HTM Flipping in the corner????

[bigq]

I have a friend that just got back from Havasu. His brother-in-law had his brand new HTM out. He said it rode great does 95, but they rolled it in a corner, WHAT THE, he said he was only going about 40 then gassed it coming out of the turn. I was looking at HTM, but is this common? Everyone was fine and the boat has not a scratch on it from the accident.

[racingrascal]

What did the boat do? Land on it's deck? Did everybody get thrown out of the boat? Did it sink at all? We need some pics of this!
Andy

[Catonator]

Glad to hear everyone is alright.
Now, some on this board would see this as an opportunity to start ripping on HTMs. Would you give it a rest already?! For all we know this may be an attempt at an HTM bashing thread. Can you tell us his name? Does anyone have pictures? Can you back this up Boatcop? If this really happened, NO, IT'S NOT COMMON! You can make virtually ANY boat flip or roll given the right water and the wrong driver. The boat was new so I wonder if this guy had ever driven a cat or any high performance boat before. Did he hit a wake? Was one tank full, one empty? Were there a lot of people on board? Were too many of them on one side of the boat? And please tell us alcohol was not a factor. There are many things that could have caused this, but I guarantee you it had nothing to do with the boat's design.

[boatnam2]

it sure sounds like driver error to me.it was probaly more like 55 mph and he forgot to trim the drive, slid the back alittle it got bite and went over.

[Chestah Cheetah]

We definatley need to get some real facts about this. Someone has to have pictures somewhere. HavasuNews maybe? You say driver error, is it that easy to flip a cat like that?

[Blown Lavey]

I would think there had to be some real bad driver error.Having had a 22 daytona and now a 27 lavey,you really have to screw something up to roll a cat.You can turn a small to medium size cat(21-24) real hard and not roll them.Been in my friends and not by choice(lake lice) made a severe turn at 60 mph and nothing happend.

[boatnam2]

i shouldn't say driver error since i dont know the facts and your thinking about buying one.but you can get a cat out of shape if your not paying attenion.i watched my freind in his 26ft cat turn pretty hard going over a boat wake doing about 50 and the boat spun all the way around backwards and now that i think about it he could of rolled it.two years ago my all my buddies where at the river for thanksgiving a guy that stays in the same trailer park stuffed a 25ft cat in some pretty rough water lets just say he won't be eating anymore turkey.cats haul ass the reason being there is no boat in the water and the lift so when joe blow goes down to buy his brand new 115 mph cat because he just got home from havasu and seen one he like's. he's has no ideal what he's doing it can be alittle dangerous.when i bought mine i thought i was some sort of offshore cat jockey but my power was stock 70mph thank god.the day i picked it up i told the salesman i was taking it to the ocean he told me dont worry this thing can handle anything.to make a long story short i almost sank it i stuffed it coming back in, but only one sponsoon but the force of the water hitting me in the face scared the shit out of me plus it was november so it was very cold.after that i decided that i needed to take it slow and learn how to drive a cat.

[boatnam2]

i agree bl,i was just trying to say that turning a cat going 40 mph the boat will not just roll over.actually my cat if trimed down you could turn so hard it would scare you.but im just trying to let people no that you need to learn how to drive them,because it is different.my last boat a 21 ultra i dont care what i did i couldn't get that boat out of shape.

[spectras only]

They probably had the tabs down too far and must have been flooring it in a turn!Driver error IMHO.A 23 Supra bowrider sunk this summer at a lake because it was overloaded and the guy put the reverse in hard.
[This message has been edited by spectras only (edited September 21, 2001).]

[boatnam2]

you dont see to many trim tabs on cats unless it a offshore race boat but you could be right.so is that drunk i mean driver error.

[James'SS-24]

Driver error! I learned second trip out that a cat is totally different than driving a v bottom. I let someone else drive my new HTM last Feburary and he spun it out running about 45. Got us all wet but the boat never even acted like it was going to flip. I don't let anyone drive my boat now unless I have ridden with them in their boat. When this happened I had a bout 2 hours on the clock. After I have learned a little about driving a tunnel (I have 41 hours on it now)I can make it turn as hard as a lot of v bottoms, but this came with practice! Unless the steering broke, no way was it the boats fault!
[This message has been edited by James'SS-24 (edited September 21, 2001).]

[Catonator]

Well said James. Wez gotta stick together. Boat good, driving bad.

[bigq]

Originally posted by Catonator:
Glad to hear everyone is alright.
Now, some on this board would see this as an opportunity to start ripping on HTMs. Would you give it a rest already?! For all we know this may be an attempt at an HTM bashing thread. Can you tell us his name? Does anyone have pictures? Can you back this up Boatcop? If this really happened, NO, IT'S NOT COMMON! You can make virtually ANY boat flip or roll given the right water and the wrong driver. The boat was new so I wonder if this guy had ever driven a cat or any high performance boat before. Did he hit a wake? Was one tank full, one empty? Were there a lot of people on board? Were too many of them on one side of the boat? And please tell us alcohol was not a factor. There are many things that could have caused this, but I guarantee you it had nothing to do with the boat's design.
uuhhh, yea, I'm bashing HTM.He still loves the boat. I don't believe it was the boats fault, "it's his first cat".To answer the questions, it happened up by the sandbar in Havasu, he said the water was smooth, but who knows. 3 people on board, 2 in front 1 in back. can't tell you about the fuel, no alcohol involved,yes pictures are in devlopment also video I believe. My original question was not phrased correct obviously from the postings, but i guess I got the ansewer in a round about way.Again, I was not bashing any brand, even HTM, I'm just woundering about the safty concers in the corners since I am looking at cats for my next boat.
thanks

[Catonator]

Alright Mr. Big http://free.***boat.net/ubb/biggrin.gif, just wanna make sure the story is legit. With the likes of secret double crossing agent 001 out there I'm still a little wary of HTM threads. Video would tell all if someone caught it happening. Most cats do really well in the corners, but when you've got 600+ hp at your fingertips, or even a tame 400hp in my case, experience means everything. I learn something new every time out and still have a ton to learn. So, get yourself a cat, they're awesome. Just take it easy and move up in hp as you gain experience.

[bigq]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Catonator:
[B]Alright Mr. Big http://free.***boat.net/ubb/biggrin.gif, just wanna make sure the story is legit. With the likes of secret double crossing agent 001 out there I'm still a little wary of HTM threads.
Totally understandable, I read that masterpiece of 001. I just like the freeboard of the HTM, have kids. Just want to be safe as possible and still fill my need for speed. I guess if i wanted to be totally safe I should get that pontoon Tracker with the 40HP outboard.Put on a setback with a jackplate a little head work and i'm sure i could get 20mph out of the torpedo.

[boatnam2]

i agree with you james ss 24,i used to let anyone drive my old boat but never let no one drive the cat like you say if dont know what the f--k your doing it can be dangerous.

[James'SS-24]

Boatnam2, I learned a very valuable lesson that day! This guy has raced boats before so he was way to cocky and almost got us into way big trouble! If it had been a boat with less free board we would have been. Just goes to show what drinking can do for you, even though the guy didn't look drunk. I've owned v bottoms since the early 80's but this tunnel drives totally different.
Catonator, I did the same thing, my boat has a 496 mag (the 375 horse) and in this HTM it will pull 80 on the speedo on Havasu with me and 50 gallons of fuel. Here at home on this 6000 ft lake I can pull 65 on a good day. Maybe in another year I'll have enogh seat time to be safe with a whipplecharger. http://free.***boat.net/ubb/biggrin.gif
[This message has been edited by James'SS-24 (edited September 22, 2001).]

[Duck]

I believe I met the owner and boat in question this last Sat at the sandbar. It's white with orange flames with a carbed roller motor. Didn't seem to eager to admit what had happened, but took the blame for to tight a turn in real bumpy water at about 40.
NO stress cracks and after clearing the engine, lines, etc. it ran great and looked perfect. All his electics were spared too. The only bad thing was that evening with the wife driving my boat, and she wouldn't race him.

[missboatnam1]

i thought it sounded like driver error.