Boat Tests

Recently DCB's latest model the M37R was Debuted in Lake of the Ozarks, after it was delivered to their customer Kris Hansen (long time family friend of mine) right here in Lake Havasu. We took that opportunity to go out and run the boat through it's paces and to tell you guys our experiences...

The Red 280 Venom from Cobra Boats is one of the sexiest boats I have ever seen. In a world of cats where at a distance it can sometimes be hard to tell what brand of boat it is, the Cobra stands out on its own. The front details between the sponsons are not only unique but extremely...

Advantage came back to the LA Boat show for the first time in 5 years! For some reason to me it seems like it's been longer than that but I'd take Bob's word for it. They brought this lime green 29 X Flight as a single boat display and it definitely got a lot of attention from Family buyers...

The Silver "Muscle Car" inspired 28 Speedster. This boat had a definite "Muscle Car" / Old Nascar theme going on with the gel. Everything from the two stripes on the deck that said "Speedster" on it to the single rear stripe in the rear. Eliminator is very familiar with doing "Nascar" and race...

The new 355 Long Deck Nordic. The boat was tooled by Nordic's GM Thane and is built from scratch. Honestly the boat was more of an experiment and Thane did things that he thought would work that are typically different than the usual trains of thought. Wide Sponsons and a Narrow tunnel...

Howard recently completed and delivered their latest 255 VTX with a Merc 520! As you are going to see in the video the entire point of this boat is "Fun!" So many boat companies are caught up in keeping up with the Jone's (Ironically a lot of them are trying to keep up with Howard), that they...

I have a famous line that I've used my whole life that basically amounts to "Don't try to get something that is good at everything, because you will end up with something that isn't great at anything." I can honestly say that has served me well my whole life, right up until I crossed paths...

I have been slacking off for awhile and falling behind on some of our content on RDP lately. I have had a lot going on with the development of the new site, kids going back to school and a host of other things going on in life. For the last month though every night when I go to bed, and...

The phone has been ringing off the hook over at Nordic Boats. All the major media players wanted first crack at this 43' Enforcer with the 1350's. It's an extremely rare boat, It's got great power in it, and to put it to you straight it's drop dead sexy. It's not just the media that was...

Words and Photos : Jason Miller (Constant840) With so many understated and over the top boats at the 6 th Annual Bill B River Rockets Boat Show it was difficult to pick only a few that really stood out to me. However, almost immediately there were two that caught my eye. The first was a...

Images by : Tommygun Photographics - www.tommygunimages.com Words by : RiverDave I have a friend named Cliff (American Offshore Powerboats) that off and on over the course of a year has told me about his friends "Crazy Skater" that I need to go check out. After a few photos texted, and a...

I gotta admit sometimes owning RDP has its privileges and this last Sunday was no exception being that we got to demo the American Offshore 28' Deck Boat! I have to say we were very impressed! Factoring in the price point and I'm sure it will leave a few of the members scratching their heads...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) One of the most encouraging indicators that the custom performance boat industry is...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) If you think all performance deckboats are pretty much alike, you obviously aren't...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) Although best known for its classic line of vee-bottom models, Hallett hasn't neglected...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) When Eliminator Boats founder and owner Bob Leach comments "we're building the best boats...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) Who doesn't remember that unmistakable new car feel and smell when you first drive it off...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) "Live the Legend" sets the bar pretty high for a performance boat builder, but Hallett...

Written By Bob Brown Dry Land Evaluation : Chris Hamlin of Prestige Marine, Aaron Fluent of Absolute Speed and Marine Photos by : Dusty Wooddell (Primary) / Andrew Ruzek (Secondary) / Bob Brown (Back Up) Fifty years ago Howard Custom Boats was all about setting drag boat speed records...

So as you guys saw in the first video, Dean Acton and I took out the Nordic 24 SX over Thanksgiving weekend. This is the video and my impressions of the boat after driving it for a little over 10 minutes. To clarify that, this wasn't a boat test where I was mashing the throttle to measure...

It's no secret that the new luxury Pontoon's have taken a major chunk out of the performance boat Market. We have watched quite a few board members switch from High Performance Cats and Vee's make the switch just for sheer functionality purposes. They are great to party on, family friendly, and...

As we progress forward into the "modern era" of performance boating, it's my opinion that you are going to see a lot more boats running small block power then ever before. They are lighter, more compact, and with the new LS series platforms are putting out phenomenal torque and HP numbers. Ilmor...

I wrote a first impressions article of the new Howard 288 the first issue of our new online magazine a little over a month ago. I am going to recap some of what we covered in that article just in case you missed it, as well to make it easier to reference a single article in the future...

This is one of those boats that you have to kind of think outside the box to appreciate. It is pretty easy to get caught up in our West Coast scene and dialed in to what is cool, and what isn't, all the while forgetting the world is a big place and a lot of people are doing exceptionally...

My dad told me once "Dave get an off road car for offroad, and a street car for the street. If you get one that tries to do both, you will get one that isn't very good at either." I have listened to that logic for pretty much all of my life, and have always found it to be accurate. In...

This is the first new Howard 288!! This particular one is already sold! There is a blue one that will be available for July Delivery! This deck has a ton of innovative and cool features that haven't been done before. We'll start at the bow, you will notice there is no sliding doors on...

So time to jump back on track with our articles and close out end 2013, and beginning 2014. As well we need to start wrapping up our boat show series articles. First and foremost I'd like to say to Gene Willen, your humor and hospitality was greatly missed at the boat show this year. I am...

It makes it so much easier to write about an article about a boat when it's something that you are excited about. It's not exactly a secret that I am a Hallett fan, and I have been since my youth. In particular the 210, 240, and non stepped 270's are boats that are legendary in my mind...

I find it a bit odd that as popular as these boats were back in the day I have never actually been in one. I'm going to actually say something now as well, that you will have never read in any boat review of any publication anywhere. I actually went into this boat, and article with a somewhat...

So in keeping with the theme of our entertainment video and at some point there after a little follow up article on the boat, this is our follow up on the 24' Wood Decker. - The Specs - First we are going to start with the hull & deck of this boat. Schiada took a different stance on...

For most boaters the idea of a "Mini Boat" is contrary to their normal line of thinking. In a world where damn near everyone has two footitas (meaning they always wish they would've bought a boat 2' bigger as soon as they get their current one) the idea of scaling down to almost remote...

In my initial review of the Howard 28 Sport Deck & "SDS" I accidentally misnamed it "Sport Deck Series" when it originally stood for "Sport Deck Single." A little while after that article came out Gene called me and said he liked "series" better because technically you could put twins in...

Howard Boats brought two phenomenal examples of their work to the LA Boat show this year. A 28 Sport Deck and a 28 SDS (Sport Deck Series). Before we get into the two boats at the show I think it's important to discuss a question that I get a lot. "What's the difference between a 28...

The Center Console concept as a whole is a bit new to me from a fishing standpoint, but while I was in Miami I learned a term "fishability" that I thought was somewhat clever. The guys trying to sell the fishing versions were basically saying it was better because it held rods in this...

It's around 10:00 am and the howling wind outside isn't exactly eluding to the idea of it being "a great day for boating." I grab the infamous blue bag with all my camera gear, kiss the wife and kids good bye and I'm heading down to the Islander to take a ride in the new DCB M-41. I...

It's Wednesday January 9th and today is the day I have been waiting on for over a year. There is a buzz amongst the boating locals here in Havasu and on the forums about the new DCB M-41, and the fact that it's on it's way here right now. We have all seen some build pics of the boat, but...

Take a ride in DCB's new M41! DCB has just released this video of their newest and also flagship model the M-41. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding this boat from it's inception to it's tooling stages and now finally culminating into the final product. Both skeptics and fans can...