hey guys ill start off by saying this will be my first performance boat, but I have grown up around boats/ sea doos my whole life. I do all my boating on lake erie near the long point area which can usually get fairly rough and the gf isn't such a fan of bouncing around on the sea doo and there is no room to take anything with you and no where to sit comfortably at the beach. but anyways enough with that.

So the hammers have really tickled my fancies for a couple reasons, they are a decent size for a 21/22 foot day boat with a small cuddy, which will probably never be used but still nice to have and I will not have to upgrade my truck to pull it. next having a big block with thru hull exhaust just makes the boating experience so much more thrilling. lol does anyone know the size of the sun pad on the back?

so I have been doing some research and there seems to not be a lot of info available on them. so I figured I would ask the guys that know these boats inside and out. it seems that there are a couple different motors a 7.4 carbed, 7.4mpi and a 454 mag? it seems that most in my area are either carbed or mpi should I wait till a mag comes available? or are they all great motors I know my brothers carbed 7.4 in his chaparall had roughly 1800 hours before it needed a rebuild.

my next question is about handling. I know some of these boats come with trim tabs and some don't. were there different packages or did people put them on later? does such a small boat need tabs? most of my running is in 1-3 footers if it gets any worse I just slow down.

finally I know with all my other projects I can not leave well enough alone how hard and how much work would it take to make one of these run 75-80 besides needing hydraulic steering and maybe a set of decent tabs.
and sorry for such a long first post
thanks
Drew

Send a "PM" to 642MX he has a Hammer with the 7.4MPI and is pretty much a Hammer guru he can tell you anything you need to know about the boat and the 7.4's

if you want a 75 to 80 mph boat buy one that already runs that fast dont try to make one go that fast way cheaper

100% truth right there. I'm 15k into my motor project and I still have a stock drive and std steering.

Hammers are cool "little boats". Lots of room for it's size for sure. I'm pretty sure the swim deck is on the smallish side. I don't think it really needs tabs with 300+ HP she planes pretty easy. As far as needing them for trimming the boat in the rough...The main point IMO is the bottom design. The Hammer has a bass boat bottom; ie 20* or 21* dead rise. Not what most would consider an "off shore" or wave crusher hull and she doesn't like "running in 3's". You might be better off looking for a 24 or 25 Outlaw running on Lake Erie..

As mentioned above 642mx has several hundred hours seat time and knows everything about the boat, engines, propping and bling. He's running the stock 7.4 (non mag) right at 70mph. I'm not sure he reads/posts here.

I had a Hammer for two years and moved to an H2X after that. Great little boat (hammer) but honestly if you are seeing 1-3ft water on a regular outing, you may want to step up in length as Hook'em stated. The Hammer and H2X hulls really love the Hydomotive QUAD IV. The Hammer needs stern lift in rough water (or calm for that matter) as it's light in the nose and a bit unbalanced with a big block. Don't get me wrong, it was a great boat but I had my share of getting beat up on rough days- thus the move to an H2X. By the way, mine ran 68 on radar with the 7.4.

I owned a Hammer with a 7.4L (carb - 310 Hp) and the boss package for a few years (purchased new - sold around 200 hours). Fun little boat but very rough riding in anything over 2' chop. The big block seemed to throw the balance of the boat off a bit. The construction quality was above average and the Boss package adds a few extra options that come in handy (second battery, tabs, snap in carpet). I could get about 65mph at 2000' ASL with the 7.4L using speedo (didn't have a GPS speedo). Better to try and find a 24' with a steeper deadrise to handle the rough water.

hey guys thanks for the reply's. I will pm him to get some answers. as to buying a boat that is capable and already running those speeds. I would love to find something like that but there is not very much on the market for a decent price. the only other problem is once running that speed its going to snow ball to 85-90 still spending the extra money on the boat. lol as to how they handle the rough water conditions it is starting to make me think of other boats. around here a hammer can be had for 10-15000 and finding a 25 outlaw can be had for a little under 40. I am thinking I want to stay 98 and up with efi. also for those that have ran the hammers. when you say they are no good in the rough what speeds were you trying to run and what speeds did you have to run?

Gen VI motors are in '97 and newer.

642 and I were running in the Gulf last year off Pensacola. 20 miles over to Orange Beach in 1-2's and he had to run in my wake, right off the stern less than 40 MPH. He said if I hadn't slowed up and let him tuck in he'd have been in big trouble. Any faster and he couldn't keep the drive in the water. Plus being a "sit down boat" they were getting beat up pretty good.

It's a short flat bottom boat. Great at what it does just not a "big water" boat. The 272 has the right bottom (24*)but is still about 5 feet too short to really run off shore. Good Luck!

89sierra a buddy of mine is talking about selling his 232 islander runs 70+ on lake erie probably around 21k to 22k