sprink58

Having owned a few of these I have often wondered what the practical limit is for top speed on these old 24 deg dead-rise deep vee hulls...especially considering the hook that is built into many of them. I know this hook deal has been discussed many times but I have often wondered what the maximum real world numbers are.

The step hulls reduce the wetted surface therefore reducing the friction of the hull running in the water. I wonder if there is a % improvement factor all things being equal of what improvement the steps provide in a given length and width hull.

Being involved in power boating in South Florida for 35 years I remember a time where if you had a boat that ran 60~65 mph you were faster than most...now it's not uncommon to see standard power production boats break 75 mph with no problem....of course that's largely due to the step hull technology.

I guess the question is at what point with a standard Deep V are you wasting horsepower because you have reached the hydrodynamic limits of the hull design?

Too Stroked

I think you're going to find that you've posed a very difficult question to answer. Much depends on comparing apples to apples. For instance, Fountain (love 'em or hate 'em) always had a pretty efficient (fast) hull - pretty much across the line. When Reggie started experimenting with adding steps though, he found that the longer hulls really picked up a good deal of speed. The smaller hulls on the other hand didn't seem to gain quite as much. In fact the biggest gain in the later Fountain stepped hulls was not so much additional speed as it was improved handling.

My personal opinion is that below about 24', a well designed non-stepped hull doesn't gain nearly as much speed by going to stepped configuration. Anybody else?