*** TRES Martin Turning Technique. ***
#21
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Is it really for the time your running hard and on the edge "like a race boat" or really practical for the go fast boater? As I said earlier, it shows you how to operate your boat safely and properly. When I took the class, 2 years ago, my boat ran high 70s. The boat now runs mid 80s.
How many of you guys who took the course, learned this turning technique and impliment in daily boat trips?
#22
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thanks for keeping it real nate... I'll get the popcorn.
#23

So I would ask after taking the course and being told you should turn your boat this way everytime, why do you not do it??
Is it really for the time your running hard and on the edge "like a race boat" or really practical for the go fast boater?
How many of you guys who took the course, learned this turning technique and impliment in daily boat trips?
Is it really for the time your running hard and on the edge "like a race boat" or really practical for the go fast boater?
How many of you guys who took the course, learned this turning technique and impliment in daily boat trips?
#25
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Gallatin, TN
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I have had a bunch of years running HP boats and when I bought my cat I didn't want to take the Tres Martin course but I didn't have a choice by my insurance carrier. I breezed through the classroom portion and honestly knew as much as he did as far as boat hydrodynamics. I am a civil engineer and work with hydrodynamics frequently so I have a good basis for that knowledge. I did think that he did a great job explaining it to both me and the newbie that I took the course with. Tres is VERY knowledgeable and what he said was done in a way to make sense to the average guy. I then took the boating portion of the course and he came up and we talked about the boat and how it reacts to certain things and he showed me his turning technique. I have spoken, ridden with and had them throttle me with cat racers and several others with thousands of hours behind the wheel of a cat. I know there are varying degrees of opinions but honestly when I am turning the boat hard I use his technique because it makes the boat more stable.
The main thing about a cat that Tres told me and I understand very very well is the momentum of the rear portion of the boat due to the weight which creates higher inertia. If you loose thrust whether by chopping the throttles or the props blowing out the back of the boat will try and pass you. The fuel rushes to the front of the tanks and the boat tends to lean forward and that is a recipe for taking a swim. If the front ever hooks in a turn when you are not in thrust you will spin and if you look at many of the accidents where the boats spin it is when they chop the throttles suddenly and the weight surges forward. I also use it when I am doing low speed turns and barely on plane. Tres said in his class there are 5 times the cat roll overs at less than 50mph than over. I have had the boat roll to the outside in slow speed turns and it is unnerving so I have always used it and it works like a charm.
Tres told me... If you ever get in trouble straighten the wheel and do not let off the throttles. Even push them forward to get you out of a spin. The thrust will help right the boat where letting off the throttles, while seeming to be the proper thing to do when you are in a "situation", is not!
And for most of you guys.. The cost of the class is less than your insurance or A propeller. I know good and well it is much less than my 10% deductible.
The main thing about a cat that Tres told me and I understand very very well is the momentum of the rear portion of the boat due to the weight which creates higher inertia. If you loose thrust whether by chopping the throttles or the props blowing out the back of the boat will try and pass you. The fuel rushes to the front of the tanks and the boat tends to lean forward and that is a recipe for taking a swim. If the front ever hooks in a turn when you are not in thrust you will spin and if you look at many of the accidents where the boats spin it is when they chop the throttles suddenly and the weight surges forward. I also use it when I am doing low speed turns and barely on plane. Tres said in his class there are 5 times the cat roll overs at less than 50mph than over. I have had the boat roll to the outside in slow speed turns and it is unnerving so I have always used it and it works like a charm.
Tres told me... If you ever get in trouble straighten the wheel and do not let off the throttles. Even push them forward to get you out of a spin. The thrust will help right the boat where letting off the throttles, while seeming to be the proper thing to do when you are in a "situation", is not!
And for most of you guys.. The cost of the class is less than your insurance or A propeller. I know good and well it is much less than my 10% deductible.
Last edited by gofastlvr; 12-14-2014 at 07:56 PM.
#27
Registered

Yup, straight to escape!
I have had a bunch of years running HP boats and when I bought my cat I didn't want to take the Tres Martin course but I didn't have a choice by my insurance carrier. I breezed through the classroom portion and honestly knew as much as he did as far as boat hydrodynamics. I am a civil engineer and work with hydrodynamics frequently so I have a good basis for that knowledge. I did think that he did a great job explaining it to both me and the newbie that I took the course with. Tres is VERY knowledgeable and what he said was done in a way to make sense to the average guy. I then took the boating portion of the course and he came up and we talked about the boat and how it reacts to certain things and he showed me his turning technique. I have spoken, ridden with and had them throttle me with cat racers and several others with thousands of hours behind the wheel of a cat. I know there are varying degrees of opinions but honestly when I am turning the boat hard I use his technique because it makes the boat more stable.
The main thing about a cat that Tres told me and I understand very very well is the momentum of the rear portion of the boat due to the weight which creates higher inertia. If you loose thrust whether by chopping the throttles or the props blowing out the back of the boat will try and pass you. The fuel rushes to the front of the tanks and the boat tends to lean forward and that is a recipe for taking a swim. If the front ever hooks in a turn when you are not in thrust you will spin and if you look at many of the accidents where the boats spin it is when they chop the throttles suddenly and the weight surges forward. I also use it when I am doing low speed turns and barely on plane. Tres said in his class there are 5 times the cat roll overs at less than 50mph than over. I have had the boat roll to the outside in slow speed turns and it is unnerving so I have always used it and it works like a charm.
Tres told me... If you ever get in trouble straighten the wheel and do not let off the throttles. Even push them forward to get you out of a spin. The thrust will help right the boat where letting off the throttles, while seeming to be the proper thing to do when you are in a "situation", is not!
And for most of you guys.. The cost of the class is less than your insurance or A propeller. I know good and well it is much less than my 10% deductible.
The main thing about a cat that Tres told me and I understand very very well is the momentum of the rear portion of the boat due to the weight which creates higher inertia. If you loose thrust whether by chopping the throttles or the props blowing out the back of the boat will try and pass you. The fuel rushes to the front of the tanks and the boat tends to lean forward and that is a recipe for taking a swim. If the front ever hooks in a turn when you are not in thrust you will spin and if you look at many of the accidents where the boats spin it is when they chop the throttles suddenly and the weight surges forward. I also use it when I am doing low speed turns and barely on plane. Tres said in his class there are 5 times the cat roll overs at less than 50mph than over. I have had the boat roll to the outside in slow speed turns and it is unnerving so I have always used it and it works like a charm.
Tres told me... If you ever get in trouble straighten the wheel and do not let off the throttles. Even push them forward to get you out of a spin. The thrust will help right the boat where letting off the throttles, while seeming to be the proper thing to do when you are in a "situation", is not!
And for most of you guys.. The cost of the class is less than your insurance or A propeller. I know good and well it is much less than my 10% deductible.
#29
Registered

I believe they are using 180 as the most drastic turn... maybe 17 degrees per leg back to straight... it maintains corner momentum because the prop is always hooked up.
(that's my understanding)
(that's my understanding)
#30
Registered

There is a lot to it. Preparing for the turn (trim and tab setup), getting the boat on axis, maintaining axis, steering input etc.
I had an incident this summer where the techniques I learned kept me and my passengers out of what could have been a terrible situation. The "evasive maneuver" Tres teaches you is priceless.
Then you get into high speed resets, planing techniques (one of the best things I learned) and coming of plane (another favorite). From the class, when you're running on the water, you can truly see just in the way another boat is running who "knows" what they're doing and those who actually KNOW how to run a boat. Even my daughter points out boats and says, "Daddy, that boat is going up and down a lot". Now that's comical.