I pull out of bay city michigan and dont let of the sticks till i see skyscrapers in chicago!! Seriously though, the bigger your boat is obviously the faster you can drive in worse conditions. My 272 Baja got held from Mackinaw island harbor to almost no wake zone/harbor entrance in Cheboygan(back when it only had 700 ish hp), my 2 passengers kept looking like is he ever going to let off?? 30 seconds before i was going to pull sticks back a innercooler hose blew off and we all thought the motor let loose. Yanked sticks back, idled motor, stuck hose back on and proceeded. Not many days on lake huron i could hold a Baja 272 at high speed for 20 minutes. I will say this though, if your going to hold your **** at 5700 or 6300 you better have a safe tune and a big wallet/short rebuild interval.

I HAVE to run with the throttle pinned. My boat only runs in the 60's for crying out loud. If I didn't put it to the dash, Sea Rays and pontoons would beat me to the dock.

I feel your pain.......

The struggle is real....

Also, to me what matters, is what setup you are running? Holding a stock 502 mag wide open for an hour at 4900rpm, thats making less than 1hp per ci, is a far cry from an engine making twice that power, and turning 6000 plus rpm for an hour.

As the power level goes up, so does the risks. Not only is it harder on the engine components, its harder on the drive, the trans , etc.

Then theres calm water vs rough water. If youre in rough water running hard, and breaking the props loose all the time, thats much harder than calm water where the engine, and drivetrain and are not being abused.

Ive had friends with stock 454 mags run wot EVERYWHERE for years and never really have any trouble. Try that with a pair of 1000s , and like smitty said, your rebuild times and chance of failure is amplified big time.

Not too mention, the fuel costs. A heavy old boat , like icdedppls 38 flatdeck with 900s, or a 41 apache pleasure version, with big power, is gonna burn a chit ton of fuel. 1.5 mpg would be a dream for those setups. Id cut that figure in half or more for those guys. So, for a guy who goes out on a Saturday, and burns 300 bucks in fuel from point a to point b getting 1.5 mpg, the guy next to him , might be spending 600 bucks to do the same run.

I dont have the bank account to go out and run my old fountain like i am in a miami to bimini race every weekend. I do enjoy at least one high speed run per day when im out, even if its for a short period.

Thats why I boat with icdedppl often. We both have old straight bottom boats , similar in size, similar engine setups, both guzzle gas . We arent trying to compete against each other. I think what we consider is acceptable budget wise when it comes to boating, is on the same page. The typical weekend of boating, i am fine with spending 500 bucks. Thats boat fuel, truck fuel, slip costs, and boose cost. On my budget, i cant afford to go out every weekend and blow a grand during the summer. Id love to, but its not in the cards.

Of course theres exceptions like trips to loto, where we rent a condo, there for longer stays, and of course, the cost goes up.

Good times messing around on weekdays .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6KOiuy3WYg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B67SwV_0lxw

That is excellent , i think your compass is having a hard time seeing straight

That's not a real Fountain driver if you're not chopping the throttles through a shipping channel.

Certainly not big water, or long wot times, just a typical Wednesday afternoon of horseplay. Running from "the playpen" , back to 31st harbor. Its all about having fun .

https://youtu.be/QE88GsW_znw

That is the type of water my boat shines in, any calmer it actually rides worse believe it or not.