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Thread: Surface drives

  1. #1
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    Surface drives

    I don't think I've ever seen one in person but the other day I was on Craigslist and seen a ski boat with surface Drive and had an attached video to show how the boat performed..it looked cool and made a huge rooster tail... he was asking a crazy amount of money for the boat and I started looking around the internet for other boats with the same kind of drive and they were all very expensive also even for the older boats..... my question is why don't we see those drives on more boats and why are they so expensive ? ...what's the pros and cons.... thanks for any input

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    About 35 years ago I was in Carl Gibson's (Gibson and Carl Craft house boats) shop picking up a boat he had repaired the bottom of for me- (boat came of trailer)- I did not put it on the payment- traded for it that way- any how there was the monstrous scary thing stick out the back of a fairly sleek boat - I had never seen nor heard of this thing before- it was an Arenson surface drive- He indicated it was fairly new design- You may have seen one of his boats as you are not that far from Nashville.
    Carl Gibson treated me as though I just bought his biggest house ever- my repair was $2-300 and was quoted over the phone without even seeing damage- work was good and price stayed at the $2-300 as quoted.

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    We have a little yellow donzie in our area with and Arenson surface drive. Looks like this but yellow. I believe the one in this pic runs north of 100
    Click image for larger version. 

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    a thick hulled,no pad,rounded bottom,no turboed,no supercharged,no extra air induced,Donzi, with or without a surface drive,will EVER go north of 100,with a stock engine hatch and a stock 4" air scoop.MAYBE BEHIND A BIG PICKUP TRUCK. plz. i'ed say 62mph(downhill)-th

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    Quote Originally Posted by mn808gade View Post
    a thick hulled,no pad,rounded bottom,no turboed,no supercharged,no extra air induced,Donzi, with or without a surface drive,will EVER go north of 100,with a stock engine hatch and a stock 4" air scoop.MAYBE BEHIND A BIG PICKUP TRUCK. plz. i'ed say 62mph(downhill)-th
    Yeah well you would be wrong. This is a pretty well documented boat on Offshore only soooooo. Its name is Mighty Mouse. George Desmond out of CT. 1974 Barrel Back 18' Donzi ran 124 mph with a pro charged small block and an Arneson with an old 4 blade Rolla prop. Surprisingly stable George said
    https://youtu.be/1jKhIXJ0fME
    Last edited by vnemous; 11-10-2017 at 07:18 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by vnemous View Post
    Yeah well you would be wrong. This is a pretty well documented boat on Offshore only soooooo. Its name is Mighty Mouse. George Desmond out of CT. 1974 Barrel Back 18' Donzi ran 124 mph with a pro charged small block and an Arneson with an old 4 blade Rolla prop. Surprisingly stable George said
    https://youtu.be/1jKhIXJ0fME
    Above is a very true statement!
    It ran here in front of me in the GSB LI. Even though I can not remember the exact # it was certainly well north of 100 in numerous passes!
    Personally I felt he was insane but you can tell he did it regularly and had a good handle on doing it. Let me add, Geo was smart and always wore great safety gear!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by vnemous View Post
    Yeah well you would be wrong. This is a pretty well documented boat on Offshore only soooooo. Its name is Mighty Mouse. George Desmond out of CT. 1974 Barrel Back 18' Donzi ran 124 mph with a pro charged small block and an Arneson with an old 4 blade Rolla prop. Surprisingly stable George said
    https://youtu.be/1jKhIXJ0fME
    He could be wrong but he's right ... ProCharged, duh.

    Reading comprehension

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    Made here in my neck of the woods.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    John Dorn
    97 Triad 225 ProMax.
    67 (Howard Pipkorn) Hustler Wildcat with a 67 Mec 1100ss
    www.pipkornhustler.com

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark75H View Post
    He could be wrong but he's right ... ProCharged, duh.

    Reading comprehension
    So someone looks at one picture and he could tell there was no pro charger or turbo from the picture I posted and calls BS and I'm the DUH? Lighten up
    I can spell too.
    Last edited by vnemous; 11-11-2017 at 04:41 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mn808gade View Post
    a thick hulled,no pad,rounded bottom,no turboed,no supercharged,no extra air induced,Donzi, with or without a surface drive,will EVER go north of 100,with a stock engine hatch and a stock 4" air scoop.MAYBE BEHIND A BIG PICKUP TRUCK. plz. i'ed say 62mph(downhill)-th
    DuhOppsssss , Chaz = just love a sleeper like that ...

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  16. #11
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    Growing up my fastest street cars were real sleepers, 67 Camaro then 72 Vega! Love sleepers!! Fri and Sat evening conversations...that thing will never run right with that setup...you could be right....how much $$ you have on you?...

    That Donzi was wicked fast for sure!...

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    Quote Originally Posted by John Dorn View Post
    Made here in my neck of the woods.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Beautiful

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    Quote Originally Posted by tux974 View Post
    Love sleepers!!

    That Donzi was wicked fast for sure!...

    Neatly hidden under hatch.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Plenty o potential

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    A guy in N Texas, back around the mid 70's had a SD unit put on his jetboat.....1st time out while running beside another guy made an abrupt right hand turn running in the 80's....darn near wiped his buddy out!
    Nobody would run with him after that! It was a Sunday get together on Lake Lavon....some from around may remember!!!?
    They're dang sure more efficient than a squirt drive but the set-up is crucial, just like an outboard!!!
    WillySteve Hendricks



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