Trying to buy a Checkmate
 

I know this is tough because its so general but I don't want to waste some money.
Never had a Checkmate before so I need some help. Looked at a boat today and really wanted to buy it. 1999 28ft with a 502 MPI 415 hp. Nice boat for the year and looks like it has been well cared for. The boat sounds fine. We took it for a ride and it had a very difficult time getting up on plane. This should be enough motor to easily get moving with half a tank and four normal sized adults I would think. I know it takes a lot of knowing what your doing to get it to plane quickly but this was extremely difficult for the boat. Is this even close to normal or is the performance terribly lacking on this boat?

Thanks

Scott

probably either too much prop, or the engine is lacking its normal power. There is nothing inherently wrong with the design of the boat.

Find out the prop specs for us please.

I have same motor in my Checkmate. Have no issues getting on plane. I run 23P 3 blade.

Thanks to all for the quick response. Elderly gentleman is the current owner. I am pretty sure he is not into swapping props for top end speed but you never know. I will get the prop info and post it as quick as I can. I am getting a compression test Wednesday. It is a 360 hour boat, I would guess the compression would be fine but that would be a deal breaker for me. If the compression is good, I will feel a little better. Could need a tune up or maybe the injectors need work. Just don't know much yet.

Thanks

Scott

Good call on the compression test I would also get a leak down test and let us know what that prop sizes is, I had a friend with the same boat not sure what he ran for a prop but it never had a problem getting on plane with a normal load.

What exactly is it doing when you try to get up on plane? Is it blowing out the prop? What rpm is the motor turning when your trying to get up on plane? That boat should have trim tabs, are they all the way down when you're taking off? Is the drive tucked all the way down? Is it a 3 or 4 blade prop?

How long do you say its actually taking ?

"long time" is a relative term, LOL

mpally touched on it...what is the drive set at?

I was not able to see the trim tab setting or if the drive was properly set. I hope both were not right. It would stand the bow up in the air and not RPM like it should. It would not plane for a good 15 seconds. I will know soon.