I'm not new to boating by any means. My first boat was a 86 Skeeter Strada with a 50hp then later an aluminum Slyvan again with a 50hp. Now granted the FX 20 with the 250hp is a far different boat.
Something's never change. Launching and driving back on the trailer I looked like a seasoned pro. In fact docking was old school as I quickly adjusted to the Hot Foot.
However that is all that went exactly right. Driving was an entirely new experience that made me look and feel like a first time boater. I can smile now but I can tell you for the first hour I struggled to figure it out. I was an extreme expert on proposing. I would trim that big 250 in get on plane then all heck would break loose. I would have made bull riding look easy. I was frustrated as the only way I could drive was going under 10 mph.
I just could not figure out what I was doing wrong. Ok I know you seasoned high performance guys are laughing and shouting out ( Hey new guy with the big boat your trimmed out to much). Of course at the time I couldn't not figure it out.
So drove around trimmed in at 10mph to my fishing spots. After all the trolling motor worked the same. Well as luck would have it another bass boat was fishing towards me. As we passed we stopped to talk. So I figured it was time to ask. When I was asked how I was doing I replied not doing great fishing but doing far worse trying to drive the boat.
Let's just say swallowing some pride and asking for help was the best thing I did that day. It was a simple fix. Trim in to get on plane then slowly trim out. Yeah I was trimming way out much to fast. Funny when you do things right how things go great.
There is a learning curve and it is going to take a few more hours to figure it all out. My comfort speed was 50mph. At this speed I can learn and I am fully in control. I figure I have all summer to get more experience to get it into the 70's.
But I was more than thrilled that I could now get on plane and fly down the lake at 50.
Two things I did right were first I wore my life jacket when under power. The second is I don't go anywhere with out the kill switch attached.
I'm sure others stepping into their first high performance bass boats went through the same things. Ok I did forget one other thing as it was a new step for me. The boat steers much better when you take the clips off the motor that keep it from turning. That is pretty quick to figure out and something I bet I will not forget a second time.
SKEETER FX 20
2011
150 HOURS ON THE YAMAHA 250
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