I've pulled my 43 all over TX, TN, IA, IL,OK,KS and MO with no hassles from the law minus a speeding infraction. My trailer is 50' even with the drive guard. Plan your trip, choose truck stops for fuel and always tell the gawkers it's not your boat your just hauling it...:lolhit:

Boating in TN, KY, AL and MS proved minimally challenging for finding dockage. As mentioned before, let the pointy end hang out or ask if end space is available. We prefer LOTO as it geared to boats like ours. Good luck with the search.

That sure is neat. What are you looking to get out of your post?

Pointing out that mine is bigger then yours. That's all

Oh how nice it would be to be 25 years old again. Kids these days are so disrespectful and unappreciative

I wish I was 25 again too

Its not disrespect its fact my zx is wider then your outlaw and most v bottom speed boats

And appropriate all the help I have ever gotten from here and all my friends where I live.

so I can't see you talking about me but carry on

Defineatly go with the 43 , especially on the great lakes. The ride and safety far out weighs the minor increase in towing inconvienience. All the marinas in Georgian Bay and the North Channel that I have visited in my 44 have always managed to put me somewhere. Several times I have crossed the Bay in groups that have included 32's and 35's during rough water and once we got tied up they always say " I need a 44". If you are on the great lakes go big if you can.

Mark

Ok, so I actually measured her today. From end of swim platform to ball hitch was 41'6".

Go with the 43, if the boat rides up on the trailer, it could be just like pulling a 32'... Go for the length!!

If the wife still thinks it's too big, have her get in it while it's in the water.. Always feels smaller sitting in it vs. looking at the boat while its on the trailer.

That's a great idea saying your hauling for someone.....that's the biggest PIA dealing with gawkers

Slippery, go for at least a 38, your wife will love the ride and you'll love not having to hear her complain about the ride. Seriously, if you can catch a ride in a larger boat on the Great Lakes you will be a believer.

So…Lots of threads get started, but not many have an end story.

Thanks to all for all the great advice.

Deal is done on the 43 and she will be leaving CA next week for her new home in MI.

Unfortunately, not a lot of boating season left but we're going to try and make good use of what remains.

Hope to see you all on the water and repay the the advice with a cold one.

Cheers

Bring it to Hardy pond for HOT BOAT weekend. ( weekend after labor day)
There is a 43 BT that shows up just about every year.

Hardy is in my backyard & I was doing Hot Boat before it was called Hot Boat.

I don't want to date myself, but we were running around up there when 60ish was competitive, 70 was fast, 80 was really fast, and a legitimate 90 mph boat would go around 90% of the stuff up there (except the v-drive guys). A 24' boat was about as big as anything on that water back then..

Things have really changed.

This 43 is as big as a 43 BT; I don't think it will go in at Sandy Beach and I am not gonna do the **** show at Brower.

Our 24 gets wet on the pond but I think we'll keep the 43 in the big water. Thanks for the invite, though.

We've launched our 43 at Oxbow. The ramp is great for Big stuff if you decide to take it there.

I always forget about Oxbow, that is a nice ramp.

Check300's post reminds me - Hot Boat is not far off - if anyone travels through Croton on the way to the dam, Oxbow, or Sandy Beach you need to really watch your width. The causeway in Croton is under construction and a wide trailer is going to be tough to get through there. And the traffic sucks b/c it's down to one lane across the bridge.

Sandy beach has a completely new boat ramp and dockage. I use OXBOW They have nice ramps and I used to put my 34 SCARAB in there. I have been going to Hardy since BEFORE HOT BOAT weekend.
" 1979 "
I remember those days where a 21 ft boat was big.
Do you remember seeing this boat.


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I love the Glastron Carlson stuff.

There was a GT-150 with a 90 o/b, CVX 16 and a CVX 18 on our lake for years. I know a guy who had (maybe still has) a CVX20 with a jet that ran around on Croton Pond & for years there was a CVX 20 (?) with a big outboard moored just down from the Driftwood Bar.

At that time I was running around in a 19 Baja with a 175 merc on it & then had a couple Taylor LP hulls. Had a tunnel o/b, then a Cheyenne jet, then a Kurtis runner bottom on alky. Good Times.

The hot rods were there long before it was an "official" party. If I remember correctly - which would be a minor miracle - I think the first organized "Hot Boat Hardy Party" was a show & shine at Brower Park put on by Jordan and the Mi Hot Boat guys. Don't ask me the year - I believe we were still traveling to the Holloway reservoir for the drags so it was before they were in Grand Rapids.

We tried to semi organize a show & shine in Croton last year during Hot Boat but just couldn't seem to get enough interest.

I started to post an apology for hijacking and then realized I was the OP…there's enough cool stuff on Hardy it could use it's own thread.

Forgot.

Yes, the new facilities at Sandy Beach are really nice. We were there last Tuesday and I was very impressed. Lots of parking, no more gravel & dust; they did a really nice job but I didn't see a restroom near the launch?

Nice! Be sure to share some pics of your new ride.

Jon

Thanks

As soon as I get pics that are "ours" I'll post them up.

There are quite a few pics available on net if you search for 43 Schiada. Ours is the "old" blue 788 boat, not the new silver one that was at the Miami show. There's an old 43 thread on OSO somewhere.

Hopefully it's here by the weekend but the fires out there are slowing things down. It's tough to whine about waiting for a new boat when people out there are losing homes.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztdxAmi8VbA

Understand that....

What Drives are you running with the Ilmor power?


Jon

We're running it exactly as Lee had it set up for the ski race; a combination of B-Max and Merc.

We're giving up a few mph because the drives have spacers in them to eliminate the roost, but we're not after every last mph.

Set up like it is, we had 11 of us in the boat and ran high 70's - low 80's on the way out to Catalina a couple weeks ago.

That's respectable...
My bad thought I saw Ilmors on that video.

Jon

The boat currently has 625 Ilmor power, originally had V-12 power of some sort; I was told but I don't recall.

The drives are combination of B-Max and Merc. w/ 6 blade Hering wheels. Lee says he's had "pretty good luck" with that combination so I'm not going to over analyze it; he's run the boat harder than we ever will.

I'll post pics.

We're happy with the way the boat performs; we're going to ad some weight in terms of amenities like a pump out head, fridge, running water, etc and as long as we're still in the upper 70's probably won't change a thing.

We want to cruise and spend time on the boat, but aren't ready for the slow cruiser, tea and crumpet crowd yet.

I believe he meant Bmax/Merc combo on the drives, not Bmax drives with Merc power.

Yup. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

Ilmor 625 power.

B-Max / Merc combo drives.

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Getting ready for the big tow

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In Transit

If the stars all line up; no flats, traffic tie ups, etc, etc, we'll launch in Grand Haven Friday afternoon.

More pics as soon as we have the opportunity.

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Getting her unwrapped and cleaned

We no longer need ladders to change the light bulbs

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At the Ramp

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In the slip

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Her maiden voyage in Lake Mi.

The rest of the story…

I know I'm a little lame in the pic availability department but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Friday afternoon we launched in Grand Haven, idled to the slip and set all the lines and power cords.

We took an easy late afternoon cruise to Holland and other than being ridiculously cold, we couldn't have been happier.

Saturday was awesome, but it 's tough to get pics when you're in the boat.

Our oldest son had the the use of my dad's 32 Tiara & had lined up an amateur photographer for Sunday.

The plan was run around & take some pics in the morning & head to dockers for lunch and music.

We let him get a head start and just as we were undoing lines he called and said he was on his way back; he'd hit a submerged log about a mile from the mouth of the channel and had a vibration. (turned out the prop was knocked slightly out of true and will be back in the water tomorrow afternoon)

So..we waited for him to get back, loaded everyone into the 43, fired, and promptly sprung a leak in a header hose.

In the course of about an hour we had turned both boats into cottages. In the future I will have spares in the dock box.

Pics will eventually be posted, hopefully we'll be back in the water Sunday.

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Good lookin hot rod, congrats

Wow, neat boat. Something very different. Post more pics!

Would like to see the inside of that condo.

Thanks All. We're pretty excited. I'll try to get more pics soon. It is a floating condo - 6 footers don't have to duck their heads & there's more living space in the cabin than some dorm rooms.

It does have some things to get used to though; A step ladder is needed to fuel it, or even get in the boat when it's on the trailer. Launching is a bit of a trick; @ 9' 6" wide she sits "on" the trailer so we need a long ramp to get deep enough which means a long dock to be able to get in the boat.

So far we've been really happy; with a full load of fuel, light chop, and still in the learning curve we ran low 70's which I thought was pretty respectable in fresh water.

We're hoping for a couple more nice days before we call it quits until next summer.

More Soon

Cheers.