it takes a lot to make that hull go over.Ive Been in a 31 AO on its side and didnt go over,Driver was doing stupid stuff.

its all well

The only time I have been boat injured happened when I stuffed mt V bottom and was tossed up and over into the cabin door while wearing a full race outfit. Broke my shoulder when I landed upside down in the hole. Was testing my boat in rough water Lake Pochatrain for Halter 200 back in 82. Wish I had a seat belt on then! Stupid but I was young and bulletproof and wanted to race so bad I ignored common since and went out anyway. Now I never take chances and run half throttle unless someone try to Pass me!

I thought 42 Fountain Poker Run comes with 5-point harness.

Open cockpit. Not sure I'd be wearing them.

A 31AO is just a 30 Chris Cat. More than a few have stuffed and rolled. You can F- up in just about anything... if you try hard enough.

If your running your boat so hard you can't stay in the seat your just running foolishly. Its different in a race with safety crews and a contained area. As far as regaining control what have you hit during those 100's of feet you covered with your boat out of control?
Jim

No

I heard that there was no record of the chris cat delaminating or coming apart or doing anything to kill the crew. I also heard its one of the best designs ever for handling and saftey. Which insidents that killed someone do you know about? I never heard of one rolling one- have you? I think its possible to stuff any boat under 500 feet! I am interested cause you are right about the awesome being copy cat of chris cat!

I don't know of any Chris cats coming apart or any fatalities. I have heard of several that have gotten out of shape and tossed the occupants and I stuffed one pretty hard myself. I was going too fast in bigger water than I should have been in and went straight into the face of a big swell.

You are correct that the Chris is very stable boat and they're no lightweights. I don't know that much about the AO but I'm positive they're lighter and not as robust. They're very heavily built and structural failures on any Chris product are rare. Physics is physics though and you can roll anything if you try hard enough.

This is an interesting subject.
1) Fountain has now factory installed a seat/shoulder harness system in their 42 poker run boats with sit down bolster seats.

Any comments on why one of the biggest and most knowledgeable performance boat builders has elected to install such a restraint device in this boat?
IMHO: Reggie may need a new hair piece, but the guy does know racing V hulls and building performance V hull boats. If he (and trust me on this one) does not believe in a product, it is NOT going to be on one of his boats. His, yes his because his name is on the side of the boat.

2) Tiger performance sells poker run seat belts that are attached using velcro.
http://www.tigerperformance.com/catalog.asp?pageno=7

Again, IMHO these would help in keeping a person in the seat if they were to encounter a big wake, etc. But, if a subjected to enough force, the velco would release and the person would exit the boat. Same goes for the quick release if the person wants to exit the seat in an emergency. I know, there are some that will say "what if the person is unconious". I cannot answer that but to say, I have been tossed out at 65 mph. It was no fun (thanks for the lanyard for working) and I would rather take my chances while being in the boat.