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Any History On This 390?

Old 05-20-2018, 10:56 AM
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Default Any History On This 390?

Used 2007 Velocity 390, Alva, Fl - 33920 - BoatTrader.com

This would be my first Velocity, anyone have a background on her? I have dialed it down to a 388 slingshot or this Velocity. I've always done custom motors, big power one off stuff and I'm just tired of the problems, I'm willing to lose some speed for reliability. I have really only a few concerns with this boat. First off being ilmor engines and availability of service if and when a problem arises. Also worried slightly about sound. I like loud, never heard an ilmor. Just heard some videos and they sound very similair to v8 at idle but almost sound like they get quiet underway. Don't like that the back seat has bolsters, I'm hoping maybe I can rework that? Also, haven't seen it in person yet but will. Cockpit looks cramped for a boat that size, I'm guessing due to the staggered drives, plus side is sunpad looks huge, which we spend a bunch of time on.

Guy says boat runs in the 80's shouldn't this boat be seeing well into the 90's with the right props? I've heard these velocity hulls will run. Another thing I really like is the Konrad drives. I will never own another bravo product for as long as I live lol.
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Old 05-21-2018, 08:45 AM
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This is the "Rocket Man" boat (with goofy Rocket Man graphic removed) which was originally owned by a Velocity Sales Manager is 2007. The McCloud interior was a custom upgrade and unique to this boat. I'm pretty sure it has a Kris Cruz (not sure on spelling) paint job who did great work. It was probably 1 of 3 390's that ran Konrads from that time frame. The Konrads gave very good reliability but did cost speed. If it has 5 blade props, the drives were set up high to help compensate and it may not pop up on plane depending on the prop selection (hydro's are more slippery than maximus). The staggered set ups are great in rough water and will track a lot better than the Slingshot but Slingshot may be faster than the 390's Konrad staggered set up. Ilmors sound really unique at speed sort of like an Indy car. The Ilmor's are quite a bit more fuel efficient than the Mercury V8's. I saw that Kenny H. also has this boat listed in the OSO classifieds. Kenny will provide a truthful assessment as he's known the boat since new and can comment on it's current performance.
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Old 05-22-2018, 04:00 PM
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Thanks for the info Revelocity. It does indeed seem after doing more digging that the Konrads scrub 4-5 mph or even more, I thought for sure this would be a 90mph boat staggered with that kind of power. For piece of mind though it's an acceptable trade off. The boat does have 5 blades on it as you have suggested. The hustlers I am looking at do seem to be a bit quicker and many have arnesons which I've owned before and love. I have however read plenty of warnings on the handling on some of those hustlers. Some of them can seem to get hairy at speed. Never had an ill handling boat and not really looking to. I think I'm going to be going down to take a look at this boat, and if things go right get a survey done on her.
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Old 07-15-2018, 11:13 AM
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Bought the boat, Charlotte is now home for it. She is in beautiful shape but as mentioned the konrads definatley cost some speed I only had it out a few times and mid 80's seems to be about it, unacceptable for me. Kenny has stated going to XR would pick up maybe 10 mph but in no way would I consider living on borrowed time with those drives. The boat is currently back down in Florida with Kenny getting some minor things done. There is also a very very good chance we will be putting Arneson's on the boat. I've had arneson before and consider it superior to anything merc offers, it is both more efficient and much less weight than a #6. RIK at arneson and Kenny are hashing out some details and Kenny will be reaching out Steve Step (hope that's spelled right) to consult with him as well. No idea what sort of speed I would see with that set up but I'd think this would be a very reliable 100mph boat easy. If the arneson won't do the only other viable option is a #6. Keep everyone posted... half the fun for me is modding lol. And oh yea, all that rocket man stuff is coming off the trailer lol, the darn cockpit carpet says it too, it's in good shape but it must go. Considering Sea Dek as I'm doing the swim platform already.




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Old 07-15-2018, 01:33 PM
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Big Congrats and welcome to the Velocity family.

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Old 07-16-2018, 10:37 AM
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Welcome and congrats. Looks like you are on Lake Norman? Arnesons would be very cool but you may do alright with Bravos on the lake if the Arneson project doesn't materialize. The 390 is a drive friendly pad hull. I believe Steve Teeter did OK on Lake Norman with his heavier 410 with the same Ilmor package and Bravo XRs. Clearly if you want to go above 620 HP than Bravos is not the way to go! Best of luck and enjoy your boat!
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Old 07-16-2018, 11:11 AM
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My '08 390 with twin, staggered 525's and XR's only ran 83.7 when I got it home. I never felt like it fully got back on the pad until I installed a 2" drive spacer. Even then, I wanted to try a 3" spacer, but never got around to it before I sold it. My boat didn't have the stand-offs, though, which should help with the leverage. On mine, the drives were installed really high and it ran 6-blade Herings. With the spacers, I switched to 4-blade, labbed Bravos and ended up at 85.2, but lost about half the roost. That was a huge part of the appeal of the boat and the new owner removed the spacers to get it back.
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Old 07-16-2018, 05:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Revelocity
Welcome and congrats. Looks like you are on Lake Norman? Arnesons would be very cool but you may do alright with Bravos on the lake if the Arneson project doesn't materialize. The 390 is a drive friendly pad hull. I believe Steve Teeter did OK on Lake Norman with his heavier 410 with the same Ilmor package and Bravo XRs. Clearly if you want to go above 620 HP than Bravos is not the way to go! Best of luck and enjoy your boat!
looks like lake Wylie. If so, come around by nivens creek so I can drool from my dock. Nice buy.
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Old 07-16-2018, 06:22 PM
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It is Wylie, I'm on the lake up north on the Charlotte side a little north of the plant. I've thought about moving over to Norman for the boating but just don't want the longer commute, especially with all the construction up there now.

bravo, imco, all of that stuff is just a no go. Only thing I ever had good luck with were B Max drives. The hours are very low but if it comes time to rebuild I will have imco (ilmor not imco) upgrade to 725 from the 625 I'm currently at.

#6's are now on the table. Kenny and Steve met up today and talked about my options. If I undertake this they will both be involved. The goal is a very reliable 100mph boat. They aren't really trying to steer me one way or another but both seem to be preferential to the #6. I think sometimes people may not recommend outright an Arneson because they just don't have a lot of experience with it. Plus let's face it. The reality is there are so many out there it would likely be the "easier project" to get fully set up and running right. The flip side to that is for me personally, I've purchased an Arneson before and I think they are, as I mentioned before a superior design to the 6. Less mechanically complex, lighter, Etc etc. plus having Rik there at the factory, being the super awesome resource he is, leaves me no doubt we can get the arneson dialed in. The one other thing is the #6's are reman and the arneson would be brand new. I think there is a lot to be said for factory new regardless of who rebuilt them. Here is the only reason for the 6 that may bear some weight (they are dry sump btw), Steve in speaking with Kenny seemed to be concerned about how lift with the arneson. My boat already runs extremely flat and struggles to get on the rear pad. Definitely don't want to make that more of a struggle. They of course don't have any direct experience (I don't think) but it seems a valid concern. I have read about some bow lift issues with arneson in the past. Rik's view on it is that bow lift will not be an issue. He stated that hering and merc now have expanded the line props and have certain rake specifications not previously offered a number of years ago, leaving those issues in the past. The last consideration here is resale. I know I'm breaking out the $$$ but when I do sell this boat (and I do seem to move through boats quick). Which will have better mass appeal? I'm not sure but I guess I'd have to lean towards the 6?? I was considering slingshots for the only reason there were some with Arneson's on the market, however I may not be the norm. Merc owns the market clearly but are they more desireable? Not sure.

im going to start a thread in the general section and see if I can get some additional input I haven't thought of. Nice to see some NC people here!

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Old 07-17-2018, 08:33 AM
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Too bad that Merc no longer offers the NXT drive package. That worked great on the 390. A 700SC boat ran at 114 MPH (don't recall if that was a staggered boat) and handled like on rails at 100+ according to Steve. The NXT drive added around 15 MPH compared to a friend's side by side engine 390 with Konrads and 800 HP. You are right that Velocity has very limited experience with Arnesons. You'd basically be getting into a R&D project with unpredictable results. Steve and Kenny are great to work which certainly helps but you can expect trial and error - as was the case with the first NXT boat. On the other hand #6 are well understood by Steve from years of race set-up experience including at Lake X. Not an easy decision for you weighing the potential vs. risk trade-off of the Arneson compared to going with the #6 fully knowing its pro's and con's.
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