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I have the 19P Rev4 on the 225 hp V8 Pro XS Top speed I have had is 92 kph (about 57 mph) on the gps. Not fully wound out so there are probably a few more kph there if I was game to try. Not sure of max RPM but definitely not up near the limit. Probably around 5600. She was going OK until I hit some tiny ripples side on which started her chine walking. I trimmed in and dropped the speed to get it back under control... I think the 17P Rev4 sounds good. Mine sits very steadily at around 80 kph without any hint of chine walking but I think it is inevitable on a boat with 21 degree dead rise at the transom at speeds above 85 kph. People that know what they are doing (i.e. not me) can counter the chine walking by steering against it in a rhythm. I mostly run around between 40 and 60 kph conditions permitting which is plenty fast enough for me.

There is a Mercury dealer just over the bridge in Clontarf (on Duffield Rd) I think. A mate of mine goes there - I think he is generally happy with them...

I took the boat to Tim for service as he has a Mercury approved mechanic there. If I were getting something done to the engine I would definitely take it to a Mercury dealer. There are no Stejcraft dealers in QLD anymore - Tim is doing it from the factory. I know the place I bought it from would keep looking after me but they are 70 kms away and as they aren't Stejcraft anymore I am not sure there is any real advantage taking it to them. Also - when I told them what I wanted to do with the Minn Kota - they basically told me it couldn't be done... I bought my last boat from Northside and they did lots of mods for it while I had it. I also have a mate that works there. I bought the Minn Kota through them too. They have a large workshop and do lots of custom jobs for all kinds of boats. They have lots of contacts (like with Ark Marine etc.) that they can outsource too if needed. Plus - they are just around the corner from me...

The stainless work was done by Ark Marine at Geebung. Very happy with the job they did both with the Minn Kota mount and the rails. The front rails are not perfectly symmetrical but only a real pedantic person (e.g. me) would notice...it is great having the rails - I clamp rod holders to them and they also make the boat easier to handle around the ramp etc. People sitting up front when underway can rest their arm on the gunwale and hold the rail at the same time which makes the ride more comfortable for them.

Yeah that's the plan. Haven't had the deck pieces made yet...trying to save some more coin after the Minn Kota install and I have yet to install the 9 inch sounder which has been sitting in the cupboard for the last few months . The pieces will be interchangeable so on a "boating" outing I'd put the seats in and on a "fishing" outing I'd put the casting deck in instead. Slightly longer term plan will be to get some cushions custom made that can sit over the casting deck (more saving needed) - then it will be able to stay in permanantly. In the short term I have some high density waterproof foam that I can make some temporary cushions from (this stuff can be cut to size with a foam saw at Clark Rubber for a small fee). The foam is actually pretty expensive too but I have some left over from a previous project...

Hi Willi, I have made an estimate for you by looking at some photos of mine in the water and measuring from where the waterline is to the bottom of the hull (at the rear). There was one person on board and I would have had at least 150 L fuel on board but otherwise not heavily loaded (maybe 100 kg of gear). From the waterline to the bottom of the hull was 450 mm (approx). So you are going to need about 500 mm of water to float the boat. Greg's point about the transducer is a good one. If you anchor off the opposite the transducer for the last of the run out the boat should then sit leaning on the side opposite the transducer. I have never actually done this myself so follow my advice e with caution Hope that helps. S PS On many occasions I have anchored up with the boat floating and the ladder touches the sand - that gives a visual perspective of the water needed.

The footwell on the port side is actually pretty easy to remove. Take the screws out and pull it out. Look for where the footwell might be making contact with the cut-out in the console...you can grind the cut-out back with a Dremel if needed so it no longer makes contact with the footwell.

Haha. OK - I'll try again. The noise on the driver's side is probably due to rubbing of fibreglass. The most likely way this would happen is if the moulded footrest is rubbing against the fibreglass surrounds. If you look at the face of the footwell you will see 6 or so screws holding it in place. Check that they are tight. Then go to the bow section and open up the seat hatch on the drivers side. You should be looking at the back of the gauges and sounder etc. Look down and you should also be able to see the footwell protruding in to this space. There is a large hole cut out of the console and the moulded footrest is inserted into that hole and screwed in place. The footwell is possibly rubbing somewhere around the outside so if you press the fibreglass around the outside you might find where it is rubbing against the footwell. Does that make sense?

Have had the boat back for a couple of weeks. Tim said he found a spot where the footwell was rubbing and he fixed it. He took it for a test drive and said all good but the water was smooth that day. I haven't had that boat out since to confirm (sad - I know)... Almost certain to be something to do with the footwell in your case too. Open the seat back in front of the console and press the fibreglass surrounding the footwell insert with say the handle end of a hammer or similar and see if you get any rubbing noises. Let me know what you find. You may also be able to see if the footwell rubs anywhere. I improved mine by removing the footwell and grinding back the surrounds a bit but must have missed one part hence I still had a noise. It used to be much worse though...

Hi Woosha, As Greg says no one here has had both so a bit hard to say. Worth keeping I'm mind that neither are ski boats. They both have a 20+ degree deadrise at the transom which means they both pull a decent wake. I would say both would be more suited to wakeboards than skis especially with a full boat and it sounds like you want get a few people in there. The BRX has a nice wrap-around lounge in the rear as well as the space up front (which is a bit smaller than the front space in the SS64). The lounge area in the BRX is nice but the space outside the back of the BRX is tiny though (just a couple of boarding platforms) so not much room to maneuver with skis etc although perhaps you do all that in the water. I do find the back platforms of the SS64 great for swimming off as there is space to get dry before coming in to the cockpit plus no standing on the rear seats is good too. I spoke to Tim at Stejcraft about the possibility of making a removable seat that slots in the walkway area to complete the wrap-around seating in the SS64 for days when you just want to cruise with lots of people on board. He said it would be easy - so you could always ask him about that. The SS64 with a wrap around rear seat would have significantly more room than the BRX because the boat is a bit wider and longer. If you go the SS with a Merc you would need to raise the height of the ski pole - I don't think the standard height is high enough with the high cowl of the Merc engines. Could be true for the BRX too with a Merc but most of the dealers put Suzukis on the Signatures and the cowl sits much lower on those. You would be happy either I think but of the two boats I think the BRX is probably better for what you want to do. No customizing necessary. Good resale value too. Lastly both have modern design and construction. Unlike the 620BR the BRX has a full molded top insert (not sure what it is called) as does the SS64. The signature hull is really good and their quality control is pretty good too. Most people that get them are happy with them... Hope that helps, S

Nah. Boat is still with Tim. I wanted a few bits and pieces done and he didn’t get to test drive last week because so busy preparing for sanctuary cove boat show. Tim taking for test drive on Tuesday. Im picking it up end of this week.

I dropped it off on Tuesday. Picking up later next week as I am getting a few other bits and pieces sorted too. I discussed it with him and left him the keys. He is going to take a test drive and look in to it... Will let you know if he finds it.

Casting deck templates made. Two pieces. The one on the left is the same shape as the left cushion. The one on the right extends over the front half of the walkway. I decided not to use the whole walkway because I want to leave the deck in permanently and my wife likes sitting up front and wants some walkway. I have traced the pieces and will get them cut from thermo-lite on a CNC router. Hen some sea-dek for grip/comfort. Have kept a copy of the templates in case anyone else wants to do a casting deck too...

Perfect. Thanks mate.

Ah that is boating! I get jealous looking at the smallest tinnie to the biggest boats - they all have their own special appeal. Let me know if you decide to go down the trolling motor path...I can put you in touch with the people that sorted mine. Overall I am happy - although it took a long time to get all the ducks lined up.

That's strange that it would be in more than one boat. Have you made any attempts to find it? I am putting mine in for engine service direct with Tim at Stejcraft. I'll ask him about it. It should be fixable - if we can find what is causing it...

Hi Greg, Any chance you could post a couple more photos of the sounder install without the glare etc. I have a 9 inch Elite FS and trying to work out if I should take the HDS7 out and put it in the dash or mounted on its gimbal on the dash (i.e. replace the cutout dash panel with a new one and mount the gimbal on to that)... It looks to me like if I try to put it in the dash it will overall the side panels that contain the gauges and since they are angled out the sounder would need to sit a little proud from the face of the dash. Is that how yours is?

Has anyone had any problems with a cracking/grinding noise that coincides with hitting chop? It is coming from around the drivers console footwell? It sounds like fiberglass on fiberglass. I have had a persistent problem with this. I have pulled the footwell out and trimmed the fiberglass surrounds and added some extra screws to hold the footwell in place better. These things seemed to have helped but I still get this annoying noise when hitting short sharp chop at around 45 degrees. Doesn't happen when I am running straight in to a head sea or following sea? I am wondering if there is another possible source for this noise. Any thoughts?

Hey Rusty, Any updates on your prop testing?

Hi All, I have finally got the Minn Kota Ulterra installed! As promised - here are some photos. Overall I am pretty happy with it. Installation includes two 120 amp hour deep cycle batteries - one in each console. A prosport dual bank charger, mounted inside the passenger console, a custom fabricated stainless steel mount and the 80 lb, 24V Minn Kota Ulterra (72 inch shaft) mounted on a quick release platform. Not much change from $10K but about half of that is for the electric motor. Could probably have saved $1.5K by not installing an onboard charger and using the manual deploy Terrova model. On the other hand could have spent another couple of thousand for a 24V Lithium Ion battery but opted to save the dollars and carry the extra weight (65 kg (Lead) rather than 20 kg (Lithium). It doesn't make the boat look better but doesn't ruin it either. Looking forward to putting it through it's paces. I also had some bow and stern rails installed - plan is to attach rod-holders to those using RAM mount tough claws. The rails look really good - the photos don't really do them justice. Cheers S

Hey Stej. Nice launcher!

Screen Shot 2021-03-28 at 7.40.00 pm.pdfScreen Shot 2021-03-28 at 7.39.31 pm.pdf These are the drawings I made for my casting deck. I am going to make the two pieces out of ply. If I like how it works I'll get some pieces of thermo-lite cut as well as some seadek...still waiting for the stainless fabricators to do my Minn Kota mount...getting pretty frustrated.

Fair enough. I tried heaps of props with my last boat and was never 100% happy. I like the 19P Rev4 on my current boat except that I can’t get it to wide open throttle - fastest so far 92 kph. Started chine walking when I hit some ripples. I think speeds above 85 with a 21 degree dead rise at the transom will always be susceptible to chine walk but it is interesting that the prop is making a big difference in this case. I reckon we should get all the SS64 boats out together one day and take a run in each other’s for comparison... Do you run at those speeds with the tower and Bimini up? Does the Bimini add to the lift?

Not happy with the Rev 4 19P?

Hey Rusty, What improvements are you looking for compared to the Rev 4 17P? J