Tell me what u know about Tahiti jetboats.

[Goober]

I am looking at an 86 with a BBC. It is original gel was in good condition and everything else has been reworked at sometime or another in the last 5 years. Boat has not floor but full length stringers and seats are mounted to them so i am guessing that is lighter than most 86's. I am not realy intrested in the fack that it will run 80mph but i want to start with a great platphorm that i dont have to go back and fix.
question when i was talking to the guy he said it would do 80mph on a B impeller at 5100rpms does this seem right or is it a little off.
I have never built a BBC before and would like to know how much it would cost to rebuild the motor N/A with new heads, cam and bottom end for 500hp and on the spray go to 650-700hp.

[YeLLowBoaT]

80mph is atleast 20mph high. a Berk B spin 5100 is only making 359 hp( assuming its a berk impeller... even if its not the most power it could have is about 410-420 if they are using a domm or aggressor impeller)
Oldrigger is the man to talk to about tahitis.
As far as building a 500 hp n/a motor.
For a good motor that will last years( I am fordged pistons/rods, maybe crank) your looking at about 3.5k-5k. Now if you can do some of it yourself you can save up to a grand.
If you hunt down parts here/swapmeets/other websites... you can save more.
Just make suer you keep your compression in check. runing race/avi gas in a family /lake boat hurts alot.

[Goober]

thats what i was thinking on the MPH unless this thing is lighter than snot.
I can do all motor work myself exsept and this goes for almost everyone here the mechine work. 3-5k is what i thought but i was not sure.
Only 2 mods i think i will do this year are a droop and some AL heads if i get this boat.

[centerhill condor]

we have one at center hill. in a van down by the river. 455.

[old rigger]

I was long gone from Tahiti by 1974, so I'm no help with the newer ones.
On the other hand, that's a good looking Carribean/Tahiti. Without knowing the boat or what's in the engine, it's impossible to guess at the top end speed, but I will anyway. I'd have to say the unless that thing was built with complete junk that mid 70's is well within reach. Hell ,maybe the thing will touch 80. Take it out, run it and see. Ya never buy a boat without driving it first anyway.
Back in the early 80's there was a guy that hung out at the old Ski Land in Perris and he ran an all white Tahiti 18 looked a little like this one here, and it was a total sleeper. He'd spank us every week in our rogers that was damn near unbeatable on the river. Found out later that he was running a nos set-up. That thing was fast, in fact we lost a motor once running him. Pretty funny looking back, we thought he was going to be easy pickin's and we got our ass handed to us. :)

[Cas]

check the bottom. Tahiti's are kind of notorious for having 3/16 to a 1/4" of hook. Good looking boat though.

[victorfb]

only way to find out what MPH it will run is to run it with a GPS. forget all the charts and such, too many variables. what you have may actually be a 80mph boat. nobody knows untill you run it. i have an 18' boat with a berk A/B cut spinning 5100 and its recorded mph is 81.3mph on gps. look that up on the chart and youll see it doesnt compute.

[old rigger]

only way to find out what MPH it will run is to run it with a GPS. forget all the charts and such, too many variables. what you have may actually be a 80mph boat. nobody knows untill you run it. i have an 18' boat with a berk A/B cut spinning 5100 and its recorded mph is 81.3mph on gps. look that up on the chart and youll see it doesnt compute.
Hey Vic, I agree with you 100%. Those charts floating around crack me up. Like you said, they don't figure in hull weight, shape of the bottom, condition of the bottom, where some knuckle headed rigger set the intake, and so on. There's a million things to factor in.

[roostwear]

Cuz you were paddling at the time. Is there anyone that HASN'T owned a Tahiti?

[old rigger]

check the bottom. Tahiti's are kind of notorious for having 3/16 to a 1/4" of hook. Good looking boat though.
Hook? In a Tahiti? Say it aint so.
That Spectra I had a few years back, which was supposed to be a 'cream of the crop' boat in it's day, was ugly there too. Had a bunch of hook and the intake was set crooked. I'm not so sure Tahiti had the market cornered in the hook dept. There was plenty of that to spread around with most builders. :rolleyes:

[victorfb]

Hey Vic, I agree with you 100%. Those charts floating around crack me up. Like you said, they don't figure in hull weight, shape of the bottom, condition of the bottom, where some knuckle headed rigger set the intake, and so on. There's a million things to factor in.
hey there Rich. yep, too many things to factor in for sure. i dig the story about the tahiti spankin you guys. just goes to show you never discount anyone and thier set up.

[victorfb]

Cuz you were paddling at the time. Is there anyone that HASN'T owned a Tahiti?
i may have been paddling, but the paddle had a huge hook in it. :cool:

[Cas]

Hook? In a Tahiti? Say it aint so.
That Spectra I had a few years back, which was supposed to be a 'cream of the crop' boat in it's day, was ugly there too. Had a bunch of hook and the intake was set crooked. I'm not so sure Tahiti had the market cornered in the hook dept. There was plenty of that to spread around with most builders. :rolleyes:
but my Bahger (Bahner with the Roger's bottom) is damn near perfect :yuk: :rollside:

[old rigger]

but my Bahger (Bahner with the Roger's bottom) is damn near perfect :yuk: :rollside:
Ah yes, the Bahner.
I'm at a loss for words.
Bahner. The name simplys says it all. :)

[pce680]

I had a 1973 18 Tahiti with a built 460 OLDS.The best it ran at the famly drags was 69.8 Mph.I took the motor out and put in a 1976 Eliminator 18 FT Delta bottom Bubble deck I bought. It ran 84.00+MPH on the first pass.I couldn't believe it,Neither could Bob Leach,owner of Eliminator Boats.

[old rigger]

I had a 1973 18 Tahiti with a built 460 OLDS.The best it ran at the famly drags was 69.8 Mph.I took the motor out and put in a 1976 Eliminator 18 FT Delta bottom Bubble deck I bought. It ran 84.00+MPH on the first pass.I couldn't believe it,Neither could Bob Leach,owner of Eliminator Boats.
What's not to believe? The Eliminator had a much better bottom.
And, that's a great example on how the hp/impeller/speed charts don't mean a thing. :)

[kcsteck]

i have a 76 Tahiti and its a great family first boat.gotta get your feet wet with somethin so in my opinion its a good starter boat.cheaper to!
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i31/kcsteck/MVC-011F.jpg
Casey

[DelawareDave]

i have a 76 Tahiti and its a great family first boat.gotta get your feet wet with somethin so in my opinion its a good starter boat.cheaper to!
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i31/kcsteck/MVC-011F.jpg
Casey
Hey Casey- your boat looks good, but who is the old lookin guy holding the rope? :rolleyes:

[Scoobinator]

I am looking at an 86 with a BBC. It is original gel was in good condition and everything else has been reworked at sometime or another in the last 5 years. Boat has not floor but full length stringers and seats are mounted to them so i am guessing that is lighter than most 86's. I am not realy intrested in the fack that it will run 80mph but i want to start with a great platphorm that i dont have to go back and fix.
question when i was talking to the guy he said it would do 80mph on a B impeller at 5100rpms does this seem right or is it a little off.
I have never built a BBC before and would like to know how much it would cost to rebuild the motor N/A with new heads, cam and bottom end for 500hp and on the spray go to 650-700hp.
I have a 85 eliminator sprint and on my gps my best pass was 80.3 mph at 5300 rpm with a B impeller so it is possible to do 80mph at 5100 rpm so what we have is engine combination not matching the pump any smaller impeller will loose efficincy in the pump.