hemihead

I've speent a day on a Formula 330 during the middle of the week during a clam day on the Chesapeake Bay and I've been on a 353 for a short time during a dealer demo day in Lake St. Clair. Neiether of these events gave me an idea of rough water ride. I understand the performance differences and general boat missions so we don't need to re hash that, but generally speaking which boat would give a better ride in bad conditions? I would be boating in SE Michigan so I'm talking about the severe cross chop you see on Lake St. Clair on a Saturday afternoon or the way cruisier wakes come off the sea walls in the Detroit river and the way lake Erie blows up in the afternoon heading to or from Put in Bay.

The 353 has the deeper dead rise and the 330 has the wider beam so which one wins out in the snooty ride area?

5PMSMWHR

Depends, do you want to have fun (353) or drive a cruiser through crap. Either one, really big water is a pain, but as the driver I'd rather be in my 353 than a 330. I'd think it'd be easier to get on top of rough water in the 353. (I may be biased)

selpel

The 353 will give you a better ride at lets say 45 mph because the hull is designed to compensate for the wave action. BUT if you want to travel at anything less I would take the 330SS with the tabs and weight. You really need to drive both boats in the slop to pick the right boat for the way you and your family are going to use it. If anyone has been at the Lake of the Ozarks on the 4th of July weekend they can tell you what kind of mess we have then. We sell 330SS about 9 to 1 over the 353 because of how people want to use their boat in this mess. Just my thoughts

ThirdBird

Theres no doubt in my mind that the 353 will ride better - ride better in any conditions. The 330 is wide and relatively flat, wide and flat means more hard hits than narrow and deep.

You don't see too many offshore racers 10 feet wide and 20 degree deadrise. There's a reason for that.

If it's truly a question of ride quality and not roominess, etc., get the 353.

got twins ?

To second what Bird is saying ..... crossed Lake Ontario in 5-6 footers and it sucked ..... there was 5 boats 382 formula , 388 Hustler Slingshot, 353 formula, 330 Formula and a 370 formula.
From best to worst handling was 382 , 353 , slingshot , 370 ,330 .

The slingshot would have been second but because it is light with regards to comparing the 382 and 353 it slapped the waves where the 382 and the 353 cut through and rode them fairly smooth with all things considered. The 330 had water (spray) coming over the bow soaking its passengers and it couldn't get up and go without really taxing the boat. The 382 and 353 and the slingshot were running at about 4000 rpm and the 330 was running at 4700 rpm to keep up with them. In turn slowed way down and then they just bobed all the way home forget the how much more fuel they used because of the water they were pushing with tabs down and the drives in.
The 370 did fairly well considering how much heavier it is. It seemed to take the big stuff pretty good considering the weight and beam it has.

Jeff