fastest boat you've ever seen

[volzfan59]

It wasn't my boat, I was a co-angler. I've been 80 in a Norris Craft. Way to fast for me. My buddy had a Bullet that easily ran in the 70's. Again, way to fast for me on the water 

[J Francho]

The fastest I had my Bullet up to was 84.7 on GPS.  I used a much higher pitch (31" 3-blade) than my usual Trophy 4-bade 27.  The higher pitch was hell to get up on plane but there was more than I was capable left, even at 85 mph.  My usual setup ran about 71-73, but got up on plane in about 2 seconds at 16-17 mph.  A much better deal for usual fishing.

 

I love the "run all day" comments.  My boat burned around 40 GPH at WOT.  It had a 25 gal. fuel cell.  You do the math.

 

I'm sure there are faster boats (I see them on YouTube all the time), but mostly I see bigger boats running 60 MPH in water I would not ever go out in.  The Great Lakes dictate when and how fast you can go, regardless of capability.

[airshot]

Many years back we were invite up to an inland lake where high performance drag type boats were popular.  We were friends with a couple of the owners.  My sisterinlaw was not a big boat fan but was convinced to go for a boat ride.  She had just purchased an expensive pair of sun glasses on the way.  I told her to look straight ahead and not turn her head while running at speed.  Sure enough, at about 75-80 mph she turned to look at something....those expensive sunglasses were sucked off her face and dissappeared.  A friend had pictures of all her face wrinkles while at speed.  Fun day !!

[webertime]

Got passed in a canal in Florida by a Phoenix 721 with a flashed SHO on it.  He told us he was over 84 when he passed us.

[king fisher]

The fastest boat I ever saw was a canoe when I was 15 years old.  My friend and I were fishing a remote local lake.  He had me drop him off on the shore to fish a favorite spot of ours.  I started paddling away, when he made his first cast.  He hooked the biggest bass either of us had ever seen.  He yelled, the fish jumped,  I immediately changed directions, and headed directly for that shore.  The bass jumped again, and the hook came out.  We will never know how big that bass was, but I do know I set a world record for 20 yards travelled on water.

[Catt]

The fastest boat I ever saw wasn't actually in the water. Tallahassee, Florida 1993 I walked out our hotel room & right there in front of me was U-12 Miss Budweiser. Needless to say I got fussed at for loitering to near the boat for too long. In my defense who wouldn't be in awe!

[TnRiver46]

If it’s fast, it was probably made close to my house. Bullet, Allison, or Norris craft 

[T-Billy]

I had a 9' hydroplane with a 20hp Merc Hurricane as a teen. Guy I bought it from claimed it would do a bit over 60. I'll tell ya, it feels a whole lot faster than that when you're kneeling down with nothing but a few feet of canvas and plywood in front of you. It required pretty calm water to open it up though. Twas a fun toy. Bought it with earnings from my summer job at the marina.

[SC53]

On 5/31/2023 at 11:46 AM, Mike L said:
 

As we maneuvered our way to the starting position, he put on a goalie mask, reached over and slapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hold On”!!

I knew what was coming 

 

Had almost the experience as you Mike.

My first Redman tournament on the Kissimmee Chain. I drew Shaw Grigsby as my boater. It was February and a cold front had just gone through. It was in the 30’s that morning. Shaw put on a motorcycle helmet and looked at me and said “ are you ok?”

I said you just drive. He got this big grin on his face.

 

Fastest I’ve gone was in a buddy’s Gambler with a 175 Merc. It was one of the first ones with the tunnel. We got up to 75 but that thing started to chine walk so he had to back off some. 
Fastest I drove was my old Drifter 1750.  65 was tops in it. 

[Mike L]

33 minutes ago, SC53 said:

Had almost the experience as you Mike.

My first Redman tournament on the Kissimmee Chain. I drew Shaw Grigsby as my boater. It was February and a cold front had just gone through. It was in the 30’s that morning. Shaw put on a motorcycle helmet and looked at me and said “ are you ok?”

I said you just drive. He got this big grin on his face.

 

Fastest I’ve gone was in a buddy’s Gambler with a 175 Merc. It was one of the first ones with the tunnel. We got up to 75 but that thing started to chine walk so he had to back off some. 
Fastest I drove was my old Drifter 1750.  65 was tops in it. 

?

I’ve done so many open draw tournaments all around the SE that you can tell what kind ride you’re gonna have by just looking at what kind of boat he has.

I figure it’s gonna be crazy when I see a Bullet or an Allison with little or no motor markings, a hockey goalie or motorcycle helmet on his seat, or even how his rods are secured on deck (If they’re even out) 

Only thing you can do is stretch your legs straight out, lift your butt off the seat, grab under the seat with one hand and the grab bar on the gunnel with the other and Don’t Let Go!!

??

 

 

Mike

[T-Billy]

I've never seen top fuelers run in person, but I'd sure like to. 

[gim]

32 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

I've never seen top fuelers run in person, but I'd sure like to. 

Good lord.  The one I saw last weekend was d**n near that loud though, and it was at least a mile away.  It wasn't flat calm either like that video is.

[Way2slow]

Catt, most people can't imagine just how big those boats are until you can get up close and personal to one.   Back in the early 70/71 friend of mine got into racing with those things.  His was the Miss Hallmark Homes.  When he started, he thought he was rich.  It took about a year for him to lose his business and go bankrupt.  I think he lost three boats in that first year.  That was back when they were still running Allison and Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines.  I can't imagine what it cost to put one of those things in the water today.  That's how I met Bob Lipton who tuned my props for me, he was the one that tuned Miss Budweiser's, Miss Halmark Homes and props and a ton of other boat racers for years.

I only mentioned the fastest boats I've owned, I've seen tons of hydro-rocket's that had no problem running well into the 100's and even 200.  The fastest one I've ever driven was a friends STV at 134.6 mph.  He loved fast boats but was too scared to really fly the hull on that one to see how fast it would run, so asked me if I would.  That was 20 years ago, I wouldn't do it now.

[Catt]

3 minutes ago, Way2slow said:

Catt, most people can't imagine just how big those boats are until you can get up close and personal to one. 

 

The biggest question for me was, how y'all got that thing on the trailer like that?

 

 

[Way2slow]

That was my first question I asked Tony Mulherin with Miss Halmark Homes the first time I saw it, how the hell do you get it on and off the trailer.

[Catt]

31 minutes ago, Way2slow said:

how the hell do you get it on and off the trailer.

 

That's an engineering feat in itself!

[Kirtley Howe]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

The biggest question for me was, how y'all got that thing on the trailer like that?

 

 

They use a crane, or a special boat "donkey:" which is a large motorized lift that can move boats around.

[MN Fisher]

8 minutes ago, Kirtley Howe said:

They use a crane, or a special boat "donkey:" which is a large motorized lift that can move boats around.

Ya - considering the cruisers we got on Tonka with a few of them over 50' - couple of the marinas here have one of those things.

[Deephaven]

Yep, drydocking is getting more common on the lake...because we need more people that don't know how to drive a boat to have one.

 

Not the fastest boat I've seen, but perhaps most ridiculous.  Was with a guide on Ozark's and the guy who at the time was driving Miss Budweiser drove by in his pontoon with triple 300's on it.  Guide said it would do 117, but that of course could be a stretch.  He was flying though.

[Kirtley Howe]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Ya - considering the cruisers we got on Tonka with a few of them over 50' - couple of the marinas here have one of those things.

What is really cool about them is that they can raise and lower any/all sides--including bow or transom to almost any angle. That is kind of necessary to load one of the unlimited boats onto those canted trailers. I have also seen one trailer that had hydraulics built in so that the boat could be stationed over the trailer then the trailer would come up to the angle needed to keep the boat in place. I always thought that it would take a real pro to get/keep it perfectly in place while the trailer came up. I know someone commented on how they used to race these boats. I would be curious to know how they loaded their boat......

[WRB]

On 6/2/2023 at 12:02 AM, T-Billy said:

I had a 9' hydroplane with a 20hp Merc Hurricane as a teen. Guy I bought it from claimed it would do a bit over 60. I'll tell ya, it feels a whole lot faster than that when you're kneeling down with nothing but a few feet of canvas and plywood in front of you. It required pretty calm water to open it up though. Twas a fun toy. Bought it with earnings from my summer job at the marina.

I had a Pumpkin Seed hydro with Merc Super 10 Quick Silver Lower unit in 1955. Don’t know how fast it was but guess about 35-40 mph. Fun boat but tricky to turn.

Tom

[T-Billy]

57 minutes ago, WRB said:

I had a Pumpkin Seed hydro with Merc Super 10 Quick Silver Lower unit in 1955. Don’t know how fast it was but guess about 35-40 mph. Fun boat but tricky to turn.

Tom

10-4 Tom. That Quick Silver lower unit is the secret to the speed. 1:1 gear ratio if I remember correctly. Slow outta the hole, but it'll make those little boats fly once you get going.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

10-4 Tom. That Quick Silver lower unit is the secret to the speed. 1:1 gear ratio if I remember correctly. Slow outta the hole, but it'll make those little boats fly once you get going.

No neutral, pull start and hang on?

[T-Billy]

14 minutes ago, WRB said:

No neutral, pull start and hang on?

LOL. Yep, then wind it out with a device called a deadman throttle!!! Good times.

[TnRiver46]

On 6/3/2023 at 5:06 PM, MN Fisher said:

Ya - considering the cruisers we got on Tonka with a few of them over 50' - couple of the marinas here have one of those things.

There is one of those right near our dock, we’ve always called it the cricket, looks like one of those cave crickets in your crawl space haha