Looking for input about this video of surface drives
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AjoyE13YMI

apparently its a 42 fountain and unless I'm blind the hull never touches the water even at an apparent 50 mph, can someone explain to me what I am looking at? apparently hull design no longer matters? or is it just a notch?

yes the camera is up in the notch on the transom, which puts it probably five or six inches out of the water any time its on plane. I like the telemetry and one know what kind that is?

As Dave said and as you can see in these pics, the notch is just that, a notch. In that video the notch is out of the water when on plane but the pad is still very much in the water.

Its a Garmin Virb.

https://virb.garmin.com/en-US

Is it typical for a surface drive to ride so high at such a low speed? With all the talk about speedmasters only being effective over 80mph I assumed thats was their approximate planing speed

It is not the gear case the determines the planing speed. It is the hull. Speedmasters are the preferred gearcase over 80 MPH due to them being able to be surfaced as in the video. That is when the "magic" happens!

A true surface drive is designed to be about 50% out of the water when the boat is on plane. My Kaama drives as soon as the boat crawls up on top of the water and level out the drives are running half submerged at 0% trim. I can of course trim them up and down and change the depth! Unlike a stern drive positive trim doesn't do much with a surface drive because you are basically pulling the prop out of the water!

I shot this video this summer. You can't see a whole lot but you can see the blades spinning and you can kinda see they are only half submerged!

https://youtu.be/X2JYRgf1uRc

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/a...91758_n-1-.jpg

Damn that's sexy!!!

probably one of the best surface drive videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of1RY4M8VqM

Marginnm, thats a very nice ride!