I’m increasingly convinced the modern speedboat arms race-multi-step hulls, five outboards hanging off a beefed-up bracket, endless “80 mph on glass” bragging-has pushed us away from what actually matters in real water. After two decades of running fast boats in mixed conditions, I don’t see many builders or reviewers publishing anything that reflects day-to-day performance, durability, or safety margins. Lots of top-speed pulls, almost no data on seakeeping efficiency or structural longevity under slam loads.
Here’s what I want to challenge, and I’m hoping for real data, not just brochure talk:
Steps in real chop: Does a twin- or triple-stepped bottom still pay its drag dividend when you’re trimming for 1-2 ft of confused wind-against-tide? I’ve felt more than one boat go from planted to skittery with minor trim/jack-plate changes. Who has back-to-back logs (same hull family stepped vs non-stepped, or same boat with ride plates/trim tabs masking step effects) showing net fuel/speed/comfort differences outside of glass water?
What should be the metric? Top speed is useless at 95% duty cycle. I propose a seakeeping efficiency index: nautical miles per gallon (or per kWh) at a fixed comfort envelope, e.g., 25-35 knots with 95th percentile vertical acceleration at the helm under 0.3 g, in documented sea state and load. Who’s willing to post data from an IMU plus fuel-flow/BMS logs to build real “polars” for planing hulls?
Active ride control for outboards under 40 ft: Why are we still hand-flying tabs and jack plates like it’s 1999? Cars have ESC; airplanes have stability augmentation. Anyone running an IMU-based auto-trim/interceptor system on sub-40′ outboards with proven gains in fuel burn and handling predictability? Numbers, not marketing.
Transom and core longevity with today’s hanging weight: Four to six V8s is a literal ton-plus bolted aft. After years of 30-50 knot running, what do ultrasound or thermography scans show about microcracking, core shear, and delam at the bracket/bolt pattern? Insurance surveyors or shops with anonymized before/after data following repowers-what are you seeing?
Stepped-hull upset behavior: When ventilation goes asymmetric in a quartering sea, how recoverable is it for an average skipper? Any incident stats or instrumented tests on off-axis reentry and spin/slide thresholds?
Electric go-fast reality check: I’m not anti-electric; I’m anti-handwave. Show a 30-35′ modern electric running 45 knots for a 100 nm round trip with reserve, in 1-2 ft, documented with power, temp derate, and state-of-charge. Otherwise, let’s stop pretending it’s there for mainstream offshore day use.
Noise and fatigue: Cockpit SPL at cruise plus vertical RMS g correlates to how long your crew actually enjoys the ride. Anyone logging both to compare hulls or control strategies?
If there’s interest, I’ll post a simple logging template (GPS, IMU, fuel/kWh, trim, load, wind/sea notes) and a script to spit out speed-power-comfort plots. I’m tired of the status-quo review cycle. Let’s crowdsource real, comparable numbers and see which “modern speedboat” trends hold water and which are just dock talk.