Howard 25 Bullet from Australia

Hi , Im new on this forum and I wanted to share my experience with my new Howard 25 Bullet .After a long research on the net and numerous emails to a few manufacturers , Gene from Howard was by far the most professional and that you could also customised your boat that made a huge difference . Choosing a boat from Australia isn't an easy thing especially when some don't take you seriously .I flew from Australia ( Sydney) to meet up with Gene and Mike from Howard and closed the deal on the day and that was it.
Back at home the hardest part was to choose the colour scheme in the gelcoat and the seat patterns etc , but Mike was very patient. I am very happy how it turned out to the very last detail. The Bullet was a touch dearer than some of the others but I think it's worth every dollar , and dealing with the owners is what made the whole process a breeze.
Back at home this type of boats are not very popular and there is no dealerships so you have to import your own unless you want to buy a Cobalt - Four Winns - Searay etc
We have some lovely waterways but it's missing some American touch , it would be more exiting to share the same passion with others , but looking on the bright side I am one the fastest boat out there . eheh

Nice, which engine did you go with?

Welcome to River Dave's. You couldn't have picked a better site or boat. Do you have to put registration numbers on you boat? Ours would go where you have the name in the picture.

Sweeeet Ride ...:thumbup:

Welcome to RDP.

Beautiful boat! What does it have for power? Is that trailer a USA made trailer or an Aussie one? Doesn't look like the typical Australian type trailer.

Welcome to the site, beautiful gel and interior that you picked out, exactly to my taste, awesome ride. :thumbsup

I purchased the 565 hp with standard XR Drive
For a small fee in Sydney you can choose a name but has to finish with a N and six letters .
The trailer is Xtreme and the width was modified to approx 97 inches for Australian roads .
I replace the guide poles to round ones after damaging my gelcoat twice on them .

Sebskee said:

I purchased the 565 hp with standard XR Drive
For a small fee in Sydney you can choose a name but has to finish with a N and six letters .
The trailer is Xtreme and the width was modified to approx 97 inches for Australian roads .
I replace the guide poles to round ones after damaging my gelcoat twice on them .

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Wow, a 25 with 565!! That thing must haul the mail :thumbsup

Just out of curiosity, do you think there is a large market for West Coast American boats down in Australia?

You got my wheels turning on a few things.

RD

Hey , it wouldn't be easy selling this sort of boat now that our dollar has turned into shit .You can get something similar out here called the force boats the longest is the 24 very fast ,slick , light more of a ski boat but selling for approx the same price with same HP. Check them out let me know what you think but I rather my Howard anyday .

We've shipped cars to Australia and NZ for commercial shoots, and it's not cheap. I can only imagine what it costs to ship a boat & trailer there...guessing about $10,000 USD?

pronstar said:

We've shipped cars to Australia and NZ for commercial shoots, and it's not cheap. I can only imagine what it costs to ship a boat & trailer there...guessing about $10,000 USD?

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He probably launched from Long Beach and drove it to Australia.

shintoooo said:

He probably launched from Long Beach and drove it to Australia.

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Don't be dumb.
He has a trailer, so clearly he towed it down there

Sebskee said:

Hey , it wouldn't be easy selling this sort of boat now that our dollar has turned into shit .You can get something similar out here called the force boats the longest is the 24 very fast ,slick , light more of a ski boat but selling for approx the same price with same HP. Check them out let me know what you think but I rather my Howard anyday .

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Awesome looking boat...congrats on the purchase...you will love it down there I bet its by far the nicest thing on the Hawkesbury!

I love my Force but The Howard is a lot more custom and is finished much nicer...seems to be that way with most of the boats here. Congrats again!!!

Here's a pic of my Force 21...

Love the colors. That setup is just about perfect.

What type of waterways to you use? Are there many freshwater lakes near you or is it all ocean?

That's a beautiful boat! Love the gel color scheme, blue and white were made for boats. I'm surprised there aren't more custom boat manufactures in down under. Australia got the coolest, high performance stuff made by GM and Ford for decades as the US got lame emissions strangled crap. Never been there but have heard and seen on line that Aussies love big HP and stuff that goes fast. I'm surprised you haven't found the go fast on the water crowd.

Just a thought, it would probably be cheaper to send molds over than a boat and trailer? Seems like an un tapped market for custom built SO Cal style hot boats.

If there's a true market for it... They'll come

If a American manufacturer would be willing to send a mould and team up up with an Australian boat firm , they could be a strong market without the stress and costs of importing .Oz and the Us have a no import tax agreement but you still to pay our 10% GST on the whole purchase + freight and insurance.
What a great idea!! Our waterways in Sydney are some of the best in the country.We have either the harbour with the Opera house Icon , we have the hawksberry river where the almighty force boats do their the bridge bridge waterski race average 120 MPH .This river is connected to pittwater where it turns into salt water .Huge waterways with a great marine life and with the occasional huge swell and choppy waters to test your boat limits .I can't believe there is a Force boat on an American website ,very nice how awesome are them dragonfly trailers I would love one .

Absolutely love the trailer...they look unreal I wish someone would build one that looks similar up here!

Love the Hawkesbury. I would be awesome to see your Bullet on there or down in Echuca...it would be a monster compared to most of the boats down there!

Lynch, didn't Prime build a trailer like the one under your Force?? I remember seeing pictures of it before it was finished. I would love to see how that trailer turned out.

Henry

Backlash said:

Lynch, didn't Prime build a trailer like the one under your Force?? I remember seeing pictures of it before it was finished. I would love to see how that trailer turned out.

Henry

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Honestly I'm no sure...would love to see it as well!

River Lynchmob said:

Honestly I'm no sure...would love to see it as well!

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Yes they did. They did it for a 21 Schiada if memory serves.

RD

That is a nice looking Bullet! Rode in one again this weekend and sat up front in the open bow this time. We hit just above 70 with a boat full. Was smoothest ride I have been on while sitting in a open bow.



Anyone have a 25' with big power in it? Someone needs to buy Tony's and Whipple it.

I seem to remember one with a 1000hp quad-rotor Whipple that went 111mph smooth as silk.

92562 said:

I seem to remember one with a 1000hp quad-rotor Whipple that went 111mph smooth as silk.

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That is flyin!!!

92562 said:

I seem to remember one with a 1000hp quad-rotor Whipple that went 111mph smooth as silk.

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that seems to be the problem I have insuring my 28 bullet if you look at Howard's site the 28 Bullet shown is the orange one with big letters 122 mph.
cool boat in Australia man that would be fun to rip around down under

B-RAD77 said:

that seems to be the problem I have insuring my 28 bullet if you look at Howard's site the 28 Bullet shown is the orange one with big letters 122 mph.
cool boat in Australia man that would be fun to rip around down under

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I got to ride in the orange 28 in 2005 when Hot Boat was testing it. If I hadn't seen the GPS I wouldn't have believed how fast we were going. It was amazingly smooth!

92562 said:

I got to ride in the orange 28 in 2005 when Hot Boat was testing it. If I hadn't seen the GPS I wouldn't have believed how fast we were going. It was amazingly smooth!

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that's the problem, these insurance nerds can't figure out that I don't have the 1200 hp motor and mine won't go that fast. I didn't mean to hijack this tread. I bet the 565 is a great motor in this 25 in Australia

Could be worse , back home in NSW OZ having an imported boat that a that exceeds 70mph you can forget insurance unless you can pull a few strings and your cashed up.
28 ft with over 1000hp not a good idea if you really want insurance.
Our waterways can be on the rough side so the 28 ft Bullet would have been a bit smoother .The only thing that I miss is that there is no windscreen like the 36 ft. What a shame!! We are so far behind America it's embarrassing .I would love to see similar boats like mine incl cats etc but there s nothing down here like that and never seen one in real life so will have to travel back to the states.

I got my 28 Bullet about the same time as you ordered your 25. I remember Gene talking about putting a 565 in a boat that was going Down under. I haven't taken mine out yet this season still kind of cool in Utah. but I like my 565 so far I'm still playing the prop game.

River Lynchmob said:

Absolutely love the trailer...they look unreal I wish someone would build one that looks similar up here!

Love the Hawkesbury. I would be awesome to see your Bullet on there or down in Echuca...it would be a monster compared to most of the boats down there!

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We build this style trailer, just finish a galvanized one last month and just started a new one that will be painted. I have orders for two more for some ski racers, let me know if your interested