What it is all?

[QuarterHorse]

Haven't been around in a while. Sold my Yamabobber XJ, haven't touched the XS since I got it down to a frame and found out the motor is a paperweight/mock up motor.

Anyway, been busy with life and what not. Decided to get back into boating since I've missed my old boat so bad and some friends had been prodding me. So, I picked up a Hydrostream Vector, and I can't wait for spring time/summer time!!!!!

Started off in Central Iowa leaving my home, it was a bit cold at 4:45AM.

Took the road trip by myself, had a sick little boy at home so my wife had to stay home and take care of him. Lots of boring road early on and most of the trip. Lots more pics I could have taken like this, but you probably would have fallen asleep before the end of the post.

Got down to Russellville Ar, around 12:15 or so and made the transaction. Loaded 'er up and filled with food and fuel before making the trip back.

A lot nicer roads to look at and drive on down there that's for certain.

Got home last night, in a bit of a rush to get off the road.

Go the boat put to bed last night. If it warms up a bit today I'll go do some cleaning/polishing.

 

[Hatter]

80mph? Why stop there. Even if you ran off the road, there's nothing to hit in IOWA! LOL

 

[eatatjoz]

Nice toy. What kinda powerplant has she got? 350 Mercruiser?

 

[QuarterHorse]

80mph? Why stop there. Even if you ran off the road, there's nothing to hit in IOWA! LOL

Nothing to hit, just pulling a trailer that didn't have tails or plates through KC at that particular moment. I didn't need stopped by Johny Law for many more reasons.....

 

[QuarterHorse]

Nice toy. What kinda powerplant has she got? 350 Mercruiser?

They run outboards, I bought this without one. I currently have a Tower of Power inline 6 115, I'd really like to slap a 200 Merc V6 on there. With a 200 this boat cleared 80 mph with the previous owner. :eusa_dance:

 

[RaWarrior]

One of my friends over the summer had one of these boats with a Merc V-135 on it and was seeing a bit north of 70-though by the looks of it his was maybe a foot or two shorter. Fun boat, but it was next to useless in anything but glass water, and on the lake it was on that didn't happen very often. It was a blast to go for a ride in, but my 17' Bayliner with a 3 liter was a lot more practical.

Dunno...fast boats aren't really for me. To get a 100mph boat, you need a lot of cash and a lot of skill. To go 100mph on the road, I just roll on the gas of the Vmax a bit.

The marina I work at over the summer has a work/utility boat we use to get around the lake, tow boats, fix docks, ect. That's a 71 Boston Whaler 17'. We bought it with a blown up Evinrude 70(the max hp the boat is rated for) on the cheap, and repo'd it with a Merc 90 four-stroke. That boat is absolutely terrifying to drive. It will just touch 55 on glass water, and shortly thereafter start to chinewalk all over the place. It's a center console with a "bus driver" horizontal steering wheel and bench seat with no sides, so violent lurching side to side is extra bad. But boy, does it haul ass. I've raced jetskis with it and won. And forget about any quick maneuvers past about 30....stupid tri-hulls.

I'd wait to get a 200 for it. The 115 will probably see 50's but not much more, and with a boat like that it's wasted potential. Though those tower motors seem to go forever....yours looks like an early 70's by the cowl colors. Had a I6 90hp on our old utility boat, which was an old Baja tri-hull. Motor ran great, but the gearcase pooped the bed one day and it's been sitting ever since.

 

[Redbone]

My buddy had a 22' Checkmate inboard 454. It went about 75 on it's speedo on smooth water but if you got into anything over 1' waves you had to go slow and you felt like a cork in bottle being shaken. It was fast enough and looked/ sounded great which the beach bunnies loved to go for rides.
I rode in a 30' cat once and we went over 100 with 4 people in it which was a terrifyingly exciting ride. I think I like the wallowing sensation I get when pushing the Vmax through corners in triple digits better though!:biglaugh:

 

[Jack Butler]

Had a 15' Checkmate / 140 Johnson ob....73mph on a gps.
That was the absolute top speed, twitching and wiggling...on the verge of walking.
Small hulls at high speeds is a wicked ride!
That thing can't be any long than that....at 80!!.......that's ******* insane!!!
At 73mph, the wind will suck the beer out of the can....honest!
I'm jealous......be careful....ha, ha!

 

[EvilD]

Nice looking notch in the drive way

 

[QuarterHorse]

RaWarrior - This hull with a 115 and the jack plate should hit mid 60's with playing with the height/prop. There are a few of 'em out there GPS'd as such, one of which was 69.8 on the GPS. This is our second boat which will probably see the river more so than our lake. Smooth water is the key with these smaller boats. The Vector is a 17' Boat with a pad under it which helps with the speeds.

Redbone - Cool boats are genuine panty droppers on the water, I love that part of it too.

Jack - What year Johnson? Looper or X-Flow? I would imagine an older X-Flow as they're lighter on that itty bitty boat?

EvilD - Thanks, she's being neglected at the moment but I'm working on a plan for her too.

 

[Redbone]

Had a 15' Checkmate / 140 Johnson ob....73mph on a gps.
That was the absolute top speed, twitching and wiggling...on the verge of walking.
Small hulls at high speeds is a wicked ride!
That thing can't be any long than that....at 80!!.......that's ******* insane!!!
At 73mph, the wind will suck the beer out of the can....honest!
I'm jealous......be careful....ha, ha!

My buddy had power trim tabs which helped with walking but on the top end it was twitchy. It was a little unnerving on my first ride but after that it was normal. The cat that I rode in was a different story I was in the back seat with the wind blasting and at times it felt like we were flying.
"Redbone - Cool boats are genuine panty droppers on the water, I love that part of it too. " Yup yup, too bad my buddy got married, new wife didn't like the checkmate so he got a nice pontoon! He finally ended up selling the checkmate a couple years later.

 

[QuarterHorse]

This boat has a hot foot and trim controls up by the wheel so it's two handed driving.

As far as the pantie dropping, hell I'm married, I can look just not touch. The funny part is it doesn't matter if my wife is in the boat or not, it still happens!!!!!

 

[Redbone]

This boat has a hot foot and trim controls up by the wheel so it's two handed driving.

As far as the pantie dropping, hell I'm married, I can look just not touch. The funny part is it doesn't matter if my wife is in the boat or not, it still happens!!!!!

I saw that in one of your pic and that along with the dash reminded me of the checkmate. Man those were some good times 15 years ago. Thanks for the memories!unk:

 

[QuarterHorse]

No problem!

 

[Jack Butler]

Looper....and you're right about the weight.
Had a 6 inline on it originally....brutal torque twist accelerating and decelerating.
The V4 settled that down considerable.
A jack plate is mandatory...short transom + long shaft motor = upside down!
It will also let you swing bigger inch prop.
Just so you know.......
I had to wedge the motor to get the correct motor angle on the transom.
Trimmed in, I did not have the prop close enough to the transom to get a good hole shot.
I believe the wedge was like an inch at the top tapering down to nothing.
This moved the prop towards the transom enough to make an incredible difference.
They are sold in degrees, 1 degree equals 1/2 inch.
Wicked boat....one of my favourites!!!!

 

[RaWarrior]

Really? That's pretty impressive for a 115. I'm pretty sure my friend's was a 15' Vector. From what I remember it had a manual jack plate and was running a 29P stainless prop- thing looked like a salad shooter.

Still...even 60's is just tapping the potential of that boat. And while the tower motors hang around forever, it is an old Merc and parts can be difficult to find, and it will need parts- namely the ignition system- namely the switchboxes. My summer job was about half listing NLA Merc parts on eBay, and half fixing old Merc motors. As soon as I listed stuff like points, coils, switchboxes, they were sold before I got back from the john. It might save you some headache and hassle later to find something a bit newer, also an excuse for more power.

You could go for one of those Evinrude V8's.....lol

 

[QuarterHorse]

RaWarrior - 15' Would be a Viper as far as Hydrosreams go. I'd love to get a newer 200 for the boat, but it's about the all mighty dollar. I didn't pick this motor for this boat, but for a 72 Glastron GT I'm not going to have time for, so it's what I got. Believe me, a 200 hangin' out back would be flirtin' with 90 pretty easy set up right.

Jack - Yeah I'm not too worried about getting this particular motor dialed like I would if it were something that was going to stay, but yeah those transom shims are pretty slick.