( Link: http://seriousoffshore.com/forums/co...akedown-Cruise )
Unfortunately, there just did not seem to be any buyers for a 33' boat, (30'8" without the bustle), with that type of speed capabilities running Arneson drives. So, out came the Sterling's, off came the Arneson's, and a new opportunity was created. That opportunity ended up being seized by some Canadian performance boaters familiar with Skater capabilities.
The (almost) final iteration looks like this. (Still needs engine hatches):
The previous iteration, courtesy Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
Numerous changes were made to the boat.
The bustle which covered the Arneson's had to be cut off, and a new one created which was a little bit shorter for the I/O conversion. (The new one also has those well known Skater Scallops). New engine hatch covers are needed for the increased height and width of the new engines, and are in the process of being made. The transom had to be completely filled, redone, and cut for the new drives. The interior was redone. And of course, the boat was completely sanded and repainted with the new brighter silver color and lettering.
In the paint booth
As you can tell from the above photo, the boat is now a Bravo boat!!
In its new configuration, the boat has new Mercury 565's and Bravo drives. The boat first went out for testing, with no hatches, with no spacers in the drives. The boat was purposely built with a high x dimension, so high in fact that 1"spacers were ordered at the same time as the drives.
The boat went out and ran a little over 100 MPH with ease, but with no spacers the drives were too high to have any trim control at all, so back to put the spacers in for drivability purposes.
Then, with the 1" spacers put in, more runs were made. It had better control, still handled well, but the spacers were too much. It was taken up into the teens, and 1/2" spacers are now on order.
Stay tuned, we will keep you informed and add more pics. Expect to see this piece at Skaterfest in August.
Oh, we're still thinking of a new nick-name for the boat. Silver-Green Slash?
Naw…….:leaving:
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