Quote:
Originally Posted by doppler491
For racing purposes, what hull would perform better with a single etec 250HO? Has anybody put the big HO on the back of a Phantom hull yet? I take it these two hulls would be better than the 27 Cougar, correct?
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IMHO
I have never seen a Phantom roll, but I have never seen one with 280Kg of Honda 4 stroke on the back which seemed to make Cougars roll more often than with a 300XS Mercury. The Cougar with the 300XS that Paul C quoted had the engine jacked rite up so high C of G again.
From the footage of the Cougar 225’s racing most were raced and crashed like dodgem cars, they are very strong as they were made from Aramid fibers (Kevlar) and glass.
The resin used for the Cougar 225’s was Vinyl ester (most boats use Polyester resin). My cougar had repairs with Polyester resin, IT DOES NOT STICK TO VINYL ESTER!!
. Most of the repairs I stuck a screwdriver behind and the popped out like an egg out of a Teflon pan and have had to redo them first keying the surface with 80grit pads then repair with Epoxy resin. So beware if a Cougar’s had repairs.
Cougar 225’s had a fuel cell tank, the design life of these tanks is 5 years, and they can be inspected and given a 2 year further life. In practice my Cougar was an 2003 boat which I bought in 09. The fuel cell was leaking because it was perished and totally shot. I was quoted £2400 + vat for a new one. The other option is a new aluminum tank, and to have one made that will stand up to serious racing, CE approved with 2 year warranty you are looking at £600 to £900 + vat, but there again a Phantom tank would cost the same to the same spec. You wont get the aluminum tank into the Cougar unless you take the foot well out then cut away part of the dash as the fuel cells compress a bit to get them trough the bow hatch. Interesting point with fuel cells, I was told that it is the water not the fuel that degrades and perishes the tank coating. Cougars get wet in the front because they bow hatch has no seal nor does it have a drain in the hatch recess, the pop up navigation lights have no seal, water runs down the center of the pop up cleats, the bolts for the center bow rail leak and the foot wells were not sealed into the boat. My one is now all modifyed and fixed so water should not be a problem.
Generally stepped plane hulls like the Cougar give 10% - 15% more speed or efficency but I am told that conventional hulls like the Phantom corner better.
Second hand genuine P25’s are as rare as rocking horse s**t and are hard to find second hand but there are plenty of Couger’s around.
This was another member’s comment about the Cougar after owning one. “I will go so far to say that there is nothing out there that will come close to competing with this hull in rough conditions accept something a lot bigger and heavier! Make no mistake this hull comes with a health warning. It is an extremely technical boat to handle and rewards those who get it right and punishes those who get it wrong. Marmite springs to mind..! you will love it or hate it”.
What would my choice be, well if money was no object I would have a Phantom 25 made from Kevlar, carbon and balsa core with epoxy resin. It would be very light, very strong and very fast. But as you would probably be looking at £60k +, Second hand Cougars around £10k aren’t a bad option and plenty available.
My guess is that if you can find a Cougar that has not been repaired much then it probably won’t break unless you crash it. In hind site I was warned by Cookee “Inspect the hull very carefully of any boat you look at - most of them have had repairs at some at some stage in their lives!” Oh boy was he right, my advise would be if you buy a Cougar get an expert to look it over thoroughly, my one looked Ok until I got it home started prodding and delving into it, its cost me a lot of time and money to put it right but it was a cheap boat and hopefully it wont need further repair.
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