Bob bought this pristine V-King in the Autumn Mist colors new back in 1984 from Sonny's Marine located in Orlando, Florida and had it rigged with a Mercury V6 150. The boat ran in the low 80's, and Bob enjoyed this setup for awhile until it was time to step up in 1988 to a Merc 2.4 200. Bob did all the usual mods and then some, featuring upper & lower solid motor mounts, Land & Sea nosecone dual feed, torque tab, 32CC heads (155 lbs compression), one-piece propshaft, blueprinted reed cages, Boyesen dual stage reeds, carb slosh plates, dry exhaust with 2.4 offshore housing (his own design to reroute poppet valve water), no thermostats (restrictors), and an opened up exhaust outlet in the block base to a 2.4 offshore.

After 235 hours of running time on this motor, Bob decided to upgrade once again, and in 1997 he rerigged the boat with a '95 Mercury 2.5 offshore purchased from Scott Mander of Intense Marine. The engine had a new long block from Mercury and had a CLE lower unit which Bob ran for a year before bolting on a '98 Sportmaster. Speed with two 200 lb people is usually 98 MPH, with a top speed so far of 106 MPH.

Bob does all his own work and has been around boats his entire life. He has worked for T-Craft, Fleetwing & Critchfield boat companies and with his dad was involved in running marathons back in the late 50's and early 60's. They even took an 18' Javelin hull out of California and popped a mold and modified it into their own pickle fork tunnel design where they ran a pair of direct reversing 80 HP inline 6 cylinders, Speedmasters with 1:1 ratio, two 50 gallon tanks, and their own design hydra plate mounted behind the tunnel. Bob met Mr. Kiekhafer at Lake X in the early 60's, and when the 800's were being introduced at a race in Kissimee, Florida (9 hour race), Bob and his dad beat them with an old Spacemaker engine.

After all these years of constant use (at least every Sunday including winter months), the boat is still in excellent condition. The gelcoat is still original as well as the carpet and trailer. Only the interior has been redone. It has always been kept covered in a garage and has never been put in near saltwater. Bob does most of his boating on the St. Johns River (only 30 minutes from where he lives) because the water conditions are usually excellent and he can run 10 - 12 miles of water that is protected from most any wind.


Interior shots. Speedo is Gaffrig 100 MPH liquid filled, tach is Mercury. The rest are Farria Gauges (water press., volt, hour, temp, fuel). Picture on the far right shows the control handle which is from a 1969 I/O.

These pictures show some of the customization. The fuel lines are hard plumbed in with stainless and inverted flare swivel nuts. Bob clamped the throttle and shift cables down to the bottom cowl to keep the alignment. Notice the way the harness is clamped to an aluminum bracket which is behind the A37 computer - this also is tied to the bottom cowl which keeps it from bouncing all around. He installed a trim switch just to the side of the computer between the outer edge which is reachable from the underside. Also notice he rerouted the power trim lines to the driver's side, rebent the lines & welded extensions on, and added another hole in the deck to run the lines through - this keeps them out of the way. Motor well has a 3/8" X 4" X 18" 6061T6 aluminum plate (same inside but longer). A '98 Merc oval tuner has been added.

Rigged with Land & Sea hydraulic jackplate with a 3" fixed spacer for a total of 7-1/4" setback. Sportmaster lower has been cut and the skeg shaped to that of a 200. Hydrofoil, speedometer pickup, and torque tab are Bob's own creation. Bottom of the hull has been sanded straight. Engine height varies from 1/4" below the pad to 1/2" above. Prop is a 14-1/2 X 28" chopper.

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