Very nice looking boat. How fast is that boat with twin 454MAGS? I would assume that is a very fun boat to drive, especially at LOTO!

Naw not starting anything but you know those waves i'm talking about, i dont know if thats what does it or what. I've only had my checkmate on Lake Michigan one time and it was just one of those days where there where some rollers but other than that i dont know how it gets out there.
Only other reason we might be having such problems is our hull has quite a few hours on it compared to most its age

nsreeve,

Have you guys tried add more glass to the back of the hull side. I envisioned maybe glassing a piece of aluminum behind there and through bolting. I don't know but maybe this will keep the glass from wallering out???

we have done something like that with washers with teeth, but even in a day they can come loose, my idea was to weld something up with a nut and a plate, its just getting it in there to hold, we are going to work on it this weekend and see what we can get rigged up, it just doesnt seem like anything is strong enough with that all fiberglass hatch..its heavier than he''

Hot Boat squeezed 80 mph out of it in 1999 with, I believe, 27P props. They showed them as 27" 3-blades. To me that reads 27 inches. Can someone clarify for me?

I had a marina sea-trial it first for me and they GPS'd it at 76.6 with 23P props. Props look so-so. I'm not very good at reading props yet, but I'll learn.

Checkmate says that IDEALLY it'll run 83mph. I imagine that's with perfect props, perfect water, skinny driver, and a beam of light from God shining down.

Many seem to add speed onto their boat in discussion, but I think I'll just tell people I'm hoping for 65mph with it.

On this subject.... I have mild cracking at my hinges and this boat has low hours. I'm gonna look at beefing that up back there possibly with a large doubler of some sort to spread that load out. Way too concentrated, obviously.

If anyone has any pics or info on jobs they might have done like this, certainly do share!

MM, that definitely seems like one option. I'm gonna drop a note to Kip Combs and ask him if he has any suggestions or info. I'll also see if any other contacts have experience with this.

do that and let me know what you find out

Nick

Kip emailed me back and told me to give his brother, Mike, a call. I'll do that and let ya know.

My mistake above. I have 27P props on the boat now. Previous owner told me they got 82mph with 31P props.
I have yet to sort this all out, but I wouldn't bet my life on that info.

Went to storage over lunch and checked out the engine hatch.

I believe the bow in my hatch has something to do with the hydraulic arm attachment and the cutoff switch that's located at the front of the hatch on the port side. I assume other Checkmates have this same setup where a contact switch shuts the hydraulic arm off after the engine hatch is down. I think mine shuts off a bit too soon cuz the only wear marks where the engine hatch meets the hull are on the front starboard side (opposite the contact switch). IE, when the hydraulic arm shuts off, there is still play b/t the hatch sides and the hull and the hydraulic arm-to-hatch attachment is sticking up too high, so the hatch remains bowed. Probably happened a bit over time with the rest of the hatch being shoved down by the weight of people walking/laying on it while the arm was still pushing up in the middle of it.

Makes sense that this is gonna make life rougher on the hinge locations as well, since the hatch isn't seating properly.

For sh*ts and grins, I took the boat plug and put it next to the contact switch so that it wouldn't engage and stop the hydraulic arm. I then lowered the hatch (carefully) and had the hydraulic arm pull down on the hatch to straighten it out some. I did this gingerly so I wouldn't yank screws/bolts out of the bracket where the hydraulic attaches to the hatch. If I readjust this set-up, I think it might help get things back in line. We'll see.

There's my $.02 so far.