Orthobam

Going on my second year of ownership and still learning a ton about these amazing machines.

I have taken Tres Martin but he teaches turning techniques and safety and not really how to maximize the performance of your boat.

I learned something new this weekend and made me realize there is a bunch more to this and more than one way to skin a cat (sorry, couldn't help it).

My lesson today….

At 125mph rpms were about 5500. Boat felt great and was "loose". My guy (who I will not name because I don't want any drama) started to tuck the drives back in a little at a time. Boat kept the same speed but rpms went down to about 5000 and it flattened out. Then we kept tucking to see when it would "catch" and it was a pretty remarkable feeling. My understanding is this is how to get your ideal prop slip numbers. Keep the air packed, put some prop back in the water, and flatten the nose a bit.

I'd be curious to hear about other things like…..

How you approach big waves…bow down or bow up?

I tend to go bow down (Tres advice)

What do you do with hop….any trimming or just power through it?

I power through and may tuck the drives a little but when the hop rhythm goes away I trim up again slowly.

What do you do to set up a turn….tuck the drives or leave them be?

I use Tres's advice, tuck the drives and if going a little too fast slow down 2-300rpms but reapply throttle back in the turn

RT930turbo

Cool post. Looking forward to the responses, I miss threads like this...

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

when racing the Talon id run the boat pretty flat. Bring the drives up a bit in the straights and then bring them in neutral coming into a turn. Usually nose in around a hundred to a hundred and five then back on the sticks hard as soon as Ed would start to turn the boat but keep in mind these were supercat 750's they lack big torque and would contunue to slow down throughout the turn. its not big changes either between running down a straight and setting up for a turn (at least not in that boat)

Run big water pretty flat as well. those guys that are always trimmed to the moon only think they are running fast and thats only because the out of control nature "feels" fast. theres only a few mph in that last few clicks of trim and its at the cost of control

pstorti

iTrader: (2)

When you trim down in turns you don't feel the boat start to want to hook and start rotating?

I had a 28 Daytona, my only cat experience, and you could feel it pivot on the inside edge of the inner sponson, if you trimmed up more you could kind of slide it through the turns, trimmed down a little it would turn harder but you had to keep your butt in tune with the rotation or it would spin out. I spun it on purpose several times around 40 mph just to feel how it would happen, never tried it going faster. Boat never hopped.

Big waves were not an option in that boat, great until they got more than 2-3.

I imagine a Skater handles different with a real tunnel.

I really miss the speed and driving it though, much more fun than the v-bottom

QWKRN U

I tend to use a mix of what your describing from your guy and add in a slight wheel correction to see where he boat feels best. Slight left or slight right turn.
Considering how flat the water was running with you Saturday I'd say ya have a lot figured out already considering the boat didn't seem to hop much at all. Between the Tres class and your right hand "guy" you've got the boat working very well.


Pstorti,
The center pod boats are a different animal all together. Both my 25 and the 30 eliminator handled way different than my current shallow true tunnel. It doesn't get that hooking feel the center pods did.

Of course results may vary

Orthobam

We were pretty light on fuel so she was ready to take off. Less fuel = less hop. That's why we only put 75 gallons a side (about 1/2 tank) when we get fuel. Otherwise, the boat isn't nearly as fun to run until it gets to that level.

LAriverratt

liking this thread. more info is a good thing. I would imagine each manufactures hull will respond a little different (size, weight, hp ) but use the same drive/trim input technique. Where's Tres on this? or does his info come with course payments only LOL just kidding

NASCAT

If you don't have a tunnel tab you are sort of stuck w/ the hop which is load dependent as you mentioned (fuel on board, passengers as well). You can try to compensate w/ trim tabs but what I found was that it just loads the bow & scrubs off speed requiring quite a bit more throttle to achieve the same speeds. It just feels bound up. Keep in mind the leverage on a 30' boat is a bit greater than a 40' too. Prior to installing the tunnel tab I noticed flat conditions were worse than 1-2' chop when it comes to porpoising but in all conditions putting a little wheel into it will cause the sponson to dig in minimizing the hop. It's not as if you have to tack back & forth like a blow boat but next time you are out just put some wheel in it & I think you'll notice it settles down some.

My boats sweet spot is 100mph. You can trim out to pack air but if you negative trim slightly at 100mph (give or take) it's as if you are in Pro Stock car (slightly exaggerated) whereas it feels as if the bow is lower than the stern (stern to bow rake), the boat is extremely smooth & stable as if it's taken a set, the tunnel is doing it's job of carrying the boat & the large flat deck is providing just the proper amount of downforce to keep the boat stable.

I'm no expert but these have been my experiences as I've tinkered w/ my boat as a bravo drive boat then started the testing & tunning all over again w/ the ILMOR Indy drives

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

its funny you say that, Lightning Jet on here has a 33 Elim Daytona that does low one thirties but has a hop that varies according to condition, sometimes it is pretty bad other times not much at all but a little wheel left or right does minimize it.

NASCAT

Mine used to porpoise between 65-90 mph. So to say you are just going to power thru it all the time means you'd always be buzzing around near triple digits or have to keep it below 60mph. Just too large of an unusable range of speed in my opinion.