Jun 20

Jun 20 A New 22 Progression: Race Ready With a Mercury Racing 300X

Conor Queenan got into performance boating with a Checkmate Pulsare 2000 powered by a Mercury 200 EFI and a short time later he found an older 22 Progression which he fell in love with. The Progression is a step up in build quality and performance, known for it’s rough water ability and impressive speeds, the smallest hull in the Progression lineup might be its most well known. After running the 22 for a season and racing it, Conor was hooked and wanted a new one after realizing the old one needed some repairs. So he contacted Kevin at Progression to order one in January 2025, and had his new boat delivered this May 2025. Let’s take a look at his build of this classic 22 Progression.

The venerable hull from Long Island NY and incorporates a unique variable deadrise hull, a 24 degree to the first strake and then 23 degree, and 22 degree after the second strake, and the sleek 22 features a 7” pad, Progression uses composite panels for structure; the stringers, transom, bulkheads and floor. While the hull is cored with Balsa and vacuum bagged throughout. Hull, deck and tank unrigged weigh about 1,000 lbs.

A combination of composite panels for the structure, and balsa core make for a strong and light weight hull. Approximately 1,000 lbs for the hull and deck with a tank.

Conor went with classic Progression graphics, a white boat with 3 panels in red and black, they can do any 3 colors in gel, but many Progressions feature the panel graphics For racing he rigged it with center mounted controls and lift rings. The beautiful bolstered seats are made in-house at Progression. On top of that, he added a race hatch to cover the rear passenger area, which is removable for pleasure use.

For power, Conor wanted to run fast and bring back a little old school power to the hull; so he decided to run a Mercury Racing 300X, that was rebuilt by Richie Sandog in Long Island. Conor’s friend Joey Riley and his father installed and setup the engine. With a 7” Stainless Marine bracket and Stainless Marine Gorilla 4” plate, the 11” of setback feels perfect to Conor. He mentioned “The new boat feels like a completely different boat than the old one.” He hasn’t given it a full run setup yet, but it should be in the 95 MPH range.

Featuring a Stainless Marine 7” mini bracket and a 4” Gorilla jack plate also from Stainless Marine, the 300X has side steering and a 20” offshore midsection.

Personally, I love the red and black stripes, very classic and fitting on the Progression. Plus, the center controls are cool. And I really like the 300X for power. The Mercury Racing 300X was the model just before the XS optimax came out, with a 3.0L block, they made around 325 HP at the prop and over 300 lb ft/tq with the engine able to rev up to 7000 RPM. On top of the big numbers the 300X just sounds amazing. Conor has an offshore setup with a side steer ram. These boats were born on Long Island, built for the rough water of the sound, and meant to run hard. You’ll catch Conor running in that area if you can catch him.