How fast has the Viper been? GPS speed?

[Capt.Insane-o]

Do you feel LUCKY ...

No, I ran that boat for 13 years. In the end it was set up as well as it could be and would turn a 26 well into the 9's. It didn't turn, sucked in any kind of chop, was horrible on fuel and I was just tired of it.

Almost all of the Hydrostreams I've owned or bought to restore came from Action Marine. I still have a inline 30 chopper Sammy used to bead blast the name on the hub.

[JPEROG]

GR, while at Diesel Equipment Div of GM... I remember a Joe Skullteddy(sp?) who ran a Skater, Gen2 without center pod-x18?- with a hopped up horizontal 2.4 225 and I knew Tom Earhart...Tom did some fab work for me. He was into racing anything that would go fast, including a hopped up CBX. Man, that was a long time ago!... I had friends over on a little lake next to Gun Lake, Selkirk Lake, where we partied and skied. This was back in the late 70's-early 80's.
We were back and forth from GR, Detroit, and Flint. We raced at Columbiaville.

Small world, I was going to ask if you knew Tom and Linda. I think he still has his CBX, my brother had Joe's last STV, you most likely ran into Art Bennett, John Haas and Ronnie Knoll with their flat bottoms as well. I lived on Gull Lake but my dad would take me up to Gun for the Sunday night action with our 18 skater and yes Joe had the 18S without the center pod and it was about 8 mph faster. This was in the 81 to 83 range, I was the only 12 year old around with an 18 Skater and 235-Its what got me hooked on the boats.

Joe

[timw128]

Small world, I was going to ask if you knew Tom and Linda. I think he still has his CBX, my brother had Joe's last STV, you most likely ran into Art Bennett, John Haas and Ronnie Knoll with their flat bottoms as well. I lived on Gull Lake but my dad would take me up to Gun for the Sunday night action with our 18 skater and yes Joe had the 18S without the center pod and it was about 8 mph faster. This was in the 81 to 83 range, I was the only 12 year old around with an 18 Skater and 235-Its what got me hooked on the boats.

Joe

It's possible, Joe... 18S, that's it...he went with a v-drive after that, I guess. Joe's 18S with that worked 2.4 was caught on Tom's radar at 92-93. You may be thinking of his first Skater, with the pod. The other names don't ring a bell, really...I didn't do a lot of boating on Gun Lake, as we had a place on Lake St. Helen and spent our time there, unless we were off to the races. Last time I ran at Gun Lake was probably around '82, when we put Joe's Skater on the trailer for him. I really knew Tom from the drag race circuit and snowmobile racing. I remember he had quite the machine shop in his garage on the north end of the lake. He had a silver CBX, and I think he had put a turbo on it, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, my black Vector ran 97 with 2 people aboard and a light fuel load. We geared it 2:1, had low water pick-up, and zero setback. It was a good boat, but not for the inexperienced- hull was approx. 452 lbs. and we worked the 2.4 240 up a lil' bit.
I'd like to get one more Stream, maybe a VKing Comp with a 2.5 Drag...we'll see. I'm gettin' too old to mess with that stuff, actually.

tim

[WILDMAN]

Fastest I've had mine is 192 mph!

[dwilfong]

So what is the record for a single eng outboard V hull???????????????

[JPEROG]

So what is the record for a single eng outboard V hull???????????????

Brent went low 20s in White Knuckles "Bullet bass boat" but I think Allison holds the record -
Joe

[outasite]

Spent A lot of time and money at Gunn lake in the early eightys.After getting a 103 on Toms radar gun,with the Vking he seemed to get quite interested in Merc V6s.It was a year or so later, that we knew why.After he set the record with one in his snomobile,somewhere in the 130-140 range Was hoping to run into him at the Hardy party,maybe next year.

[JerseyChris]

Anyone that runs over 80 in a Viper is nuts

[timw128]

Spent A lot of time and money at Gunn lake in the early eightys.After getting a 103 on Toms radar gun,with the Vking he seemed to get quite interested in Merc V6s.It was a year or so later, that we knew why.After he set the record with one in his snomobile,somewhere in the 130-140 range Was hoping to run into him at the Hardy party,maybe next year.

Hi Bob- Yeah, ultimately Tom set the record in the Budweiser Polaris at 148.6mph... the same year at Tip Up Town he was able to get 146 out of it. That was the era when all the fast guys were running 2.4's assisted with nitrous. Marv Jorgenson wound up rolling an injected 2.5, with nitrous to approx. 190.

That 103 in Outasite, that was with the Speedmaster, correct?... I know Roger's boat was not nearly that fast.
I remember the day when I bought my first Vector from John Matteson. Special ordered it through Jay Sheffler at Hydrostream. John was trying to sell me a vertical reed 2.4 200 for it, but I wanted this 2.4 225 demo they had on a pontoon boat. I was working in Flint at Buick Engineering on a temporary program and coming back to GR on weekends. By the time the Vector came in, I had it all paid for. Well, here's the heart of the story- one of those times I went out to Matteson's, John tells me about you and Roger, your Viking's, and the 2.4's. I don't think you had them put together yet ('79-'80ish?), if I remember correctly. I think yours were on order, too- feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, I told John I wanted one of those 2.4 Offshore motors, too. He tried really hard to talk me out of it, as the Vector was rated for 140-145hp.
Long story short, I got my way but Kevin and John made me sign a waver and they would NOT install the engine on the boat. What they did do, was rig it up, drilled the transom and mounted the jack, but when I came out to pick up the boat it was backed into the shop and the engine was dangling from a cherry picker ready to mount. So, I had to mount it. They also took photos of me doing the work!...LOL!
There's even more stories about the 'Thriller' involving insurance companies and an underwater collision incident. And another with Merc Hi Performance because the engine didn't run right- Oshkosh had put the wrong carbs on it!... there's photos above of Thriller, the black Vector.
Anyway, good ol' stories from a great era gone by.
Take Care!

tim

[JCSmile]

So what is the record for a single eng outboard V hull???????????????

129 in an Allison in 1987 with a 2.4.

[90 5.0]

Brent went low 20s in White Knuckles "Bullet bass boat" but I think Allison holds the record -
Joe

That boat is a stroker

[90 5.0]

129 in an Allison in 1987 with a 2.4.

I "heard" about a guy going 132 a few years back need to dig Round and find the source, but Reynolds pass that you mentioned was more "official"

Seems like someone could beat an ancient 2.4 record but they prolly hard to find someone with the balls to do it.

[16ft superboat]

My buddy Mike ran 107.3 in a side steer viper last weekend. Ran 106 with 3people on board. He will have the baddest and fastest viper around!

[dwilfong]

Just wondering so I know what to shoot for with my modified vector.
Don't think I will have a set big enough to drive it.
But I bet I can find some one that dose................................

[JCSmile]

I "heard" about a guy going 132 a few years back need to dig Round and find the source, but Reynolds pass that you mentioned was more "official"

Seems like someone could beat an ancient 2.4 record but they prolly hard to find someone with the balls to do it.

I agree. An S3000 would get the job done. At that speed, you just gotta start wondering when the hull will build too much lift and bad things start happening. Quite honestly, I think there are 3 Allison hulls that could hit that 129 number (xb02, xr02, and xr01), it comes down to brass. I'm sure the 129 mph boat ran faster than that, considering that was an electric trap setup (average). The only thing scarier than driving a V hull to 129 mph is HOLDING it there :/. Then again, going 105 in a 15 foot boat (viper) isn't exactly sane either (completely awesome though).