353?
 

My wife and I went to the Cleveland boat show today. We may trade our boat in on one. I never cared for the looks of these boats until I was on one. Can anyone tell me about the handling characteristics of this boat?
Thank you
Chris

Re: 353?
 

Love mine, soft ride, runs on it's own bottom very well with little or no trim and tab input. Put the boat on plane run the trim out to nuetral and pretty much leave it there.
I'm amazed at under how many conditions my boat will stay on plane at lower speeds (for a 10K lb boat with fuel and gear), run level, and cruise over snot with NO TAB. Sign of a good bottom.
I use tab most often to compensate for a crosswind and planing, other than that very little unless it's ROUGH...like a windy day on Lake Ontario rough.
I think the steps do take away from the ROUGH water ride a little, and the stern does a barely perceptable "wiggle" in a certian light chop at a just right speed, though a little bump of the trim either way takes care of it. I think this is just a factor of transition from one running surface to the next at just the right speed/trim.
Bottom line...
It's an excellent and forgiving hull. It will do nothing unexpected.
Mine runs 72-73 MPH on 425's with stock 26" Bravos @ 5000 RPM
75-77 MPH speedo.
Boat was overpropped as delivered with 28's and every aspect of performance improved with the switch to 26's.
Boat just cruises straight and level over 2-3' chop WOT with neutral to NO tab, and nuetral + trim.
Boat is definitely it's fastest by 2-3 MPH in these conditions.

Some said I'd wish for more HP later and I do, cause the hull is certianly up to it, but I dig the economy and cheaper insurance of the 425's, and seldom run wide open.

Does this help? :D :D

Re: 353?
 

Troutly, what's next? They quit making the 419.

Re: 353?
 

I heard he's going after Nort's one off "468".....:D

Re: 353?
 

Troutly, if you get the condo and overnighting isn't as important, you might want to take a look at the new Donzi 35Zr. They are saying 80 mph with 496's. :)

http://www.donzimarine.com/DonziWebs.../35ZRstds.html

Re: 353?
 

I've been following the Donzi also. It looks a little deeper, and I like the dash layout/fairing ect, but it looks alittle smaller than the 353 in terms of real usable space aboard (sunpad, cabin).

Re: 353?
 

We saw the Donzi at the Annapolis Boat Show, if you want to go fast, the 35 Donzi sounds like it will do it. If you want to spend the night on your boat, don't by the 35 Donzi. No v-birth, very small head and extremly small door to the cabin.

Re: 353?
 

EXACTLY! you don't go 80 on 425's in a 35' without sacrifices. Thanks for the pics. There are some good ideas and attractive layout to the cockpit/dash though!

Re: 353?
 

looks pretty tight between the backseat and fronts...no cockpit floor space.

Forget the GD "galley" and enclosed head. Make it all couches and berth with a PP under the tail of the berth or something. Then you could actually use the cabin and stay on the boat!!! When are they all gonna figure this out???

Re: 353?
 

Running 80 mph in a 35 foot boat without having to pay for that expensive blue paint is very attractive. Let's face it, how much time do most of us spend in the cabin anyway. I NEVER go below.