After many years of owning an open bow with a outboard, my wife and I bought a Four Winns deck boat with a Volvo 5.0 I/O. I loved my outboard, but I'm not so sure about the I/O, but I'm still learning. Here's my two biggest problems; #1) with 10 people on board the thing won't plane out. We kept most toward the front, still no luck. I know it's a fairly heavy boat, but my 17' Cobia planed out with 6 on board in 5-6 seconds. Will this boat never plane out with a load on board, did I just make the biggest mistake in my life? Would a different prop help, or I've seen "hydrofoils" in a catalog, would they help? A little backgroud info, at our ages (fifties) we pull tubes, once in a great while a skier, but mainly just want to cruise around. We don't need alot of speed but we do need to plane out. Problem #2) this thing is a big pain to load on the trailer (bunk style). Our old boat loaded so easy and quickly and this is just plain hard. I admit I'm still new at loading, but it's so much harder to crank all the way to the bow rollers, I'm waist deep in water with the side bunkers under water, then maybe I can crank it. First time I ripped the stitching in the strap apart it cranked so hard. Is the bow supposed to rest on both bow rollers or just the upper or lower one. Sould the strap go between them or over the top or under the bottom one. I know we are going to like this boat, but so far it's been difficult. Can someone explain what I'm doing wrong or where to get more help? Thanks
