18' Seacraft.

[Fr. Frank]

it was a black stack Merc and probably didn't have a lot of torque

That's not a black stack, it's a "Tower of Power"
And they had more torque than any other engine of the day. I had the 150 hp Tower on my first Seafari. Besides, why do you think Merc went back to the inline design?

For comparison: In the mid 80's, I had a '71 15' Cacci Craft with a 140 Mercury inline 6, and a friend had the '76 15' Checkmate (copy of the Cacci Craft) with a 140 Ever-rude V4. He could go from sitting at idle to on plane in a little over 3 seconds (after sticking the bow way up in the air) , and topped out at about 68-70 mph, turning a 28"P overhub 2nd Effort prop. I got on plane in under 2 seconds (without pointing the nose in the air) , and topped out at 81-82 mph turning a 32"P overhub Kiekhafer prop. We both had nosecones and low water pickups from Bob's.

The Moral Of The Story? Black and tall is good, it is very good.




BTW, he eventually wrecked MY boat after losing control and barrel-rolling while trying to accelerate through it's normally severe chine-walk between 55-60 mph.

Give the Checkmate credit, it didn't have the chinewalk problem. Yes, he paid for my boat and motor. (With money, that is).

[Snookerd]

Big-
The deal on the 2006 140 Zuke for the 1987 18SF has been cut. Sorry for the delay. Diamond Suzuki in New Smyrna, FL.. $8745 plus tax for motor, install, rigging, controls/gauges, and stainless prop., 6yr warranty. They are aggresive. Craig and Dave is who we worked with. I think a pair of ball scuppers will be in order for the set-up