I had the pleasure of helping Skippper and Carl many years ago with my truck launching the the 27'er with the Yamaha's at Harris Park ramp in Key Largo!! You could just see it, Carl was in his 90's but you could tell he was quite happy being back on the Seamaster. I couldn't believe he could climb up to the helm area at that age!! Really fun watching him telling Skipper what to to and what to expect with the boat! Sorry Skipper, but you needed his expert instructions.

It was a rewarding experience!!! :)

Things you don't forget....

Awesome !

Indeed!

There is no USCG legal max HP rating for any over boat 20'. It only applies to boats 20' and under.

Please note, however, that the USCG has changed how the LOA, or averall length of a boat is calculated. It is now the overall length of the hull from the transom BELOW the cap to the farthest forward portion of the hull (again, NOT the cap). It DOES include motor brackets that are molded into and part of the hull.

It used to be the length of the hull PLUS any permanently attached additions like the cap itself (which normally adds an inch or so), anchor pulpits molded into the cap or liner or through-bolted to the same, and plus any propulsion machinery that extended beyond the hull, including outdrives, surface-piercing drives and transom mounted rudders, but NOT outboard motors.

"Permanently attached" did NOT include attachments bolted to the hull which were removable, such as swim platforms, motor brackets, or bowsprits.

Under the old measuring rules, a stern-drive powered 20' Seafari, even though the hull length was actually 19'6", had no legal maximum HP rating, because the LOA including propulsion machinery was over 21'. Similarly, an outboard 20' SeaCraft with and anchor pulpit that was through-bolted was also over 20' and thus not subject to the legal max HP ratings.

It's all changed now. I promise you, my old 1987 18' Checkmate Eluder was WAY over the legal HP limit with it's 225 Mercury. WOT of 73 mph.
Same with my 1969 Cacci Craft "El Tiburon" 15' with it's XS1500 Mercury. WOT of 82 mph. In a 14'10" boat.

But Oh, What fun!

Original Sceptre max rating was 400 or 500 HP ?
Water must have gushed up the scuppers if twin 1,000 + lbs of motors on the back .

But with 300 and 350 outboards now on these boats might eventually find someone rigging a 450

The heaviest outboards before 1980 weighed under 400lbs.
A 1981 merc 225 weighed 363lbs. The OMC two thirsty fives were 396lbs.
By comparison a single 250/275/300 Verado weighs 700lbs.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pr...H5UdJYg_V2sqnQ

Both the twin outboard 23' SeaVette and the twin outboard 23' Savage were made at least one year with a factory 600 HP max rating.

I never rigged one with more than 470 hp, though.

So 800 lbs of twins “ faggetaboutit” water must have shot up scuppers with a couple people in back . Seems scupper / floor original design wasn’t quite right .

Actually, there is/was a deflector in front of the scuppers that prevented that underway.

AND it creates a "vacuum" to drain even faster! - Genius!