Smooth ride

cburtondunn

II have a fun deck 187. Rides great in smooth water but not so much in chop. Has anyone ever added weight to the ski locker to improve rough water performance and ability to plane at lower speeds?

FlyingV5

"Welcome to the Club", cburtondunn. I have a FD196 and it is similar. The wide tri-hull shape of the bow gives our boats great stability at rest, sharp steering at speed and lots of weight capacity for the length. The trade-off is anything over about an eight inch chop can jar your teeth. And they don't like to grab big air. I am constantly on the alert for "rogue waves" that might cause a belly-buster. A deep vee would slice right through those waves, but I didn't buy my Hurricane for foul weather capability. At the July 4th fireworks display the FunDeck was the ideal viewing platform. As to improvements, lots of posts on this forum address the issue. Some favor trim tabs, I got great improvement in minimum planing speed with a slight decrease in top speed by going to a 4 blade prop. Also lost the second battery since I don't run a trolling motor or livewell. Better to remove weight than to add if you can. I found a "sweet spot" where the boat is almost on plane but still plowing the water where my boat seems to bust through the chop with less discomfort to my passengers.

cburtondunn

Thanks for the advice.  Going to try 4 blade with a whale tail. I'll let you know how it works out. 

waterboy

I'm not sure i would want any heavy weight rattling around down there possibly doing more harm than good. I agree with the above post that this vessel isn't going to be the greatest in the foul weather. I bought mine because my wife wanted a pontoon boat so this was a compromise and when I trim up I can go places the pontoons can't..  Our lake isn't too rough and if it does get rough its really crappy outside so i would be found inside but i understand where you are coming from.  It does slap the water.