New Gator Boat Photos

[GATORJET]

HERE ARE A FEW PICS OF THE NEW GATOR TUNNEL, THESE ARE IT IN THE BOOTH,I WILL TRY TO POST SOME OF IT DONE...http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/2649GATORSKL.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/2649GATOP_REAR_VIEW.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/2649SKULL_GATOR.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/Lance_Finished3_op_800x600.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/Lance_Finished2_op_800x358.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/lancesfront_op_800x643.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/Lancesboat1_op_800x256.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/Lancesmotor_op_800x600.jpg

[GATORJET]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/lance5_op_800x405.jpg

[DeputyDawg]

VERY NICE!! What does it run and how much motor?

[sanger rat]

WOW! That is sweet.

[MikeF]

Looks like ALOT of fun!
Did you "splash" the steptech?.......just messin. :hammer2:

[Lake Ape]

Does Gator buy the hulls from Eagle? I think I read that somewhere but can't remember.

[GATORJET]

yes, gator buys the hulls from eagle then decks them however the owner wants them setup. they are awsome folks to work with. the website has a ton of photos and videos. you can check it out at
www.gatorjetboats.com .
we drag race the boats as compared to the canada guys who run longer races so holeshots to us are a big part of how we set the boats up....
the motor is a merlin 598 ci. as far as speed we dont know yet, we just got it going and are still playing.

[Jetmugg]

Will that boat be running at the drags on the Osage this weekend? I'm hoping that I might still be able to make it to the drags with my Gullwing, but won't have anything that a 598 Merlin can't handle easily.
Looking good,
SteveM.

[GATORJET]

yep, if all goes well and i get a bowl issue resolved it will be there, hope to see you up there,its cool to see new boats.

[KatKrazie]

thats a pretty nice wheelie awesome boat though.

[berk]

too too sweet! how many hours are in a paint job like that? you guys are getting much better at the rips n tears which i like the look of. nice job

[flat broke]

Gatorjet,
Can you put up some basic package performance info for folks out west to check out?
21 tunnel - 500hp BBC full interior etc. top speed
21 steptech openbow - 500hp full interior top speed
I know you guys have banged out quite a few of these boats over the past few years, so there should be some good documented performance data on these things. They fly with moderate power in the smaller sizes/setup for whitewater; but do they still haul the mail with a full interior etc rigged for lake use?
Paint looks nice.
Chris

[azgfboatgirl]

Nice gator boat, nice paint scheme all around..... :cool:

[BigBlockBaja]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/Lance_Finished2_op_800x358.jpg
DAMN!! Look at all them wedges!!!!!

[Rampager]

Thats a really sweet boat, nice motor too.
I'm curious how much weight the interior adds myself. I got a used tunnel that was raced previously and have rigged it with 4 buckets but don't want the deadweight of anything else. I haven't even weighed mine yet but I'd be curious to know. Does the floor/carpet deaden the hull noise alot? How is the pump mounted? Any rubber there? I notice the pump whine quite a bit but doesn't bother me at all really.
Really sweet setup there tho
Cheers
(can never get pics to post of this site, grrrrr)

[Joey]

I didn't know if you had posted any pix befor but I knew that thing would get some looks. I took the the tunnel to Dickie last night to have it plumbed. Hopefully he will get that done tonight so we can go to the village tomarow. We will for sure be able to go wensday.

[Jetmugg]

I'll bet that boat throws a hella-rooster. Is that a rooster booster with a wedge ahead and a wedge behind? That's a bridge soaker for sure. I hope I get to see it on Saturday. There is a chance of rain.
How have the water levels been in the Osage?
SteveM.

[DeputyDawg]

No Jetmugg, that is what is called a pump extension. It makes the boat think it's longer but it doesn't have any built in angle up or down.

[bottom feeder]

Gator jet.
nice tin boat :D :D :D
Rampager is this you boat?
http://www.outlaweagle.com/forum/files/stuck3_112.jpg
http://www.outlaweagle.com/forum/files/jxero_june_05_006_772.jpg
Watched your build up on eagles site. Nice job

[Aluminum Squirt]

Hey Gatorjet, what's with the right hand drive and no roll cage? :D Just kidding, nice looking paint work there. Maybe you can turn some of these fiberglass guys to the dark side afterall-Aluminum Squirt

[Cs19]

Id LOVE to see a pic of the bottom, especially the intake and everything just in front of it.
whats the bowl issue our having?
We already know about your hand hole cover issues, I talked to some knowledable people about that issue you were having, everyone agrees that its most likey from an unsteady supply of water,it acts like a water hammer every time it re-loads with water, Ive broken lots of stuff from that.

[Squirtcha?]

Stupid question.
How's come you guys are climbing trees and driving your boats on the beach?
Is it just because ya can?
I think if I were ever to buy a new hull it'd be one those aluma-tunnels.
I'd be real curious to see what my motor would do in one of those.
Hey, there's an idea. Ship one of your hulls out here to Arizona.
Without making any changes to the power, I'll swap my motor in and
we'll see what kinda difference there is speed-wise between a typical
1976 fiberhull and an aluminum boat. We can run it on the Colorado
and see how she does with a meager 500hp off the bottle, 650hp on
it motor?
Very cool.
If you guys ever need someone to test drive.............consider me a volunteer. ;)
I promise I'll do my level best to keep her off the beach
and out of the trees. :)
http://www.gatorjetboats.com/poker05john.jpg
http://www.gatorjetboats.com/poker05decker.jpg

[flat broke]

It's funny, the same thing happens anytime someone asks about the performance of one of these boats setup for west coast recreational use as opposed to racin the whitewater... There is never a clear answer. I could understand Eagle not really having much experience because they cater directly to the racing guys that run lean and with lots of trim. But I would figure that the outfit setting these boats up with full interior and a more holeshot oriented hardware configuration, would have some performance information. Without that kind of info, it will be hard to cross sell someone who doesn't boat in 1' of water out of their existing fiberglass hull.
I'm with Squirtcha, send one of your beater 21s with an interior etc out here, and you can run Squirtcha's Ford in it, then we'll thow my motor in it and see if these things really are the cat's pajamas. I guess the next time Baldy wants to drop his tired race boat from a crane, Dan and I should beg him not to and just send the boat our our way :)
Chris

[Unchained]

GatorJet,
What's the price on a bare 21' tunnel hull (with pump intake) with a 3 or 4 color paint job?
How durable is the lightweight model as compared to the standard model?
I'm not one to run it up on the beach at speed or over the rocks so I just need durability for running over other boats wakes on the average weekend.
Mark
616 813 7237

[GATORJET]

sorry guys, i was out for a day, thanks for all the good comments. flat broke you ask about performance with a 500 hp motor in a tunnel and an open bow steptech hull,,, we have a few with the zz502 package with some better heads,cam and intake. the tunnel setup with full interior will run mid 80's or better with tweaking, the open bow should be upper 70's. the open bow drives like a caddy and has ton's of room,i had a steptech closed bow before my tunnel and loved it with the wife and kids and coolers and all the baggage they add, the tunnel is harder to drive especially at lower speeds until you get used to it, but at 80 the tunnel starts to really work where the steptech digs in, depends on how fast you want to go, they are both awsome boats. you can talk to randy or john out at gator boats for pricing on the packages, they are awsome to work with and you get to design your own paint sceme,

[flat broke]

Thanks for shootin backs some #s. Not to be picky, but on that zz502 example you used, and mentioned heads, cam, and intake; what HP did that mill put out? I know it's an anal question, but we've seen guys make 735hp on a zz502 base, so there is a bit of a difference between running 70 with 700+hp and with say 575-625hp.
Thanks,
Chris

[berk]

GatorJet,
What's the price on a bare 21' tunnel hull (with pump intake) with a 3 or 4 color paint job?
How durable is the lightweight model as compared to the standard model?
I'm not one to run it up on the beach at speed or over the rocks so I just need durability for running over other boats wakes on the average weekend.
Mark
616 813 7237
i think about 9k$ gets you a tunnel and intake -no pump, paint or anything else.

[GATORJET]

flat broke, we didn't dyno the motor but can compare that one with a bone stock zz 502 that went into a tunnel. the stock unit is pushing the tunnel around 76 i belive and is loaded down pretty heavy with interior etc. with an aggressor AA you would love the hole shot and top end natural is pretty good. with a good shot of nitrous you can see triple digits with some fine tuning i belive. hope this helps.

[flat broke]

Gatorjet,
Thanks for staying up on this thread. Would it be safe to say that a 820hp bbc that gets it all by 6200 should be able to pop triple digits with full lake trim and a decent holeshot? Talking about the tunnel in this instance.
Thanks,
Chris

[canuck1]

Gatorjet,
Thanks for staying up on this thread. Would it be safe to say that a 820hp bbc that gets it all by 6200 should be able to pop triple digits with full lake trim and a decent holeshot? Talking about the tunnel in this instance.
Thanks,
Chris
Easy...even with 4 fat guys in the boat :jawdrop:
the hole shot on a tunnel is great with a normal lake set up, if you run the steel nozzle it takes off like any other boat with the diverter all the way up. you just have to get use to the fact that these boats are way lighter and stiffer than the glass ones and ride different

[canuck1]

http://www.gatorjetboats.com/Lance_Finished3_op_800x600.jpg
The steering wheel is on the wrong side :eek:

[HotRod Sprint]

The steering wheel is on the wrong side :eek:
That ain't no lie.
Rod

[GATORJET]

FLAT BROKE,, 820hp bbc set up right you should see triple digits pretty easywith full interior naturally aspirated. for sure with a little shot of go juice. the problem will be keeping from spinning on the hole shot,but it would be a fun ride for sure.

[flat broke]

FLAT BROKE,, 820hp bbc set up right you should see triple digits pretty easywith full interior naturally aspirated. for sure with a little shot of go juice. the problem will be keeping from spinning on the hole shot,but it would be a fun ride for sure.
Good to know, and thanks for getting back to me. Since you mentioned a little bit about the handling being "different" between the tunnel and step-tech 21s, can you elaborate? Is the tunnel sluggish to turn at lower speeds, lean to the outside or anything funky like that? Or is it just a matter of the tunnel responding to trim levels and turning radiuses differently than the v bottom?
Thanks,
Chris

[GATORJET]

well, the best way to describe the diffrence is the steptech turns and drives like a corvette on the water, they handle awsome at low or high speeds. the tunnel will have a hooking tendency at lower speeds especially with the trim down. at 40 mph or so the handling gets a lot better as the boat starts to lift,at 80 mph the fun starts with the tunnel. once you get used to the tunnel it is fine, you just have to adjust to its characteristics. i hated mine the first time i drove it but now i love it, one big big diffrence is the tunnel takes a lot less speed to stay on plane. the steptech takes about 30 mph to be on plane and 50 mph to run real shallow water,where the tunnel will plane at 18-20 mph and ride flat on the water. the steptech has a lot more interior room if you get the 21 ft. both are great boats,just depends what you want to do with it. where are you boating and what kind of water?

[Rampager]

Haha Bottom Feeder you are on the ball, I'm not sure I should easily be taking credit for that first photo but yea that is my boat. I have yet to change my forum name on here to Xerophobic.
Perhaps I can throw in my 2 cents about actually driving a tunnel in lake trim.
(For those not aware I bought a used race tunnel ('99)from Mark Crawford last year- #338. It was damaged at the 2002 worlds and i got a rather good deal on it. I sent it to Eagle and had the major repairs done then shipped it to Toronto to rig it myself)
I am currently running my backup motor which is a very basic 460 BBF. It has my external "goodies" on it but inside is bone stock '78 Van (LOL) I'd been told alot about how crappy the tunnel is at low speeds etc etc I don't notice that at all.
I run a 12JG with AA impellor and a jetovator which is fixed at this stage. (anyone who knows the berk trim will know its a trick on this hull to get a stock unit to trim without the transom housing) Origionally I ran the trim in a very neutral position and found the boat to plane very easily. It can't be making more than 300 hp. I did notice the boat to feel pretty wet and wasn't that fast obviously but I will say the thing handled like crazy! I could easily scare passengers with how hard the tunnel would hook in corners. It did take a little getting used to since I previously had a v bottom. If you didn't watch how hard the hull was pulling in a corner it would spin out(which scares your passengers(and me) even more lol)
I now have the trim locked in a full up position with no wedge(yet) My hull is doing a hair under 60 mph, which for this motor is probably not bad. I should try an A cut to see how much better it is but I'll do that with my better motor on the way. The hull now does take a little more time to plane out with 1 or 2 and with 3-4 you need to be creative. Usually having pass3 stand at the dash is enough, but of course this is all with the hull pretty underpowered. I do have 4 bucket seats but no other interior to speak of, nor do I intend to. My hull has a standard rock grate, no intake "hardware" and the race "spoon" is still in place.
I would also like to say a little about running shallow water.
For those guys out there that have never done this type of boating you are seriously missing out. The pic at the top of the page was my first experience doing this and I have never had so much fun in a boat PERIOD(even pushing in said picture was amusing). A tunnel isn't the best for this type of river exploring but on the day that pic was taken we hit bottom 5-6 times at over 50 mph and ran thru some minor technical "rapids" that I am sure have never been boated before(jets are not common here at all). My hull has the QT100 skid plates as well as UHMW sponson guards and I was not at all concerned with wrecking the hull. The only noticable evidence we even touched was the rust was cleaned off the QT100 on the centerpod for about the rear 4' of the boat LOL My alum impellor isn't toio happy but I'll swtich to stainless soon.
I've been in 100+ mph lake rockets in our club and I would trade that anyday even for a 55 mph blast up any river in a tin boat. Its a way better rush. The tunnel did seem to run nice and flat which helped in the shallow sections. I am sure it will be a ton more fun when i get my motor back which is more like 500HP. I doubt anyone would not be addicted to running rivers after one ride so if you get the chance DO IT! I didn't really think I'd be doing too much with my tunnel but now I am actively looking for more shallow places to run, it is a total blast!
This gator boat I'm sure is a beast and the hull durability cannot be argued. These hulls are solid and I can assure you are easily fixed in all but totally disasterous crashes. I'd love to ride in a full interior Eagle to see what difference that makes to hull noise and comfort, altho my buckets are pretty darn comfy. Thats another thing these hulls are DEEP. The sides come to my shoulders when I sit in the boat and that in itself gives a very secure feeling at speed and in chop. it runs very dry in all but really rough conditions. I will have some more action shots of my tunnel in about an hour. I will try to post.
Unchained, your motor setup is awesome, BUY ONE! you will not regret it. I run choppy lakes and rough stuff now that would have removed my fillings in my v bottom and rarely need to let up. I also was told a bare tunnel was about $9500 US bare. I belive Spencer King has nice tunnel for sale on the outlaw/eagle forum and there are several others.
Awesome boat Gator, and awesome boats Eagle/Outlaw!
Cheers
P.s. Squirtcha about all I can say is yes its cause we can :D Same day that pic was taken when we got back to the ramp I just beached the boat on the gravel ramp harder than one normally would just for the reaction. sure enough guys were coming over that saw us go out and were freaking out till they realized it was tin LOL Its so rare in these parts to have one of these its pretty cool. Why worry about scuffing a bare aluminum bottom?

[Aluminum Squirt]

That was one of my favorite things to do back when mine was in full lake trim, was run it up onto the shore pretty good just to see the horrified look on everybody's face. I like lake boats and I've run close to triple digits. I own a lake boat and have a great time out there. I'm certainly not taking anything away from people that love to do that, but take a ride in the rapids, slide over a sandbar, and drive in a place that is more like driving a go-kart than a boat, you will be hooked for life. Less than an hour from me, I run the Yuba river, a pretty tame river by Canada/New Zealand standards, but it's an odd day when I see one other boat out there. It's all of the driving experience you need in a lake boat, plus learning to read rivers and figure out where you can go fastest, make up some time, drive over a sandbar etc. I really want somebody to take a nasty lake trim tunnel and slap a DNE or AMS motor in it and go to Havasu, I think there would be quite a few people lining up to buy a tin boat-Aluminum Squirt

[flat broke]

That was one of my favorite things to do back when mine was in full lake trim, was run it up onto the shore pretty good just to see the horrified look on everybody's face. I like lake boats and I've run close to triple digits. I own a lake boat and have a great time out there. I'm certainly not taking anything away from people that love to do that, but take a ride in the rapids, slide over a sandbar, and drive in a place that is more like driving a go-kart than a boat, you will be hooked for life. Less than an hour from me, I run the Yuba river, a pretty tame river by Canada/New Zealand standards, but it's an odd day when I see one other boat out there. It's all of the driving experience you need in a lake boat, plus learning to read rivers and figure out where you can go fastest, make up some time, drive over a sandbar etc. I really want somebody to take a nasty lake trim tunnel and slap a DNE or AMS motor in it and go to Havasu, I think there would be quite a few people lining up to buy a tin boat-Aluminum Squirt
Got the DNE bullet and matching pump covered, know anybody that wants to throw down a hull? :D
Chris

[djdtpr]

No Jetmugg, that is what is called a pump extension. It makes the boat think it's longer but it doesn't have any built in angle up or down.
I thought he was talking about the wedges between the bowl and the extension piece and the extension and the nozle.

[canuck1]

Got the DNE bullet and matching pump covered, know anybody that wants to throw down a hull? :D
Chris
Done deal if I get to keep the motor and pump when I leave

[Joey]

Stupid question.
How's come you guys are climbing trees and driving your boats on the beach?
Is it just because ya can?
I think if I were ever to buy a new hull it'd be one those aluma-tunnels.
I'd be real curious to see what my motor would do in one of those.
Hey, there's an idea. Ship one of your hulls out here to Arizona.
Without making any changes to the power, I'll swap my motor in and
we'll see what kinda difference there is speed-wise between a typical
1976 fiberhull and an aluminum boat. We can run it on the Colorado
and see how she does with a meager 500hp off the bottle, 650hp on
it motor?
Very cool.
If you guys ever need someone to test drive.............consider me a volunteer. ;)
I promise I'll do my level best to keep her off the beach
and out of the trees. :)
http://www.gatorjetboats.com/poker05john.jpg
http://www.gatorjetboats.com/poker05decker.jpg
that boat is johns from gator boats. he got to the gravel bar during the gator poker-run and it was full so he thought a log would be a better spot than the mud bank.

[RiverRatsII]

I know the interior came up a few times. Just to give you an idea (for those of you who have not seen inside one of the beast yet). Everything is totally up to how the owner wants it. If you can dream it, Randy, John and the boys down at Gator Boats can make it happen. That's what they do.

[Devilman]

I know the interior came up a few times. Just to give you an idea (for those of you who have not seen inside one of the beast yet). Everything is totally up to how the owner wants it. If you can dream it, Randy, John and the boys down at Gator Boats can make it happen. That's what they do.
Nice....:cool:
http://www2.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13466

[RiverRatsII]

Another pic of the Gator Boats Tunnel Hull Interior. And a couple pics of Gator Tunnels in action.
Hope you enjoy,
River Rats II

['75 Miller]

That paint scheme is sick! Killer detail. Congrats.

[DEL51]

keep the pics coming. Many of us are very interested.