SABER28

i have heard some pretty wild claims about these things on the board. usually posted by their more rabid fans, while thats ok, everybodys got an opinion. however, some claims seem to me to be beyond belief, running a 24 foot boat in 10 foot waves comes to mind. how many of you have actually been in legit 10 foot waves? i have and believe me i could not even get the props to hook up or keep it in the water long enough to get it on plane and my boats 28 foot and 7000 lbs.i'm not looking for batboat owners opinions here as much as non-owners (more objective )

Dredgeking

i don't know about 10 footers, but the one i drove in corpus would thump my F1 29' fountain in rough water.

BuzzinBye!

Saber 28,

I have an objective view for you considering you and I have the same pleasure boats.

I took and ride in a 24 bat boat on the LEOPA poker run, as anyone will tell you this was a ROUGH day. About 4 -6 foot Lake Erie waves (close chop), and for those of you questioning the size the NOAA bouy at vermillion was reading 5.2 wave heights.

I ran my 28 all day and it was less than enjoyable. We took the bat boat out and I was surprised how well the boat handled. Not saying it rode well because it didn't. I am saying it stayed hooked up flew level and kept going. I have the same problem you have in that in really rough water the boat won't stay hooked up and is tough to keep on plane without really beating the crap out of you.

It is strange being in that boat because when you land hard it sounds like you're inside of a garbage can because it is so hollow. (probably a typical race boat occurence) Like I said it handled well, we punched through about 4 waves and never slowed down (we were running about 40-50 and punched it up a couple of times) The boat will go a lot longer and harder than my body could stand.

Dan

Allan4

From what I understand the bat boats out run the F1 boats in big, nasty water during the sanctioned races. I have spent a decent ammount of time in these boats, but never in big enough water to add first hand testimony. However, I know a bunch of guys who have, they have nothing but praise for the way the boat will run in bigger water. I'll tell you one thing, people about wreck on the highway looking at these things when you trailer them. It's borderline lunacy. I may just buy a mold and cruise around the Nations interstates with a video cam and try to hit the World's Funniest Video $10K jackpot......

Pete B

saber,
you are from michigan, give reindl a call he is in cinninati, im sure he would be happy to give you demo, or catch him next season during the great lakes silver cup series. the one thing to keep in mind it is only a 24 ft boat actually 22 with a 4 ft beam, it can handle big water, the real question is can the occupants. the boat flies very level but at wot you arent sipping martini's. it will out perform any boat in is size and motor classification, 70Plus with a 315 hp volvo. is not shabby. check them out they will make you a believer.

packinair

I drove the LEOPA poker run with glassdave on the sticks for I think it was 90 miles in 4-6' waves.. anything you think this boat will not do ... IT WILL!!! these things are freakin nuts in big water the way they stay level, once we relized that the boat could handle it we were wide open the whole time. out of 80 some boats on the longest/roughest leg of the run we were the 3rd boat in.. (hope chris doesn't read this ) but it was a blast.. 3 kidney transplants later glassdave and I are fine

C_Spray

iTrader: (2)

I don't think that a lot of people realize that wave height is measured from the center of the wave form to the highest point, not from the bottom of the trough to the top of the crest. By the formal definition, a 10' wave would be 20' from top to bottom.

That being said, I've owned a 28' Batboat since 1997, and I've always surrendered before the boat did. This was my first performance boat, so it was difficult for me to compare, although now I feel that there are certain times and conditions where I think the Batboat is actually more comfortable than my 38' Formula. The ride can be hard, particularly if you land on the front of the hull. The entry angle of the hull is quite flat, because there is very little deck volume to prevent stuffing, although these boats tend to "pierce" waves instead.

As far as staying level, here's the best explanation I can give:

KN

I started the thread about what 24/25' boat would you buy. Lot's of great input. There were some claims about running in 10' sea's in a 24' Bat Boat ( which I guess is 22' long) If they were true 10' Sea's my hat's off to you, but people do tend to exaggerate.

The consensus seems to be that these boat handle rough water very well.

C_Spray thank for the picture, that's awesome, any other manufacturers testing with a wind tunnel.

Kirk

Audiofn

I ran in one in testing at the Cape. It was choppy snotty crap (the day before the race not the day of). The boats are nothing short of amazing in the way they handle. We were catching some boats that were Much larger then us out there. The way it turns takes some getting used to and the wing can catch and make it do some funky things. Get used to that and they freeking haul. It does sound very odd inside and some of the landings SOUND much worse then they are. The only complaint that I had was the poor visibility out of the canopy, and even with the padding out of the seat bottom my head hits the side of the canopy (I am 6ft tall). This is more of a canopy thing then a design of the boat however. Most canapy boats limit your vision due to the obvious. Can the boat run in 10 footers fast? Well that depends on who's ten footers we are talking about. NOAS inacurate bouy report 10 footers ya it will do that. My 10 footers NO CHANCE, but neither will my 30 footer, or a 42 Tiger for that matter. The boats WAY out perform what you would expect. When I get all settled down and money is not so tight one of them is on the wish list

Jon

Jana

I've never run one, but I've watched them at several races. They seemed to handle the rough stuff in Corpus last year very well. I even remember seeing one submarine, pop up and keep racing like nothing ever happened.