Sorry missed the questions. This is an older thread and wasnt expecting to see it bumped back up..
As I probably stated earlier in this thread, ride is subjective to ones expectations. You certainly arent going to be able to run with a true deep v like a Regulator or Albemarle in a heavy sea but if you run at a slower speed that allows you to keep the bow down, you can make comfortable headway at a moderate speed while maintaining excellent efficiency. I run her in the chop of the Chesapeake Bay and have run her offshore of OCMD and knew what I was getting and am very satisifed with the ride.
Judge sold a boat earlier this year to a gentleman who ran a popular brand deep v. We sea trialed the boat just after a nasty squall that had a solid steep 3-4 chop on the bay. The thing he really liked about the ride of Judge was that I was able to maintain plane and run the boat comfortably at 16-18mph into the headsea. He noted that his boat fell off plane at any speed below about 22mph causing him to either run faster than he was really comfortable or bog down the boat and plow through it burning tons of fuel. On that day a deep v may have been slightly more comfortable at faster speeds but the efficiency and ability to hold plane at slower speeds would allow for him to operate for maximum comfort. He just would have to be willing to sacrifice some speed. For anglers like me who tend to run less than 20-30 miles to our fishing grounds, it makes more sense to me to have this style hull as I spend a lot more time fishing than running anyhow. Besides I am able to power this hull with a lot less hp. Most deep v's this size require twins.
Workdog1, I chose the 225 Honda over a 250 zuke and would do the same again. The zuke has a little more punch but the Honda has more than enough power for me. I fish tournanments here on the bay with 5 guys on board and fishing gear to support a 13 rod spread with planerboards and never felt that the boat was underpowered. The boat will cruise at 28+mph at 4400 rpms with a full load (see photo here:
http://www.thehulltruth.com/members/...hing-gear.html ) . The Honda is slightly more fuel efficient and came with a 5 year factory warranty. BOE Marine is very close to me and services Honda as well. (a deciding factor for me).
For more info from owners goto BOE Marine's local fishing forum
www.cbangler.com or
www.tidalfish.com where you can post on the Maryland boards and ask about the performance of the hull with the zukes and honda power. I think 2 guys on CBAngler with 250 zukes on the boat and 3 or 4 of us have 225 Hondas.
There is also a review in the December issue of Northeast Boating Magazine on my boat under their "Tried and True" section. Send me your email if you want a copy of it. My email address is
bfaithfulfishing@yahoo.com
Here is a photo of my boat that appears in the Magazine. She is running a hair faster than my typical cruise speed but with no tabs.
