I have put 10 hours on the motor since March 13th of this year. The additional seat time since the upgrades has provided some valuable insight. I would like support some great information shared on this forum. Switching from a 3 to 4 blade prop made a world of difference on our Checkmate. I had the boat loaded up with 5 200lbs plus bodies and could control the porpoising no problem with the correct tab and drive positions at all speeds. Hydraulic steering does not get rid of WOT chine walking but sure makes the boat feel more stable at all speeds. Adding 90HP also makes the boat alot more to drive. I always liked our boat but now I really like it.

Damn, I have seen my boat once since I put it away last fall. What speeds you seeing since the upgrades.

72mph GPS last fall by myself with the current setup. This year I saw 65mph GPS with 4 200lbs plus bodies on the boat. The boat is very weight sensitive at WOT. Anyway it sounds great and is fast enough for me for now.

Rob,

Good to see that everything has worked out well. When I first upgraded the engine, I had a simliar problem with chine walking, at WOT. I tried to drive through it, but I chickened out. That may have been the wise thing to do. If I dropped the tabs a bit, the problem went away, but so did some speed. I thought about what I did that was different from the year before, as far as set up. The hull should handle the extra horsepower, so I wasnt looking there. The only things I changed was the drive and a switch to a Hydromotive P-5X. I originally had a standard Bravo 1 HP . I switched to an XR upper, Imco lower. The addition of the Imco lower, forced me to hang a speedo pitot off the transom. Due to my lack of experience with a pitot , I had set it deep in the water. That being the one of the changes, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I raised the tube up past the bottom of the transom. Went for a run, chine walk gone.. I lowered the pitot just enough to catch water, speedo works, no chine walk. Dont know if this is a common problem with those things, but it definetly was for me.
Be carfeul with the walking. Better to back off and come back tomorrow to figure it out.



Vinny

Vinny,
That is good advice. The chine walking only happens with light loads and genereally hard acceleration to WOT. If I have a few passengers in the boat it feels solid. I think with light loads the amount of wetted running surface at WOT w/ no tab input is very little. If the boat is not balanced (1 driver) and light (little fuel) it likes to chine walk. I know tab input would get rid of the problem but also shave off speed. I do not have enough power to comfortably shave off speed so I will keep safely enhancing my WOT driving skills until more power is acquired.

[QUOTE I will keep safely enhancing my WOT driving skills until more power is acquired.[/QUOTE]


Oh no...

Speed is the worst drug on the planet. Thankfully, it is the only one I have ever been addicted to.

[/QUOTE]Speed is the worst drug on the planet. Thankfully, it is the only one I have ever been addicted to.[/QUOTE]

Let me know when you get some...
Speed that is.

Speed is the worst drug on the planet. Thankfully, it is the only one I have ever been addicted to.[/QUOTE]

Let me know when you get some...
Speed that is.[/QUOTE]


OUCH...
At least I was running all year last year.

Ouch again..

Rob's boat is a blast to drive since the upgrade. Mid-range punch is incredible! She sounds mean idling in the slip at the dock! Just the right amount of lope to her!!

Thanks Beadman. I went out this afternoon and noticed the only closed cooling boat on our dock is still nowhere to be found. You're more than welcome to bum a ride this Friday if the weather still scares you.