• Key West 2014, Stock Outboard's Present and Future?


    Courtesy Shoot 2 Thrill Pete

    Stock Outboard, the only class where the world's rules match the US rules, also appears to be strong this year. There are a few boats who will have the role of favorites, the wider Doug Wrights being the boats with the advantage over the narrower tunneled competition. But, there is one boat that we will be keeping our eyes on closely to see how it does. Risky Business, a 1992 Skater 28 with a pair of Mercury Racing 200 XS outboards (running approximately 240 HP), will be competing against 32' Doug Wrights and 30' Skaters with twin 280 HP Mercury Racing engines.



    Obviously, water conditions will play a major role in the class, but what will the top speed of the 200's be versus the top speed of the 280's? Why so much interest for some of us? Well, Mercury has stopped building the 280's so there is a debate going on as to running the 200 or the 300 in the future. The pieces and parts of the 200 fits the current lower units without major modification, the 300 does not. So, the expense of racing the 300 over the 200 is major investment increase and may make the size of the fleet decrease.


    Courtesy Freezeframe Jeff

    We will try to keep the information flowing as the week progresses.


    Courtesy Sgoot 2 Thrill Pete

    Starting the events races today should be:

    5 Brothers Grocery
    Hulk
    Talbot Excavating
    SOS Venezuela
    Papa's Pilar
    Risky Business
    Comments 33 Comments
    1. Ratickle's Avatar
      Ratickle -
      That is a lot of weight to remove, especially if you're going to add weight by widening it.......


      Next time I see Peter I'll chat with him about it if you want me to. Maybe next week I'll see him for lunch or something.
    1. Riskybusiness racing's Avatar
      Riskybusiness racing -
      No thanks, but I appreciate it. I have talked to him about it already. So we have a couple different options to do.
    1. 2TR's Avatar
      2TR -
      Not sure if widening the hull would be cost effective, but you do have a twin F-16 Canopy so you wont have to rebuild the drivers compartment.... what the Hell, do it !!

      Now I'm hearing talk about a "new" mercury performance outboard killing the 200Xs before it even got off the ground..

      Maybe I should look into Yamaha, eTEC or some other brand..
    1. Serious News's Avatar
      Serious News -
      The possibility exists.

      350 Xcat Mercury's testing



    1. Ratickle's Avatar
      Ratickle -
      No way you should look into a Yamaha though. Mercury is still king of high performance. Unless you want to put a couple Seven's on it!!!!!
    1. Serious News's Avatar
      Serious News -


    1. Ratickle's Avatar
      Ratickle -
      I'm sure hoping that 350 does not become the engine of choice for the class. That would take a whole lot of teams out of the game.
    1. Serious News's Avatar
      Serious News -
      13 December 2014, Dubai – The overall Series may have already been secured, and they may have been testing new engines, but the Fazza pair of Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi simply couldn’t resist that top step of the podium at the Emirates Airline XCAT GP this afternoon.

      Because they were testing the soon-to-be-introduced four-stroke engines, it had been decided that Fazza would not earn any points for this race, meaning the final showdown was for the remaining podium places in the overall 2014 UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Series.

      They had to stave off a tough challenge from fellow Victory Team members, Dubai 7 (Salem Al Adidi and Jay Price) though, who also had an impressive start from lower down the order to challenge for a top spot straight away, going head to head with Fazza at one stage, but eventually settling for second place.

      “It was very good – especially with trying the new engines this weekend to see if we could complete the race and thank God we did,” said Bin Hendi afterwards. “This is a new start for these new engines and we are very happy to have won this race here.”

      https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/dub...062240857.html
    1. Serious News's Avatar
      Serious News -
      FAZZA CLAIMS VICTORY WITH MERCURY 4 STROKES
      Although no points were awarded to Fazza due to running 4 stroke outboards, it's remarkable how the Victory Team claimed the win

      Are these the engines of the 'green' future?

      The question is 'How do the Victory Team achieve, what some might say was impossible?'.

      As the reigning World X Cat Champions Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi already had the 2014 title sewn up, it was decided to fit their cat with the engines of the future, i.e. two Mercury 4 strokes.

      The units were heavier and we assumed they did not punch out as much power as the tried and tested 2 strokes. This looked true during practice, and pole position dashes.

      However when it came to the race itself, Al Zaffain and Bin Hendi produced an awesome performance to clinch victory ahead of hard charging American Jay Price in Dubai 7.

      It was agreed in advance that because these engines were new and had not been homologated, points would not be awarded to Fazza regardless where they finish.


      http://raceboatinternational.com/index.php?id=2215
    1. Ratickle's Avatar
      Ratickle -
      I cannot wait to hear more about this test....
    1. Riskybusiness racing's Avatar
      Riskybusiness racing -
      Quote Originally Posted by 2TR View Post
      Not sure if widening the hull would be cost effective, but you do have a twin F-16 Canopy so you wont have to rebuild the drivers compartment.... what the Hell, do it !!

      Now I'm hearing talk about a "new" mercury performance outboard killing the 200Xs before it even got off the ground..

      Maybe I should look into Yamaha, eTEC or some other brand..
      Well if I was to cut it up, we were just going to do all new canopy. I think it would be very fast. Look at fazza's 28' cat. That is a 28' with 63" tunnel. The cost really isn't that bad to cut it up. It was a lot cheaper than we thought, but if we are already doing all that why not just build a new boat or buy a used Doug wright. Sell this one and let someone else have fun and race it or do whatever.
      Those new motors are badass! Can't wait to see how much they cost....
    1. Ratickle's Avatar
      Ratickle -
      I'm thinking I'll be able to wait a long time to see what they cost. The current 350 sci is around $35,000 best.
    1. Serious Offshore's Avatar
      Serious Offshore -
      Risky Business Getting Back In Business

      Among the significant changes in store for the 28-footer is widening its tunnel 19 inches to the maximum allowable tunnel width of 63 inches in the Super Boat International Stock class, according to Smart Marine Services owner Chris Schoenbohm. An experienced offshore racer, Schoenbohm expanded the tunnel of his own 32-foot Doug Wright offshore racing catamaran last year.

      "Nick decided that instead of going with a new design he was going to work with us to modify that boat to existing specifications for Stock class 28-footers," said Schoenbohm.

      Dorcich said he was impressed—and inspired—by the work Schoenbohm had done on his own 32-footer. The cat finished first overall in Stock class at the 2014 Super Boat International Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla.

      Read the Entire Article at Speed On The Water here: http://speedonthewater.com/boat-rest...ck-in-business