I've been thinking about buying an old Gambler and took my test ride today. The boat's a 1986 GT-183 with a 93 model Johnson Faststrike 175 on a manual jackplate. Not sure what size the prop is. I only know it's a 4 blade SS. I've never been in a Gambler before. I expected it to be fun and fast but it far exceeded my expectations. We tested it on the Great Miami River near Fairfield OH. Unfortunately that stretch of deep water isn't very long. Less than a mile before you have to turn around and go back the other way. I wasn't able to get it WOT and trimmed all the way up and still it passed 70 mph on the speedo. We didn't have a GPS with us but the speedo is a brand new Faria electronic. Don't know how accurate it is but all I do know is we were flying and I still had some throttle left over. I ran out of water way before I ran out of boat. The thing literally jumped on plane. Didn't time the hole shot but it wasn't more than a few seconds.
For the past 10 yrs I've been running a 2000 Xpress X70 with a 150 Optimax. It's pretty fast for a tin boat (mid 60s at WOT). I thought I knew what a fast boat felt like but boy was I wrong. That Gambler is freaky fast and fun as hell to drive. I'm sold. I can't wait to get it out on big water where I can stretch it out. It's going to take me a while to learn all its tricks but I'll bet it'll run upper 70s at least. One of the mechanics was watching us from shore and he wanted to drive it before we put it back on the trailer. We stood on the shore and watched him make a couple of passes. He said he hit 75 with it and I believe him. That joker was flying down the river and you could tell that motor had a ways to go before it pegged out.
Man, oh man, what a hot rod! Now I know why you guys love these boats so much.
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Cool boat for sure.
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