think I was in a pretty deep swell this past weekend, but came out. Anything under 25' probably would have capsized.
I like a couple of the Cigarettes around 2004 (color scheme), but I'd need to sell a motorcycle or my sports car to afford that.
I also don't like giving $4,000 away for storage. A 32' is roughly $3000, and a 29' is $2,500....if I had a house on canal, no biggie...but I still don't like writing checks for that much, haha. Oh well.
Just novice to the entire "speed boat" environment.
