OneCycle wrote:
i would really like to know how fast a charger could go..... i think Doug should buy one. if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball.... or in his case if you can make a panther go 87 you can do ANYTHING..
I owned a Charger for 3 years. I bought a 18 Charger DL brand new in 1986. I used to have a ported Evinrude 175 ( which was the similar to the previous year 235). I tried everything and could never hit 80.....78 best. That hull just seemed to hit a wall at 80 without perhaps putting 225+ horsepower on it. Curious to see what happens to Dubbers with the refreshed Yammi.
The Panther rides much better in a chop than my Charger did...it has more "V" under the drivers seat where the Charger tends to hit hard. My charger was very susceptible to cross winds and was much harder to drive at keeping it up on the pad compared to the Panther.
The 1986 DL was the first year they stopped using full balsa core in the hull bottom and sides ( to try and save money so I found out after). All the earlier 80's hulls were much more solid. There were issues with the 1986 models. Mine had to go back to the factory with minor stress cracks in the transom after just 3 weeks. The knees where not glassed in properly. Not sure how the quality improved on models years after that?
Team budget 
