Liberty Boats 20' Sport Cruiser V-Drive

[78Southwind]

My neighbor at the river found this little gem. He said that he was trying to help the wife of the owner sell it. I talked to AZGEO and he knew the boat. It's basically a Southwind 20' hull that they made as a V-Drive. I have never seen one before except in a brochure.

 

[sintax]

pretty cool, i'd be curious to check it out. I wonder how she handles, some of those jet hulls that were rigged as v-drive were not always the most confidence inspiring at high speed.

it looks in darn good shape though, and could be great for the right person.

 

[78Southwind]

pretty cool, i'd be curious to check it out. I wonder how she handles, some of those jet hulls that were rigged as v-drive were not always the most confidence inspiring at high speed.

it looks in darn good shape though, and could be great for the right person.

Yeah, I thought it was cool too, that's why I decided to post it. It's in Bullhead. This one has a 540 in it but I have no clue on the speed.

 

[SBMech]

Looks sweet! I bet it runs hard, SW always performed well!

 

[78Southwind]

I have never seen the double fuel pump deal before has anyone run something like that?

 

[SBMech]

I have never seen the double fuel pump deal before has anyone run something like that?

Yea, common with older rigging and people who don't want to do much, when you switch the tanks it runs the other tanks pump. No valves to turn etc.

 

[78Southwind]

Looks sweet! I bet it runs hard, SW always performed well!

George said when he built his he had a insert

Yea, common with older rigging and people who don't want to do much, when you switch the tanks it runs the other tanks pump. No valves to turn etc.

That makes sense, probably cheaper than running an Imco valve too.

 

[Riverbottom]

Great boats, Jay did not cut corners on building boats. Most hardware from Jan at Lightening back then. I have a 20' Liberty tunnel jet. Like the outboard in the ad above.

 

[Flynryan]

My alternator bracket broke off last season so I took it to that place where that boat is. He took care of it in a couple of hours which was nice of him. Dont know about the rental place behind him though, I hear they are shysters

 

[the lynch mob]

I remember Powerboat magazine tested a v drive one in the 80’s. They rated it very high on workmanship , on performance not so well as I recall.

 

[78Southwind]

Great boats, Jay did not cut corners on building boats. Most hardware from Jan at Lightening back then. I have a 20' Liberty tunnel jet. Like the outboard in the ad above.

Just curious who built the boats (Jay)? I had heard that Jan from Lightening rigged the Sport Cruiser V-Drive. I had also heard that Jack McClure had a lot to do with the design of the Liberty Jet Boat.

 

[Riverbottom]

Just curious who built the boats (Jay)? I had heard that Jan from Lightening rigged the Sport Cruiser V-Drive. I had also heard that Jack McClure had a lot to do with the design of the Liberty Jet Boat.

Don't know the correct spelling but Jay DeJulio ? built Liberty Boats. Jan did most of the rigging, he rigged the tunnel that I have. Jack McClure always raced Liberty's back in the late 70's and 80's. He had one of the fastest Mod Jet and Comp Jet circle boats.

Greg Shoemaker at G.S. Marine could answer all your questions about Liberty Boats. He rigged several, and held many N.J.B.A. and N.D.B.A. records in a Liberty tunnel named the Gambler that was owned by John Spyksma.

 

[78Southwind]

Don't know the correct spelling but Jay DeJulio ? built Liberty Boats. Jan did most of the rigging, he rigged the tunnel that I have. Jack McClure always raced Liberty's back in the late 70's and 80's. He had one of the fastest Mod Jet and Comp Jet circle boats.

Greg Shoemaker at G.S. Marine could answer all your questions about Liberty Boats. He rigged several, and held many N.J.B.A. and N.D.B.A. records in a Liberty tunnel named the Gambler that was owned by John Spyksma.

I totally forgot about the first Gambler being a Liberty (read it on performanceboats years ago). I had never seen one other than pictures. How do you like your jet?

 

[Riverbottom]

I have a yellow and orange jet with an original Paul Paff / Gale Banks turbo motor. Boat was rigged by Jan at Lightening.

 

[guest hs]

The 4th boat I owned was a 78 Liberty 19 foot jet 1993 I bought it 468 tunnel ram motor and I did the jet the boat ran really hard! I had to sell it to pay for my wedding the following year.

 

[River Ric]

Update on the Liberty Sport Cruiser 20', 78SW presented last year. We had trouble with the rocker adjustments and ran out of time before the season was too busy to work on it...This year we tore down the top end to take a indepth look a what we had and put fresh head gaskets on seeing a good run this season... Up for a look if anyone is interested.

 

[Rotten deal]

Update on the Liberty Sport Cruiser 20', 78SW presented last year. We had trouble with the rocker adjustments and ran out of time before the season was too busy to work on it...This year we tore down the top end to take a indepth look a what we had and put fresh head gaskets on seeing a good run this season... Up for a look if anyone is interested. View attachment 1001945

Is it for sale?

 

[River Ric]

It is for sale... I ran it to 60mph at 4500 RPM on our trial run. The owner has told me he (her husband) was in about $35K...I don't know the value but am open to offers...I am trying to do a high desert friend a favor here at the river and in boat country!

 

[sintax]

Who am I to say what something’s worth, but it feels about 10k too steep, unless I’m missing something. Even in today’s market.

 

[River Ric]

Maybe... hoping for better with what it has taken to get it back up to speed...

 

[RiverDave]

It is for sale... I ran it to 60mph at 4500 RPM on our trial run. The owner has told me he (her husband) was in about $35K...I don't know the value but am open to offers...I am trying to do a high desert friend a favor here at the river and in boat country!

Stick it in the classifieds

 

[78Southwind]

I got some video of the runs from today.

 

[78Southwind]

 

[guest hs]

My son bought this little gem!

 

[sintax]

My son bought this little gem!

Nice! Sounds like she runs alright!

 

[78Southwind]

My son bought this little gem!

Nice, it looked like a real fun boat when I was filming it. Have you guys GPSed it yet?

Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk

 

[guest hs]

He picks it up next week