TOPIC: 15 ' G-W Invader Tunnel

I collected 30'-40-s OMC Racing engines and ran them on kneel down boats. Knees and back told me to get some sit down boats.I purchased this boat last fall from a friend. It is not rigged yet. It will have a early 80's 200 HP Merc with hydraulic jack plate. The transom is reinforced. There will be a lot of playing with it before pushing it very hard. I have a lot to learn about this type of boat and power. Not sure if you all have seen the wiki for G-W Boats:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-W_Invader

will have a early 80's 200 HP Merc

Sounds scary to me! Welcome aboard Don, keep us posted would ya?.

Awesome boat. Should be fun and fast. Fiberglassics is a great site, but with that boat I'm wondering if you've ever been to screamandfly?

Awesome boat. Should be fun and fast. Fiberglassics is a great site, but with that boat I'm wondering if you've ever been to screamandfly?

Ive been wanting 1 of those for years... there is a guy on here with 1 that Im trying to raise funds to buy actually.

I dont know how much you know about those but, be careful with that 200. Back when they raced that hull they would only run a 150hp on them and they had a bad habit of stuffing in and breaking the first 4' of the nose off. They do glide over the waves though. Crawl up under the deck and look up and see if you have a racer or a "pleasure craft". The dealer tag should be glassed up there. If its marked "race" check to see if its been repaired at the nose, if it has, make sure it was done right.

Ive got 1 of the 14' v's that Im restoring.

ck this out

Easy on the knees, but be sure to put extra padding in the seats. and hang on. Oh ya, make sure you install a saftey lanyard.

Thanks for the info and advice. I have to attach a nosecone on the Merc l/u. The friend I bought it from says that without cone at about 80 mph the boat will make an abrupt veer to the right. He also ran Bridgeport Merc on it at over 100 mph. As i said I will take my time and learn how it handles. As soon as I can I will check out the dealer tag.

I do know about Scream and Fly. I also have an 1986 18' Stratos with 200 HP Merc and a 1987 20' Stratos with a 1987 Suzuki Special Edition. Both are Tunnel-Vees.

Thanks for the info and advice. I have to attach a nosecone on the Merc l/u. The friend I bought it from says that without cone at about 80 mph the boat will make an abrupt veer to the right. He also ran Bridgeport Merc on it at over 100 mph. As i said I will take my time and learn how it handles. As soon as I can I will check out the dealer tag.

I do know about Scream and Fly. I also have an 1986 18' Stratos with 200 HP Merc and a 1987 20' Stratos with a 1987 Suzuki Special Edition. Both are Tunnel-Vees.

The GW Invader tunnel was GWs respnse to the magnum missile. GW deepened the tunnels and raised the foredeck slightly as the missiles were too low and took on water over every side. waves would wash right up the sides and into the boats! The GWs were slightly shorter but sat higher in the water. These full tunnels were never meant to be powered by v6s and will easily blow over. All full tunnels will do it and it is not particularly predictable - you can't learn to drive them at high speeds - they simply kite. I strongly do not recommend anything beyond a v4. Believe me, I have a magnum missile, a molinari and speedliner/sea jay. They all do it and when it happens, you better hope you fall out before they hit the water upside down.
Next, be careful of stuffing the bow. It doesn't take much before you are hit in the chest with a wall of water. If you don't break a few ribs then you are lucky.
These boats are best left for beautiful paint and 60-70 mph speeds on the lake. They are attention getters. If you are planning high speed runs, get an stv or something with much less bow lift. STVs, Talons and others can be pushed to 100 without kiting. Go that route before you are tempted with this beautiful GW tunnel torpedo.