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| Traits include a smooth ride, little to no spray, and excellent efficiency. |
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The concept of a deep-V hull seems so simple on the surface, you’d think anyone could build one that rides smoothly. But you’d be dead wrong – in fact, between strake placement, chine design, variable degrees, and a plethora of other factors, it’s darn easy to make a deep-V boat that beats the heck out of you. But, some builders do get it right. And some get it as close to perfect as possible. One such builder is Regulator. I say that after having run every boat in their fleet, including today’s topic matter, the 23 FS.
I tested this boat in a 20-knot wind, including a wide-open throttle dash to 44.1-mph. And I expected it to ride well, because I’ve always found Regulators to be among the top five of the smoothest-running boats for their size. What didn’t I expect? This boat is amazingly dry, too. Even while running through a quartering sea, there was a complete absence of spray. So I tried running down-sea, then beam-to. Still no spray.
Credit for both smoothness and dryness go to a razor-sharp 48-degree entry, that’s assisted by reversed chines that throw water down and away. The negative aspect to such a smooth riding, dry hull design? Stability. Jump up onto a gunwale, and the boat will lean over a bit. Drift in a beam sea, and there’s more rocking and rolling then boats with flatter bottoms usually exhibit. Not necessarily much, but some. Like any hull design, the deep-V does have a trade-off or two. One thing you won’t give on, however, is economy. How many 23’ deep-V boats do you know of that’ll cruise at over 23-mph, while getting 3.7 miles to the gallon? Not many. Or, that will get 2.9 miles to the gallon at 34-mph? Even fewer.
You want warp-speed abilities, so you can beat the fleet to the canyons? No problem - my test boat was rigged with a 225-hp outboard but Yamaha performed tests on this boat with a single 350, and they recorded a cruise at 4500 RPM of 38.5-mph while burning 17.7 gallons per hour (for 2.2 miles to the gallon,) and a top-end of 52.8-mphwhile burning 34.7 gallons per hour (for 1.5 miles to the gallon).
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