24 in rough waters
 

I've ran in some 2-3' slop and was able to "get on top" and run hard on a few occasions.

This weekend I was on Lake Michigan and got into some really confused water. No rhythm at all. Decent sized waves then a hole and a big one and launch time. Coming in all directions, etc.

I was getting some good air every 5-6 seconds or so and thought I was running good. But, my friends in other boats thought I was running great! I'm sure 30+ foot boats could have ran faster but I'm just curious what a decent average speed for these conditions would be in a "little" 24. :D

Thanks

I've run back from Catalina in the afternoon in the 40 - 50 mph range in my 24. Probably similar conditions or worse. I was sore for a week... It was AWESOME though!

So far, the roughest water we've ran in was over Memorial Day weekend. We went from St. Pete to Sarasota with a 20+ mph blowing from the east. As we crossed Tampa Bay it was ranging 3-4 ft. We averaged around 50 or so the whole way across.

We were with 3 other boats, a 24 Skater, a 30 Spectre, and a 30 Velocity, and although I'm the slowest out of the four, we damn near led the pack the whole way. :evilb: :evilb: Myself and my friend in the 24' Skater were out front the whole time.

It's definitely easier to maintain a constant speed when your running directly into or against the waves. It becomes much more difficult when you have waves coming from all directions. :p

24'
 

Ran my 24' in a poker run/fun run this weekend that sunsation put on, it was on lake st.clair in Mi. 3ft slop really rough... we never ran under 60mph, we hit a couple monster 6ft wakes left by big vikings and launched the pantera a few times, prop was at least 3 to 4 ft outta the water, boat stayed nice & flat and landed soft.... while all that was going on alot of the sunsations under 35ft couldnt run thru what we were fly'n thru...... these 24' pantera's are badd azz!!!! mines get'n a 632bbc over the winter. i cant say enough good things about these boats!!!

Sounds like I was in the ball park then. :D When I could get on top I was running 60+ easily. But as we went south they got bigger and started to develop some big holes. I still kept a good pace but I was launching the boat every 5 to 6 seconds when I'd come out of a hole. I was impressed with how she flew! :D

Just curious, how are you guys running in the bigger slop as far as tabs and trim settings?

My boat seems to like a little negative tab and slight positive trim. If I try to run with the tabs higher and less trim it doesn't fly as level.

Just curious how you other 24 owners run?

I run the tabs as high as i can keep them, usually the right side is all the way up and need to level the boat with the left tab very slightly.... i run the drive up pretty high too, depends on how rough the water is, when it starts to skate around i back it down a lil until its stable.

heres an oldie but a goodie.

Scotts 24, it may be a raceboat, but has a full cabin, and single controls, he throttled, drove and tabbed this thing.

Yeah in consistant water I will run with the tabs higher. But, in the big slop I have to run a little negative tab. 1-2' slop about neutral.

And I run the left one a little lower in most cases.

I love that pic! I see a little tab there. That is what I call SNOT!!! :D

I think we run about 55-60 in roughly 3 footers. Choppy and basically rolling wake. Back off a little when we start getting cross wake, etc. I don't do much with the tabs, except drop the left side to ballance the boat. I have been trying to use them more when going flat out on smoother water.

We were in a poker run this weekend. One of the smaller boats. Mainly 30+ footers, with quite a few 40 footers. we were back in the pack and had a hard time getting caught in the middle of side rolling troughs. That is the only thing I have problems with. Had a hard time getting going and was not able to adjust things much. Just when we were going other lake traffic would be in the way and I would have to back off. Otherwise, we are rock solid in and out of the water, basically skimming along. I hate getting caught in side wake, just rocks us around.

I hear ya on the sidewakes! Female passengers don't seem to care for that! :D

This is where I have found the tabs very helpful. If I run them slightly negative and the crosswakes don't throw me around nearly as much and I find myself not constantly playing with them. Yes it scrubs a little speed but I can't run max speed in that stuff anyway. I just set them and forget about them.

But everyone runs different. That's why i was looking to see what everyone else did.

Not to be a ball buster, but we run into a lot of cruiser wakes, barge wakes and wakes off the Catalina shuttles when we run behind the breakwall in Long Beach Harbor and with my 24 (and the 28 obviously) we just crushed those. No need to even touch the trottle when running in the 60s in 99% of wakes.

Second thing, in quartering seas, I've never been in a more stable and comfortable boat (smaller than my buddy's 48 Sea Ray) than in my 28 and the 24 kills it too. I think its comparable to our old Pen Yann (the Pantera of fishing boats!) These boats just crush it!

As far as quartering seas I agree if you have some tab down, at least in my boat. I think it's because of the narrow beam and rocker in the hull. With some tab down I will stay right in the throttle and the boat knifes through or glides over, depending on the type of waves. With not enough tab down my boat will launch the bow. But I have to admit the boat is happier running with or against the waves.

With big wakes it's the same scenario. A little negative tab and stay in it until there's air under the prop! :D

The reason I asked about trim and tab settings is because different 24 owners seem to drive in different ways.

Right on. Sorry I didn't give details. Ironman owned my 24 for something like 15 years befor I bought it. He told me to leave the tabs at neutral and just monkey with the drive. I tried a bunch of stuff and you know what? He was right!

My 28 single doesn't need much tab either. Running the boat, I don't ever see more than 3.5 or 4 and I run 3 (neutral) nearly all the time, unless its flat-ish and then I'll run 1.5 or zero and trim the crap out of the drive. My 28 likes about 6.5 on the drive for top speed (3 is neutral) and my 24 probably liked a little less (didn't have indicators, but guessing less because it was a lot lighter).

Now keep in mind, I'm a know nothing monkey who's only smart enough to listen to Jo and the dudes who I bought my boat from! :D

Good luck and kick asz!

We run about the same then. My stainless marine indicators are 1-9. 1 being down and 9 up. 5 is neutral and where I run in 1-2' chop. Flatter water I bring them up to 7(It's no faster past 7). And in bigger slop I will run them at 4. I am amazed at how fast the boat is even when running a little negative tab!

I've been trying to run as little as tab as possible, but I mostly end up with the same as what's been mentioned above. Normal day to day, the stbd tab is all the way up and the port side is down just enough to balance it out.

Mine only has the 150's so I don't have much tab to play with anyway, but they do seem to work.

Something I like to do on the large cruiser/boat wakes is to hit the first set off the transom of the passing boat. This is especially fun for the first time passengers who aren't expecting it. :D (well, at least for me. :D ) However, it makes for the quickest and smoothest ride.