Our cat was plenty fast enough for the 105 mph Class 2 in smooth water (with big blades it would run 118 all day), but in the rough we might as well have stayed home. The 38/35 Fountains and 40 Apache would just kill us, that's why we are now in a 38 Fountain. I don't like getting embarrassed so if you can't beat em, join em. As for why run stock power? Why not? It is the smartest why to go if the others in the class are also pegging their performance to everyone else in the class. In OPA Class 2, we have a gentlemans agreement not to start a check book war and it has worked perfectly. As a matter of fact, Smitty has helped Louie dial in his boat and offerred the same to us. (I don't think that happens elsewhere.)

When I say stock power, I am refering to Spec class, But there is a constant arguement on this board about MERCURY,
yet many are obviously running it. I thought it was cheaper to run someone else's motor.

Pete....yes you are right canopy boats are safer....but all the canopy boats are running the least HP....while some open cockpit boats are running from 650's to twin 1000's in our class, they weight more and have better acceleration....but are in open cockpits....None of us want to step up the power becasue of the bravo drives....right now in the Older SV's we all can hit 92 with about the same acceleration times....thats why any of us can win...as far as the open cockpit boats go...you seen in Key West the Cig and the TKO boats both run up front in our class, both were open cockpit boats....we also got beat by a old F2 38 Fomula with 700's in it at Cambridge by 2 seconds...

It will be up to the officals to decide how much HP is to much HP and should be moved up in class...right now we have a good group of racers, that are willing to run what they got...some may tweek here and there but in the end at 92 mph or 95 in OPA....were all right there.....

Pete some of us also choise to run our stock power and leave our seals on the engines becasue if anyone want to buy them to use in spec racing...then its a easy sell....

I think the Homoligations was a great rule....its up to the manufature to put out there hull and leave it for 3 years or so....all boats are then built the same and as Steve said they are equal...changing hull designs every 6 months to a year just makes boat obsulete to quick....F1 was a great example....you could run a older 29 Warlock or Fountain an they were just as fast as the newer ones....it made it easier to sell your boat becasue it was still compeditive.....

its great that some manufactues are willing to sink in a lot of money to make faster boats...but how many pleasure 42 Fountains look like the new Yacths race boat...
How many pleasure boats have there decks cut down like the race boats do....

I wounder how fast the Fountains, Skaters and Outerlimites would be if they left the same freeboard and decks the same as there pleasure version would be....along with the same bottom....changing the bottom of a boat to make it faster should be up to the manufacture before they come out with the hull...once its out...you should race what is being produced for the pleasure versions....

But you have already said that you cannot compete in SV, who would buy a boat for spec class racing if it isnt able to compete???

Pete...not the boat....the engines....I for one was going to sell my engines after the worlds and put in 750's and #6's on the Dragon and move up in class till I seen how much compititons and how many boats were coming out in 08

I don't think any older SV can run with the newer Fountains...and if you did buy a older one buy time you spent what it would take to even be compeditive...you could have bought a new Fountain...

Pete,

I think you hit the nail on the head. Under the APBA program, homogulation was not seen as protecting the investment of anyone. I recall that when the Spiderman boat was fined, Peter would not pay the fine to APBA...he preferred to divide the fine and pay it to the other teams in the Class. The program had the perception of being a cash cow for the LLC and a way of milking the manufactures for $5k every time they made a a change. I know of two manufacturers that would not build a race boat because of this program.

There might have been good intentions...but the execution of the program was just another nail in the coffin. You also have to remember that was during the time when GREED was king.

To be fair, I should point out that SBI/APBA currently does have a homologation rule for National and Factory series boats. To my knowledge, there is no fee required, and if you want to make a change, you need only to submit a written request/notification of the change. I have never heard of a change being denied under the SBI/APBA rule. When I added strakes to the bottom of the Phantom to help bring the nose down so we could see over the bow, I simply sent in a request and received a notification that my request was approved...that simple.

Then it would be safe to say, that although a rule is in place it really serves no propose, if you can make a change and just submit a request for approval. As we all know Fountain is a big supporter of SBI, and If his boats arent in the lead, he will see to it that things are corrected with the boat to put them out front.

I guess the bottom line here is if you want to run a spec class SV and if you dont buy a Fountain, you are losing a return on your investment.

And what class would that have put you in????

The idea was to put 750'S in it but tunn them down to 6300 rpms so I could race them all year...if it put me at 105 to 108 I would run P2 if it would run 109 or higher I would run P1 and pop up the rpms a little more...

and I don't see this being a SBI/APBA thing....OSS had only 2 SV's this year and they were Fountains....so if we take the same rules as OSS has...Reggie could change anything on his hull to make it faster any time he wanted...