1848 Phowler Extreme V (V-bow not V hull)

The V extends I would say foot and half back past the rake then is flat on back to the transom
(exact measurement is 18' 8")

Flat Black paint (as of now)

Beam in rear is roughly 71"
Beam at front before deck starts its angle is roughly 65"
20" Sides with 21" Transom
Ext. Deck - Total Deck space from point of bow to edge is roughly 65"
Shark eye running lights

Love the 3" gunnels they put on these boats for extra support and great to add courtesy lights underneath.

I added 3 courtesy lights under the gunnel on each side and 2 round courtesy lights in the deck facing the rear and in the transom facing the front...makes perfect amount of light when dark outside

Boat was already built with 2 seat pods in rear full of foam along with the deck full of foam.
Had them cut out the seat pods and put two half boxes in rear with the little tray in each and took foam out of the front deck and put hatch in.

Floor is 45.5" wide with about 2" gutter space on each side.

5 Cross braces throughout the hull but still make it to where the entire floor is completely flush (no box frame like PD)

53" Gun box that sits vertical (lengthwise of the hull) that is moveable right, left and center. Wanted to be able to move it 6 ways like PD but because they dont use the box system for bracing I would have had to have a 48" box made then it would be pain to get guns in and out. Most of the time I keep the box in the center anyways so worked out fine for me.

2 Oversize drain plugs in each corner along with Phowler standard middle drain plug.

Spud Pole kit in the rear and Phowler dog step on right rear (absolutely love that thing)

Black Hydroturf and its not any hotter than the other colors


Motor:

PD 36 Long Shaft FPR Hydraulic T&T

Painted it myself flat black (as of now)

Stage 1 kit from EVT

was going to have them put in the better roller rockers, puch arms, and valve springs but wasnt going to work out do to some other problems some folks had been having so figure once case gasket starts leaking i'll add in little more


Boat Performance:

I originally had the two runners they put on the bottom of their boats but cut them off because when you get in really shallow water or get stuck/landlocked its a pain to try to turn the boat around. It will now slide in shallows but is tapered chine so will still turn great.

When running large waves it is alot smoother ride. When running waves going with the wind it breaks the waves perfect and never even get wet

BUT when you run large waves going into the wind you get soaked


Crews and i hunted together and on the way to the hunting spot the waves were propbably 2-3 footers and we were going with the wind and waves and the boat broke every wave great and never got wet

On the way back we were running waves like the ocean 4-5 footers (NO B.S.) and we were gettin soaked but I was never worried or scared and he said he wasnt either but coulda been lying lol


On the first run when at EVT the nose wanted to porpois (sp?) a little bit sometimes but wasnt horrible...second time I ran at caddo and it never bounced at all


Motor Performance:

First of all want to say I would hate to see what this boat will run with a stock 36 not doubting any of PWs reviews with stock motors but I was actually a little dissapointed on the first run when we took it out at EVT with the mods in place I knew the boat was heavier then my PD boat but didnt know how much

First Run with only 30 minutes on the motor just runnin in shop.

All deep water me and silkpower with very limited cargo to virtually none besides 6 gals up front and battery in rear. STOCK PROP - Top speed with both of us was 28 somethin then he ran it by himself and was able to almost hit 30...it really loved the famed 27.7 mph on that run. Put bout 30 minutes of on water run time making it 1 hour on the motor.

Robert (silkpower) said first runs are always the worst and was turnin too many rpms messin with trim(4300+) and needed to get some synthetic oil in it. Took it back to shop checked the roller rockers on tightness and gap and tweaked it ever so slightly and put some Valvoline Synpower oil in it and I went on my way.


Second Run -

Caddo lake - STOCK PROP - cargo = Me and g/f in rear and 8 gals of gas in front had it trimmed to where it turned bout 4250 rpms and was runnin better - never went below 28 mph and loved 29...hit 30 once goin down the river. Never fell of going into the wind and on the big lake had some pretty good winds just not enough to make it wavy on the water.

After that had 2 hours on the motor and figure it'll loosen up and get better over some time.

Thanks to PW and Susan at Illowa for everything they did and dealing with me and my stuff from so far away. Thanks to Tim (cuttdown) and Billy for the easy pick up and hospitality for the little time I was there.

And of course thanks EVT for the services and great help for everything!


Since getting the boat and running it I now have 33 hours on the motor and have had few problems here and there but have overcome those for the most part except for speeds

All deep Water - I've tried stock props and barely hit 30 bymyself, have tried hopkins 12x13 cleaver and never really saw over 28 bymyself, have tried gatorpoints hopkins 12x14 cleaver and pretty much the same as 12x13 cleaver, have tried a 12x14 (little more than 14 pitch) and couldnt even turn it over 3700 RPMs and now running a 12x13 Tulip and have seen the best OVERALL performance with it but still cant break 30 alone

I can run 27-28 all time alone or with another person with no gear
With dz fullbodies in slotted bag, 2-3 dz deeks, 2 layout blinds plus other gear and another person I can run 25-26 all the time in deep water and other day saw 28-29 in shallows

With 4 people and 2 dz deeks and regular gear guns and shells and such can run 23-24 sometimes 25 depending on weight and wind


Overall Im happy with the construction of the boat, think the rake design needs to be tweaked a little to push the spray out more and have no idea why I cant break 30 mph with this boat but guess I'll deal with it for now

Sorry this is long just letting folks know about this rig since there arent very many owners

Dude,,,,,,,,,,I don't want to be the first one to tell you this.


But that is one ugly forking boat.



I'm just saying,



Tell Bartlet I said Hi

nice review sounds like a good boat post some pics

I was hitting 24 something 2 weeks ago, with 3 doz fullbodys, 3 doz floaters, doz divers, 4 peoples crap and 4 people.

I would be kinda disappointed with that loaded speed willet.... I wonder what it could be???

One thing I got a huge dent in the middle right at the transom the 3rd time out because since they put a drain plug in the middle of the transom they can't extend the middle long brace all the way back so there is a nice big dent right there

Also when I cut the runners off the bottom and was grinding the welds every where there was a weld and I was grinding the metal got hot and as I was grinding I was pushing against the bottom so now everywhere there was a weld now has a small hook

Plus the weight of the hull and guess just the front design doesn't let it go very fast but when gotta replace case gasket gonna have evt put more into the motor

I have a few hooks in my hull i dunno if it has effected performance though... Since i ran it through some nasty crap (stumps and sand) i have been thinking it is just my prop... Makes me wonder now.

well ill be honest if I knew what the problem was it would be fixed b/c its the slowest 1848 boat with a stage 1 that I know of

Only OTHER thing I can even think of is the hull wasnt broke right and is warped or bowed in the bottom but I have no idea I have tried every prop THAT I KNOW OF and hasnt shown muh difference either way other then rpms

I can spend money left and right tryin to figure it out and will still probably never know why it wont run better then it does other then puttin more into the motor

Willett----you should be happy with those loaded speeds. I would be. Man, you gave up the Ferrari like ride of the last boat for the Suburban like comfort and safety of the v-bow, what did you expect? That v-bow is a helluva big boat just like my Extreme 1848 with 25" sides. There is probably about the same amount of aluminum in each of our boats. If I did a stage 1 kit and got those loaded 4 man speeds I would be extremely happy.

I have run a ton of stumps, dry ground, lay down logs and such.

They are more "spread out" if you will.

So the uhmv conforms to the dents in the hull still creating hooks. Guess its not the chit after all.

Whenever i put the polymer down, all of the epoxy wasnt even.... So in other words there were high and low spots. I dont look at the underside of my boat on a regular basis so im not sure if it was the same or it had any hooks.

I will be pulling the floor when i put braces across the top of the ribs. So i will be able to tell then.

I was leaning towards the stuff myself if/when I build a new one. I got a few in my 3/16 bottom but it has held up prett good.

I like it alot, it really holds up with the rocks in some of the rivers i ended up in.... Its really kind of hard to avoid hooks... Especially in big waves when those rollers "hide" stumps

And willett, do you really think a 1/16" or 1/8" of the epoxy being uneven is really gunna make that much of a speed difference??? Im not doubting you, but i kind of find it hard to believe.

like i said Im usually pretty laid back about jokes or as you wanna say "questions" but not about my work or business

and stop bashing the man

OK, I kept reading. You put the poly... on. Is it still hooked right there ?

Mudd- willett doesnt have the poly, i do

I dont have poly on there...yet

As far as the hook right in front of the transom its pretty significant and got it the first day of hunting season which was like the 3rd time in the water

I'm sure its causing some of the drag just dunno how much but ever since it got there I have only hit 29 a few times with ANY prop and little to no load but will get a pic of it tomorrow

Not only drag but the water comming off the hull at your prop is arcing downward.

I had a 60 Merc on a 1648. With the stock prop I maxed 28 MPH.

I had the same problem and after correcting it I picked up 7 mph . Before that I had trouble running any pos. trim and prop blew out any higher the pos trim past 0

Mudd is saying the Truff

If you really have a hook that big not only is it messing up your water behind the boat but it is forcing the front of the boat down causing drag.

Willet, Remember when we ran on caddo I while back? Remember us talking about how my boat was riding very low in the bow? Well the hooks right before my transom caused that along with the trim tab not adjusted properly. After I adjusted the trim tab I got better performance but still nothing like it should have been. I got to looking one day and noticed hooks all in front of the transom. I beat the hooks out and it was like a totally different boat on the performance end.

Will do.....I've delt with it for 3 months and now its last weekend of season so gonna work on it after this weekend sometime

Lemme rephrase..... Slide over dry ground...

Mitchsdske

Don't make me

i was gonna pipe up and say something bout all this but when I looked at the avatar Sand Man put up , my train of thought derailed

28-30 mph are pretty good speeds with a v hull, my 17' runs a little faster, every boat is different. I do believe taking the runners off is part of the issue, out boats with the runners run higher in the water from our experience, you might have lost a mile or so with removing them.

PW

Cutting the runners off was a necessity! After gettin stuck on the sand bar and not bein able to spin the boat around at all made me decide that

Also couldnt stop in shallow stuff and turn the boat around either because of the runners...they are awesome for turning just didnt work for me because everything round here 90% sand

Plus for some reason the rear of this boat is heavier then any other boat I know of because spots where the @$$ drags when just walking this boat other tapered chine boats would still be floating when walkin the boat

Fix the hook, most notably the one in front of the motor. The water NEEDS a smooth transition to the prop.

DO IT NOW!

How did your hook get broken? I've got one on the bottom of my boat but I use it to winch my boat on the trailer. Can't imagine how you broke your hook. I'd take it back to the dealer & have him weld another one on there.