Steps work well to losen a boat up without using a lot of trim .That helps when your going straight on calm water .Not as much of an advantage while turning , or in rough water . On a old style I can add power to loosen it up and go faster . While still maintaining what I think is an advantage when , making hard turns . Stepped bottoms are great boats and are faster than old style .As for me I just add more power ,don't see much calm water around here any way .Think I'll go for safer handling .There all fun if they run . No disrespect ment Hope none taken .

None taken . But, you need to understand the physics of what makes step bottomed boats work. I'm not an engineer, but basically it revolves around the boats center of balance. If designed and rigged properly the boat should pivot around this point while maintaining "traction" so as to not slide or spin out. Having owned two, a single step and now a twin step, I have never had any issues. One of the most critical things is to learn that they do in fact turn differently, that you need to set the boat up properly, trim and tabs, before you start your turn. Too much trim and they can begin to loose grip at the tail. Too little can cause the bow to dig in and result in the spin deal. Both ends need to have an their share of traction. This is where most get into trouble, the old school train of thought is to trim the bow down and allow the boat to dig in and then carve thru the turn, step bottom boats need to be in a neutral setting to turn their best. I have played with this and it does work. Both designs work well when treated as they were designed to be. Step bottom boats are safe if operated in the proper manner.

As far as rough water, in my opinion they work better. Generally they require less trim to loosen the hull up to get the best speed, the resulting flater angle of attack keeps the boat flat when it does leave the water, and makes the re-entry more controlled. Lot less of the nose to the sky effect. There is a bunch of info on the Fountain site about this, including a driving video, it is interesting to watch, whether or not you own a step bottom boat. You can also go to the owners manual section and they have diagrams that explain the center of balance deal, again worth the read. Personaly I think all this spinner boat chit is way over played, the real truth of it that most boat "mishaps" are the direct result of the guy behind the wheel, regardless of the boats design or manufacturer.

I like the idea of having my speed gains come thru a more efficient hull design while maintaining stock power, and the less costly operation verses simply adding more horsepower. My last boat, single step 35 Fountain, ran 80-81 with HP 500s. This one, twin step 35 Fountain with 525 EFIs, has run a best to date of 94. Very little difference in horsepower, more but not a lot, and so far it's some 13-14 mph faster. All in the hull design even though it is a heavier boat as well.

You should try deploying them at speed, might give you some tail lift.

Dont give him any ideas...

Never Scary with you at the wheel or sticks. You ran the boat hard because thats how it ran best and it was alot better ride on the top at 80 plus then 50 in the slop and wash. As far as ragged goes with the steps and speed i see the velocity 390 with 700 nxt's runs dead nuts on or better then a 38 700 nxt/#6 ??stepped bottom thats had $$$$$$ of dollars of R and D to the bottom. So i don't really buy that one. I do agree with different strokes for different folks though.

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Old school or new school,last one to the wattering hole buys.

All great points made about turning a step bottom boat , which I am aware of . But keep spreading the word , maybe it will help reduce accidents with some of your step bottom friends . They must not all know !!!

I personally haven't seen any accidents up here in my area, other than the few that were alcohol related and normal family style boats. There was one a few years bach that involved a guy I knew and a 26' cat. Hit a wave at 100+ and stuffed it. Sad deal, he didn't make it. Had nothing to do with anything other than plain old way to fast for conditions, wrong place at the wrong time. As I said before most mishaps are, more often than not, driver error related. Seldom is the hull design the sole specific cause of the incindent.

High performance boating is like anything in life, a man needs to know his limitations. If you play the game above your abilities you may get yourself in trouble, it really is that simple.

If it's a flat day I'll be buying you one Bill.

But if it's a little windy you might be buying the first Burbon of the day. I'm closing in on you a wee bit at a time.