• Welcome to the Checkmate Community Forums forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access to our other FREE features.
    By joining our free community you will be able to:

    » Interact with over 10,000 Checkmate Fanatics from around the world!
    » Post topics and messages
    » Post and view photos
    » Communicate privately with other members
    » Access our extensive gallery of old Checkmate brochures located in our Media Gallery
    » Browse the various pictures in our Checkmate photo gallery

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support by clicking here or by using the"contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

New from St Louis Area....thinking of a new boat

I ran it at Kincaid Lake in Illinois today, ran good. I can see how the boat needs some weight in the bow of it. I think i'm going to try that. I tried driving it with trims tabs down a bunch, and its terrible, plus steering it left or right gives it hell with the tabs down. I ran the tabs all the way up, and gave it just a 'touch' of tab on one side to level it out.
 
I set my tabs and havent really touched them since. My boat is really hard to steer at lower speeds as well. seems like the nose at take off is stright up in the air till it planes out. :)
 
congrats on the 251!! I just bought the same a couple months ago. I kick around rend, kaskaskia, kinkaid, and Carlyle mostly so if ya see my 251 stop by for a beer and a little applie pie (drink). mine looks exactly like yours except two piece swim platform and blue & black stripes. your 454 a mag??
 
wheelie said:
I ran it at Kincaid Lake in Illinois today, ran good. I can see how the boat needs some weight in the bow of it. I think i'm going to try that. I tried driving it with trims tabs down a bunch, and its terrible, plus steering it left or right gives it hell with the tabs down. I ran the tabs all the way up, and gave it just a 'touch' of tab on one side to level it out.
Click to expand...

Need to be easy on those tabs, you'll be much better off adding some weight forward and using the tabs for simple attitude adjustments.

I've seen some pretty creative ways of making simple ballasts and forward weights for racing style hulls, -- for my 22 ft Vision I purchased a cheap tool box for $35 {color cordinated for boat :thumb:}, then I purchased 100lbs of lead from a local srcap yard for $10, then I bolted a platform base to the tool box 12" X 30" {sanded and painted beechwood}, then I used a sacraficial pot {stove top device:)} for melting the lead over a camp fire, -- pored the 100lbs of lead into the tool box and let it cool, and it makes a perfect forward weight and it looks really good -- plus the top of the tool box still has room for small stowage like screw drivers and such.
It sits on the floor halfway between the dashboard and the bow tip --- now the boat handles quite well, planes easily and I'm not just staring at my forward nav lite at lower speeds.
If I ever want to move the tool box weight around I just put two of those furniture sliders under it and it glides easily -- although I never seem to nedd to move it around.

Untitled-2-1.jpg
 
Keep in mind I've only had my boat for a couple months but here are my experiences. What works for me is doing what multiple people here have mentioned, which is running with the tabs level with the hull. On my boat that's about 3-4 lights showing on the indicators. Running like this, with the lower unit tucked (read: no trim whatsoever) I can keep it from porpoising up to above 40mph. Then above 45ish I can start to trim up. I only adjust the tabs to level out of the boat from a lean due to passengers. If I'm going all out, I'll run the tabs level as mentioned and start trimming up at about 45mph, when I top out speed wise I'll bring the tabs all the way up for the extra few mph (four people 1/2 tank I've had it to 61.5 gps). Again, I've only had my boat for a couple months, but this has worked pretty decent. I'm hoping I'll run into one of the guys from this forum to fine tune my technique and maybe squeeze a few more mph out of the top end....lord knows many guys around here know much more than I do. In my short time on the 251, I can say it rides excellent. Anyway, hope this helps, and see ya on the water. :thumb:
 
I'm kinda resurecting an old thread....don't know if the original poster is still around, but I know how you feel with your new purchase of the 251. They are DEFINITLY a drivers boat! They are not like a Baja or Bayliner where anyone can drive them smoothly....Checkmate has engineered the 251's hull for maximum speed at WOT. Thats why they are faster with the same horsepower and weight as other boats....but to get this, you sacrifice some driveability and stability at cruising speeds. I felt the same way when I bought my 251 7 years ago...... It takes seat time, (ST) to learn how to drive it. I would love to meet up with you sometime on the Mississippi and we can go for rides in each others 251's!!!
 
Thanks for the reply, it takes a couple of outings to get used to driving it, but its not bad overall. It definately is a driver's boat compared to others i've driven!
 
Here is a more current pic, bought the boat with 188 hours, now its got about 220 on it.

checkmate_water.jpg
 
The resurrection of this thread reminds me we need to start planning at least one (we should really do more) STL Checkmate get together. I'll start a thread in midwest mates. At least this year my boat will be running :rof:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top