i agree but i was talking about being safer not faster, and when i said rough i wasn't talking about 3 footers, we get big water out here,
and of course there is always the exception. we did a run up to santa barbara few years ago and it was rough enough that you couldn't see over the next wave if you got into the trough.
there was a cat that blew by us like we were standing still.
i don't know how big the cat was because we never made it the whole way and he did.

I Flipped a 25sxt cat with 850hp at 120 mph!! Been there done that but I didn't almost kill my girl friend,I wasn't drinking and it wasn't at night!! I sat on the sponsons and the plugs were no were near the water line.
Someone drinking period in any boat is asking for trouble!
This thread was started about which hull was safer not what's the stupidest thing you've done while drunk at night. People die all the time because of other peoples mistakes or lack of knowledge!! You got lucky that no one was killed and you can make fun of all the all bottles you hade to pick up at the launch. That sound like bragging to me!
Don't know your age when this took place but if you were under 12 I guess I will take back my stupid comment!!
Happy New Years

I have a 25'sxt cat with a whippled 509- can't say enough
good things about it:drink: it's very fast-stable-just an all
around well built boat! ( my family has a place in king's beach
across from the golf course- was planning to take it up there
one of these days-maybe we could hook up and do some
boating!):evilb:

if you want to check out some other warlock sxt cats, go look
on performanceboats.com in the tunnels & cats section! I
started a thread there! "who else has an SXT" POST SOME
PICS!!:drink:

This is not a warlock SXT picture thread and doesn't look like anyones trying to buy one in this thread either. Back to topic. What's your plan tahoerick ?

three mentions of warlock & 2 of them are upside down!!

Listen, the boat is an awesome boat. It was my fault it flipped. not the boats. I have had 4 sxt cats total. 2-25. Which I think might be the best or very close to the best bottom ever made in that range. Also 2-28 with tripple 2.5's. Nice boat also. I have had both my children in these at speed. From ages 2 on up. I was posting my mistakes and not bragging.

Great idea, as soon as the temps get back up to reasonable numbers - its 27 degrees in my back yard and about 20 in Kings Beach! Lets get a Warlock party going, and anyone else who wants to come!

Rick

My plan is to wait until it warms up at Folsom Lake (which is about a 2 and one half hr drive each way) and spend a lot of time seing how this boat turns at various speeds and tab settings, how to stop it from speed, try some runs across the wakes of others at slow to moderate speeds, just get really comfortable with this boat. I have talked to BBlades too and will most likely go for their trail program and end up with a pair of labbed 24 pitch props from them for Tahoe. Tahoe is really cold until about July - sometimes the end of July! It snowed here twice last June....

The input from everyone here at OSO has made me much more comfortable with my new purchase of a boat type I have never owned before. Considering that I am a performace oriented guy (I hated my 24 ft because it was SOOOO BORING - and it was a really nice boat - had everything you could ask for except power and it beat the snot out of you when the wind came up at Tahoe.) I think this was a good decision and I just need to be very sane when operating it. I sincerely thank everyone at OSO for the advice they have given me and hope I meet everyone on the lake here this summer, or Folsom! THANKS!

How did you flip your boat? What were the circumstances leading up to it? Just want to know what can go wrong......

I am not trying to be a d!ck here, but if you can't afford a safety course like this, you might be shocked at the insurance rates. Also, making the wrong move at "slow" speeds can cause a major incident. I have seen veteran racers flip boats at 1/2 the speed their boats are capable of. What happens to the guy with 1/10th of the experience in a similar situation.
There is no substitute for experience and also proper training from someone who knows what they are doing.

X3
(My Jag leans in also)

There is some very famous race footage that we did back in the day. Small craft warnings went into effect off Ocean City, Maryland during an Offshore race.....BIG SEAS......VERY BIG SEAS. the 47 foot triple engined supercharged Apache "Tweets Revenge"....hooked up with the 40 foot Skater "Spirit of Norway"..... two top teams. The Skater caught and passed the Apache with both boats running airborne contuously.

The old Cats in calm water/Vee's in rough water nonsense ended in the early 80's when we figured out that simple plywood was the wrong material to build cats ....or vees....out of. The next fable that needs debunking is that cats can't turn as quickly as vees. Attend one tunnel boat race and you will never utter those words again.

There are two problems with all of this however.....

1. The faster you go in any boat, the higher your skill level needs to be...aside from docking of course.

2. Not all Cats, nor vees for that matter, are created equal. There are any number of cats that I wouldn't be caught dead in....no pun intended. So to say that "Cat's can or can't do this or that." is a mistake. The fact that a Skater or Victory can do such and such is no guarantee that a "Hollywoodcraft" can do the same.

T2x

Perfect.

Funny, because I was just coming here to say the same thing about the old vs new cats, and that cats in general aren't all built equally from brand to brand. That's as true as it gets.

I meant on the OTHER SITE! BUT SEEING YOUR FROM
NEW YORK, your rude comments are explained.........:grinser010:

Being your from LA, your stupidity is also explained!:lolhit::coolcowboy:

End of story

x 2

:drink:

X 3

Great choice in first cat Rick. I have owned one for many years. I have to chime in. Someone said you air it out (Trim positive) when going straight and trim in to turn. THIS IS WRONG! You should absolutely invest in Tres course. Some things sound right but are not and can get you hurt. Stepped cats need the weight on the rear when turning so they need to be neutral to a little positive trim. When the weight shifts forward (by trimming in, negative) the weight shifts forward and you are more likely spin. When straight you should be the opposite (nuetral to a little negative) That being said, your warlock can be set at neutral trim and drive wonderfully all day. It leans out in the corners but you will get used to it. At speed you will find it turns much flatter. You need to learn to resist the urge to get out of the throttle when a big wave comes or you will launch it and can land on the transom (BAD) Tuck the drives in a little if its real big and stay in it or give it a little more. I cant speak highly enough of this hull. I think with your power at Tahoes elevation you are going to have to go mostly all out to get it to where this hull starts to feel really good (80+) Actually, the trickiest opporation I have found is real crossed up wakes at slow speeds especially when coming off plane and decelerating. The bow will go from packing air to not and will follow the waves. I know of a few boats that have taken nearly slow motion flips in these conditions. I dont know of anyone ever wrecking a 31sxt. They are very stable. Call me anytime 1-405-613-3457

The previous owner told me to keep the tabs at about a setting of "2 to 4" and the drives at about a "2". Of course, who knows what this boats tabs and drives are calibrated at. Still, on my one outing at Tahoe it worked very well. It was also very stable. You comments about taking slow motion flips is concerning... Perhaps I will call you! Also, the previous owner told me that he took jumps and landed on the back 3 foot trim tabs on purpose. He said that was the proper way to land the boat because they cushioned the landing and it just kept going.

Thanks for your advice!

Rick

Excuse me, but a $4000 safety course? $2500 for the course and then add in travel from Florida to Nevada - and back, and lodging! I expected to have to pay for boat insurance, and more than any other boat I have owned. I just want to get an accredited boat course that is within reason. I do not plan of paying for someones Maui vacation to give me a 4- 8 hr boat course.

Rick

Rick where are you getting this $4000 ?????? It's $2500 plus airfare/lodging-- and its no vacation. When brad came down he was driving a ford echo and staying in a very reasonable/cheap hotel room. Depending on how many people are in the class, you can be paying less than $150 his travel. 4-8 hours???? Dude, 8 hours is the first day ALONE. Thats just classes by the way. Another hour or so traveling to your boat and doing pre-checks on your boat to make sure your equipments ready. Sounds like your going about this all wrong. You cant trust the guys pre-sets, his driving skills and yours are completly different. Also, no accredited boating course is going to help better your driving skills. Jesus, even the Coast Guard hired the boat school to teach them!!!:lolhit::party-smiley-004:

Jason,

You just spoiled my Rep. Fly Private, Exotic Rentals, and High End Hotels with your BLACK CARD!
BTW don’t forget to call me when you hit MiaLuaderdale This weekend we may be testing some fast cats. You get a ride if your here.

Reality is both Tres and I are very conscious of the additional costs and travel very economically. Even with the government’s money we keep it cheap.

In addition to the Coast Guard Training we are now doing work with the Navy Special Warfare Groups.

Tuition is based upon value and when measured is incredibly inexpensive as the experience lasts a life time and the product has repeatability based upon how often and dedicated you are at applying the skills learned.
Unlike a traditional product or service where the customer would repeat patronage for a good product, our measurement of success is the customer/student meets the minimum demonstrated performance and never returns, they take the service provided and use it for the rest of their life. Therefore the value of the boat school is incredible good and the cost based upon use is very low.

This is measureable not a opinion.

I took the course for the slower v's...I weighed it out too...trust me it's worth it!!!! If or when I move on to cats I will call them again... Like I said , hands down best money I ever spent on safety!!!!! they are one on one with you in YOUR boat. they can help you with bad driving skills you may not even know you have. try and get a few other guys in your area together and it'll be a little less expensive. Just my .02 here.

Craig

Hey Rick,
I frequent both Tahoe and Folsom all summer long as well as some other friends with performance boats.
Let me know when your going out and I'll try to plan a few of us to get wet with ya.
Ryan
(916) 698-0571

Hey...

You guys have some bad-a** boats for sure!

If you do go out to Folsom, Discovery Park, or Discovery Bay, I'd hop in on that too...

Somehow let all of us know who are local to this area and we will show up.

It would be nice to blow out the egg-beater boats at Folsom anyway! LOL!

Hey now...:angry-smiley-038:

Ummm...

I meant the little egg-beater boats!

LOL!

Oh...

And the tower boat dudes too....

Same here it will lean in if you go fast enough.... Above 45-50...

Here is how it looks in mine. At about the 4 minute mark running 85-90 mph.



[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buVvxpjq2Pg[/YOUTUBE]

I think they were testing a new 30' Cat twin screw without interior at Lake Castake CA.
I did not find the answer but Drivers found one Motor & drive 15 feet from the boat and the Hull had a hole in the side. It was guessed at the time they were doing 80 mph when it happened. 4 of the 5 aboard Died.
M~R

Tunnel Hull
 

My first boat was a 16 foot Magnum Tunnel Hull that was raced by Stan Coburn. I found out on my own that you could do 70 mph and crank the wheel and be doing 70 mph the opposite direction 3 seconds later! I have never experienced this kind of excitement since. That was 1972, and a Senior in High School! At 70 mph only the last 12" of the Sponsons were in the water. It truly rode on Air and was the smoothest ride of all the Boats I have owned
Now 6 boats later and I look back. I was Nuts back then. I had that boat out of the water 2 different times at least 5 feet! I could of had a Blow over many times.
The Lord was my Co-Pilot I believe.
They Canceled My insurance and said it was a Race Boat, not a Pleasure Boat. That was 3 years after I bought it.
M~R :drink:

Sweet!!

The rigger used engine mounting bolts that were too small is what I understand. One or more of them snapped.

Aqua Mania in Key West is a good example of a low-speed barrelroll.

Wow, I just noticed that his thread is still going...! First, I have to travel a lot myself and if I and I alone have to pay for travel expenses ( At the time I thought it was myself, maybe one other person) from Florida to Tahoe and back including lodging and rentals - $1500 extra seemed reasonable. flights can easily be $400 - $500 each way.

Anyway, everything has changed. I signed up for the Havasu course on 4/25 and 4/26. Expenses are not to exceed $350. Still a whole lot of $$$ to pay for a safety course, but if it keeps me from doing the wrong thing the course is worth much, much more. Hey, most of us are still recovering from the economy taking a dump too. This was a difficult decision for me - not because of the value of the course, but because of having to spend this amount of $$$ on a sport...

Will do! The more the merrier!

Rick

Best decision you've ever made.

I would think the car is safer at the same slower speed, and at higher speed blowing over & hooking might be the big issues.