Between my uncle,my cousin and me we have collectively owned
8 Formulas from the mid to late80s period. They all had hook in the hull. Some much worse than others, it was designed in for some stupid reason. Answer was to pull the engines, build up the inside of the bottom and then grind the hook away. Every single one picked up 4-7mph with no other changes but a hell of alot of elbow grease to get it done. Trying to get max speed without removing the hook puts a strain on the transom. If you have someone crazy enough to video it you can actually see the transom bend as you try to trim out the hull and hook tries to push it back in. (I was young+ crazy enough to hang off the back and look, that was 20 years ago )

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Chapparal 21XLC Merc 454/Alpha
Yeah I know,but its all I can afford..

What a memory! I had an "87 242 LS two boats ago. Clean, clean well cared for boat with a single 270 hp 350 MAG. With 19P Mirage prop I got 37-38 screamin' mph summer and nearly 40 in winter! But that little boat had a heluva ride for its size. Good as a Cobalt. Put a subwoofer under the passenger seat and the stereo sounds great. I think my old boat is for sale on Yachtworld now.

This is very interesting

on some its pretty visible even without using a straightedge ..
you can see where the strake runs flat but the bottom hooks down.
Its like running with your tabs down all the time.
On the earlier models there was enough meat in the hull to get rid
of it without adding material but not on the late 80s models which
had a lighter layup. Be coolto find someone that worked there
back then and find out why they did this to their boats.
I havent seen it on the 90+s or 70s models,just most of the 80s..

Just grossly overpower the boat enough and there won't be enough hook in the water at speed to make a difference

I'm with MOPWER or just keep the thing on the dock in the flat water. Besides 1-2 footers make speed! if the only thing in the water is the outdrive 75 shouldn't be a problem with all that power / $

You're absolutely correct but in the case of a 272 with big blocks , it's very stern heavy and tends to porpoise between 40 and 60 mph without using tabs anyway. Removing the hook would only make it worse. Next summer I plan to try some Hydromotive props in lieu of Bravos since B1's are bow lifters anyway and Hydros are stern lifters. A single engine 242 is a bit of a different story as the balance is much better than a twin BB 272 as demonstrated in these pictures.

I like the "squat" though. Looks cool, you know there's a lot of iron back there.

Fountains have the best squat in the business. My wife and I were discussing the "squat" of various go-fasters and she labeled the squat as "looking slutty". I like that, they look slutty!

YEAH!!

Fountain's squat is more optical illusion then anything else. They have less hull and more deck , placing the rub rail closer to the water and therefore giving the appearance of being lower

I like the look too. Like you said "You know you got some iron back there"