Formula 242 and poker runs.
 

I have done a few fun runs with my 242. It flat out sucks. I have a 420hp 454/bravo setup. It runs 46mph@4100rpm and 62mph@5000rpm. Speed is not really the problem. The ride is terrible. The boat bucks side to side, wants to be airborne alot. Its just very uncomfortable. I ran with a baja 250es and a 27 fountain. All three boats were almost identical from bow to swim platform size wise, yet they were able to blow me away in the rough. My steering and gimble are tight, my rams are tight, my trim tabs work fine. My boat is perfect running order. The boat rides great when its smooth, it even rides ok in lake chop, but when you put in other boat wakes it is just brutal. I bought the boat after hearing how great the 242 rides, I am not very impressed. I am wondering if I just need to go bigger or if there is just a setup trick I am missing.

Here is a video of me running in 1-2' chop @ 45mph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxeB3O1xWc

Any small boat (and by small I mean less than 35 feet) is going to be a bear to run in the slop caused by the other boats around you. Our 31' Cigarette Bullet (a wave crusher and a half) gets tossed around pretty good when getting to it in the start of the run. The water is churned up rather unnaturally. You've got lots of boat wakes around you. If those other boats were doing well and you were getting the snot kicked out of your ride, you were too close and in their wakes.

The 242 is a great boat, and a wave crusher in its own right, but it's not a Top Gun. It's still a 24-foot boat. One of the best! Maybe you're asking too much of the old girl. Just saying.

Btw... your boat looked like it was doing fine in the video.

Yea I don't see any problem with the way it was running in the video. Looked smooth to me. I know it can be deceiving. Behind the wheel I'm getting tossed around, but when I talk to others they say I looked like it was running so smooth. I know you want to run with the big boys, I feel the same way. I wish my 292 could run with the 35fters, but I can't cut through the slop like they can.

The design of the poker run is so you don't have to be the fastest or biggest in the fleet. I'd rather drive in 3-4fters then deal with the turbulence from boat traffic. I'd pull back on the sticks a bit, let the big boys run up front, get into your comfort zone with her where she can run like she wants and just enjoy the day.

I had my first Poker Run ever this summer and was terrified by the waves of other boats at start - the boat just went all over the ocean and I had to slow down to 35knots. :-) But otherwise I was very happy of the run even though we had rather hard weather and some parts were broken when coming down from a jump. The waves were for about 4-6 feet. Here is a video from another boat. At 11.50 formula 28 passes the filming boat and for about 12.03 my boat passes also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftwtqm5vACc

79 Formula, What are you running for prop?

Mirage 23p

Use the tabs at all? Is the 86 hull much different than the 88 ls?

I think 86 and 88 are the same. The boat did not look that thrashing from the video, heck he never even broke water.

It is the nature of the beast. My 242 rode its best skipping across the peaks of the waves. They ride well if you match your speed to the wave peaks. You do get more air time but it pounds you and the boat less. They dont have the length to span the peaks with lots of hull in the water like 33'+ boats.

what he said

I was specifically referring to boat wakes being nasty. The run this weekend had 10 boats. I was stuck in back and it was unbearable. When the boat wakes converge, it just rocks the crap out of the boat. I was wondering if it's just a 24 footer and that's what you get, or just time to get a 311-357?

24 foot boat is not going to get thru the rough stuff as well as the bigger boats. just not going to happen. So, if you want to keep up with bigger boats, you should probably get a bigger boat . . .

If you have any question about doing a poker run in a 31' or 35' compared to your current boat, bum a ride in both of them at a run and you will be looking at the biggest boat your budget will allow.

I dunno, I had to watch the video over again and I did not see chit for slop. My thinking there was not to even to put a smile on your face let alone go fast.
When compared to the 32-35. Will the 24 be the fastest boat, most likely not. Will it be the smoothest, most likely not, However, if driven with random abash, it can be the greatest grin maker on the water, A good experienced driver in good chop and slop can make that boat go fast and feel safe without banging the crap out of everything. All in the feel and rhythm, knowing when to jump and knowing how and where you are going to land. If you ain't sawing the throttles well you get it. All depends on what makes you smile. Just my .02

Our 242 rode very good in the runs we did, the faster the boat ran the better it actually rode. We ran more and more runs so we upped to a 311. Same outcome, faster was better with it too. Both boat also reacted well to 2" shorties to fix the over trimming required with the deep x dimensions. Both boats rode/ride better over 65 mph

How did the 242 do planeing with the 2" shorties?

Sounds like 420hp won't cut it for 65 mph.

I think in the slop you are over trimming the boat. Sometimes slower is faster. I can run my formula with all the mentioned manufactures and never lose an inch in the slop. Try trimming it down in the slop. It might make a big difference and even if the gimbel is tight and all the outdrive components are tight it still will not drive like a boat with hydraulic steering.

Any boat is going to have a problem with the boat wakes coming together... even the big ones to a point. It's the nature of the beast. If you were out running in rough seas, I'm sure the boat would run much more predictably and smoothly in this environment. You'd be in better shape if you could get more of the boat out of the water. A stern lifting prop may be a better option (at least from some reading I've done).

It may if you can get more of the boat out of the water. The hook seems to keep the boat glued to the surface until you really get the stern out of the water. The hook goes from the chine to the lifting strake... if you can get her up on the keel, she should run fast. Again, a prop with stern lift would be beneficial. Again, from what I've read.

We're pushing 600 HP at 5 lbs of boost (leaking blower and a slipping belt at the time)... hoping to be in the upper 70s if not faster. It will all depend on how much of the boat we can get out of the water.

Sitting down and standing up make a world of difference when riding in a boat. Most boats in poker runs have bolsters where the driver and passenger are usually standing, your legs act as a much better shock absorber than your back. If you can throw out the seats, and try to find s set of bolster seats, I think this will make it much more manageable.

I have hydraulic bolsters.

In that video you are running great, also on Sunday i thought u did fine, I wouldn't over react, but ive seen u run the boat and you are trimmed most times, reel her back in a tad and try again, drop tabs and drive a tad, at around 4200 rpms my old 242 would pretty much carve it up, u are gonna get moved around in the wash behind boats, even us on the bigger boats, twins are where the real difference in is control in the wash, its easier to steer out,

sorry I watched the other video, my bad, buy a Fountain

I have standard, one ram per tab, bennetts. I think they are undersized. They have to be all the way down to stop the hop. If I pull them up at all, it hops. With the tabs all the way down and the drive tucked all the way in, I still can't get the bow to plow. Not that I would run it like that, just saying how the tabs are not very effective. I have thought about tig welding some trim tabs that are bigger like k planes.

I brought the subject of 280 K-Planes here on OSO a couple of weeks ago and nobody seems to have tried them on 242. Please update findings with bigger tabs.
Good luck.

All I gotta say, every 27 fountain I have seen has k planes. Same size boat as a 242. I think they are a good idea.

In the video your boat seemed to be trimmed out, and you were getting a bit of rocker from that AND the bit of rocker Formula tends to put in their hulls. (I'm not an expert on each hull, but generally that's how Formula designs them). If you compare yours to this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Csk73T9z9s you'll see the Pantara is riding more solid in the water, with the bow breaking the waves about a third the way from the nose. This is usually due to trimming in the drive, but tabs and hull hook can also contribute. Your boat was running much more out of the water. Note: I don't know if this was a 24 or a 28 Pantara, or if it's single or twins, but it happened to spool up right after your video, and it's informative.

Was still able to get on plane with a cupped 3 blade mirage plus and the -2 shortie. A modded bravo one would have been nice for 2-4s, but for lake running the 3 blade was perfect.

The "hinge" of the single ram Bennetts can not handle the force of a larger tab when entering the water, if you were indicating making those larger. If you want larger tabs you should sell the small ones and buy larger or K-planes.

I had a 87 242 with right around 530-540 hp. I could hit 68-69 mph @ 5800 rpms, and the boat real really smooth for what it was. I was running a 21 pitch mirage plus for the prop, I tried a 23 and 25 but the 21 was the best by a long shot. I ran that boat for 2 seasons. I now have an '89 292 SR-1. The one thing I will tell you with both boats, is once you learn how to operate them they will get smoother with more speed. With the 242 there was a big difference in the ride going from 60 to 68. At 68 mph the boat felt perfect, at 60 it still felt like it was glued to the water. Like others have said- your boat has a hook in the hull, that hook isn't out of the water until your are above the mid 60 range. Here is a picture at WOT, as you will see there is very little of the boat in the water, and the hook is well above the surface to the water.

http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/mi...hbsfu.jpg.html

Now- the difference between a 242 and a 292 is substantial. For starters you have twins which makes the boat more level when getting air. the 242 would always roll to the left, which was due to the rotation of the prop. There is nothing you are going to do about that, unless you have twins with counter rotating props. Also the 292 is a lot heavier, which also is going to make it ride better. My 242 had bolsters and I'm guessing yours does not, and the Baja and Fountain I'm sure do. IMO bolsters will make the boat feel as if it is riding a lot smoother, due to the fact your legs are now absorbing the bumps. For what it is, I think the 242 is a great boat, it will never out ride a larger boat. Learn how to trim it, and where the tabs should be for a given type of wave, and enjoy it for what it is.

Here is the rig. love the looks, its 100% turn key/perfect mechanically. I would hate to get rid of it, but i need to make it ride a bit better. It seems to do well in everything except the runs with 10 boats or more. When its just 3-5 boats, i do fine.

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...27918194_o.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...03915694_o.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...97562399_o.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...01978987_o.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...82904155_o.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...55522934_o.jpg

Good to see my old boat is still looking good!! Had a lot of fun with that boat!

Thanks! The previous owner running it in the salt for the last 2 yrs was rough on it. I had to replace the transom assembly, have the drive blasted and painted, all new gaskets in the motor, new intake manifold, the exhaust manifolds leaked, all from the salt. I also put a new transom in it. Boat is perfect now!

My 242 LS (twin 350s) was a lot of fun, but I called BS every time I read a post that said they're "wave crushers"! It was a VERY rough ride in 2-3 footers. ...and especially the washing machine slop at poker run starts. Mine also loved to launch out of the water. That made for some great photos, but not so great when I took the whole family out.

That's exactly what I am talking about.

I read this entire post with interest. I have had a single engine 242, a twin 272 and now a twin 255 Formula Liberator. My 255 has a DEEP free board and carves nasty and confused seas up like a machete. I am running twin 400+ horse SBC's thru Bravo I's w/23" Mirage counter rotating. The 255 is HEAVY...about 5750# dry. I am currently running single ram Bennet's which are barely adequate for any serious off shore work...280-K Planes are a future want.

Of the three boats of this type that I have owned I have to say that the 255 is the overall winner in terms of ride and handling. The 272 LS I had came close but would definitely hop around more in the rough stuff. I would however be curious as to how a 292 would perform with my power and drives.

Something you might consider as a future possibility is an old Formula 302...same basic set up as the 255 but with more length. I had a great run as a co pilot on a 302 from Freeport to West Palm on a rough day...across 65 miles of open ocean in 5' seas it performed very well and with twin 450 HP BBC's running thru TRS drives it was very capable of 70 MPH blast if called upon.