t500hps

Not sure of the weight but James' boat is a lighter layup...It was originally a factory attempt to get 496's to80mph. It came close but couldn't do it. James swapped motors and 90 is "oh so close"!!! The interior has been completely changed since he's bought it. Personal preference and it looks great!!

spilman

A 35' fountain is about the same size as a 28' Active Thunder, less beak, platform & gold chain & bling bling$!$!......


Seriously.....
The 37 AT handles the rough.......period. Ask about the 6-8 footers last year in FL, with a few 10's to shake it up.....they ran 45-50 in that, No problem....I would not want to try that in a fountain!

Macklin

I had been looking at TG's for two years before I decided to pull the trigger. Knowing how much I love to weekend on the boat I just couldn't see doing that comfortably on a Gun. So, I started looking at AT's. Pat took me on a sea trial in 6 - 8 footers. Sold!

ACTIVESHACK

My previous boat was a 05 35' Fountain. There is no comparison in the ride. I've been out in stuff in my AT that i would have never left the dock in my Fountain. Take the beak and swim platform of the Fountain and you have a 30'10" boat. The AT is a true 37' boat. Knock the beak and platform of a 42' Fountain and it's 14" longer than a 37 AT. You can actually walk in the cabin versus the Fountain you have to crawl. My 35 was a good boat but you just have so much more in the 37 AT.

Sydwayz

Mike,

My boat performed FLAWLESSLY on last year's Chicago Poker Run. The only time I was a little intimidated was at 6AM when I walked out of the Hotel to go wash the boat, and had to LEAN INTO the 25-40mph winds! I told my Dad that I did not tow 800 miles to sit on the trailer. That was SERIOUS SHlT in the morning. 4-6s with 8-12 ft. holes on the backsides. We made it 3/4s of the way to Michigan City, but my Dad at 67 years old had had enough; (we still had to turn around and go back obviously). The boat was fine, and I was fine with the water and how she was running. We ran 45-50mph all day. The big picture of Bob Zubik returning from the Loop in Powerboat; look right behind him, and that's me. He left several minutes before me, and we caught him, and ran beside him equally handling the water all the way to Hammond (42 Fountain/525s).

My boat is around 9500 lbs. dry.
James' boat is probably around 8750-9000 lbs. dry. The earlier boats (James'), and some of the new boats (like crb76's and Macklin's) are built sans cabin liner which saves some weight. Mine, Rich's, Mark's all have cabin liners.
(Add 1080 lbs. for 180 gallons of fuel at 6 lbs./gallon if you are thinking lift; PLUS coolers, tools, and other gear. Figure 11,500 lbs. on the trailer full of fuel and gear.)

The boat rides like no other I have been in. The bottom of the step is a VERY sharp deep V. It literally slices the water in 2. The back of the boat from the step to the transom is a narrow sculpted pad. (Part of the DDC Harry Shoell bottom design; read this thread, post 7 for more info: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...&highlight=ddc )

This combination of dual hull allows the boat to split the water in two, and ride it out smoothly off the back of the pad, with no crushing blow or teeder or chine walk.

The advantage to the large single step is the boat ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS pivots under your feet (where the step is) no matter the speed. Twin and more step boats get confused between the water conditions, load conditions, and driver input, and can pick a different step to pivot on, which gets them into trouble. This will not happen with an AT. I have LITERALLY turned a corner so sharp at speed that I have put the RUB RAIL in the water and felt like were were banking a turn at Talledega. (I did not mean to do it; I was avoiding another errant boat going through a narrow S-turn. My girlfriend and I looked at each other, and said 'holy crap that was cool, but lets not do that again.')

Bottom line, you will LOVE James' boat. The freeboard is DEEP on ATs. You are IN this boat, not ON it. If safety and security feel is a big concern to your wife; this boat will allow you to be on the water a lot more comfortably than any other boat I have experienced.

Chicago PR 2006:

Sydwayz

I deleted a few posts since I caused a hi-jacking.

crb76

That is AT water. Brian (Sydwayz), Kevin (my brother), and Chuck (my dad) ran 75 mph in 3-4 in Destin and barely came out of the water. The Gun is a good ride especially the pre 2006 boats but a little looser in the rough stuff in my opinion, at least the ones I have ridden in (could be driver). They are extremely solid.

Another testament to the AT rough water ability… For the last two weekends we have had poker runs. I have made each stop in the top 5% of the field. I was hands down the slowest top end boat out of the 5%. Both weekends the water condition was 1-3 foot slop, and I mean slop. I ran 4200-4300 rpm all the way at 70-72mph (thanks to my maximus).

My boat weighs ~10,250-10,500

Brian, that is my favorite pic. That wave to your port is huge...

excursion

I think that Pat told me that the boat weighs about 8500 lbs.
Like everyone else has told you the ride is amazing, like no other. I am really going to miss that.

Blue by You

I know!

ActiveThunder

I'm kinda insulted......