Thought I'd up date this thread now that we have put quite a few ours on the V. The family is loving it, we spent a lot of time this summer running a round the bay.
Some intermittent overheat issue kept me from running off shore...but I believe that is behind us now after replacing all cooling components, some gaskets, etc, etc...
So...our Son and I finally had a chance to run off shore this weekend...first time on the outside! Keep in mind I have run many boats over the years from Whalers to a 42 Post...I have to say I was very impressed with the handling on the open, felt very confident. We had a great day, caught some fluke and blues (stripers quiet right now?) and really had a nice Father/Son day.
For the first time I can really say I got an accurate fuel burn...with the 2000 Johnson 150 Ocean we burned 6-7 gals/hr. A little better than I thought. I was pleased with this.
We ran 3900/4000 at 28 mph out the bay, 3500 ~ 24 mph on the open, and trolled for a good 1.5 hrs looking foe stripers after fluke drifting.
All in all a great trip, building a lot of confidence in this boat now and the Family really enjoys it for how we currently use our boat.
Thanks to many of you for all the help/advice over the past year.

Sincerely, Bill