well.....i must say i really like the boat so far. good ride. nice lines. the interior is lacking (no sunpad or cuddy cushions) but i will have that taken care of in a couple weeks when i drop it at the upholstery shop. having a removable sundeck built over hte splashwell and cushions made for the cuddy. also installing a 19x19 bomar hatch on the bow for air/light. bought 80 ft of red LED rope light to run through the entire cockpit/cabin also.

i have yet to max the boat out....but i will say that when you get up to speed in rough water you really have to drive the boat and work those tabs. its def not a "full throttle and steer" proposition. (lighspeed told me this ahead of time) but it makes it more fun IMO. im still learning.

the boat is very light in the nose and the slower you go the more you have to drop the tabs....and vice a versa. it now has all the manual trim and k plane indicators working so i can stockpile that info while learning how to drive the boat at speed.

lightspeed even suggested adding a lil weight to the bow in the form of a sandbag or two to try and keep the nose down.

all this being said i muist say that my hat is off to the guys who raced this boat....or any like it in rough water at 80+ mph....it must have been a WILD ride. it seems to be very unpredictable in rough water compared to other similar size boats.

the boat moves around when trimmed up and haulin ass....alot more than my 29 scarab ever did. but i think that this is due partially to the light weight of the boat...(just an uneduacated guess)...it weighs the same or even less than my 25 warlock cat.

anyone care to school me and/or add any observations, comments, advice or info on this boat and how to drive it?

Turncoat.....

lol inboards are the work of the devil.

HELLS BELLS if your into evil your a friend of mine ....

If ya think that thing is wild try driving a 24 Pantera with some serious power, not that mine has it, but others I have driven do.

2tonchevy, you should also post on checkmate-boats.com. There are alot of guys that would be interested in hearing about your boat. My 28 arrived at 5o this morning!

i can tell you this much. in big water i think you will find that the boat will handle better with the motors tucked right in. no trim at all. that should make it fly a bit better and get you a more positive feel.
also if it is to "light" in the front thats a very easy fix with just swapping the props. what is on it now for props? 3 blade? you may need more of a stern lift style prop. i found my boat and a few other checkmates handle much much better with a stern lift prop and do not loose much if any top end speed.
any pics??

HEY THANKS for the advice!

it has 26p 3 blade mercury/quicksilver choppers on it now. they are turning in toward eachother. are the choppers a bow lifting prop? i really dont know much about outboards...but im learning. the boat is heavy in the rear.....if there is a way to improve handling i would really like to try it...

any advice on what prop to try?

i do know that the faster you go the higher you can raise the tabs without porpoising. the boat wants to porpoise pretty bad if you get even slightly to little tab in the water at a given speed. (lightspeed told me this before i bought the boat so its no surprise)

it has to be driven....thats for sure....

You could try outboard style bravos prop. Its the same style as a inboard bravo, but it has ventlation holes in it.

i do not know a lot about the outboard props myself. but looking at pics of the chopper prop it looks like a more rounded ear prop which usually means bow lift. best i can tell with all the larger checkmates i have been in they do not like bow lift props. ive tested many props on my boat and the bow lift props gain me now speed but make the boat super "light" in the bow. i call it flighty i swap to a stern lift prop and the boats handle much much better.

i would call throttle up and ask them what they recomend for props for that boat. explain that it needs more stern lift and they will prob send you a 4 blade none round ear prop and i think it will be like a hole new boat.

we did some testing on a friends ob boat and we went with the merc rev 4 props. we did not test the bravo1 on the boat but the rev 4 made the boat much much better all around over his 3 blase. he lost 1 mph on top but picked up 3 mph at 4000 rpm. so his cruse speed went way up and it got out of the water much better.
noyzee