how to improve a 78 sleekcraft mod vp

[aircraftman]

anyone have any experiences with lightening these hulls, can any appreciable weight be removed?
i know the easiest way would be to buy a different boat but i dont have that kind of money to spend.
i can see maybe 50 lbs by cutting out the center hull flooring cover and removing the two side mounted 15 gal tanks while installing the ( maybe 20 gal ?) tank under the floor in the center.

I dont mind fiberglass work.

the boat has a 235 and im trying to get a 300 rude.

[Georgia Boy]

as far as fuel tanks, you could pull out the side tanks, and go to the portable style tanks. that will save a good bit, I have also seen people have under the floor tanks but have a "T" in the line to hook up a portable and just left the big tank empty when racing. if you install a underfloor tank, then you could go back with foam for the floor. not sure what you have for seats, but you could buy some knew ones or check with techno he made some foam seats that saved him like ten pounds a piece I think. he has it documented with pics on his site. also if you have transome braces or long stringers that are solid you could use a whole saw and saw out some along the center section to shave a few pounds, hopefully you can use some of this if not oh well, Best of luck, post some pics of your boat, i have an old sleek, like to see other ones as well.

[fastboat]

Aircraftman,

If you decide to take the tanks out, I would be interested in buying them if they are cylindrical. I need them for an Eliminator.

I also have two belly tanks that would probably fit your boat if you would be interested in a trade-one 22 gal. and one 16 gal.

[aircraftman]

the tanks are rectangular and ill get dimensions. it would be nice to sell them or trade for a center tank. do you have dimensions on your tank?

thanks for the reply.

georgia boy , ill check with techno on the seats by doing a search, but if you have a link please post it.

heres the only pic i have , im trying to get some of it running.

i looked at the divinylcell job techno did and its sweet!!!!!!!!!!

im going to do my seats that way, my seats weigh ALOT like almost cant lift them into the boat by myself!

my transom has some rot and i think im going to replace it with foam. ill post anothe thread on this.

[ShipBear]

Hey Budd, that hull looks to sweet to start chopping on it.. !!
Why not enjoy it the way it is.. and try to pick up a lighter hull..
Your hull is made for looking good, and cruising .. You start cutting into the floor you can run into a mess..
I think you said it'll do 60 mph.. That's not bad..
I think you can get alot more out of it with just prop, and setup.. I bet that Rig looks really nice in the water..
Some hulls wil be heavy, no matter what you do to them..
Have you done anything to the Motor..? You can wake that 235 up for around $500. Check some of the post on OMC 235..

Later Larry :D

[aircraftman]

i have done some basic mods to the motor and it does pretty good, should be @ 67-70 when tunings done.

i was shooting in the dark. after the discussing i think the seats are going to be lightened and thats about it.

like everyone else i just cant stop messing with things to make them faster. ill post a pic of my liquid cooled 440SRX powered golf cart when its finished.

thanks!!!!!

[Georgia Boy]

Sleeks have always been heavy boats and it take alot of power to get them running, Mine is the same, but they are also as solid aboat in my opinion as you could get. get what you can out of it with out the chopping, and look for a lighter hull if you want run faster.

[aircraftman]

made several runs last night and into about a 10 mph headwind with a big roost and the cleaver on it the boat "lifted out of the water" real nice after about a half mile of WOT and hit 76mph with just me in the boat. Real stable and solid.

then murphy came in and i lost a cylinder i htink it was fuel related and it never came back. its on the trailer at home now.

fast enuf for me right now.

didnt have a camera of course!:mad:

[Sleekster]

I have seat fiberglass shells for sale in the misc. section. They are out of a 'Stream.

I was thinking of adding setback to mine. What do you think that would do for your set-up?

[aircraftman]

ill check out those seats. the jack plate added @4" of setback and it seemed tohelp out lifting the bow but that hull needs alot of HP. 235 is just barely enuf to get it flying. it takes @ 1/2 mile with chop right now to lift the bow. 300 rude would rock this thing!!:D :cool:

do you have a pic of the sleekstermobile?

how about the seats. got a pic. how much?

[Sleekster]

Here's one...

[Sleekster]

running with delawarerick on the Indian River...

[Sleekster]

A day w/ Scott and his family...

[Sleekster]

w/ Scott's kids...

[Sleekster]

Last one...at last year's Rumble.

[aircraftman]

looks nice. the interior looks sweet. is the boat redone? or origional?

im going to try to make the rumble next year maybe ill see that thing up close if your there! see ya

heading up to the speedruns at Kosh!!!!:D :D

[Sleekster]

have fun.

[STVRacing]

i had an 84 with a worked 200 merc with a total of 18 inches of setback i saw 85 and that was with the motor melting a cylinder at the same time it takes gobbs of horsepower to make them move but they sure as hell are pretty i shouldnt of sold mine