I bought a 2005 Skeeter WX-1880 brand new, but it’s spent the last 10+ years in storage. I just retired and was looking forward to returning to my boat and fishing. I changed the fuel lines, charged the batteries, added some fresh gas to the empty tanks and took it to the lake for a test drive/shakedown cruise. The boat started right up, idled nicely. After it was warmed up I idled across a large no-wake zone. Once I was clear of the no-wake zone I throttled to 3,000 RPM and ran for about 5 minutes. Everything was in order, the engine running smoothly. I eased up to 4,000 RPM and the boat felt very, very tail-heavy. I confirmed the motor was trimmed fully down, but the transom was pushing down almost to the waterline. If I were younger and fearless, I would have pushed to full throttle and tried to get on plane, but honestly, the tail felt so heavy I was afraid of burying the stern and flooding the boat. I throttled back and headed to the dock. I convinced myself the hull was filling with water, but my bilge pumps weren’t pumping any water overboard and the boat road nice and level at 3,000 RPM.
Once on the trailer I pulled the plug and only about a gallon of water drained (plus about 5 gallons from the live wells which I’d left open).
It’s been about 10 years since I used this boat. I’m hoping you Skeeter drivers can tell me, was the plowing and tail-heavy sensation a result of my timidness about going to full throttle and getting on plane? Or could I have actually driven the stern down and swamped it with a higher throttle setting? I simply do not recall the dramatic bow-high attitude when throttling up all those years ago. It really spooked me.
