My search paid off
 

I am taking a trip this Friday to go inspect a real 1985 Stepp 22 Velocity. The boat has been owned by the same guy for 20 years and health is the reason he is letting the boat go. It's powered by a SBC 383 stroker engine with very low hours and has a new Gen II alpha drive on it. I have a couple of photos of the boat and she looks solid and clean as a pin. As an older fella, not much excites me anymore, but I have to say that I'm like a kid waiting for Santa.

Good luck and hopefully you will soon be a member of the Velocity family!

Padraig

Donnie I was thinking that a 383 and Alpha combination would be a nice combination for you! I owned a 1985 22' with a potent 406 SBC and Alpha (not the Gen II). I was concerned about the Alpha hanging in there with the 406's high idle and torque but I never had an issue. I ran a 3 blade prop (easier on the drive) plus Steve recommended 3 blades for the 22's. Of course you need to be careful with the throttle for the drive to survive. Foot throttles work well as the single handle control isn't well positioned. Don't be concerned by gel coat spider cracks near front cleats nor small gelcoat "pops" on strakes. Steve layed them up very light and indeed you may see sunlight brightening up the cabin through the front deck! Like all old boats, the plywood parts (stringer/bulkheads/transom/sole) are your chief concern and directly reflect how carefully the boat was stored. The 22's run bigger than their length. 45 MPH was a sweet spot for my boat in 1' - 2" choppy bay conditions. I used my tabs as needed. From one older guy to another, as a sit down boat with a modestly padded seat, you'll take some hits to your back when it gets rough! Good luck!

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From talking to the gentleman that currently owns the boat. He has done a substantial amount of work to her as he has owned the boat for 20 years. The boat has always been stored inside and it appears to be a top notch piece. I spoke to Scott McCormick this morning and he said that he remembers the boat. Now I don't know if it's even possible, but the current owner told me that he had spoken to someone that said this boat had a race deck on it and that it was laid up with Kevlar.? I know Kevlar was very costly back then and i kind of doubt that's the case, but the current owner seems to be a stand up guy so who knows. The 383 is supposed to be fairly potent at around 500HP and the boat does have a hot foot in it. From the photos I've seen. The boat has been very well cared for, and I am very excited to go and meet my new baby.

That's nice that the 383 fits using the stock height engine cover! Looks like the engine compartment flooring was worked on/replaced. Do ask/look at the stringers where the engine mounts. The factory only used a 1/2" plywood core for the stringer, so with 500 HP they need to be in very good shape. Could be a Kevlar deck - I heard the same thing about mine.

Looks nice !!

That Weiand Team G sit fairly low as far as single plain intakes go. If it were a Victor Jr or a Bowtie intake. That hatch wouldn't be closing without some modifications. The guy told me that he has gone completely through the boat. The transom and floors. A complete new drive and the engine is supposed to be fresh. All that I have see so far looks very promising. Of course I''ll know more once I can lay my eyes on her and do a little investigative work. Trust me...I'll look her over very long and hard.

Sounds like you have a good plan and it's great that the structural stuff has been attended to. They're very straightforward boats otherwise and easy to work on. There a removable front engine compartment panel and the rear seat hinges forward so you can looks at its wood. If the engine seems a little too radical like my 406 was (1,150 RPM idle/very difficult docking), I was able to easily detune with AirGap RPM and the Comp Cam recommendation to get a much friendly boat with little performance drop off. Best of luck.

The guy sent me a video and the boat has a pretty much stock sound to it. No cam shaft thumpity thump. It idles at 800 RPM yet the guy says it dynoed at 500HP. We will find out everything come thursday.

Donnie - how did Thursday's visit go? Moving forward with Pure Energy?

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I went up yesterday and ended up bringing the boat home. Mechanically the boat is very solid. Aesthetically she's going to take a bunch of work and some time to get her standing tall again. The guy that owned her has some pretty serious medical issues and he wasn't able to look after her the way he was use to doing. That along with our differences in visual tastes other than the boat has left some work to do. The first thing I did was peel the Pure Energy graphics off and they left some yellowing under the letters. However you can also see where the original Velocity graphics were, so I''m going to make some marks and take some measurements so when I go to put the new Velocity graphics back on. It will be much easier to put them where they were originally. I'm also not thrilled with the captains seats in the boat. The just aren't very secure when you're running at any speed. It's going to be a project which I enjoy and I'll be able to make her what my vision of a 1985 22 Velocity should be.

What an awesome find, congrats. Sorry if I rubbed you wrong in other thread. Sounds like I was able to steer you in right direction, which was my only intent. 500HP sounds like a ton of fun and it looks SWEET with the swim platform, please tell us how fast it runs. I like colors too.

The swim platform is something my wife loves because of the step the folds down into the water. As for me...So far I'm not a fan. I'm thinking if it didn't stick out like a sore thumb I might like it a little more so I'm going to pull it off and have it powder coated white. That hopefully will make it a like less in your face.

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For now my main concern are the shadows from the vinyl lettering the guy had on the boat that was immediately peeled off when I got it home yesterday. The plans is to re install the original Velocity lettering on the boat once I get the sides where I want them. I've been working on the G and Y and they are coming along, but it's taking more work than I had figured. I'm bening gentle because I'm not sure how much gel coat I have to play with.

Donnie. Best of luck moving forward with your new project! The basic graphics pattern is similar to my 2 color 1985 graphics. Did you sea trial the boat?
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I did. We took the boat out and ran it around for about an hour. He had some type of Chopper prop on the boat and he liked to run the boat nose high to the point of the boat porpoising pretty bad. I drove the boat for a while and when the trim was set to a proper point the boat ran fine and had a good ride. For a 37 year old boat I couldn't find anything horrible wrong with it other than it needs a good buff and wax. Other than that...Everything seemed to be ok.

I think you will like the swim platform better once you start using it, and realize how practical they are may​​​​​​be change the color.

I'm looking in to having it powder coated. I'm trying to decide which would be better. White or the royal blue.

Donnie, Congrats and welcome to the family. Ihave a VR 1. As you are working on the boat keep in mind that the Velocity factory is a great resource for information, parts etc. Kenny at Let's Talk Boats is also a good resource. Kenny used to be the GM at Velocity. Of course, Revelocity is also a great resource and a good guy.

Padraig

Excellent. As I recall my 22' did not need or use a lot of trim for top speed. I'd suggest you try to find a Mirage Plus prop (Steve Stepp recommended). I liked the Mirage better than the 4 blade Bravo which seemed to slightly torque the boat to a side attitude under flat conditions and no doubt put more stress on the Alpha. I always wanted to try a Hydro Q4 on the 22' hull as I suspect it would lift a little more than the Mirage but not as much as the Bravo due to less blade area. What pitch prop is currently on the boat?

Do you remember what pitch the Mirage prop you used on your old 22? I am currently looking for a 25 pitch Mirage Plus prop. If anyone has one they would like to sell. Please let me know.

Interesting. The small quick small block with alpha drive boats i’ve been around like smaller diameter props. The mirage and mirage + tend to bog things down snd lift too much of the boat. That said, never worked on a Velocity 22, but wished I do. Thus why following this thread, cool HotRods :thumbs

I take that back: went thru some notes wuickly snd a few small light boats (not velocities) with decent 383’s used Mirage + but had Alpha SS’s.

Do you remember what pitch the Mirage prop you used on your old 22?

I ran a 23" and 25" Mirage. I was partial to the 23" for all around performance and the 406's higher powerband. Sold both props with the boat - still have a 21" Mirage however.

I'm not sure if a 21 would be enough. I sea trialed the boat with what was supposed to have been a 25 Chopper prop and I was much less than impressed with that prop. I also got a 25 pitch stainless prop of unknown brand and I would like to try that one first before I dropped almost $700 on one. I'm pretty happy over all with how the boat is turning out. It still needs a lot o0f attention to be where I think it needs to be so we'll keep working.

Congratulations and good luck. Welcome to the world of Velocity. I bought a 1998 280 and have done a complete restoration and the guys at Velocity have been super helpful. With Scott at the helm now the value of our boats is only going to go up.

My Regal 23 Velocity liked the Mirage much better than a Hydro quad 4. I was running a 24 inch Mirage 3 blade and a 502 mag. However the Regal/Velocity was reported to be heavier in the bow then a Velocity 22. Nice boat but Donnie made the right choice.

Padraig

Very cool.

Congrats!