It's nice to see a good topic like this...

I'll throw a wrench into the works here...since the transom is the last part of the hull to leave the water when taking flight, wouldn't the tabs have a tendency to push the attitude of the bow down since they are lowered a bit? Or does the fact that the drive is basically neutral and the tabs aren't down that far negate any tendency to drive the bow down?

What you don't want to have happen is for the stern to land first. This is the first step in creating a stuff situation. AND YOU DON'T WANT TO STUFF IT!!!!!!!!!!

Plus it unloads the drive so you are not at a bad driveshaft angle. The engine does not labor as much.

Ron P...
What part do you want to land or re-enter the water with?
I'm just trying to picture all of this.
But haven't I seen in magazines statements about step bottoms of in racing or high speed turns to just tuck the drives alittle and then raise them as you come out of the turn? The problem has been that steps are loose and thats the reason for tucking in a turn.
??????

I always though "stuffing" was caused from something like too much tab, and when you launch the stern of the boat is abnormally forced down and not left for the motion to carry it upward off the wave, bringing the bow down and the bow hitting first into the rise of the next wave.

Hitting the stern first, causing the bow to slam down on the water, well, I'd call that just one hard ass landing:) But there is probably a name.

BUt I agree, you don't want the stern or the bow to hit "first", you want the middle center point of gravity of the boat to hit first for a decent landing. Or in effect, the boat to land level, or all at the same time.

And what are you guys doing launching boats? Why don't you slow down and not get any air? (that's what my wife asks anyway...) LOL!

Mark

I agree with 32 Fever, you should land on the center of gravity. I would also watch tucking in the drives too much in a turn on a step boat. The ass is loose enough and the pivot point is already very far foward so you don't want to give the bow any more bite than it has. I'd say nuetral to slightly up in a turn.

A stuff happens when you fly off one wave top, and then with the bow raised in the air, you land stern first on the top of the next wave. This now trips the transom of the boat higher than the bow and it goes into the third wave nose first. Watching those freeze frame slow motion shots will show ya how it's done.

If the boat was flying level the ass hitting first wouldn't make much of a difference. It would just skip off the wave and onto the next.

The other danger is since the bow is being slammed down at a greater than normal speed, the passengers feel the boat falling faster than they are, so when it finally hits, thier feet are off the ground.

Finally, if you run a stepped hull I would strongly suggest you follow T2Xs advice and spin your props outward. This will aid in keeping things in order when going around a turn.

See the greatest moments in V bottom history thread for this topic about prop rotation theory.

Understand I'm speaking about running at race speeds. It's hard to make a boat fly level at 45mph. You need to be moving better than that for level flight.

TTT

Any more thoughts?

Just a thought?!
This could be related to the whole idea of the longer the boat the smoother the ride. If you are riding a rocking horse it will beat the (#%)%( out of you. If you are LONG ENOUGH it will be nice and smoooooth.
Nose level, drives level, tabs level,(creating the longer waterline) skimming the tops of the waves, you will be faster.
Did I get it right?

Ron,
You mentioned it is hard to fly level at 45mph. What speed do you need to be at before that starts to happen?

Rick

Opie bigger is better. It helps the span the waves. A 40' footer could have the bow on one wave and the stern on another. In these same seas a 24' boat would be going up and down, unless its going fast enough to fly from wave top to wave top.

RV, I'd say this happens around 55 or 60 for most hulls. The faster you go the smoother it gets. This also means that you know how to read the water and throttle the boat so you don't get yourself into trouble.