16 Ally

[Boris]

There was an ad for a 16 Ally project boat on the ebay section and I asked a question about the 16 as far as performance and the whole posting disappeared. My question is how well does that compare to the 15? How much h.p. can you put on those? Anyone have a guess what it would do for speed with a 140 merc and a good stainless on it? What type of prop works best on those?

[Raceman]

I ran a 15 Ally, first with a 1500J engine (pre XS), then a T2 and finally a T3, first with the original 122 cu in (2 liter) powerhead and ultimately with a 2.4 powerhead with a lot of work and nitros. I also ran the last motor on a 16 Ally which was decked over.

The 15' boat ran 103 or 106 (can't remember but have the sheets somewhere) at Knoxville in the NOA kilos in the '70's and the 16 ran about 10 MPH faster, but that was due to engine upgrades and modifications. Either one can be blown over at speeds in the 70's with carelessness, but can be run much faster with seat time, good setup and proper equipment. I've never run one with a 20" motor on it and think they would probably handle a good bit worse than with a shorter one. I ended up with champ mids on both of mine, which are a FULL 10" shorter than the 20".

With today's 140 loopers and good setup, nosecone and blades I would think mid 80's would be fairly easy.

The 16' boat has a wider pad than the 15 and also more flare under the deck up slightly in front of the driver giving the boat extra bow lift. I was told second hand that Paul Allison, Darrus' father who designed the boats never liked the 16' boat much after he built it, thinking it was flighty, BUT I ran my decked over one a hundred and mid teens frequently and thought it was very predictable. The decking did seem to make a significant difference at those speeds and my 16 had been blown over previously with a 235 OMC on it before I bought it.

I presently have a 16' one with a 1500XS that I've had for over 10 years, and like the 16 better than the 15, but believe the 15's are slightly faster with power that will only put them in the 70's or 80's, but still prefer the 16's myself.

Jeff_G on the boards here has multiple World Championships in that class boat with shortshaft inline 6 Mercs and is about as knowledgeable as anybody around here on settin' 'em up.