I heard Rich built the Nita the Pinta and the Sana Maria

Well...I'll start by saying that my ride today was pretty disappointing, mid 80's at 5200. It seems that the boat has some issues but before I jump to conclusions let me ask the experts.

First the setup: 540 ci motors built my Intense Marine (said to be 600hp), BAM cyborg tansmissons, SSM4 drives with extension boxes, turning 17.5" x 31 3 blade props with airation kits. These props were different than those 17x32 4 blades I mentioned before which were the said to be 104mph props.

Performance: Dropped the boat in the water and fired it up. Idle sounded nice and healthy similar to other 540's I've heard before so no issues. Let it warm up for about 10-15 mins going through a no wake zone in the intercoastal. Here's where I have lots of questions for the experts. When we tried to take off the boat stumbled and loaded up backfiring through the intake. Pulled back on the throttles, cleared it out and tried again. Same result. The representative driving the boat was explaining that the props were not getting any air and the motors couldn't spin them up without it. He also mentioned that the props might be too big for the boat. Those air tubes on the drives at this point were under water at idle. In my experiences, a boat with 600hp per side should have enough power to spin the props out of the hole easily, but since I don't know the SSM drives mayber I am incorrect? This was the funny part. 4 guys on the boat, and he asked the mate to sit on the bow to see if he could get it to spin up and break the props loose. Finally in this scenario it spun up, we all jumped in the seats and we were off. Running about 60-70 it seemed to be all over the canal not tracking straight at all...kind of felt like a thrill ride. Granted the canal was not very wide so my perception might have been off ... I'm a Fountain Vhull guy trying to convert. The driver was doing an awful lot of counter steering to keep the boat in control. Is this normal? He said it was for the Shadows. Conditions were absolutely flat as we were in the intercoastal canal. When he pulled back on the throttles the boat seemed to hook to the left and took alot of steering to keep it straight.

This was my first Cat ride and I have to say I left the ride thinking this is a bit different than what I expected. I'd rather not jump to conclusions so I am asking the experts. Does all of this seem normal?

Top speed I saw was mid 80's at 5200rpm on a GPS speedo. That's a far cry from 104 considering it was already at 5200. Driver claims we still had some throttle and of course some trimming left but we didn't have enough room to go. Sounded to me like the props were too small but in light of the planing issue it conflicts. All in all, with no Cat experience I'd say the boat needs a good bit of tuning. I'm interested to hear some opinions especially around the airation of the props.

I have some more questions about the hull. On the transom, just above each drive at about the height where the top deck and hull marry together, there are cracks. The cracks look to be flexing the transom as they are wider than a stress crack and are about 6 inches long. Both sides, just above the drives. Anyone seen this problem before?

Thanks,
Steve

Steve the handling issues sounds to me like bow steer Maybe with trim up this would improve. But no, this is not normal cat performance. One would not expect those props to rip out of the hole but should plane with out to much drama. 17'' is a big prop. Sounds like the set up needs work. What would concern me most is the cracks in the transom. I have seen those cracks in race hulls that taken a beating in rough water

Bow steer makes sense. I didn't notice the Kplane location, tunnel tab, or the drive trim. I've noticed that many American offshores and Chris Cats don't have the Kplanes. Any reason for that? This boat has both tunnel tab and K planes. After the ride, I did inspect the cabin etc and found water in both sides of the bow sponsons. I'd estimate 3-5 gallons in each side so I'd imagine that didnt help things.

As for the motors, I've been thinking about it more and it just doesn't seem right. It didn't turn up over 1500-2000 rpm rolling on the throttle. Once open obviously just dumped fuel. I think the boats been sitting for a while so could very well need the carbs checked out. After the run the port motor was surging slightly.

Steve some water in the sponsons is normal, once water gets past the steps it had no way to get out. The shadow hull is well know to be a fast and well behaved boat. It sounds like that one has motor and set up problems. I owned a hydra tech 32 which is very similar to the shadow bottom. It was a great handling boat If you would like a ride in a decent set up boat call me when you get home. I won' t try to sell you on weed whackers Michael

They don't have tabs because they are not really needed on those hulls. There seems to be enough transom lift built in
DiD that boat have the motors forwarD with Diveshafts?

every cat i have ever seen you can stick a hose in the bow and it runs out the drain plugs... is the step on the inside of the hull too on that model?

The boat has a finished cabin with carpet. There are storage lockers on either side actually carpeted inside and those were full of water. At the time I checked it we actually had the front of the trailer lifted so water would run out the back. If there is a drain, these were plugged. I may go back tomorrow and check it out again. We'll see if it drained out.

Yes the motors were forward a good bit. There were drive shaft covers about 12-18 inches plus the transmission between the motors and the transom.

I'll give you a call when I get back. Thanks, I'll take you up on your offer for a run on a well set up boat. Then I'll have a good comparison.

Engine location and kplane picture attached...