So originally the boat would only run at 57 mph with a 250 4 stroke mercury pro xs. Took it in for the 10 hour check, and oil change. Picked it up and it would only run at 62mph with 2 people, no tackle and half tank of fuel. Took it back again. They did whatever they did. Picked it up again, and it ran with 1 person, no tackle, very little gas, at 78 mph. I know everyone called BS. But, that's what it did.
Loaded the boat with tackle and equipment. and 40 plus gallons of gas. Wasn't impressed with speed. 71 with one person. But, it only did that speed one time. The rest of the runs between spots it would only run 69. To me that was unacceptable.
Fished the next day with two people. Same gas and very little addition in load for equipment. Top speed was only 66. On different runs between spots speed would vary at 63 to 66 mph. No wakes and waves to stop full speed runs between spots. Really not happy.
Went fishing the next day. Same two people, with a little less equipment. Top speed on initial run was 65 mph. Running back in,the top speed was 63-64 mph. So back to the mechanic it goes. He puts the computer on it, and takes it for a test run with a another mechanic.
He claims he got 72 on the initial run out. But coming back in it was only 67. Pulled the boat out and looks at the data from the computer. Changed fuel filter, and plugs. He made another run. Same speeds but a 6 mph variance. Waves and wakes and wind not an issue either direction. He can't explain the speed differences. Looked at the data again. It appears that everything is running and operating at 100%. Some times the bow would get plenty of lift, then next time it wouldn't. He found the best way to run the motor was at full lift down, trimming to full trim, and bumping engine height to 4 inches up, until losing speed and increasing rpms. Then bumping down the trim a couple of bumps and the boat would take off, SOMETIMES. He said that was not acceptable to him. That is not what you should have to do, to get the boat to run correctly. But, it wouldn't run the same speed, two runs in a row.
So he is sending the run report to mercury to get their advice. But, we are now thinking that I have a bad hull. What do we look for in a hooked hull? It has been very frustrating. I have had the boat three months and have never had it perform the way it should, with exception of the test run, with no weight in the boat. I need help with ideas.
Researching hooked hulls, it seems that this was a common occurrence in performance.