Re: Nauticus smart tabs... Broke them off today!
i don't think anything is built to handle those conditions. on the open market. moving that fast with adjustables, and adjusting, could really throw a wrench in the handling.
Actually, one of the reasons I liked the idea of the smart tabes is that it takes trying to adjust them at speed out of the equation.
The boat runs great at higher speeds without them - the porpoising problem with higher rake props is in the cruising speed ranges, and the other issue i was trying to correct was the fact that my hull likes to plane right about 16-18 mph... right where the kids need to be pulled on boards so it's about impossible to keep an even speed in that range because you're always either plaining out or falling off plane. With the tabs on i could hold an even speed all the way down to about 13...
I'm assuming that with a set of adjustables, i would be able to adjust them while towing boards and skiis and then find a sweet spot for high speeds that helps smooth out the chop a little / keep the bow down, but where they're not far enough down to worry about it doing anything screwy with the handling...
As I mentioned above, the boat feels really stable under conditions, it's heavy enough that it has never even come close to feeling like it's losing a lot of grip on the water or anything, but you do get bounced around a bit - nothing so unmanagable that skis and so forth are flying everywhere or anything like that... the two girls were sitting on the back seat laughing and catching a little spray that was coming over the top... I'm also probably driving more conservatively than it my sound, I'm really careful not to catch air without backing out of it, or even to have it under heavy throttle while going through big enough waves that would have the prop losing grip... I have a feeling that would mean certain, quick death for my alpha drive... The hull has plenty of v in the front to cut god size waves, but a pad in the back that lets it fly when you trim it out on calmer water... fastest in light chop of course...
I also see every weekend guys out there are running their boats a lot harder than I do mine...
say what you like about the set-up in our 80's vintage bowrider ski-boat, but it handles great doesn't do bad on fuel when you stay out of the secondaries. It also has a ton of power on call when you need it. Now that I've got the carb right, it'll idle down to 500 rpms as well... loads of fun. At one point yesterday up where the water is fairly calm, we were running in the lower 50's (highest I'll cruise for really long in order to keep drive temp down and about 3800 rpms) and overtook a nice looking scarab with twin drives. Crossed his wake, pulled along as if to pass him... When he hit the throttles, I casually rolled ours on, trimmed the drive up a little and we walked away with authority...
sorry so wordy, I type way too fast for my own good sometimes i think... either way, thanks for the comments...
