Hydro Sport??????

[MADDOG355]

I looked at a Hydro Sport boat the other day and have some questions.

Anyone know anything about them?? The one I looked at was about 17' ski/speed typ, closed bow. It looked pretty good had a older 1150 merk on it the seats are suposed to be new and he was asking $3,000. The hull seamed kinda light to me and I know knothing of the brand, Thoughts? Advice?

[Rusrog]

Earl Bentz started it years ago. They used to make some Kevlar boats that were fairly light. the bas boats ran pretty good but I never saw the closed bow type boats...

What year hull is it?

[geeforcem]

a couple of years back i saw a unique Hydra Sport on ebay. It was a closed bow ski boat deck... the hull looked to be an old 178 Vee bottom... pad hull. it was the only one i had ever seen.

normally the 'ski' boats were the Playmate 150 and 120's.. these were deep V hulls and a walk thru windshield...

The old 178Vees and 168Vee hulls were pretty fast for their days and still can be with todays props and set ups...

can you get some pics of this particular hull you are looking at? i think i have a couple of pics of the one i saw on Ebay in my home computer.. it was very unique..

jeff

[geeforcem]

also.. i think Roark Summerford was the designer of the 178vee style boats...

[MADDOG355]

I will see if I can get a pic this weekend.

It looks alot like a bass boat, I would guess it shares the same bottom mold. The bow looks like a bass boat with the kinda short triangle front (like the bass boats have for more room up front) but the deck felt pretty strong.

Any pics of a 178??

I am thinking he said it was a 1978?? Claimed somthing about one of these held a record??? Did they build any race boats?

[geeforcem]

i'll see if i have any old pics of a 178Vee around...

from what u described.. it sounds a lot like the boat i saw on ebay... to me the pics looked identical to the bass boat hull, with a ski deck on top.


Not sure about any records but i know they ran very well back in the day... We had a '79 178vee with '82 200 Merc.. ran 72 with a 26" chopper... and later an '81 that ran 74 with the Same Merc... this was back in early 80's. I think with todays jack plates, nose cones, and props, a lot more speed could be found. Both of the ones we had were Kevlar reinforced hulls...

Prior to those two,we had a '77 168Vee 17' with and inline six 150... ran 60mph.


I now have a '79 Laser 2500 (which is identical to the 178Vee Hydra Sport) undergoing restoration.. looking forward to see what kinda speeds i can get out of it.


i would like to see pics if u get them!

[geeforcem]

no raceboats that i know of... but u never know... they came up with some different combos every once in a while...

in fact...

we also had a very unique boat from Hydra -sports too..

it was a 15ft bass boat... the seating arrangement was identical to an XB2002 Allison... center steer, inline seating. Now i look back, i've seen a 15' laser ski/race boat. These had the identical hull.

I see u are from Tennessee.. have you seen any of these around. I know at least one was produce and am trying to locate it of find another one. It was a blast to drive... i learned how to drive pad v's with it when i was 11... wish we never sold it...

[Tony Brucato]

I'd like to see pictures of that if you have any.



I had to modify my bass boat quite a bit to get it to run.

[MADDOG355]

it was a 15ft bass boat... the seating arrangement was identical to an XB2002 Allison... center steer, inline seating. Now i look back, i've seen a 15' laser ski/race boat. These had the identical hull.

I see u are from Tennessee.. have you seen any of these around. I know at least one was produce and am trying to locate it of find another one. It was a blast to drive... i learned how to drive pad v's with it when i was 11... wish we never sold it...

Beleve it or not I did see one about a month ago, Word was the guy was moving and wanted to sell it. I will see if I can find him and if he still has it.

[MTOLLEY]

tony, would love to see some pics of your boat! hydra sports were very popular boats in the day. i can remeber seeing ads in magazines when i was kid of people running them over with a bull dozer started to buy one when i first got into boats, but never could find a really nice that didnt need a bunch of work that at the time i couldnt afford. i also remember seeing the ebay closed deck boat. never seen another one.. ill keep my eyes on the lookout for you guys. tolley

[geeforcem]

Beleve it or not I did see one about a month ago, Word was the guy was moving and wanted to sell it. I will see if I can find him and if he still has it.

man..if you could, i would really appreciate it!! i've been searching for a long time. We sold ours back in 1986 or so... i know they are super rare. Ours was found in that part of the country and brought over to texas!

[geeforcem]

I'd like to see pictures of that if you have any.



I had to modify my bass boat quite a bit to get it to run.

I'm trying to find some old photos...the problem is back then, Video cams were hot so we taped everything and never used cameras

i got my uncle looking thru his stash too.

I've always admired your Hydra Sport... how fast have you gotten it?

[geeforcem]

this is a pic of that one i saw on ebay a couple yrs ago...




see..it has the bass boat pad v hull under it...

[Tony Brucato]

I've always admired your Hydra Sport... how fast have you gotten it?

I've had it to 102 with the modified 260 and 28 lightning ET.



I've never seen one of those closed deck Hydra Sports before. Any idea what it might weigh?

[MADDOG355]

this is a pic of that one i saw on ebay a couple yrs ago...




see..it has the bass boat pad v hull under it...

Same color and all. But diffrent seating and trailer. This one actually has the bucket seats in it (like a jet boat).