Alternative to Phantom 28

[BluFin]

boat doesnt comply with RB2 due forced induction
doesnt comply rb1 as too short

just guessing this might be why there was no entry

[hunton69]

Originally Posted by BluFin

boat doesnt comply with RB2 due forced induction
doesnt comply rb1 as too short

just guessing this might be why there was no entry

5 foot to short for RB2 as well

Mike must be tired.

[cfun]

Originally Posted by hunton69

5 foot to short for RB2 as well

Mike must be tired.

Tired and probably stressed with all those last minuet details for the great race

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by hunton69

Mike must be tired.

Probably right, I think I'll have a stiff drink or three to perk me up
ML.

[Burty]

Originally Posted by Jon Fuller

Roger Severy has a pair of 5.7's in his, which unfortunately, he's never gotten reliable (but thats another whole story). His Phantom 28 (the last out the mould before mine), which is basically the same build schedule as mine (mine has slightly more balsa core in the outer deck etc), runs 92-93mph with circa 500hp per side.
I reckon with a pair of the now easily and cheaply available 'crate' small blocks, 85mph would be a breeze. 400+hp crate motors are about $7.5K each, plus a bit of marinizing stuff. certainly $10k per motor, turnkey for circa 400hp is available. Then you just gotta get em home in ya hand luggage.
Wiring looms etc in the boat are the standard Merc V8 petrol motor type, as are all the engine mounts etc. So would just need new tachometers, an exhaust mod to bring both exhausts out of the single 5" transom tips, and a mod to the throttle assy's, as the twin operating system (hand throttles, or foot) is custom made. Would also need a small (mebbe 5 litre) diesel tank fitted to the engine bay to run the Eberspacher central heating.
Drives are 1.36:1 ratio, so easily set up to do silly speed with petrols and sensible pitch props.

is 400hp per side the most you can go reliabily then?
what about the bigger merc engines is it 496ho's or are they too big?
i don't know much about inboards but i thought merc made them up to like1000hp???

[Jon Fuller]

Yeah, they do, but the 'big block' motors are physically very big and about as heavy as my current diesels, ie, too heavy.
small blocks are a much better option.

[cfun]

Bigbird did you ever make an offer on any of the USA boats like the Apache I linked too earlier on in this thread ...this Velocity for 25K would make a good basic race boat or poker run boat, faster than Mr Noisey (UK Velocity) with only 1x550 engine

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o17026-en.html

or this one for around 22K not so quick thou...

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o23736-en.html

Or http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o16670-en.html

[cfun]

noticed today the first link I made in yesterday,s post to the 29' Velocity at around 25K is very eager to sell and started a thread, looks like it could be a great deal for someone hear or the USA, if I was in the market for a boat it could be tempting to make a wild offer
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=192323

[Jon Fuller]

Not many lakes here though, is there.

Please try and remember what this thread is called!

[cfun]

Originally Posted by Jon Fuller

Not many lakes here though, is there.

Please try and remember what this thread is called!

Shock horror is the Velocity really that bad always thought Mr Noisey if not the fastest boat in the fleet was at least a competent rough water machine for it's 30' size
Also thought they had a pretty good record for their ability in the offshore USA race arena is this not so

[Jon Fuller]

I think the older ones were pretty good, yes. but it's not really the ability I'm refering to.

[cfun]

Err Build quality???...I'm feeling thick this afternoon it is Friday after all... no I take that back I feel thick every day

[Jon Fuller]

The later ones have a huge flat pad keel, I would think they're pretty hard going in the rough.
But my comment was really based on what we saw in the early 90's with the V26 that Ben, Tony and david ran in National Production class. It may be a bit unfair to base an opinion on one boat, but that boat suffered some funny structural issues when it roughed up. and it was supplied to David by velocity, knowing full well they intended racing it.

In guernsey, when the boat was but a few weeks old, they managed to separate the hull & deck (properly) in most of the fwd section, and I think the engine bearers tried to emigrate through the bottom of the hull too.

If Ben sees this post, maybe he'll refresh my memory a little more accurately.

He knows his Yank boats, good & bad, better than most.

[cfun]

I guess the moral would be to make certain you have any and especially USA purchased boat extensively surveyed by a respected guy fully briefed in its intended offshore use to make certain it's up to the task asked of it

[Ben]

We (Saber Marine and then Reefer Racing) had 4 boats built by Velocity. The first (1992) was the one that had its problems in Guernsey and was a kevlar/grp twin small block 26. The hull separated from the deck as the result of going over a 5 foot wave and falling directly on the starboard side into a 6 foot hole so I wouldn't solely attribute that damage to poor build quality. The engine bearers trying to go through the hull to co-habitate with Davy Jones there is no excuse for. The boat was probably just built too lightly.

Our second 26 (1994) was built with a single big block and was all GRP with carbon fibre re-inforcing at what we considered to be critical places. The boat handled beautifully and there were no structural or cosmetic issues.

Velocity 3, was a 1996 32 with twin big blocks. Standard layup with no special re-inforcing. Once again, no problems of a structural nature, no gel crazing nor stress cracks. Very stern heavy due to the big blocks. The original 30 from which the 320 evolved was designed for twin small blocks.

The Reefer our 2nd 32 was built n 1997 purely as a kevlar race boat although it did many hours as our corporate hospitality boat also. Single big block with great handling and very strong. The hull and structure of that boat still looked new after 7 or 8 years of our hard use.

Mr. Noisy is I believe a 1981 or 1982 boat. From what I have seen, it's heavily built and hasn't really had any structural issues.

[Tony Davis]

Originally Posted by Ben

The Reefer our 2nd 32 was built n 1997 purely as a kevlar race boat although it did many hours as our corporate hospitality boat also. Single big block with great handling and very strong. The hull and structure of that boat still looked new after 7 or 8 years of our hard use.

Didn't it have some fuel tank problems?

[Ben]

Yep, forgot about that.

The original fuel tank formed a part of the hull. It's lid was held on by some sort of adhesive. The lid shook itself loose after a rough race and the bilge filled with petrol. A nice standard aluminium (or was it stainless steel) tank fitted by Vulture Ventures solved the problem.

[cfun]

Thanks Ben for an informative view from an owner racer of Velocity boats, as Jf said you would know and it does appear Velocity are not far of the mark