I don't go with WOT with kids tubing behind me. I get ventilation at just about any planing speed when I make turns left or right, and then go back to straight. AS the boat ventilates, the RPMs wind up, as if I had given it WOT, thus boat speed drops like a rock.
I am a very safe boater, and when kids want to go in and out of the wake on a tube, I simply start them on a pendulum, slowly increasing the cut in the turn, until they just get outside the wake on both sides. I then wait to get a signal form them that they want a little more, and I increase until the rideir like the ride. I ALWAYS only go as fast as the person who wants the slowest on the tube wants wants to go.
It is not logical, or realistic to have a boat such as this, and not anticipate it is going to be used, just as I am using it, like millions of other boaters do every day. My WOT, with a few on board, half a tank of fuel, trimmed out properly is 50 tops. When I am towing kids on tubes, depending on their age, my speed is between 22 & 28 MPH (GPS confirmed speed), until the dreaded ventilation happens. If it is really small kids, it is usually just about idle speed.
As far as the strain on the transom goes, that is the least of my concerns. Although not happy with my FourWinns boat at the moment, there are only four boat manufactureres that make their boats robust enough for me to consider buying, and FourWinns was one of them. I am a mechanical engineer, and I understand the stress put on all aspects of a boat when it is moving in the way a run-about, bowrider, or ski boat (pick your category name, they all pull people on towables). Never-the-less, if any manufacturer did not build some "liability insurance" into their boat when it is designed, litigations would be unbelievable, and put the out of business before they could build their 500th boat.
Since I am simply trying to use my boat, in the way it was intended to be used (there are even pictures of kids tubing behind one in the brochure...), in the same way I have boated for years, there is obviously something wrong with the boat. I accept this, what I cannot and will not accept is a dealer unwilling, and a manufacturer not standing behind their product. It should not matter what I paid for it, but we all know boats aren't cheap, so this should perform as advertised. I simply am looking for the answer since the marina (dealer) and manufacturer can't or won't. I am going on vacation this weekend, with an aftermarket anti-cavitation plate that I will put on after 1 day of boating without it. I will then put it on, and see the difference from one day to the next. Same boat, same water, same or similar conditions. I am betting/praying this fixes it, although a customer should not have to go through this for 2 years to get his boat to perfrom right. All I can say is shame on you once, shame on me twice, well there will not be a second time with this dealer on manufacturer at this point.
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