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Has anyone with a 298 had 10 adults on it at once? I'm planning our annual Blue Angels outing in Annapolis and am thinking of taking a group from work. The total number would be me plus nine IF everybody accepted the invite. Ten adults is within the max capacity of the boat but I can't imagine it gets up on plane very well with that much weight on board. Anyone have experience with a full load of passengers like this?

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'01 Vista 298

If you must get up on plane, plan on a couple people up in the V-Berth and tabs fully down when taking off. Once on plane, your "bow ballast" can move back to the cockpit and join the party. You will be busy with the tabs keeping on plane and leveling the load.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

That is for damn sure. The 298V is not a very stable boat at all IMO and I boat on a lake. I could only imagine how unstable she will be in big water with 10 adults on board her. Maybe a couple or two won't accept and that way you will be able to enjoy the ride a whole lot more. Be sure to take pics.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

I took 10 people on our 30' Doral Prestancia (10 foot beam) 28 miles across the lake to the Metro Boat Show about 5 years ago.

Two of the guys pushed 250 pounds. I remember leaving the dock and noticing my swim platform was basically dragging in the water. The platform didn't sit very high to begin with, but the people weight probably lowered my stern 6 - 8 inches.

Once I got to the mouth of the lake, I ducked the drives in, fully lowered the trim tabs and declined the offer of one of the guys to go forward in the galley towards the V-berth to help getting up on plane. Heck, I wanted to see how the boat came up on plane as the people were sitting. The Prestancia did have the twin 350's in her with single props (not duoprops).

She came up on plane without much difficulty (to the cheers of my guests - all fellow boaters) at all and I cruised over about my normal 30 MPH cruise speed.

Coming back home though the winds increased and I needed to head directly bow into them and keep the trim tabs fully lowered to keep the bow down. It was a rough return trip and I'm glad it did not get any rougher with the crew I had on board.

Maybe the 298 sits a bit higher than our former Prestancia did, but if you position your guests to balance your weight as evenly as possible and ask them to try and remain balanced to help with the stability of your boat and you boat safely in fair weather I think you should have fun.

Mike.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

Depends... 300lb adults? Or 150lb adults?

You carry about 850lbs of fuel and 120lbs of fresh water. Depending on the range of your cruise you could shave some weight off with 1/2 full tanks. Also remove any unneeded crap from the boat. You'd be surprised how much all that "needed" stuff weighs.

Trim tabs all the way down from the get go. Give it some time, but I think you'll get on plane. Max i've had is 13 people on my v298, but this was 6 adults and 7 kids. Average adult weight was about 190lbs and the average kid weight was 80lbs. So, 1140lbs of adults and 560lbs of kids for a total of 1700lbs. Make sure you put the "fatties" as far forward as possible!

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2002 Vista 298
Video of boating from The Florida Keys, to Miami, to Bimini/Bahamas