292 vs. 311 dimensions
 

1990.....anyone have a ballpark figure on dimensional changes going from a 292 to 311? i.e. where the length increases....cockpit, sunpad, cabin, all three? Thanks for any input.

I think its in the engine compartment. 311 came with trs which had transmissions. When they went to bravos it left a lot of room in front of the engines. 292 never came with trs.

I see the sunpad/engine compartment is a bit larger and the v berth is also slightly longer on a 311. Everything else is the same. I noticed the rear of a 311 has two vents per side as opposed to one on the 292 and the v berth in the 311 has three cushions as opposed to the 292 only having two.

Correct, TomZ and I just compared our new ones over the last two weeks. Engine bay for sure and a smidge in the cuddy.

I've been on both boats and used to own a 311 and I would agree that the 311 has a little more room in the engine compartment and the bow is a little longer... The overall length is about (2) feet longer on the 311... Including the swim platform, the 311 is 33 ft and the 292 is 30 ft 11"

Just before I purchased my 292 several years ago I wondered the same thing. IIRC, there was approx 6" in the engine compartment, and another 1'+ in the cabin area. This is apparent when looking in the 292 cabin. The U part of the "U-berth" is not really a seat in the 292 if one were try to sit facing (looking out) the cabin door. In the 311, its a full U seat area. Also, the engine compartment has noticeably more area in front of the engines. There may be a few inches extra in the cockpit, but I didn't measure and it wasn''t noticeable if
any.

To me, that is a disappointing aspect of the series of boats (both then and now). . . none of the extra space is in the cockpit. They are virtually the same going from 27 feet all the way up into the 35 foot range,

I owned a 1990 292 sr1 and my buddy had a 1990 311 sr1. I think the 311 is the best designed and running sr1 that Formula ever made. My 292 was a little bow light at top speed, the 311 seemed to run a lot flatter and was much more stable in rough seas. I know 2' shouldn't mean that much, but IMHO it does in moving to the 311. Also, full hydraulic external steering is a must on either model. Completely different boat with hydraulic steering.

I've only had my 292 since August and I'm still playing with different props, but I didn't want to think I was crazy when I thought the boat really feels loose and squirrely above 55-60. It would be scary sometimes when trimming out. It has some gimbal play in one drive but I didn't think it could cause that much fish tale through the boat. I still have managed a few 70-72 mph runs with close to a full tank of gas, but I keep thinking about hydraulic steering. P.S. I love the cockpit space in my boat!

[QUOTE=LouieM;4533123]I've only had my 292 since August and I'm still playing with different props, but I didn't want to think I was crazy when I thought the boat really feels loose and squirrely above 55

Mine had the 454 mags with Stainless Marine exhaust.. I ran 24 bravo 4 blades after the exhaust and loved how it performed! I can't recall top speed with the 4 blades (got like 74 speedo out of the 3 bladed Mirages).

I had a 311 with 468 blower motors. I ran 4 blade Hydromotive 28 pitch props. Boat would run 85 all day and 87-88 in perfect conditions.

More details on blower motors please!!!

I agree- I would also like to hear more details on f311's boat. I've got an '89 292 with ITS boxes, -2 sportmasters and twin 650 hp 509's and all I've been able to get out of it so far is 81 mph via gps. I've had many motors in my 292. Originally it came with 330's which it was good for 63 mph, then I put in 420's and I was able to get 68 mph. This summer I'm installing bigger carbs, Eickert headers, and -3 IMCO's. IMO this boat with the power I have should be running upper 80's.

The one thing I will say about Formula boats as a whole, is they are not fast. They are on par with most with stock power, but when you start adding power, you don't get the returns like you do with a Sonic, Active Thunder, or Fountain and it has nothing to do with them being well built. Sonics and AT's are every bit the same weight and a 31 or either model will be in the low 90's with the same power as what I am running. I think a lot has to do with the rounded edges on the chines and transom. I am most likely going to be sharpening the transom edge if I have time this spring. One way or another, I'm getting to upper 80's in this boat.

What did the shorties net you? I believe I may have saw this on another thread before? I was tossing around the idea of installing them on my 292.

I honesty have no idea. I added too many new things last year. Motors, boxes, props, lowers. Overall I gained 10 mph, which I was not that happy for what was done. I still think my drives are way too deep, so I think I'll see a big improvement with the -3. It takes 425 hp to break 70 (gps) with the stock drive height. These boats need power, my goal is to find out what's holding them back. They're a great boat, but somewhere there is an anchor dragging.

Check for a hook at the transom.

292sr1's definitely have a hook....

I doubt it's the hook in the transom. It's on the far outside end of the hull and when you are going 75+ very little of that is in the water. Someone else on here removed the hook in either a 292, 242 maybe a 272 and gained nothing. My money is drive depth, and rounded chines and transom edges.

Are you sure you haven't over exceeded the limit of your drive depth vs the ability to carry the nose when trimming. I know from outboard set up you can actually have the drive height too high which causes so much slip that you loose mph and no ability to trim the boat anymore...

My 1990 292 had carbed 454 mags with the upper ends freshened (boat had approx 250 hours when that was done) and Stainless Marine exhaust and we broke 70 easily. I would estimate just shy of 400 hp with exhaust..

strongly disagree here. Going from my 271, to my buddies 292, to my 312 they all had increased cockpit space

My slip is 7%, so I'm still too deep.

Must have been using the water pressure speedo. I had a set of 420's in this prior, with Gil dry to tip exhaust, Dart intakes, and replaced the cams with Crane 741's, these were basically HP 450 clones, and the best I ever saw as 70 on a GPS speedo. This was with stock drives and stock drive height.