Party Cat Porpoising

Heavyhauler · Jun 7, 2015

I have just purchase my 3rd Advantage 28 Party Cat and this one wants to porpoise after you come up on plain and get to the sweet spot at about 3000 rpm where I like to cruise, even with the drive trimmed all the way down. It is equipped with 500 EFI, xr drive, no drive spacer.

The 2 previous Party Cats I had, 1 had a drive spacer, and the other had a 12" standoff box, and neither exhibited this behavior.. I never gave this a thought on purchasing this boat, but seems to me the only thing it could be or need to correct the issue is either a drive spacer or trim tabs or both. I am sure there must be others who have experienced this, so I am looking for history and comments. I have sent a message to the guy who bought my first Party Cat to find out the thickness of the spacer it has.

Paul65k · Jun 7, 2015

I had a 28 PC with the same 500 EFI and drive set-up......it would do exactly the same thing and I always had to power through it. I didn't have tabs on mine and was told by Advantage that tabs had very little effect on that particular hull. Sounds like you had it solved with the setback/spacers on your previous boat, probably would have made a nice difference on my boat as this is a VERY heavy hull and the standard set-up just doesn't seem to have the leverage it needs to support the bow without packing lots of air under there..

Good luck!!

Heavyhauler · Jun 7, 2015

Paul65k said:
I had a 28 PC with the same 500 EFI and drive set-up......it would do exactly the same thing and I always had to power through it. I didn't have tabs on mine and was told by Advantage that tabs had very little effect on that particular hull. Sounds like you had it solved with the setback/spacers on your previous boat, probably would have made a nice difference on my boat as this is a VERY heavy hull and the standard set-up just doesn't seem to have the leverage it needs to support the bow without packing lots of air under there..

Good luck!!

Thanks for the response. The other 2 were both equipped when I got them and never exhibited the porpoising, so I never gave a thought as to why the first one had the spacer, and then on the second one the offset would have done the same thing, but without having experienced it on either of the others the focus was on something else. Yes, I can drive on through it and it settles down like you say. On the first one I added trim tabs, because of the sensitivity to weight shift and it made that boat perfect. I heard back from the present owner and the old boat has a 2" spacer, so that's what I am going to do unless someone else has a better idea. Btw, I know the manufacturers all say the west coast deck boats don't need tabs but from my experience with 3 Party Cats and 1 Nordic lightning deck boat, the tabs make all the difference in the balance as they will all lay over on one side or the other if the weight is off from side to side or if someone who weighs about 200 gets up and moves to another seat while underway, that boat will lay right over. A quick tab adjustment and you are all level.

Wezzley · Jun 20, 2017

Heavyhauler said:
Thanks for the response. The other 2 were both equipped when I got them and never exhibited the porpoising, so I never gave a thought as to why the first one had the spacer, and then on the second one the offset would have done the same thing, but without having experienced it on either of the others the focus was on something else. Yes, I can drive on through it and it settles down like you say. On the first one I added trim tabs, because of the sensitivity to weight shift and it made that boat perfect. I heard back from the present owner and the old boat has a 2" spacer, so that's what I am going to do unless someone else has a better idea. Btw, I know the manufacturers all say the west coast deck boats don't need tabs but from my experience with 3 Party Cats and 1 Nordic lightning deck boat, the tabs make all the difference in the balance as they will all lay over on one side or the other if the weight is off from side to side or if someone who weighs about 200 gets up and moves to another seat while underway, that boat will lay right over. A quick tab adjustment and you are all level.

I have a 28 party cat that has the same problem. I have a 500 EFI with a bravo 3 dual prop setup. Just wondering if you were able to get the boat to stop porpoising? If so what did you do. Thanks

Wheeler · Jun 20, 2017

Wezzley said:
I have a 28 party cat that has the same problem. I have a 500 EFI with a bravo 3 dual prop setup. Just wondering if you were able to get the boat to stop porpoising? If so what did you do. Thanks

Milk Money should be able to get hold of Heavy Hauler. I sent MM a pm with a link to this thread.

milkmoney · Jun 21, 2017

Wheeler said:
Milk Money should be able to get hold of Heavy Hauler. I sent MM a pm with a link to this thread.

Sent him a message. Thanks for volunteering me. Lol
[emoji6] [emoji202]

Wheeler · Jun 21, 2017

milkmoney said:
Sent him a message. Thanks for volunteering me. Lol
[emoji6] [emoji202]

You're the only one I know that know's everyone on RDP. :tbi

Thanks for the help! I'm sure the new guy appreciates it. :thumbsup:thumbsup

Heavyhauler · Jun 21, 2017

I put the tabs and the drive spacer on it and it helped some but did not eliminate it entirely, but I also found that particular boat was extremely more sensitive to the drive trim than any other PC I previously had, so I got to where I just never trimmed the drive far from the lowest setting, and that eliminated the bounce. I recently sold that boat and bought another PC with the 525 and 12" setback and the newer bottom hull. It performs very nice, but I am still considering tabs just to keep it totally balanced. They changed the bottom in 05 and it is much more efficient and has 4 steps instead of 2.

riverbrian · Jun 21, 2017

Drive spacer, get that drive in the water.

Wezzley · Jun 21, 2017

Heavyhauler said:
I put the tabs and the drive spacer on it and it helped some but did not eliminate it entirely, but I also found that particular boat was extremely more sensitive to the drive trim than any other PC I previously had, so I got to where I just never trimmed the drive far from the lowest setting, and that eliminated the bounce. I recently sold that boat and bought another PC with the 525 and 12" setback and the newer bottom hull. It performs very nice, but I am still considering tabs just to keep it totally balanced. They changed the bottom in 05 and it is much more efficient and has 4 steps instead of 2.

Thanks for the response. I already have tabs. Do you think the drive spacer will help a lot or is the tabs doing most of the work? Probably a question for advantage but do you think they can change the bottom of the boat to have 4 steps instead of 2? Thanks for you help on this.

milkmoney · Jun 22, 2017

Wezzley said:
Thanks for the response. I already have tabs. Do you think the drive spacer will help a lot or is the tabs doing most of the work? Probably a question for advantage but do you think they can change the bottom of the boat to have 4 steps instead of 2? Thanks for you help on this.

Hey weezer, HH doesn't come here much. I just let him know if someone is talking to him etc. Although I would like to keep helping you, but two things get in my way,
1- time
2- u can't afford me

I will send him a text. He is having their big regatta at the lake this week, so be patient.

[emoji202]

Heavyhauler · Jun 22, 2017

Tabs helped for leveling, but with drive spacer I could bring tabs to the level position with drive pretty far down and no porpoising. Without drive spacer it would porpoise at 3000 or as soon as you added trim, but the guy who owns the boat now told me he is removing the drive spacer. The bottom on 05 and up PC is quite a bit different but for the right price anything is possible.

Heavyhauler · Jun 22, 2017

BTW, Advantage is going to tell you the boat doesn't need tabs. And yes you can drive through the porpoise, but for me it was porpoising right at perfect cruise speed and I didn't want that, so the mods handled what I was trying to achieve.

Party Cat Porpoising

Heavyhauler

Well-Known Member

Paul65k

Schiada Baby.......Yeah!!

Heavyhauler

Well-Known Member

Wezzley

New Member

Wheeler

I'm just here to bitch about others negativity.😁

milkmoney

Well-Known Member

Wheeler

I'm just here to bitch about others negativity.😁

Heavyhauler

Well-Known Member

riverbrian

Chloe's Dad

Wezzley

New Member

milkmoney

Well-Known Member

Heavyhauler

Well-Known Member

Heavyhauler

Well-Known Member