AustinL911
Probationary User
- Joined
- May 28, 2012
- Messages
- 3
- Points
- 0
Hey all,
A little background: my father has a 1998 XB-2003 with a decently hot 260 strapped to it. He's owned it for 16 years now, though hardly ever uses it due to lack of time. And for 16 years now, he's been talking about teaching me to drive it. Well, our schedules finally aligned where we could go out together and cruise around for a bit. My naive self is thinking, "It's a boat, how hard could this be?" :banghead
Now, we didn't get to spend much time in it d/t lake and weather conditions. In that time, I was able to get it up to around 67-68 (GPS) before I decided it was a bit uncomfortable for me my first time out in it. The way he explained it to me, is that it goes through a couple transitions as it steps up onto the next pad; the first being around 67mph and the other being around 78, with the 2nd being the worst of the two.
A few thoughts:
-He states the squirreliness at those transitions is normal and is something you get used to. I can't say that I like it. It makes my butthole pucker. And I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to 'drive thru them'.
-When the torque on the steering wheel (manual steering) loosens up at ~67, it's a very unsettling feeling.
-How do you slow this SOB down without it getting squirrely?
I spent a lot of my time getting used to nailing it out of the hole, trimming up to where it needed to be, getting it up to 67 or so, and then easing it back down. My natural instinct was to chop the throttle when things started to get hairy, which I promptly got yelled at for doing on a few occasions, so I really tried to work on not doing that.
So is there a 'trick' to driving these things or is it simply seat-time and getting comfortable with it? He's got the boat setup very near how it should be. He can run it right on up into the high 90s with ease. I'm not so sure I can do the same at this point, nor am I even close.
Help?
:idiot
A little background: my father has a 1998 XB-2003 with a decently hot 260 strapped to it. He's owned it for 16 years now, though hardly ever uses it due to lack of time. And for 16 years now, he's been talking about teaching me to drive it. Well, our schedules finally aligned where we could go out together and cruise around for a bit. My naive self is thinking, "It's a boat, how hard could this be?" :banghead
Now, we didn't get to spend much time in it d/t lake and weather conditions. In that time, I was able to get it up to around 67-68 (GPS) before I decided it was a bit uncomfortable for me my first time out in it. The way he explained it to me, is that it goes through a couple transitions as it steps up onto the next pad; the first being around 67mph and the other being around 78, with the 2nd being the worst of the two.
A few thoughts:
-He states the squirreliness at those transitions is normal and is something you get used to. I can't say that I like it. It makes my butthole pucker. And I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to 'drive thru them'.
-When the torque on the steering wheel (manual steering) loosens up at ~67, it's a very unsettling feeling.
-How do you slow this SOB down without it getting squirrely?
I spent a lot of my time getting used to nailing it out of the hole, trimming up to where it needed to be, getting it up to 67 or so, and then easing it back down. My natural instinct was to chop the throttle when things started to get hairy, which I promptly got yelled at for doing on a few occasions, so I really tried to work on not doing that.
So is there a 'trick' to driving these things or is it simply seat-time and getting comfortable with it? He's got the boat setup very near how it should be. He can run it right on up into the high 90s with ease. I'm not so sure I can do the same at this point, nor am I even close.
Help?
:idiot
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