My challenge was to John R., who by his post intimates (if not actually comes right out and says) that boat tests (and by direct inference MY boat tests) are bogus, and that if (his words) "you want the REAL info, talk to the owners of the test boats". As if somehow, the owner of the boat, no matter who it is, where the boat is now, what condition it's in, and how it's rigged, can now provide the REAL truth to disprove those awful BS test results!
It's America, and free speech gives him the right to publicly challenge my tests. Fair enough...but my right to free speech also gives me the opportunity to call BS, and call him out.
John R, you seem to have it on authority that my SS2000/115 test is bogus, and therefore the results are bogus, because "you know someone who knows someone who bought the EXACT BOAT that we tested, weighed it, and found it to be 701 lbs, vs. the 800 lbs. listed in the story.
There are an infinite number of "what ifs" that poke large holes in your iron-clad theory that since you know the boat and it's owner, and it weighed 701 in his experience, then we published bad information. Is it the same boat? Do you know for sure? How do you know? Assuming it is (a big assumption), how was it weighed when we tested it vs. when he weighed it? With what equipment? What scale? Was his scale checked for accuracy before he weighed it? By who? What was in the boat when he weighed it vs. when we tested and weighed it?
Normally I just dismiss the kind of crap that keyboard cowboys who endlessly spout off about what "they know to be true" write. You weren't there, you didn't witness the test, you really-in all reality-have no idea what you're spewing about. I feel very comfortable in the knowledge that I WAS there, I conducted the test, I recorded the numbers, and I wrote the story. The numbers are real. If you don't believe them, don't believe them. But if you're going to spew verbal vomit about what you think you know, be prepared to back it with facts that are easily provable.
I guess the good in all this is that 10 years later, these stories are still being discussed. I'm glad for that. The boat we tested did run 76 mph (and then 81+ mph with a taller prop and noseconed gearcase) with a stock Ficht 115 (checked, by the way). I drove it and I recorded the results.
John
