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How does a 1998 MONTAUK 17 boat handle in down-swell conditions in the ocean?

I have heard a 1998 MONTAUK 17 boat has "squirrelly" handling compared to older classic hulls.

ASIDE: I am new to this forum

Please read about the hull at

The 16/17-foot Hull
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/16-17/

Norcalfob6 wrote:I have heard a 1998 MONTAUK 17 boat has "squirrelly" handling compared to older classic hulls.

The hull design used in a 1998 model year MONTAUK 17 is the same as used since 1976.

Thank you for the reply

If you plan on surfing the waves, start with small waves. Use the engine throttle; the engine throttle more important than the helm. Learn how much power is needed to match and outrun a wave. You will be surprised how quickly [the engine] throttle maxes out climbing the backside of a wave with a boat loaded with gear. Graduate to larger waves with practice .

ASIDE
I’ve been running the ocean with Boston Whaler boats for a while at Jones Inlet, New York. I have 1982 Montauk [17] with a 90-HP engine.

[My] first [Boston Whaler boat] was a 1964 Sakonnet with a Yamaha 70-HP. [The SAKONNET hull] tracks straight down the line. [The 1982 MONTAUK] rides completely differently [than the 1974 SAKONNET]. [The 1982 MONTAUK] can carve a wave [because its] V[-hull] is deeper. [A 15-footer] is an animal in surf.

In my experience with four-feet-high to six-feet-high swells--not waves--off the coast of Maine, the Montauk does rather well.

Of course the hull behavior is dependent on the capability and skill of the operator.

A classic MONTAUK 17 does not have a V-hull bottom. The hull bottom at the stern is rounded. The bow entry is, of course, a steep vee-shape, but that quickly tapers to a rounded hull bottom. To refer to a MONTAUK 17 as having a "V-hull" is not appropriate.

Surfing Down Wave Fronts on Six Footers
My only experience on the ocean in running down sea in waves with a six-foot or greater trough-to-crest height was aboard an OUTRAGE 25. The piloting was very demanding and the controls were split among two people. One handling steering and one handling engine throttles. It was very exhilarating to climb the back of big ocean waves in the Atlantic coast off of Ft. Lauderdale while running at 25-MPH, then top the crest and accelerate down the wave front. The Boston Whaler OUTRAGE V-hull boats can do this marvelously. I would never attempt anything akin to that in a MONTAUK 17.

The rounded bottom boats like a MONTAUK are not in the same league with the OUTRAGE boats in term of ride and tracking. The round-bottom boats ride more like surfboards down the wave fronts.

I don't think the OP actually owned a MONTAUK 17 when he began this discussion, so advice to him about how to run the boat may be premature.

Norcalfob6 wrote:I have heard a 1998 MONTAUK 17 boat has "squirrelly" handling compared to older classic hulls.

While [a MONTAUK 17] is a capable boat, the rounded bottom does not allow it to track like a V-bottom hull.

The "squirrelliness" would be exaggerated in a following sea, especially surfing down large waves; any boat in this condition requires lots of steering and throttle input with skill in timing, but with a rounded bottom hull it would more noticeable.

The rounded bottom is a tradeoff in handling, ride, and stability.

D-