that is the powerboat article i was refering to.

Now I understand. I have not used a water pick up speedo in years. I strictly use GPS, the reason I find GPS so usefull is for efficienttrim setting. I was really surprised when I started testing with a GPS. That no matter what water condition you are running in after you trim for comfort you can really change your average speed with small trim adjustments. These small trim adjustment results can be seen on nothing other then GPS.

I am sure that before I started using GPS, I was hardly ever running the most efficient I doesn't matter what speed you are running WOT or just cruising, you should use GPS.

While using GPS you will find what I call the point of negative return. The point of negative return is adjusting your boat with small trim adjustments for better efficency. I keep making adjustments to increase speed, at a certain point of adjustment be it drive or tab adjustment, speed will actually decrease. This is your point of negative return, there is no more positive return.

I really suprised myself with this finding, a lot of times I would think I was going faster by the sound or the rpm or the rooster tail etc, but with the GPS I found the most efficient way to run any boat.

How fast am I going? If I beat you - fast enough :D

GPS and Radar will both be effected by water currents. GPS takes an average over a few seconds and is usually slower then Radar which takes an instant not an average speed reading. Radar works best when shooting a large object from the boat like a bridge or a Light House or shoot the boat from a stationary platform. You should always get two or three readings, I have seen both radar and GPS come back with funny numbers at times.

Dredgeking,,,this is killing me...maybe they will take this one off the boat as well???LOL:rolleyes:

bottom line i think frequency has it figured out. it's all relative to the speed of the boat you are running against.



joey, simple solution.......... gps, radar etc........ it doesn't matter. it's all about the guy who finishes 1st. no math necessary. how often are you guys looking at your speed while racing? what was your quote about how well you go fast? i think that's the bottom line.

So when using the radar you're pointing it at the water. That's an interesting tidbit...

"it's not how fast u go,,,it's how well you go fast"
JAS

...i does hurt to see this subject again...it's like talking about engine oil or religion,,,etc...there are the facts then there are opinions and beliefs
:rolleyes:

i thought we weren't supposed to bring up religion and politics, but engine oil might just be as controversial. ;)

Profound Answer
 

Your're right, Dredgeking. I've been following all the related threads and was also tempted to add technical babble, but then realized these discussions occured on two different levels. There were those who did not understand the physics of radar or gps, but argued which was superior anyway. And there were those who understood the physics, but argued which application of technology better applies to the question. In the end it doesn't really matter which technology you call "better", both will get you close. What does matter is, I won. :cool: