It's early on a Saturday morning and the temperature of the crisp morning air in the city of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, begins to climb. Birds chirp morning tunes to awaken a new day, and suddenly all of this peace and harmony is interrupted by the unmistakable sound of an ear-piercing blower motor reaching deep in its bottom end to emit sounds of raw horsepower and pure performance muscle.The object responsible for this smooth-yet-loud idling performance appears in the Havasu waters, and it is none other than Bob Stanfield's blown 21-foot Schiada V-drive River Cruiser. Bob smiles like a kid in a candy store behind the billet steering wheel, and with a nudge of the foot pedal and gentle rising of the boat's polished cavitation plate, the hull is out of the water and Bob is on his way to cheek-rippling and eye-watering speeds in the neighborhood of 95 mph.
Schiada Boats has a strong following in the performance marine industry, having been regarded by many as the custom boat to own, if you can get your hands on one, that is. Most Schiada owners either do not want to let go of their crafts or few can scrape together the greenbacks to hook one on to the back of their truck. The Schiada 21-foot V-drive River Cruiser is one of the most respected boats on the water today, even 30-plus years after its introduction.
A few years back, Bob Stanfield of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, began looking for a suitable 21-foot V-drive River Cruiser to fulfill his performance boating dreams. He put out the vibe to Lee Spindler, owner and operator of Schiada Boats, to help locate one. After a bit of searching, Lee found a 21-foot back East, less motor, that he felt would be perfect for Bob's performance boating goals.
After seeing pictures and talking numbers, Bob agreed to purchase the boat sight unseen and had it shipped to Schiada's factory in Torrance, California. While the boat was in transit, Bob received a call from his good friend and Havasu local, Keith Sayre, who told him of another boat for sale he had to look at. Having not yet purchased the other Schiada, Bob drove down to Huntington Beach, California, where the boat was located, and with one look, it was sold. After exchanging cash and speaking with the seller, Bob and Keith found out that this boat was in fact Lee Spindler's old race boat. Once Bob got the boat home, he placed a call to Schiada to let Lee know he would be unable to purchase the other boat and that he had acquired his old race boat. Lee's reply was, "That boat is awesome, but it eats up motors." Naturally, Bob asked why, and Lee replied, "It takes a set of chop so well, you will never want to lift your right foot off of the throttle".
Bob purchased the boat less the engine, but it still had the Menkins V-drive unit, three-speed Turbo 400 transmission, and full interior, along with full custom instrumentation and rigging. It sat on a customized triple-axle trailer with custom billet wheels, low-profile tires, and polished stainless steel fenders. Now that Bob's dream boat was sitting in his garage, he began thinking about what power to place between the stringers to get this sucker moving.