Posted by 1531665anthony on 09/24/07 - 3:42 PM
#1
i picked up a 1974 19' outrage. the hull is clean with no bottom paint and the transom is in very good condition and there is no water in the foam that i can find. i took the deck plate off and the tank looks good. it is alum. the rubber mats on the top of the tank were wet but they dried out nice.
my question is: whats the story behind these banana boats? i live in southeast la. and plan on repowering with a 2stroke 150/175/200 and using the boat to catch specks, redfish, red snaper, tuna, and run around the gulf, bretnan sound, missississippi river delta. should i pull the trigger and start the project? how fast will it go with one of these motors.
Posted by Bob Kemmler JR on 09/25/07 - 4:45 PM
#2
A modern 150-200 hp outboard should put that boat in the high 40's to high 50's range. Its a perfect hull for the gulf IMO due to it's relatively shallow draft vs it's length. It won't ride like a caddy offshore, but it's safe enough to use it offshore. There are a lot of copies of this hull in the TX gulf region.
Posted by agargeros on 09/25/07 - 7:39 PM
#3
Bob is right. Many of these hulls are also converted to low profiles with a casting deck added to the bow. A number of these coversion projects have been featured here and on CW. The fact that these hulls might ride a bit rougher than deeper hulls such as the Outrage 18 is sometimes mentioned as a downside. But as the owner of a 1973 Outrage 19 (actually called the Whaler 19 at the time) Hull No. 0021, I want to point out one of the nicest attributes of these boats, especially the 1973's and 1974's which have the "portholes" cut out of the interior hull sides under the gunwales - that is STORAGE. These boats have almost as much storage space as a cuddy cabin. There is a full anchor locker on the upper bow deck, a double door bow locker underneath the anchor locker, another locker in the lower deck aft of the bow locker and plenty of storage in the "portholes" under the gunwales. Of course, you also have the two lockers in the console as well. As I look at some of the other designs which get more accolades, I can't quite make myself want to lose all of the storage space which my '73 Outrage 19 has to offer in a boat of that size.