SEABUDDY
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Posts Tagged ‘Mercury Marine’

Top Fish a 2012 center console 39 Cigarette Racing outboard boat

The open edition of this sport fishing center console offers more fish fighting space while still offering a head compartment that has over 6 feet of headroom. Seating for a bunch of family and fishing friends are standard with both cockpit layouts. The Console is also the same for both.

She comes with 900 horsepower as standard equipment with 1,050 horsepower as an optional choice. Both of these three engines on-the-transom packages are with Mercury Marine Verado or Mercury Racing Verado outboard engines.

This Top Fish fishing boat is a 39 foot by 10 foot high performance son of a offshore racing boat that weights 12,600 lbs. She carries 418 gallons in her gas fuel tanks.

This is the company that built boats for Billy Martin, Betty Cook, Bob Norskog, Tom
Gentry, and Rocky Aoki on Thunderboat Row.

Cigarette Racing has moved from their combined 30,000 square foot buildings on NE 188^th Street in North Miami, Fl to a purpose built 150,000 square foot building in Opa Locka, FL several years ago. That new building allowed Skip Braver, owner of Cigarette Racing, to really do up his plans for research and development in addition to offshore racing as well as do terrific paint jobs, cockpit treatments, and interior work on his boats. The company has moved ahead in its product line-up since then and this is one of the boats that is the result. It has proved to be a smash hit. Enough of a hit that it birthed a big sister in 2012 now. That boat requires an inspection, too if a fast and fun fishing is what you had in mind.

note the cockpit seating in the 2012 Cigarette Racing Top Fish

2012 Marine Mercury Marine 4.2 TDI diesel engine

Audi and VW make an approx. 350 horsepower marine diesel engine. In a joint marketing agreement, Mercury Marine sells that engine packaged with a transmission (inboard or vee drive) or a stern drive (I/O). This is a sophisticated engine that can be found in some Audi A8 and 7 cars on the road.

It’s a high torque engine for good acceleration and low time to plane times for boats. This engine uses a 3.27 bore with a stroke of 3.76 inches. Using a 90 degree V-8 it is a Turbo-charged, Direct Injection (TDI) design, the guts of the marine Audi diesel engine is made in Gyor, Hungary by Audi . The crankshaft features 4 bolts to hold it in place (4 bolt main). The piston’s connecting rods are fracture split. Mahle aluminum pistons are used. The heads are also aluminum and of a 4 valve design. It’s properly called a common rail engine. Like seabuddy said, it is a sophisticated engine.

These engines offer the best of automotive-like quality and durability that a German engine maker brings to the marine marketplace. This is up-to-the-minute diesel expertise for a low or no smoke exhaust. It gives excellent milage.

Mercury Marine digital throttle and shift (DTS), Sea Core, and Axius systems are all available with this 252 cubic inch displacement (4.2 L) marine diesel engine. That 350 Hp. that this engine is rated at is more horsepower from a smaller displacement engine than the popular V-6 gas engine that both Volvo Penta and Mercury Marine offer. That is a milestone in seabuddy’s opinion.

Photo courtesy of Mercury Marine

29 X Flight Advantage fiberglass sport boat photo at Lake Havasu

The team at Advantage boats has hit one out of the ball park with its 2012 X Flight 29 foot stern drive go fast river runner boat. Simply put, it’s a sales success do to its performance on the water.

Here is one performance boat that Mom puts her thumb up as the boat to buy for the family after she takes a ride and compares it to similar go fast boats The 29 X Flight model inboard outboard model boat turns far better than the others, gives a good, soft ride, and still delivers a solid 73-74 MPH in test after test as you trim the drive to air it out.

What is the secret? Boat designer Gary Ferguson created a blend of a racing boat catamaran air entrapment hull entry with a multi-step vee bottom hull aft for a truly different sport boat. Here is a performance hull with a soft ride, an ability to take rougher water, make turns with great control, and a hull shape that uses all the performance boat tricks to get higher top speeds.

This boat can take more horsepower if you want an even higher top speed. Both 600 SCI Bravo 1 XR Merc Racing Horsepower and 800 horsepower engines from the racing division of Mercury Marine Mercruiser are routinely a part of the discussion when Advantage boats gets down to how should they build a boat for you. All Advantage boats are made custom for each customer. That is the way they do things.

29’ 7” is the hull length and the beam is 107” and most boats run a completed weight of 4,400 lbs. As many as 14 people can enjoy a 29’ X Flight at one time.

Try this link for more information http://www.advantageboats.com/x-flight.htm

Here is a quote from the company… “We’re dedicated to being the industry leader in performance sport boats, creating innovative and technologically advanced new models”

Nuff said for seabuddy.

Photos from Advantage boats.

2012 Advantage boats 29 X Flight 600 horsepower Merc Racing power

Photo of the new Mercury Marine Racing engine just out

She is a stroked big block for 533 cubic inches of displacement. That is an 8.7 liter displacement engine. The bore of this Mercury Racing Mercruiser is 4.466 inches with a stroke of 4.25 inches of big block power. She runs on 89 octane with its 8.7 to 1 compression ratio.

It makes 565 horsepower at the crank. And it is rated to be propped such that it will go 5,000 to 5,400 rpms at wide open throttle. Keep it stock in recreational boating use and it is covered by a full one year limited warranty. Add a supercharger after that first year and get around 725 horsepower. The extra cubic inch displacement and the higher rpm rating will give this engine in any style boat lots of out-of-the-hole acceleration.

Special aluminum racing heads specific to this engine, a stroked and balanced crank, special aluminum pistons, and unique connecting rods make for an expensive engine but one with long lasting durability at hard high performance marine use durability cycles.  Mercury Racing tops off this assembly with a multiport fuel injection system makes this engine easy to manage in your Hi-Po Boat in any situation. Be it within a marina, around a launch ramp, or out on the open water.

This new engine from Mercury Racing comes mated to your choice of a Bravo One XR out drive or Bravo One XR Sport Master inboard outboard drive. They also team this engine, transmission, and stern drive package with a transmission control module for what is called Zero Effort control operation. ITS, the (Integrated Transom System), is available if your performance boat needs it. They thought of everything!

Jumping a wake in a Custom Craft fiberglass classic boat

Custom Craft Boats were manufactured in Buffalo or Tonawanda, NY and also called themselves Custom Craft Marine and/ or Custom Craft Industries. They were sold under the Munro name in London, Ontario, Canada. Munro almost always sold their boats featuring a low down payment and packaged with an outboard motor and a trailer.

The very first boats were kit boats and the boat builder changed over to fully finished boats with their fiberglass models. Production of the fiberglass boats can be traced back to having been started in the very late 1950s. Production stopped in 1964 with the boats being sold as 1965 models. These classic fiberglass boats made my seabuddy heart pound when they were shown in a boat dealership in New Jersey in the 1960s.

They were designed by company owner Henry Donald Canazzi. H. Donald used several of today’s popular design features far ahead of most of current performance boat builders. The Manta Ray and Delta Ray models featured steps, tunnels, and non-trip chines as well as other ahead-of-the-time type features.

He raced his Custom Craft Boats occasionally and won the Grand Island Regatta and the St. Lawrence Regatta. A Custom Craft T Ray 15 was tested by Mercury Marine many years back with their 65 horsepower outboard engine at 39.2 mph.

Custom Craft boat model choices were numerous, and they were made in several hull lengths from 14 feet to 19 feet, and usually in three trim levels in each of those sizes. The Manta Ray and Delta Ray models shared the same complicated boat bottom design mentioned earlier. A Manta Ray was a 14’ 2” boat with a beam of 68” and weighted about 440 lbs. Other models were Master Delta Ray, Flying Ray, Speed Ray, Star Ray, Sea Ray, Sting Ray, Devil Ray, Tiger Ray, Aqua Ray, T Ray, and Sun Ray.

Please, one more thing. Some folks used gunwale measurement length instead of centerline length in naming a boat model. Many boats can be misidentified by a casual study of older boats. The 14’ 2” Manta Ray measures 15’9” as a gunwale measure. Even major manufactures have used a gunwale measurement as it makes their boat seem bigger.

Delta Ray model from Custom Craft

boat photo 5 outboards powered Huntress center console Cigarette Racing

We are all in trouble now. The latest Cigarette Racing Center Console has been unwrapped at the Miami boat show.

This is a 42’ center console design that goes 76 mph. She weighs in at 12 tons and has a deep vee hull that gives a unbelievable ride offshore. The comfort, luxury, and workmanship of this boat in its amenities need to be seen to fully grasp. The Huntress model from Cigarette Racing boats sits at the top of the mountain of center consoles on the market.

She is powered with five Mercury Marine 350 horsepower outboards that all come with a full warrantee. The rigging and controls of the engine package is the first example of using all the sophistication that Mercury and Mercury Racing bring to their latest outboards engines. Add to that an electronic package that Cigarette Racing puts on the 42 foot Huntress all the information displayed to the boat owner is over-the-top.

The 12 foot beam fiberglass outboard boat features a “transom door” in its hull side for easy boarding from the water or a dingy for friends, guests, and the Captain. This door is something else to inspect. It really sets a new standard of design that furthers the usefulness of a side entry with its over-designed hinge and handle and a special boarding ladder recessed in the cockpit floor.

Across the cockpit walkway from this side door is the wonderful entrance to the head and cabin below the expanded center console. Much of the cockpit seating/lounging space is adjustable for comfort by an electro-hydraulic system using just your fingertip.

From its offshore performance, speed, ride, features, and onto its high style; the Cigarette Racing Huntress is a boat that must be seen and inspected in person. Contact Cigarette Racing at you convenience to see it.

This Center Console uses five outboards

knocking down the chop is a Huntress Cigarette Racing boat photo

flying a classic fiberglass Bertram racing boat

I am talking about the boat designed by R. Specht, not the boat model that C. Raymond Hunt who did the Bertram 31 (which started the Bertram Yacht Company) and many of  other the Bertram sizes. This one model was a boat designed for racing only; no family runabout, no fishing boat, no day boat aspirations for this one. She was made to race internationally and go after the World Offshore Championship.

Note the transom angling forward and the slight roundedness and tumblehome at the stern. That marks this design. Some say the boat was really a 31’ and called a 32’ just to avoid confusion with the 31’ production Moppie. Others suggest that at least one was cut back to be a 30’ long boat, at the racer’s request. The best research I could come up with says that less than a dozen were made over a 3-4 year period in the late 1960s.

Most were stern drive boats (with twin big blocks and perhaps one with three small blocks), a few used high horsepower shaft drive inboards with the rudders behind the hull, and one was raced while powered by four outboards. Outboard powered Offshore Race Boats in the 30’ size range were a rare bird at this time. Another is rumored to have staggered engines with one  engine as a straight inboard and the other using a v-drive, with both engines in line with each other at the boat’s center.

Balestrieri raced one or two. So did Dick Bertram, Rittmaster, Lewis, and Wishnick. They are all famous names from the early days of racing boats offshore at breakneck speeds. Some of the boats were rigged in Italy as they were to be campaigned in Europe.

I know one Bertram 32 hull was in Pomona, CA in the mid-1980s. I inspected it and it was in the process of a long term restoration. I wonder were the other hulls are now.

Photo thanks goes to the Tornado Racing Team and Magnum Marine.

a famous Bertram racing boat in the air, not the water

Mr. Balestrieri holding one of his Awards

classic fiberglass go fast boat photo image on river lake

Back in 1963 they started out building boats. For almost half a century Cheetah Boats made fiberglass boats in small production runs. Cheetah Boats is now out of business. They were mostly Go Fast low profile sport boats for running around a lake or stretch of river. They made up to 110 classic fiberglass boats most years. They were located in Lake Havasu City, AZ. These all were trailer boats.

Most of their boats got to be powered by a Tower of Power Mercury Marine outboard motor. Say a X- 6 Merc Racing style Motor. Put a 150 Horsepower Mercury Marine outboard engine on a 20’ 9” classic vee bottom 8’ beam Cheetah boat and you got 55-56 mph with a 5 blade 20” pitch propeller with a light load. That was OK speed for running down the river in 1991. Not so fast now, except you were low to the water in a boat that made the most out of the sensation of a speed boat on the water.

A Cheetah Boat was made for a price out of conventional fiberglass construction using standard cloth, mat, and roving with polyester resin. Carbon Fiber and other expensive high-tech fiberglass boat building materials like Plexus advanced fiberglass fusion adhesives, Tricel marine reinforcing, Pre-Pregs, and Nida-Core plastic honeycomb products are not to be found in most Cheetah Boats. They are good boats, even very nice boats, but not the lightest racing weight speed boats on the lake.

2012 express cabin cruiser boat photo

You have to see the newest Regal Express cruiser. Go to a dealer or go to a boat show, but see this boat. She has high style with a very good level of functionality. As a weekend cruiser, she has huge windows and portholes to see out from inside the cabin and a huge (for a cruiser of this length) bed in the owner’s stateroom.

She is 28’ 10” by 8’ 6” and fits under most bridges when on a trailer. Thus, no permit is needed to trailer this fully found cruising yacht. She will take a strong pickup truck to tow its empty 7,585 lbs. weight, however. Figure on a “10,000 lbs. plus” towing load with fuel, batteries, water, boat gear, crew supplies, and trailer included as you would typically would be towing her going down the road.

The owner’s cabin area features the largest bed in her class of trailer-able sleepers. No need to convert a vee seating area into a bed at the end of a day or a week on the water. It is set up and positioned within the cabin area such that the bed linens can stay ready all day long.

This Regal 28 Express is a single engine I/0 boat. You select from a 260 horsepower Mercury Marine Bravo III, a 270 horsepower Duo-Prop, and 300 horsepower with either a Duo-prop or Bravo III outdrive. Since Regal Marine Industries exports so many boats internationally, they also offer a diesel engine choice with a Duo-Prop that is popular in Europe.

2012 Express cabin cruiser at rest boat photo

express cabin cruiser underway boat photo

2012 fiberglass express cabin cruiser queen bed boat photo

2012 Mercury Marine outboard motor

Look for the lightest, newest, marine torque big block Mercury Four Stroke outboard in a small package that is on today’s outboard motor boating marketplace at the Baltimore Boat Show. It has shown to have very high durability partly because of its robust part choices where other outboard motors have had trouble. This outboard has almost 10,000 hours of engineer’s time and testing in the field to make a durable marine engine.

A goal of the motor was for it to weight within the weight of a battery and a two stroke outboard combined together and yet have the most displacement cubic inches for marine power in its Hp class. The Mercury Marine FourStroke 150 Hp accomplishes both goals. It weights around 455 lbs. while Honda’s engine weights around 478 lbs. for its 150 Hp.

On the water, expect less vibration because of the powerhead mounts and location. The transom brackets are heavier, too. It’s a good salt or brackish water engine, too, because of a new bonding paint system that is 18 steps in all and the engine has waterproof connectors and an electric system within the cowling that is sealed away more from water than most. She has a fresh water flushing that works at idle engine speeds and also when it is turned off.

Maintenance is once a year (every 100 hours) and every three years (every 300 hours) simple thing to do. On the Chesapeake Bay it is suggested that you apply anti-seize compound on the spark plug threads each year, for instance.

Mercury Marine covers the entire engine with a 3 year non-declining warranty backed by the factory.