Just bought my first basscat help on diriving it

Your belly bottom C boats ran down in the waves at slower speeds, thus you have to slow down to achieve a similar ride as a BCB hull rides on top of those same waves at a faster speed. C boats simply stay in the troughs and smash the next wave smoothly, while a BCB wants to get on top and roll. You have to back off that BCB hull and should still be pushing past most other hulls. The Performance is different also as you drive a C boat by mashing the gas and trimming to the moon Alice. Throttle controls speeds and you seldom use trim. A BCB hull you mash the gas and bump the trim seldom using the throttle to adjust speeds, we tweak speed with bumps on the trim. Totally reverse of that 27 year old habit you have. We know its a learning curve so hit the trim down, press the throttle and get on top. Work the trim up to loosen the hull and steering at the speeds you want to run. Then simply adjust the fuel where you want performance and start bumping the trim up. If you want less speed, then back off a tid bit and re-adjust the trim. On top you should only need about half trim on most BCB hulls with a 250. You should also notice improved fuel mileage with a BCB hull once you get it all dialed, understand the caharacteristics, and you are comfortable with the hull.

Just take it slow and you will get the hang of it. If its any concession the crew inside BCB had a dickens of a time learning to just mash and trim a C hull.

It depends on your definition of 2-3 foot waves. What most people consider a 2-3 foot waves you just trim down and adjust the throttle accordingly for the best ride. True 2-3 footers are the hardest as you can drive faster in a BCB than some hulls and the ride suffers. Because a BCB hull rides on top of the water the swells this size are able to be run on top of faster, which gives the rider a jar occasionally as speeds are adding to the jarring of the hull.We tell people all the time to slow down in rougher water and cycle through the swells. If your running and jarring, slow down when you can. We understand on T days someone will run behind and push to the end, though equipment takes a beating when you push it all the time. Motor mounts loose tension or break, batteries move, trolling motor brackets wear, electronics vibrate and of course boats can fatigue. There is a lot more that can fail in rough water over time. This is the roughest water most of you will ever experience. More:Upon arriving for the Invitational we felt we missed something before we went to Sam Rayburn in helping people maneuver true 2-3 foot swells or larger (4-6 foot waves), before we saw waves others had not. We should have explained how to navigate waves before the event as some saw waves they were not common to and the wind was not that bad on Thursday. Some made it fine in a Margay while some got wet in a Cougar. Speed of the boat is everything and varies in rough water, too fast and you tip or spear the next wave giving everyone a bath or worse filling the cockpit to the tops of the boxes as the water finds its way out the floor drains. Spear a few in succession and you really have a problem as the floor drain will not keep up and you panic as you ride in a bathtub. Just ride it out and figure out how to stay on top. The cockpit will not hold more than a hundred gallons or so and keep the hull moving till you get the rythymn. Let the drains clear of water and find a calm bay if you can to gain your composure before you chop the throttle. If you cant safely stop anywhere then get a grasp and keep running. When running excessively larger waves than normal you can crest the waves and navigate left to the trough of the swell, as you enter the trough roll the bow right and climb the next swell by tacking right and climb the next swell. As the back third (1/3) or less of the hull is on top of the crested wave then roll left and ride the swell to the bottom trough repeating the process as you tack through large waves. Really large waves:All waves are different depending on current and winds. Some stand up and have short troughs while some lay down and have long troughs. Usually a Rayburn or Champlain will have long troughs and can be navigated with common sense, where a Saint Clair or Ontario will have short troughs. Long troughs can almost always be navigated using variations of tacking waves, while short troughs are much harder and even if you can navigate them other factors come into play. Really want to get a rush when riding excessively large standing waves, and something to be aware of, when your in the trough on 3-4 waves (7) and larger look back at your cowling as often on falling seas the cowling will be under water submerged in wave you just came off of. This causes hydraulicing of the engine as they ingest water and the engine has no air coming in to breath and water finds its way into the cowling as the engine air opening is submerged. This is most common in large waves in current. Even if you can navigate the waves by your skill and working your way through, the engine must have air to breath. We have seen water up on the back decks in similar waves around the mouth of the river on Ontario. That one day several engines hydrauliced and many of those scored a cylinder loosing a powerhead. Water is not your engines friend in the cylinders. Most will only see this situation in an emergency and the risks of loosing your life while navigating treacherous waters is not worth it unless your hung out there and must. Sitting through those conditions is the recommended option when you can. Even at higher temperatures hypothermia is a serious concern on large bodies of water away from land and beach.