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Driving My 25 Daytona Today First Time Any Tips?

pkrrvr619

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So I bought a 25 daytona for Christmas (685 hp) and am taking it to a local lake today to get some seat time and get familiar before i takes the Tres class next week.

That being said, any tips or last minute tricks to get a bit comfortable with this boat so i can get a couple hours of seat time and not hook it and spin out?

It has trim tabs off the back as well to help with planing if that is a helpful data point.
 

Mikes56

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I think it’s a cat hull, right? I’ve got a Conquest Topcat 1, that’s a cat hull too. Just be careful in the turns, especially if you are going fast. It’s not like a V hull.
 
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parker guy

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Take nice wide turns, trim it down when turning, once on plane trim it up so you don’t have bow steer. The boat likes to cruz about 45 and up

enjoy and congratulations
 

lake p.a.l.

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Don't completely chop the throttle at speed, it will want to bow steer.
Go out and drive it, have fun, relax, you will love it
 

02HoWaRd26

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Just realize that the boat is different and you don’t know it yet, which is obviously what you are already knowing. You’ll be fine, just don’t jump in and run to top end just cause it feels good.
play with some self slalom around 45, then 55, then 60.
that hull should get light around 60 and that’s when it starts to perform.
Tuck the drive when you make your big turns and as said remember it’s not a V, i love the cat bottom and don’t see ever going back to a V unless i moved to ocean area etc.
 

pkrrvr619

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Take nice wide turns, trim it down when turning, once on plane trim it up so you don’t have bow steer. The boat likes to cruz about 45 and up

enjoy and congratulations
I’ve heard different things on trim. I was told they like to run flat at neutral trim. Others have said trim high for speed going straight. Thoughts?
 

Cdog

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Go get some throttle time on it now and figure it out with an empty lake. Know your boat.. The 25's aren't known for crazy shit. I've driven a procharged one at 90 mph. It's very controllable
 
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DaveC

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What bottom do you have? What year?

For 14 years I had an 2004 25 Daytona which is the later model.

There is no replacement for seat time. So start slow and start practicing. I don’t mean drive slow but rather approach turns slowly and deliberately until you learn how it reacts. Its hard to get in much trouble going straight.

It does not need a lot of trim. Drive the boat around and get a feel for trim. The boat has an angle of attack built into the hull so you just need to get moving. Trim just interferes with what the boat is doing. If I could set my trim at neutral I could drive all day.

I would start with the drive tucked all the way in until it planes and the prop releases. Then trim half way and leave it there. Half way is were it works the best most times. At half way small adjustments made here help with ride quality and turns are made here too.

I only used full trim on speed passes. It rides on the back which is fairly flat and full trim doesnt work at slower speeds.

Don’t drive around full trimmed down. Don’t bury the nose and do quick turns in chopping conditions

Practice some turns so you see how it reacts. Approach all large rollers with caution. Seat time will get you ready to deal with large rollers. What you want to learn is where to point the nose at the point of impact. And what speed. I try to hit big rollers at between 45-90 degrees. The bigger the roller the closer to 90 degrees.

I like to make many small quick adjustments to heading. Then make slow large adjustments to heading.

Enjoy
 
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pkrrvr619

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What bottom do you have? What year?

For 14 years I had an 2004 25 Daytona which is the later model.

There is no replacement for seat time. So start slow and start practicing. I don’t mean drive slow but rather approach turns slowly and deliberately until you learn how it reacts. Its hard to get in much trouble going straight.

It does not need a lot of trim. Drive the boat around and get a feel for trim. The boat has an angle of attack built into the hull so you just need to get moving. Trim just interferes with what the boat is doing. If I could set my trim at neutral I could drive all day.

I would start with the drive tucked all the way in untilit planes and the prop releases. Then trim half way and leave it there. Half way is were it works the best most times. At half way small adjustments made here help with ride quality and turns are made here too.

I only used full trim on speed passes. It rides on the back which is fairly flat and full trim doesnt work at slower speeds.

Don’t drive around full trimmed down. Don’t bury the nose and do quick turns in chopping conditions

Practice some turns so you see how it reacts. Approach all large rollers with caution. Seat time will get you ready to deal with large rollers. What you want to learn is where to point the nose at the point of impact. And what speed. I try to hit big rollers at between 45-90 degrees. The bigger the roller the closer to 90 degrees.

I like to make many small quick adjustments to heading. Then make slow large adjustments to heading.

Enjoy
99 single step
 

ONE-A-DAY

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Smart that you are taking Tres' class, more people should. You will be blown away by how much you learn. I would go out and just cruise around and get some time with the boat and wait for the class. By the end of the two days with Tres you will be doing figure 8's at 90mph, crazy to say that but you can if you know how. And wear a lifeline, even at low speed, the water is cold and there are not alot of boats out this time of year to come get you so you may be there awhile.
 

farmo83

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No replacement for seat time, get used to it before you mash down on it.

Most important enjoy !!!
 

CLdrinker

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What bottom do you have? What year?

For 14 years I had an 2004 25 Daytona which is the later model.

There is no replacement for seat time. So start slow and start practicing. I don’t mean drive slow but rather approach turns slowly and deliberately until you learn how it reacts. Its hard to get in much trouble going straight.

It does not need a lot of trim. Drive the boat around and get a feel for trim. The boat has an angle of attack built into the hull so you just need to get moving. Trim just interferes with what the boat is doing. If I could set my trim at neutral I could drive all day.

I would start with the drive tucked all the way in untilit planes and the prop releases. Then trim half way and leave it there. Half way is were it works the best most times. At half way small adjustments made here help with ride quality and turns are made here too.

I only used full trim on speed passes. It rides on the back which is fairly flat and full trim doesnt work at slower speeds.

Don’t drive around full trimmed down. Don’t bury the nose and do quick turns in chopping conditions

Practice some turns so you see how it reacts. Approach all large rollers with caution. Seat time will get you ready to deal with large rollers. What you want to learn is where to point the nose at the point of impact. And what speed. I try to hit big rollers at between 45-90 degrees. The bigger the roller the closer to 90 degrees.

I like to make many small quick adjustments to heading. Then make slow large adjustments to heading.

Enjoy

When you say full trim. Do you mean in or out? To me full trim is all the up/out.
 

ONE-A-DAY

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When you say full trim. Do you mean in or out? To me full trim is all the up/out.
You need to use a digital thingy (forgot what they are called) to find neutral trim, mark that with a sharpie on your gauge. Don’t trust the gauge. Once you find neutral a daytona won’t need much more, maybe up 1.5 from the neutral that you determine. Tres will show you all that. Most people over trim their boats, at speed a daytona won’t need a whole lot more than neutral, people think they need much more but their gauge isn’t correct in the first place.
 

n2otoofast4u

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You need to use a digital thingy (forgot what they are called) to find neutral trim, mark that with a sharpie on your gauge. Don’t trust the gauge. Once you find neutral a daytona won’t need much more, maybe up 1.5 from the neutral that you determine. Tres will show you all that. Most people over trim their boats, at speed a daytona won’t need a whole lot more than neutral, people think they need much more but their gauge isn’t correct in the first place.

This is SPOT on! The Daytona's are quite happy at neutral.

I put the boat on a somewhat level surface, then put a 4' level on the running surface of the at the transom. Use the trailer jack to go up/down until that running surface is level. I then put a level on the prop shaft and trim it until the prop shaft is level. Then note on the trim gauge where its at. To me, that is now neutral or zero.
 

pkrrvr619

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Well today was a success. Got used to using the tabs to roll it over quick, some low speed turning and slaloming, and got it to pack air.

found the hop at 60 but was running out of room to open her up as there were a ton of fisherman I was pissing off at the end of the lake.

All in all very impressed with the boat, can cruise nicely at 45-50 and has much more on tap to get after it.

went over otherboat wakes like they were not even there

looking forward to this summer.
 

twocents

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This is SPOT on! The Daytona's are quite happy at neutral.

I put the boat on a somewhat level surface, then put a 4' level on the running surface of the at the transom. Use the trailer jack to go up/down until that running surface is level. I then put a level on the prop shaft and trim it until the prop shaft is level. Then note on the trim gauge where its at. To me, that is now neutral or zero.
Some great advice -- trim gauges are notoriously inaccurate. But once you've located the true 'neutral' setting of your drive unit and marked it on your gauge, you'll be a much more knowledgeable driver.
 

RiverDave

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Get it running about 70 (or whatever speed it isn’t porpoising at)and run the trim up and down a little you are gonna find the bow isn’t going to move much.

pay attention to the forks and the horizon.. if you have the forks at the same angle to the horizon at any speed, it will lean in.. if you don’t it’s going to lean out.

I don’t care if it’s 18mph with the tabs buried.. or 50 mph lightly trimmed up..

Maintain that angle and it will lean in.

The boat is going to like neutral and positive trims once on plane..

You are going to find that is a general rule of thumb for all cats
 

zx14

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Pics of how I was trimmed after my fastest run in 26 Daytona, she likes neutral, with a weeee bit of head wind.
 

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ONE-A-DAY

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These are the ticket for finding your neutral trim, don’t have to mess with the trailer jack. Just zero it out on the bottom of the tunnel and then put it on the cav plate and trim it till it zeros out.

Inclinometer, RISEPRO Digital Protractor Angle Finder Level Inclinometer Magnetic V-Groove 0~360 degree with Backlight 82413B https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1S121Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_M1N.Fb9DD36CJ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I was shocked to find out how little trim my daytona really needs. You also want to be at neutral trim when making your turns. I have no problem turning the boat hard now at 85-90, it will amaze you what your boat can do when Tres gets behind the wheel, it was terrifying at first. Tres goes over the right way to get out of a flipped boat before he starts these drills :)
 

pkrrvr619

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These are the ticket for finding your neutral trim, don’t have to mess with the trailer jack. Just zero it out on the bottom of the tunnel and then put it on the cav plate and trim it till it zeros out.

Inclinometer, RISEPRO Digital Protractor Angle Finder Level Inclinometer Magnetic V-Groove 0~360 degree with Backlight 82413B https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1S121Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_M1N.Fb9DD36CJ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I was shocked to find out how little trim my daytona really needs. You also want to be at neutral trim when making your turns. I have no problem turning the boat hard now at 85-90, it will amaze you what your boat can do when Tres gets behind the wheel, it was terrifying at first. Tres goes over the right way to get out of a flipped boat before he starts these drills :)

Ok i bought one of these.

Can you elaborate a bit more on how to set it up?

Also, would you think this would work to find neutral on tabs as well?
 

stingray11

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If you want to check for neutral on your gear case use a straight edge off your bottom trying to use a level is retarded. And people that are saying in-and-out that's kind of retarded too, because you trim Gauge says up or down that's prop up or prop down keep it simple.Why confuse people. I have never seen a trim gauge that said in and out,you guys must be looking at the good morning inmates thread too much.lol

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk
 

Icky

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Ok i bought one of these.

Can you elaborate a bit more on how to set it up?

Also, would you think this would work to find neutral on tabs as well?
What he's saying is put it on the bottom of your tunnel and then hit the zero button. This sets the degree finder at zero degrees, no matter what angle the tunnel actually is to the world. Then set it on your outdrive cav plate or prop shaft and trim up or down until the degree finder reads zero(don't hit the zero button again). Once its trimmed to zero look at where that reads on your gauges.
 

ONE-A-DAY

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What he's saying is put it on the bottom of your tunnel and then hit the zero button. This sets the degree finder at zero degrees, no matter what angle the tunnel actually is to the world. Then set it on your outdrive cav plate or prop shaft and trim up or down until the degree finder reads zero(don't hit the zero button again). Once its trimmed to zero look at where that reads on your gauges.
Exactly
 

traquer

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Damn I want a Daytona now! Buddy of mine was frat buddies with Mark who heads up some stuff at Eliminator now and I remember his Daytona like 10 years ago before he pimped it out. I was like wow these are timeless boats the first time I saw his up close
 

lenmann

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If you want to check for neutral on your gear case use a straight edge off your bottom trying to use a level is retarded. And people that are saying in-and-out that's kind of retarded too, because you trim Gauge says up or down that's prop up or prop down keep it simple.Why confuse people. I have never seen a trim gauge that said in and out,you guys must be looking at the good morning inmates thread too much.lol

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

Simple is good, but there are a number of trim indicators that use the "In n Out" nomenclature.

Screen Shot 2021-01-13 at 9.08.53 PM.png
 

pkrrvr619

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What he's saying is put it on the bottom of your tunnel and then hit the zero button. This sets the degree finder at zero degrees, no matter what angle the tunnel actually is to the world. Then set it on your outdrive cav plate or prop shaft and trim up or down until the degree finder reads zero(don't hit the zero button again). Once its trimmed to zero look at where that reads on your gauges.

just to make sure I have the terminology right the bottom of the tunnel would be in the back on either side of the center pod?

or do I put it on the bottom of the center pod?
 

J5Daytona

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If you want to check for neutral on your gear case use a straight edge off your bottom trying to use a level is retarded. And people that are saying in-and-out that's kind of retarded too, because you trim Gauge says up or down that's prop up or prop down keep it simple.Why confuse people. I have never seen a trim gauge that said in and out,you guys must be looking at the good morning inmates thread too much.lol

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk
My indicator on the Daytona does in fact say in and out lol
 

stingray11

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My indicator on the Daytona does in fact say in and out lol
Yeah I had no idea they label them that way kind of stupid if you asked me. Do you push the trim button in and out or up and down?Guess I am too old school to have seen this new stuff. Are they cable drive or electronic?

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