Rippem

wasn't the original 30' mold destroyed (burned) as part of the trademark settlement?

Have we splashed a nice straight surviving 30' for a new mold?

see posts 59&60

Revelocity

The new 322 hull was splashed from a recently restored 30'. It won't be as fast as the 320 hull with the same HP - but it will be better behaved at higher speeds.

Team V

I never thought of it as necessarly a poor design?

Yeah, the 32 is azs heavy.... deeply mounted engines, lotsa aft fuel/passenger weight (maybe an oversized swim platform?)

I thought of it more as a trade-off of hull efficiency/performance/ride/handling etc...

Hmmmm..... maybe too aggressive a notch.... makes sense. Requiring tab at lower speeds... but benifitting less hull surface in the water at higher speeds...
My experience has been to see 75mph or better I have to run at least a neutral tab... then 'tip-toe' into negative tab for the last mph or two. (between a -2 and -3 if I recall??) (BTW- it is possible the pegs may be off slightly)

True, it is not a "point and shoot" boat.

Half the fun is learning how to drive these hulls.... no??

Revelocity

Agree totally with Team V. The 320 was designed for speed efficiency using Merc's black motors. Yes you need to keep your finger on the tab button but I felt that was a good trade off for the speed potential. The 320 hull had no compromises with it turning ability! It's truely a driver's boat.

Rippem

I never intended to crucify the 32' as a bad design. At it's introduction it was certianly one of, if not the fastest boat of it's size and weight with black motors...over 80 every day on 502EFI's. 'Nuff said.

At what price speed? I mean shortly after it coming to market, other boats in it's class were running just as fast on black power, with somewhat better behavior overall.

Argue if you like...the running surface aft wasn't "big enough". You would never get that boat on plane without full positive tab ( with Hydromotives), or run it at any speed with success without neutral or MORE tab. Including wide open, which if you do get away with it for a little burst...it's all over if somebody spits in the water in front of the boat...and you aren't bumping those tabs or trim back down in a hurry.

Dave, don't confuse mounted engine hieght in realtion to the deck with the fact that the hull is very tall/big aft, which also contributes to the problem. Too much weight outboard of the small running surface, though the platform adds little. Albeit the finest, most user friendly integrated platform I've ever seen on a performance boat! The X is actually quite agressive (high) ,thus the huge notch...to make it possible to have the centerlines that high...for top speed. To get a more accurate perspective on this look at the distance from the bottom of the motors to the floor of the bilge instead.

I'll tell 'ya that tip forward/removable back seat is a winner too!!

Don't get me wrong I had great luck with mine, and "understand" that hull. I'd run anybody but Steve himself in one...anywhere, anytime, the more HP the better. We've got more seat time and longer ownership periods than anyone right here between Barstow and I. Take a look at the pics...I run that b*tch like that for 125 miles in a poker run, throttles to the wall 90% of the time just using drive trim to modulate the boats attitude. Of course, more HP than I had would require more throttle work. I'm 6'6" 240 and can remember clearly in that very rough 99' TI run, my feet just tapping the floor as I levitated in the boat at WOT for miles in 4+' wind and poker run slop. My feet would only tap the floor when the wave crests would tap the boat up to meet me. It was an easy day on the knees...cause they never saw any weight just tiptapping across the crests! After the run, I was most impressed with a couple of the older "players" in big iron that were docked in the same area coming over and complimenting me on having "that thing hung high and straight all damn day"..."how do you do it?" My answer was "this isn't my first Velocity." Then of couse the innevitable "what power?" "carbed 454 Mags" no f'kin way...open the hatch". (See comment about throttle position above). I was beating up on 37-40' boats with mod 85 MPH power that couldn't/wouldn't run their power that hard for that long. I just put the trusty Mags on the dash and leave 'em there. (Sorry Dave ) I was right there with them trading lead in rough conditions with a 77 MPH boat 7-10 feet shorter. My navigator Bob C. (a retired shool teacher/administrator) is into performance bigtime and had alot of hot rod toys over the years...he couldn't get enough, and had complete faith in the boat and I as we had run together before. The only thing he wanted on the route that day was another 10 MPH! Way cool PR partner!

Never ran another big PR after that. Figured I made my point about Steve's boat and my driving skills. Took home 2nd place bonanza to boot.

Just making the point that I'm not throwing that hull under the bus...that damn thing made me a hero, and not just that day...it made me feel like one many times over 6+ years. Just that I'm sure Steve can do even better with a boat that size in terms of overall performance.
'cause if your gonna sell recreational boats to the masses, they should have a wider window of good performance.

Rippem

Dave, the tab indicators are off side to side about one pin width.
Check where nuetral is on the the trailer...trust me your never above nuetral with the tabs, other than at the beach.

Even with the bottom (neutral) is about 2 1/2 to 3 hashmarks down.

Rippem

notice straight, level, lack of wetted bottom, positive tab, and the relaxed demeanor of the occupants.

Team V

Okay... point made....

But... it doesn't cost any extra to use the tabs!

I'll do some checking in the spring... I've been wanting to find neutral on the tabs in relation to the pegs.

What fun would it be if we all just picked our tabs up and pushed our throttles to the wood all day?

(We can split hairs about getting on plane some other time )

Rippem

Ah... but it does, exponentially more drag (when beyond neutral) than the equivalent sq. inches of wetted bottom.





[QOUTE=TEAM V] What fun would it be if we all just picked our tabs up and pushed our throttles to the wood all day?

[/QUOTE]


Like I do in the Formula? It's another 1800 lbs. dry on only an additional 120 HP, and is only 5 MPH slower?

It will plane with NO tab!

Don't take me too seriously here...I'm just making conversation. and enjoying the discussion.

Velocity spoiled me for the thrill of driver involvement.
Yes, the Formula is B O R I N G in that respect. The GF has even made that unsolicited comment!
It sure works nice though.

P.S. how the hell do you do the double quote thing in a post?

Rippem

on a lighter note...I gotta buy another SeaDoo.