[midmoskier]

Debating on buying a faster boat! My question is what is the average top speed a tournament angler goes in a trip on water? I'm looking at what model(brand) and hp rating versus weight of the boat to get the most out a rig!
I'm also wondering how many of us push over the 80+MPH on water???
Thanks for all the help!
MIDMO

[BBK]

21ft fiberglass pushed by a 225 will go 70-72mph. 250hp will hit 74-75. Motors over 250 are not allowed in B.A.S.S. tourneys for safety reasons.

[jack tibbens]

21 foot ranger 225ho goes about 70 fully loaded

[Da big tuna]

As they come by I would say they are at FULL speed

This post has been edited by Da big tuna: 03 March 2010 - 01:27 PM

[thedude]

Da big tuna, on 03 March 2010 - 01:27 PM, said:

As they come by I would say they are at FULL speed

65mph is a respectable speed around here. you'll beat half the field at most tournies.


that said, i'm turning my 135 opti into a 175, so i'm hoping for 70mph by end of the summer

[mainbutter]

60-75 is probably what they all run.

An interesting note I've been thinking about:

I'd say the extra 15mph is not worth the extra dangers.

When you think about it, if you're traveling 60 miles total drive distance in a tourney, it'll take you 60 mins at 60mph, and 48 mins at 75mph. 75 mph is a TON more dangerous than 60, or at least I feel much less "in control" at that speed. You only save yourself 12 minutes per 60 miles you travel in a single tourney at top speed.

I don't think enough of these guys do the math to see exactly how much time you're saving with that kind of increase in danger levels.

TBH 12, or even 20 minutes of fishing time really isn't much at all at least to me and rarely makes or breaks my fishing day, tournament or not. Then again, the only tournaments I fish are non cash-prize musky tournaments where all prizes are donations. Last one of last year's season I won myself a nice 7000i reel though

[midmoskier]

Thanks guys! I'm doing some research to find out what the fastest hull design is , but in most cases they are the roughest riding boats. The bottom of the boat makes a world of difference to the speed and control issues. I've found that Bullet, Allison, and Gambler put out some fast hulls but usually rig there boats with high performance motors and lower units from factory the normal boats that can obtain descent speed (I'm not done with all the boats yet) Skeeter, Stratos, Nitro, Ranger and Bass Cat. I'm sure there are plenty more but haven't look over what other manufacturers offer yet I've been looking at weight, length and max horsepower rating versus speed,handling and safety. The fastest I've been on water is 95mph and it was not my boat, but it was scary fast the motor had $20000 in work & parts to make it go. It gave you arms cramps just holding the motor going straight.

Once again thanks for all the help!

[thedude]

a lot of it depends on the hull. Fastest i've driven a bass boat was a legend LE-21 with a 250 merc racing 2-stroke - @82 mph on the GPS. Now i call that "scary fast" but at the same time - the LE-21 is a giant hull and i never felt unsafe - even when running through chop or boat wakes at 75+mph.