jschw80141

Question I have heard the the 28' was designed with 2.5's and the 300's weight throws off the balance of the boat. How could I determine if the boat is well balanced?Dont want to find out the hard way- Does this make the boat potentially more dangerous then other cats with 300's?

Any insight would be appreciated?

apache21

Add some weight to the front. If I had a 28 I would run 280's. Most like the 300x's though.

Philip

No Problem,, I had a 1998 28, with 300 promax's the boat was a little heavier in the stern then with the 2.5's but not a problem, I had the engines on the transom, no jack plate, the 2.5's are out on 5" jack plates, and that would surely create the same balance point as 300's on no plate. the latest set up on the 28's are 300X's on 5" jack plates, and they are having no problems at all.

Philip

jschw80141

Philip

Thanks for the info, I will sleep better at night. Sounds logical enough. Besides pushing the boat do you know of a way I could see if the boat is well balanced or just run the boat and get the feel-
I know of a previous 28' owner that back in 98' in flipped his boat, put a knot in my stomach when I heard the details. I just want to take all the precautions to have a safe sound boat with no worrys at higher speeds- Thanks.

dreamboater

I have a 2000 28 Skater with 300 promax's. I had the same concerns when I purchased the boat. This is a very light boat and takes time to get used to. For the first few months of owning the boat I would drive it around with the trim almost barried. After using the boat 1 season, I decided to add 6" jack plates. I was very worried about moving the weight even further back and adding even more of a balance issue. I am now actually very comfortable with the boat and its setup, it could be better however. This winter I will be moving the batteries to the front of the boat, believe it or not 2 of them weight about 110 lbs. This should really help out with the balance issue. These boats were not designed to run any positive trim, they dont need it. I did pick up quite a bit of speed with the new setup. I ran 103.7 last year with the motors on the transom and 14.5x32's, I just ran 111.3 two weeks ago with the motors on brackets and turning 15x34's. There have been quite a few 28's flipped also, that stays in mind too.

Philip

I never felt like it was too light, on the roughest days I would put (1) small bag of lead shot all the way up in the sponson, in front of the first bulkhead, 30pounds in each , but only found the need once or twice. I don't think I would relocate the batteries though,, that is permenant weight forward. The boat is great the way it is. I ran 111-112 with 14.5x32 lab cleavers, Dennis Cav. added some cup to the 32's and they ran very good. I used to run the props up 1.75" and had 10 -12 psi water Pres. that was enough on the 300 Promax's, I had 200 trouble free hours on this boat and motors. Jschw, which 28' are you talking about? the one that Coty sold in 1998 that went over in NJ?

jschw80141

Phil

Boat flipped on a lake, Think it was Virgina was a 97' with 300's boat belonged to a nice guy named Phil Muller who currently has a 36 Spectre Poker run for sale- Claims the boat caught to much air and filpped it over broke a bunch of ribs he mentioned skater told him that the weight of the 300s threw off the boats balance after the accident. I spoke to my Insurance company the other day, they said thye have more claims from 28s them any other cat boat. Guess just have to be carful and do my best to balance the boat. I see alot of 28's here in NY with 300's without issues. Dont know what to believe? Starting to think a 30' spectre with 300's may be a safer alternative. I am supposed to close on the boat next week- Lot to consider extra speed of the skater vs the weight of the spectre and its track record?

Havasu Cig

I have a 2004 28 with 300x's and the the CG of the boat did feel off to me when I first bought the boat. Since then I have added 5.5" jack plates and external water pickups, and I am running the motors 1.5" above the bottom (they were at 3/4").

With the jackplates and raising the motors the boat actually feels much more balanced. It seems like the opposite would be the case but it's not. I was thinking about adding weight to the front of the boat but I don't think it needs it now. Before the jackplates the boat would have a lot of bow lift when hitting other boat wake at high speed, but now it lifts just a little then settles back down.

The speed has been much better with the pickups, jackplates and 3/4" inch higher motrs as well. Before the mod's I was running 108 mph. With the set-up I currently have I just ran 117 mph the other day with 3/4 tanks, a full cooler, and all my usual stuff I have stuffed in the gunwales. This was on fresh water (glass) running against a 1.5 mph current on a river. The boat should easily see beyond 120 with less weight and better conditions. I am very happy with the boat.

I also agree with the above post about trim. The boat does not like positive trim. This was hard to get used to because this is the first boat I have owned where this was the case.

I have a video of the 117 mph run the other day, and you can see that the boat is trimmed down. I will post if I figure out how to get it off my camera and on the computer.

jschw80141

Awesome.... Send the video to me PLEASE [email protected]

Havasu Cig

I am going to the store today to try and find what I need to down load the video, but here are a couple stills from the video and you can see how flat the boat is running and the trim of the motors...