He forgot to mention that more than one of the 38's lost their transoms- We are fortunate to NOT have these problems with the 31's-

Maybe, and I was in a poker run in 07 out of Mac & Ray's on my buddy's Fountain and that nice new Orange Ocean Express delaminated and half the bottom fell off it. So what I am trying to say is every manufacturer has a story, heck it is the boat business what else would we offshore owners expect. LOL. I have seen this happen to Fountains, Cigarettes, and even Skaters out on the race course. What I think it comes down to overall is owner expectations and driver ability, not every boat is the same, or a good fit for each person. Same goes for cars, motorcycles, or just about anything, chicks included :-) . My '38 was the one tested in 2003 by Power Boat and I think they hit it pretty much on the head with their feedback, as the boat performs for me roughly the same. Granted every boat could be better, but for taking my boat directly from the factory and sticking on some Labbed Mercury race props that didn't work on our F2 36 Gladiator or F2 38 Formula and running the boat with no other set up changes, I am really pretty happy. It looks good docked, runs perfectly straight in the flat and crushes the big rough, and while I have not run into the same issues as other owners, I can see that some of these tendencies may exist with the boat. The boat really likes over 80 MPH and above better than it does under 50 MPH, however it still stays on plane as slow as 20 MPH. Maybe I set my expectations to low, but after years of working on the F2 race boat, I really didn’t feel the need to tinker around with Props, CG and X dimension of my pleasure boat. 101 MPH in a 9000 LBS boat with Stock Merc 600’s and a huge cabin was all I needed in 2002-03.

Duh......Winning - I just had to throw in some Charlie Sheen, while unrelated, it seems the in thing as I write this --- ha ha ha

Anyway next time one of you other Awesome owners sees me out on the water, flag me down and lets run'em kids......

Sincerely JKK

I LOVE MY AWESOME 31 !! I ain't knockin your 38 boat and I am glad you are happy with it! Knowledge is a wonderful thing when it involvs safe operation of a power boat at speed. There were some shady manufacturing and design issues on the 38 which need to be checked out and understood by the person operating it. The more you know, the safer you are in my book. Your boat may not have any issues. Mine ( a 31') did and I corrected them. For example my transom was scabed from two pieces of marine plywood instead of one solid piece and it was waterloged so it was weak and roten when I examined and replaced it. The builder saved a few bucks and who knew? At different times and different owners of Awesome, quality went in different directions and that is something we need to know about our boats. All boats can have defects, just make sure you know all you can about yours- it might save a lot of grief-

I also really liked my 31 awesome, One think you have to watch on the 31's also is the fwd bulkheads have no drains, so water does accumulate & has no where to drain, the engine compartment is like this also, ( the side bulkheads ) this can cause allot of problems if the water sits there for long periods of time. After heavy rains or rough water driving, I would siphon out these area's , they are relatively easy to get to on my 31

James, For Awesome owners (current or potential new), you offer some of the most sound advice given on the Awesome Forum. I will add:
1) Get a professional survey done
2) If you cannot perform the repair or alteration yourself, get a professional directly involved.

Sorry JKK, totally disagree. Sparky Olsen IS one of those professionals. His expertise is extensive. He knows the 31's and has both depth of knowledge and design.

If you have an issue with a 31 whether AO, Chris, Awesome or his own Vicous, he should be your first call.

Randy, You are correct. I will address these issues on my AWESOME PROJECT thread. Anyone with pop-up style cleats on the deck surface will have a water issue. Unless they use the cup product and plumb it outside.
http://www.eddiemarine.com/store/car...&p=12259&c=220

New Fountain looks great. Where did you post pics?

Yep!
 

When I first ran my boat, I did not understand why it seemed so heavy in the bow. When I had it rebuilt, the shop foreman called and informed me that there was over 3000 pounds of water traped in the forward compartments! That answered my questions about some handling and speed issues. Solution was to install bilge pumps on both sides in the wells which are covered with the round large plastic covers. This issue was a manufacturing factory defect caused when the gas tanks were installed and foamed in. They block off the drain tubes that were designed to carry the water back to the stern pumps. You also need to seal up all the cleats and fittings as well as the rub rails so as to keep water out. YEP!

Boater8987:

A friend og mine is the new owner of This boat and
needless to say he is not to happy with it. Do you know
If anyone ever worked on the balance? Seems to be way bow
Heavy prob. from adding 7 feet in the nose of a 31. I was
thinking empty the tanks and put 500 pounds of weight in each
sponsoon and just enough fuel for a test run. I have never
seen a cat that sits in the water like This they usualy have
Their noses high in the sky. If any of you can offer any
Advice to make it better it Will be much apreciated!

Cigaretteman: Look at post 14 on this thread. Sparky knows the 38 and can possilbly give some advice.

I believe Sparky stated that Jim originally copied the 33 Ocean Express hull design, and stretched it to the 38 dimension. The tunnel design that Jim had on the 38 was very shallow. Hence why the ride was so harsh.

[QUOTE=Cigaretteman;3469694]Boater8987:

A friend og mine is the new owner of This boat and
needless to say he is not to happy with it. Do you know
If anyone ever worked on the balance? Seems to be way bow
Heavy prob. from adding 7 feet in the nose of a 31. I was
thinking empty the tanks and put 500 pounds of weight in each
sponsoon and just enough fuel for a test run. I have never
seen a cat that sits in the water like This they usualy have
Their noses high in the sky. If any of you can offer any
Advice to make it better it Will be much apreciated![/QUOTE


check the sponsons for water maybe...