Originally Posted by
SHM64
Nothing alarming and what is there I've easily managed with the trim lever. I've not pushed it too hard and only pegged it a few short times, but at 6K RPMs (dash tach) with me, live well full, and 1/2 tank of fuel I got to 74.1mph (GPS). The water had a bit of wind chop and I truly could have taken both hands off the wheel once I reached 70 and only until I reached close to the top speed did it move a very little. I just bumped the trim down, lost a bit of speed (72+), and then could have easily taken both hands off the wheel. My previous boat at anything above 70 had a much larger chine. All in all... a very stable ride comparable to anything I've been in that would run 70+. To be completely transparent, the only issues I had to learn to manage was the hopping of the boat at slower speeds (3-4K RPMs) where too high of a trim would make it hop a bit until i obtained enough speed and then when slowing down with the same issue... too high of a trim level would make it hop slowing down. I've found that keeping the engine tucked until I'm well on pad and running above 4k RPMs and then trimming up is the optimum method (for me). When coming down off pad or slowing down to below 4k RPMs i also almost completely trim down before coming off the throttle. But again- it didn't take very long, only a couple of tries, to get the hopping completely solved. All my previous boats didn't have this issue for the way that I drive a boat. This is my first SHO and my previous two boats both had the 2-stroke PRO-xs. I think the Yamaha trim may move faster than the Mercury which may have helped the issues above? Let me know if there's anything else I can answer for you. This is the first ZXR on our local waters and I've had a number of guys interested in the boat due to the price point, 250 rated 20 footer, and the Skeeter brand here I guess has a good reputation as does the dealer.