I must say that the boat is pretty heavily built,look at the bare frame further back in this, 3 layers 3/4 ply for keel, same for engine mount(as it was originally for inboard or outboard) and 2 inch thick transom. most of the bulkheads have partial doublers resulting in a 15 stone boat! Plus my 2 1/2 stone of lead now! A 5 stone engine hanging over the back as well. When I tried to get it on the plane with two people aboard,but without cable as ballast, it seemed as if it was the same as with one person, we never had time to try 2 people and ballast, I will the next time. Anyone got an estimate of how heavy a fibreglass hull would be compared to my wooden version, anyone got a 15hp they would swap for some of my vast model collection? Volvo penta outdrive? I even thought about grafting a Suzuki 250 Gamma engine onto it,but didn't think my gearcase would take the power,Captain(in a real Scots accent!)I think it's actually fast enough ,but the biker in me takes over and I want more speed,who mentioned hydro? One of my first models was a Robbe Proppy,has anybody got a picture of one, I remember it being pretty fast with a standard buggy motor,in fact, everything out of my Tamiya Holiday buggy. I would like a photo if anyone has one. I priced a speedo for my boat and it's 3/4 what it cost to build the motor,and besides,I was told it looked about 20-25 knots(by someone who works with boats) thats good enough for me, it feels fast, I don't want to find out it's only doing 13 knots or something. Doesn't matter,feels like you're going for the water speed record! It was pretty calm when I was out,I am sure the excitement level will rise with the size of the waves.It's a deep v hull so should be able to handle it(he says hopefully). The side of the boat at the Viper logo is 12 inches high! I have seen five foot waves on Loch Lomond,thats 2/3rds the length of my boat. I know I am going to have fun in it,anybody fancy making one ? It's just a big model and if you take the motor off,it can sit on it's transom in the corner with the telly in the cockpit. I have had a lot of fun designing and building it,it took a while,but I ironed out the problems and ended up with somehting that goes as fast as I had hoped,Andy M