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Question and answer:
There have been several T Boats for sale. If You were buying what would you buy?

I think the package deals Craig Ferriers, Scott Whittingtons and Ryley's were all good buys.
I believe Craig Fraser is also pleased with Gigs boat. What I would buy? Well I did buy the Critchfield from Top Gun, but only as a project boat. OK, as a T850 boat. I would buy Chris Gordon's Rapid Craft. If that boat is the same and in the same condition as my Rapid Craft, it could be the best T boat ever. Here I go giving away secrets. That hull is all composite, it weights approximately 230 lbs. with the cell in it. It is built by a boat builder and is very well made. It even has forward inner walls covering the weak spots in the Critchfield hull design. The bottom is very good with little or no hook. Scott Whittington's boat was not a Rapid Craft and it weighted over 900 lbs. The boat still ran 67 mph and was competitive at that weight. What you do is cut the top off the cell, cut out the back board and rear cowl off completely.
There is a perfect line from the dash to the rear. With that off use a Critchfield rear cowl.
If you make the hump on the Critchfield cowl higher. The boat looks a lot like a small mid 90's 20 ft Allison.

whitingtons boat was 900lbs! is that just the bare hull?

Boat, motor, trailer lol

Boat, motor and driver. That boat is an APBA SSV. The minimum weight for that class was 950. We weighed it at the T Party last year. Dave and Craig have all the weights. I think it was 715 without Scott in the boat. Add Scott and your at 900 lbs.

Lesson# 17 KIS[S]…Keep it simple
One of the biggest mistakes racers made is having too many variables, making too big of an adjustment or change, changing more than one thing at a time, not really giving the change a proper test, following exactly what others do and assume it will have the same result, modifying and even destroying a perfectly good part and in some cases it is your best part, not looking at the easiest solution first, rushing and making changes without thinking them thru first, making a change or changes the totally affect other things in the boat.
Some simple things:
[1] only drill one set of holes in your transom. Standard hole pattern. Use a plate, angle aluminum or set back to mount the motor if you are not 100% sure of the position or if the clamp bracket is not the standard size. This avoids the transom looking like Swiss cheese if you do several height changes.
[2] mount your gas tank and battery on rails so you can move them. Again to reduce the number of holes. BOLT the stuff in, Screws pull out and increases rot and bolts are safer.
[3] if you need a tach during the race have one in the boat. If not. Have a removable one. Use it for testing and not in the race. If you flip there is no chance the tach will be ruined.
[4] only alter one thing at a time. Just change the prop. Change the engine height. Move the gas tank. Move the seat. Change the jetting, change a coil. You focus on that one change and only that one change. See what it does.
[5] the more you practice the better you will drive. Don’t make changes until you have a lot of seat time. You and the boat need to be consistent, otherwise it all is a waste of time.
[6] the better you can drive a poor handling boat the better driver you will be! It is all about feel and reaction. If you have the balls to hang in there and drive. Just think how good a driver you will be when you have a good handling boat.

is there a standard height you would drilll say measuring up from the pad, i know about the bia template but how high up? it doesnt matter with a 750 as it willl have a jackplate,setback but if it ever was a 850 boat with no setback then another set would not have to be drilled if they were put in the right spot the 1st time

[quote="tunnelvthe pad, i know about the bia template but how high up? it doesnt matter with a 750 as it willl have a jackplate,setback but if it ever was a 850 boat with no setback then another set would not have to be drilled if they were put in the right spot the 1st time[/quote]

If my memory is right. The transom on your Delta is approximately 20 inches high. If? you ran a Stinger most racers [please correct me if I am wrong] run at 21 to 21 1/2. I would use the template using the second hole from the top in the template and position the template so the it is at 21 inches. That way you can go up to 21 1/2 and down to 20 1/2 and still have the top bolt holes in a meaty part of the transom.

Those are all very good points. We do the same things in sled racing.. One change at a time so you can quantify the results.

Always keep a log book of everything you do. It's the only way to keep track of what worked and what didn't (especially during a busy weekend of racing and changing things).

Question and answer
Who do you suggest I use to build my motor?

Short question, difficult answer. First I stay out of this and leave it up to you. I do not want to be put in the middle should it not work out for yourself or the engine builder. I will offer you some general suggestions that work for both you and the engine builder.
[1] if you are not going to do any part of the rebuild. give the engine builder the complete job.
[2] give the power head to the engine builder totally assembled and not in pieces,
[3] PAY for the builder to disassemble the power head, inspect the parts and advise what they think should be done.
[4] most times the builder will offer you suggestions. Value ADD is more money. In race motors the value add does make a difference. You are paying for the builder's experience and every good builder has their own way of doing things. They want the stuff they build to run well. This should be part of your selection process for the builder you chose. Do you want a straight rebuild or something special.
[5] If your doing the assembly yourself. Use a good machine shop.
One that does outboards. Don't go to an outboard dealer. They just forward the block to their machine shop. Go directly to the machine ship and listen to their advise.
[6] TAKE YOUR TIME! Stock parts are not all the same. For a good motor you need good parts.

Question and answer
The European GT30 boats are all BAT WING style with no pad. Why don’t we see the BAT WING style hulls in T750 or T850?

Boy you students are asking tough questions to-day! Shows people have been reading the posts. I’m going to give you an educated guess. They were tried and they didn’t work. That being said, I wonder if they ever spend time developing a T750 or T850 boat. Winrace has had a long history of success with the small classes using 10 hp. to 40 hp. motors. The T550 class used a stock 40 hp. 2 cylinder 31 cubic inch Tohatsu motor. The kilo record for that class is 64 mph. That is only 3 mph less than the T850 class record of 67 mph with a 53 cubic inch motor. You used to see the BAT WINGS in the large offshore boats was well.
I got a lot of information from Europe about the GT30’s and the other small classes. For these small boats to run the speeds they do, the boat is a kite. Blow overs are very common even with 10 hp motors. In North America we would look at the first Pipcorn Hydrostreams and see this fly high attitude in his boats. The North American high performance builders went with a running pad and a flatter running style. An Allison running in the 100’s is a good example. A much lower line but the same amount of lift.

Back to your question: I think we need to stay with the technology we know the best. We don’t have a Winrace boat to play with and we need to develop our own design GT30 boat. Can we get the same performance they get? I don’t think we will see 60 mph as they have claimed. I do think our hulls will be quicker on the race oval and run in the low 50’s without the blow overs. In T750 with the OMC and especially in T850, our current hulls with the70CES Yamaha are equal to their best.

This is one persons opinion only!

NEWS JUST IN. WINRACE DID BUILD A T850 BOAT, THE MOLDS WERE FOR SALE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO