On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:13:06 -0500, JustWait
wrote:

The manufacturer of that boat probably was sued out of existence, and
rightfully so. A boat of that size with the kind of power you described
is inherently unsafe in many ways. Those two engines you described had
to weigh at least around 600 pounds each.

Racing hulls (which this was) are registered under different regulations
for safety and such... I was young but I remember the boat clearly. The
one "concession" I will make in the description is that they may not
have been 454's... Thinking back (and I didn't know **** from engines or
cars back then) and compared to what I know now, I am betting they were
350's or similar... I keep remembering too that it may have had a
throttle pedal as opposed to a hand operated lever, that is real fuzzy
though. Just for reference, this would have been 1972-74. The boat would
probably have been either new, or very close as they bought new boats
every year or two and moved up in size. This one however was smaller
than the one preceeding it and the next one was back up around 22-26
feet or so. I think it was an aluminum Starcraft with a cabin...

The maximum trailerable beam is 102 inches, a spec which most boats
under 24 feet or so comply with. I've seem a few 24 footers with
twin 350s and you can barely work on the engines, don't see how you
could cram them into an 18 footer unless it was unusually wide. I
believe 454s would be totally impossible. With transmission, a
typical 454 goes around 1,000 lbs plus or minus, and is something like
6 to 8 inches wider than a 350 if memory serves.