Thread:

My potato chip boat!!

Hi Greg,I got a real thin L/W 1987 mantra gullwing performer hull and 5 years ago when i bought it off dragboats.com,I planned on racing a 9 or 10 second class depending on power i could afford,This boat gps"d at 97 mph w/a 725 Hp ford bb and 250 pound driver.It has a dominator s-12 pump and a don bowers ratchet and he rebuilt the pump i was told.My question is nobody in my family will ride in it because of how thin the sides and deck are and nose flexes by just shaking boat its awesome to see.I love this boat and want to keep it,But what options do i have with a boat this light,It makes it impractical to use as a lake boat,Is there anything i could do to add some fiberglass to it to stiffen it up or would that throw off the all handling and i,m sure the performance will fall also, how bad if i added 100-200 lbs.I plan on capping the boat and refiberglassing the floors and going thru it completely,I just wanted a professional opinion on what you suggest i do with this hull or am i just wasting my money and just leave it alone and just be careful and hope it don.t come apart on me,I plan on river boating 70 % & race the other times.thanks for any advice.... thom

Most all race boat that are build that light really cut back on the materials except in the keel area. Not knowing the laminate schedule of the Mfg you have your work cut out for you and will virtually have to reinforce the entire boat. Alot of work and it has to be done right. It's all doable but I would certianlly try to find out how this boat was built. I know that the early Performance's were an 18 foot skin the a17 foot skin and this lamination was started from nose to transom so the farther you moved to the back of the boat the thicker the boat got but the nose or bow area was very thin. The sides and all area's you plan to glass have roughed up so the new glass will stick. You might want to sell this boat and buy another that will serve you needs more easily.