??? V20 Sizes ???

[spareparts]

Security, you may want to check out the 248/250 Coastals/Sportsman. there are plenty of them around. I know wellcraft was making a 25 center back int he 80's http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/cat_1983/A6
lppk thru the history section on the wellcome page

[Destroyer]

Spare, I stand corrected.. (Thanks for that info Ferm). I've never seen either of them before (23 or 24) Although I've seen several Airslots in those sizes through the years.
Oh, and it was the Sportsman I was thinking of when I mentioned the Suncruiser? I knew it wasn't the right name, but it was the only one I could recall.
So there you have it Seacurity.. Looks like the largest true steplift V was a V24 (although super rare).

[Seacurity]

Originally Posted by spareparts

Security, you may want to check out the 248/250 Coastals/Sportsman. there are plenty of them around. I know wellcraft was making a 25 center back int he 80's http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/cat_1983/A6
lppk thru the history section on the wellcome page

Now that's what I'm talkin about! Its not a V though. What is the major advantage of and what distinguishes a V? Hull?

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Seacurity

Now that's what I'm talkin about! Its not a V though. What is the major advantage of and what distinguishes a V? Hull?

The V line from WELLCRAFT were called steplift hulls. They were based off of the famous Ray Hunt 24 1/2 degree deep vee hulls that made the FORMULA 233, and most all of the smaller BERTRAM's(20-28 footers) famous. Basically they took the 24 1/2 degree deep vee hull and dropped it back to a 20 degree vee at the transom, but maintained the sharp deep entry and added in a Carolina bow flare to it to keep the spray down. This resulted in a slightly slower hull in a rough sea, but required less HP to push it as deep vee hulls are very power hungry to get on plane even with the 6 lifting strakes. It was basically a compromise hull. The 248 is only a 18 degree deadrise at the transom, and the 228 is only 16. Less transom deadrise means it takes less HP to push it on plane and to speed, but is flatter which results in more of a pounding in a heavy sea under way. BUT a hull with less deadrise and a sharp bow angle tends to be stable at anchor whereas boats with a deep vee can snap from one side to the other while drifting or at anchor.

Personally I feel the best compromise hull design built was the POTTER built SEACRAFTS with the variable deadrise hulls. The 23 SEACRAFT has a sharp entry(even sharper than that of the FORMULA 233 or BERTRAMS), but has a multi-angle deadrise in the transom where the bottom is 24 1/2 degrees and working up to the outside is only 18 degrees of deadrise. But my DREAM boat is a BERTRAM 25 flybridge with a single BRAVO 3 I/O set-up and a small block in front of it.

[Seacurity]

Great info. Thanks!

[spareparts]

I'd have to second what Ferm said about the 23 SeaCraft, I don't think there is a better 23 hull out there(its a big 23 as well). I've run SeaCrafts, 233 Formulas, Gradys, Contenders, Regulators(pretty nice), and a bunch of other hulls, but I haven't seen a 23 to equal the SeaCaft in ride and efficiency, it can be a bit wet though. I have to one up Ferm on the dream boat though, I want a 26 Bertram, with a pair of outboards on a bracket. The 25 is a better looking boat, but that 26 bertram is a better hull.

[Seacurity]

So while we are at it and there seems to be some very knowledgeable members responding, how do the following manufacturers compare to Wellcraft in the V20 category;
Mako, Shamrock, Privateer, Aquasport ? ? ?

[Blue_Runner]

They all PALE in comparison.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by spareparts

I'd have to second what Ferm said about the 23 SeaCraft, I don't think there is a better 23 hull out there(its a big 23 as well). I've run SeaCrafts, 233 Formulas, Gradys, Contenders, Regulators(pretty nice), and a bunch of other hulls, but I haven't seen a 23 to equal the SeaCaft in ride and efficiency, it can be a bit wet though. I have to one up Ferm on the dream boat though, I want a 26 Bertram, with a pair of outboards on a bracket. The 25 is a better looking boat, but that 26 bertram is a better hull.

I absolutely LOVE the 26 BERTRAM, but I know it requires a bit more HP to push and there pretty rare. I want a boat with long range to it myself that can cruise pretty economically, AND do a couple overnighters comfortably.

[spareparts]

Ferm, I got educated by a guy who had a 26 bertram with a single 225 opti, I told him it was probably a pig, he said it would run 42 mph before he put the tower and bottom painted it, after wards, it ran 37mph, he was able to cruise at 30mph , burning hardley any fuel. I called BS, he assured me that it would do it. I started researching it on line, found a mercruy boat house bullitin where a 26 was run with a pair of 150 V6 back in '76. The boat had a factory hardtop on it and ran close to 60. You figure the old 150's were close to 135(270 total) as rated today, combined with the weight of twins(around 700 lbs) compaired to a 225 Opti (closer to 240 hp), weight of a single (500 lbs), that performce claim of 42 doesn't seem to far off. I've ridden in a couple of 26 bertrams with 4.3 MPI's(220 hp each) that I saw 61 on the GPS at WOT. There are two of the 26's here locally that Cummins has been running, one with twin 1.6L Merc(Isuzu) 135 hp motors, and one with twin Merc(VM) 150 hp engines. Don't know the performance on them, but I know they have run the snot oout of them. I'd love to have a 26 with a pair of 225 Optis or 200 4 strokes