Chuck Mason
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2021
- Messages
- 162
OK, I found this boat for a fair deal on-line along with some interesting history but I am not sure of its authenticity, Defiantly would love some input, still, it’s a good story to tell. The man I got it from said He and his Buddy had raced the original fiberglass boat some time ago (a SIGHTLER Fiberglass boat?) where it was very fast and then for some reason the original boat was retired. It was then decided to reproduce the hull in carbon fiber. This is the only Carbon Fiber hull they made.
What I was able to find: Back in the late 70s-80s SIGHTLER (J. Neil Sightler) built some fast fiberglass hulls and this led to the fabrication of this Carbon Fiber copy. Sadly the engine broke on its maiden voyage but It came with a complete rebuild kit from Zenoah. The hardware assembly looks like some quality work was done during installation. As I said It was run once then was passed to me. That’s all the info I know. The boat is 55 inches long and 13.5 wide, with 5 1/8 wide stringers ran half the boat length, weight is less than 15 lbs.’ loaded with fuel. I don’t know to much about Arrow shark hardware or the stinger drive but what I have read about the Sightler boats perform much better with ¼ flex shaft and strut? Setup. I have everything to switch over to a single rudder, strut and ¼ stuffing tube. Please tell what you all think.. The 1st pictures are of the boat as it sits today and the following pictures are of some of the Sightler boats I was able to find online to compare. Regardless it will be fun to have two boats on the water very soon.
Here are some that seem to have the same lines and Characteristics.
Seeing how the Exauhst is tucked up inside I may go ahead an fab up a Cowling/Cockpit IDK yet. Getting it on the water with the rebuilt engine along with the SLR Thunderboat is the basic plan.
What I was able to find: Back in the late 70s-80s SIGHTLER (J. Neil Sightler) built some fast fiberglass hulls and this led to the fabrication of this Carbon Fiber copy. Sadly the engine broke on its maiden voyage but It came with a complete rebuild kit from Zenoah. The hardware assembly looks like some quality work was done during installation. As I said It was run once then was passed to me. That’s all the info I know. The boat is 55 inches long and 13.5 wide, with 5 1/8 wide stringers ran half the boat length, weight is less than 15 lbs.’ loaded with fuel. I don’t know to much about Arrow shark hardware or the stinger drive but what I have read about the Sightler boats perform much better with ¼ flex shaft and strut? Setup. I have everything to switch over to a single rudder, strut and ¼ stuffing tube. Please tell what you all think.. The 1st pictures are of the boat as it sits today and the following pictures are of some of the Sightler boats I was able to find online to compare. Regardless it will be fun to have two boats on the water very soon.
Here are some that seem to have the same lines and Characteristics.
Seeing how the Exauhst is tucked up inside I may go ahead an fab up a Cowling/Cockpit IDK yet. Getting it on the water with the rebuilt engine along with the SLR Thunderboat is the basic plan.
