The Fastest Boat on the Shuswap
"It's basically a race boat that has been designed for pleasure use," says Rex Jardine, sales professional at Vector Powerboats in Kelowna.By Dean Unger
There's no speed limit on open water, and breaking 150 km/h is no stranger to the Vector line – and it won’t land you in hot water with the neighbours. With sleek lines and precision air-stream technology, Kelowna-based Vector Powerboats, is producing some of the fastest marine machines on the planet. The Vector V-280 Type R, for instance, is the equivalent of a dragster on water. Only these boats have a unique element of comfort distinctly lacking in its land-locked cousin.
"It's basically a race boat that has been designed for pleasure use," says Rex Jardine, sales professional at Vector Powerboats in Kelowna. These boats were designed via use of a military wind tunnel that aided in the refinement and approach,” Jardine says. “At speed, the V-280 R produces the same ground effect as a high velocity aircraft in order to improve stability on landing. The idea was to produce a high-speed water craft that maintained stability at those high speeds," he explained.
"Powered by a 625-horsepower Viper V10 engine, the four-passenger Vector is 28 feet in length, has a ten-foot beam, and weighs 3,400 pounds,” says Rex.
Approximately an hour and a half north of Vector ground zero, on the shores of Shuswap Lake, Boatworld owners, Garth and Cheryl Bradstock, have been eating, sleeping and living boats for more than a decade. They are bred-in-the-bone boat lovers, and their passion for boats and boating culminated in 2002, with the purchase of the dealership, located between Chase and Sorrento. When they took over the business, they were careful to maintain the tradition of excellent customer service that has long been an integral part of Boatworld’s protocols. The dealership is now one of the top Campion and Rinker Boat dealers in North America.
Offering summer moorage, winter storage and fuel sales, a full parts and service department, and retail outlet for marine hardware, accessories and water toys, the Bradstocks are always looking for ways to develop the business. A key part of their recent expansion was the decision to take on the Vector line of state-of-the-art high-performance boats. Once the Vector brand was in hand, the couple felt it was only right that they test the product themselves. They purchased a Vector V-280 R.
At around $300,000, this is a boat that in all likelihood will be purchased by boat lovers who may already own a boat or two – collectors of sorts, who might strive to stay on the leading edge of design and functionality.
Garth sold two of them last year, one to a collector who parked the boat in an 11-bay garage. Garth himself uses a Vector to burn through the commute from his home in Anglemont, on the north side of Shuswap Lake, to the shop in Sorrento: a trip that sometimes takes more than an hour by road, is reduced to 15 minutes or so by Vector.
The Bradstocks have been retailing the Vector line since 2006, “We have one in the water ourselves,” he explains. “Technically speaking, there are faster boats out there, but this is the fastest single-engine V-hull on the lake, hands down,”
All three Vector boats he's owned since they started carrying the line, have been V280's – different engines, but the same model. “If I didn’t own the dealership,” Garth says, “I would own a 42… without question. I choose not to, largely because it’s difficult to keep the 42 quiet enough to avoid disturbing the neighbours on a daily basis. The 42 is a monster boat: twin engines, super charged, and a sleek design. I would also be going through plenty of fuel, to say the least, Garth explains, reflecting on his daily commute from the north end of the lake. “With the V280, I can at least muffle it enough so it doesn't piss people off.”
Whether V280 or the Vector Model 42, these boats are bullet proof. Again, with the daily commute up and down the lake in mind, Garth says he would easily put ten years on a boat compared to normal users. But the boats have easily weathered the rigorous use.
One of Garth’s customers collects custom cars and displays them in a high-end showroom: his Vector is right there in the showroom looking right as rain upon a polished black and white tiled floor. “The vector is actually a registered work of art in the United States,” Garth explains. “Designer, Ocke Mannerfelt, has won numerous international awards for his designs – from cruise ships to pleasure-craft. When he designed the 28, his son was racing boats and immediately took a shine to it. Ocke was convinced he was going to wind up getting himself killed, so he built a somewhat tuned down model that still had enough guts to win races, but not too much power to lose at high speeds.”
This year, we've pulled out two seats in the back and designed a fit for three seats, resulting in a five-passenger model; we’ve thrown in some mood lighting up front, and created various colour schemes. We can now even tune the engine to achieve 1200 horse power if requested.
The raw data used to design these boats comes from rigorous wind-tunnel and hydrodynamic research. With these research results, they’ve managed to increase stability and safety. This means that Vector boats are able to maintain higher speeds in high intensity situations. The technology is applied to standard Vector boat designs, resulting in increased safety and higher fuel efficiency. It was precisely the valuable experience gained from the years of observation and first-hand experience at the racing circuit that have enabled Vector to develop very energy efficient pleasure crafts for serial production.
Check out the Vector 280R package:
VECTOR 280 R
ILMOR MV10-710 (710HP)
Equipment and Feature List:
LENGTH: 28.38'
BEAM: 10'
WEIGHT: 3,600 LBS
DRIVE: TEAGUE PLATINUM XR
HAND-LAID CONSTRUCTION (WOOD-FREE) WITH PENSKE FOAM-CORE TRANSOM AND STRINGERS
PATENTED WING & STEP-HULL DESIGN
SEAMLESS HULL-DECK JOINTS
SHIELDS POLYCARBONATE 0.5" WINDSHIELD, W/SUPERCOAT AND ANTI-FOGGING COATINGS
2+2 CUSTOM FABRICATED RACING SEATS
LIVORSI MONSTER GAUGES W/ CUSTOM BILLET
BACKLIT, ROCKER-STYLE DASH SWITCHES
FULL HYDRAULIC STEERING BY IMCO
CUSTOM HIGH PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS
UPHOLSTERED V-BERTH W/ MATTRESS & STORAGE
COCKPIT CARPET & INSULATED IN-FLOOR COOLER
316 STAINLESS STEEL HARDWARE THROUGHOUT
IMCO QUAD RAMS & SWITCHABLE EXHAUST
CMI TAILPIPES & MUFFLERS
POLISHED MANIFOLDS W/ SILVER UPPER
BILLET SWIM STEPS W/RETRACTING LADDER
EXTREME TRI-AXLE, COLOR MATCHED TRAILER