:sun:Thanks Ferm and Randall, I will get on it in the morning.
Meanwhile..Attachment 5745

Attachment 5746

Attachment 5747

Attachment 5748

I can't wait to try this thing. Break-in forthcoming. I can almost taste the fish now.. :beer:

Sweet!

tell me about it ridge, i am trying to get mine ready to take to the dealer monday. i went to the dealer yesterday and he was mounting twin 150's on a parker. they had the cowlings off, the only thing i recognized was the spark plug wires.

like rmb, i had progressive on the v the first 5 years i had the new motor on it back in 95. it was around $250 a year for around $10,000. worth of coverage.

looks good, enjoy

MJ or Valiant, I still can't see any of Ridge's pics. HELP!

How about the link I sent for the one picture Bradford?
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...5&d=1411681222

Hey Ridge... As a favor to you,(so you can have more time to do other things), I'll be happy to take the boat and do the break in for you for a few years or so.. No, no,...... no thanks needed... it's the least I can do for a fellow boater. :beer:

I'll do him one better. I will gladly let him fill it up, and then come over and do the break in for him. Even test the hull/prop integrity on a few rocks out on the flats for him. Since I'm local I can do this service for him on short notice.

While I do appreciate the generosity of the offer Destroyer, Ferman has first dibbs. Shall I take a casting of what the skeg looks like now, as in a BEFORE picture. Seriously, might be the last chance to see it intact. :haha: Time to see what this thing can do. To the lake.

Hey now, my skeg on my jon boat is still intact(by some miracle I don't know how, that oyester bar last weekend was HARD!). I will say my SOLAS aluminum prop is one tough SOB. I hit some stuff with it that would have WRECKED a michigan wheel, and it just got some knicks in the blades(which polished right out with a scotch brite pad on my grinder).

I'll bring beer and sandwiches

Well I just got back from the lake and I am impressed with the torque. Cruised around for break-in which reads nothing over 4500 for the first 2 hours and vary throttle often. Took lunch, which is damn good news, I am getting my appetite back. Just put an hour on it and it is incredible how much additional thrust the larger prop and deeper gears make. Seriously it is on plane in a boatlength and a half and will stay on plane with light load (me) down to about 10.5 mph. Fantastic news because the flat bottom has a tendency to beat your fillings out in the rough. The larger gearcase does seem to give some additional stern lift at speed and it is possible to jack the motor all the way up and the boat will still get on plane and run. No way the old Johnson case and 15P prop were up to that task. The bow rise coming out of the hole is nearly imperceptable so it is hard to really put a stopwatch to it. Half again faster than the 90 Johnson that was no slug to start with. The prop I borrowed off the V-20 is the Thunderbolt Quicksilver 21P. It swings it without a problem but who knows on top end. Couple more hours to go before we find out. This is absolutely the quietest motor I ever owned. In neutral you can hear the water stream as it breaks friction from the telltale. In and out of Forward and Reverse is quiet. Trim buttom is funky on the up. It snaps. No tach for the trip.. None of the gauges worked. The Merc Tech that hung and rigged the motor said they did?? I was more interested in how it floats and what the extra weight would do. I think it is very close to the old setup.. Self bailing without a problem, no hop, nothing but quiet performance. Everything you ever wanted fom a outboard motor, including the PC of 3 star super-low emission status and no bad 2-stroke oil. :zip:
Oh yeah, motor mounts are loose as a goose in this thing. It shimmys and shakes back there but you can't feel a thing. In fact that is about the only way to tell if it is running at idle if your more than 10 feet away.
I have gotten used to the solid mounts in the big Merc. This is a departure from that. Nothing but good, a few loose ends to tie up as you would expect. Smiles:party: Now for a nap and tear back into the dash area again... build fence at the house, bathroom remodel, the list is growing I think..

Congrats!!!!!!

Congrats Ridge!!! Sounds great!

Thanks for the support. Still haven't tore into the gauge situation. I popped the lid to make sure the terminators were in place. I have a harness that is all ty-wrapped under dash I guess I will start there. Plug and play? :arrr: Sounds like a good idea to me, what caliber shall I use?

On a positive note I got some fence built between me and the neighbor with the 10 month old American Bulldog (read climber). It took most of the day Sunday but we knocked it out. 4x6x10' post with 2x4x16' rails and 5/4x6 Premium RED for the picketts. Heck of a heavy booger anyhow. If the dog scales this one we will need to rethink fence building.

Nope, go to tractor supply and get you an electric fence charger. Run a strand across the top and I bet it will change his mind.

I have a couple of those from my previous dog. He started chewing on the transducer after he ate the harness for the lights (consumed it too). What an animal. Had to string the hot wire around the boat and it parked in the yard..
Here comes the blonde in me- There is a simple procedure for plug and play Smartcraft Monitors and gauges. First couple pages into the manual it says MASTER RESET- Pure Magic after that ... The gauge must have been previously powered up and it was confused as to who its new master IS. :haha: So I put 1.2 hours on it.. Composure, I think it is done gents...
Next is a small bathroom remodel then I can go use this baby and redouble my focus on redfish and trout.

my neighbor, growing up, had an issue with his other neighbors bull dog, the dog kept peeing on his flowers(his flower garden was his wifes hobby). The dog kept killing his flowers by peeing on them or digging them. One day he took a metal trash can lid and set it down between the flowers, he hooked a long jumper wire from the trash can lid to the coil wire on his lawn mower. He hid around the corner and waited till he herd pee hitting the trash can lid, once he heard it, he pulled on the rope start for the pawn mower. Needless to say, the dog never came back in his yard. You could see that dog just stare at him from his yard, but he never came back in that yard again

LOL :clap:

He needed a model T FORD ignition coil. No pull starting needed, just hook it to 12 volts and she buzzes away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATZAH70CJjY

wouldn't that be 6V?

No, they will buzz on 6V, but work 3 times as good on 12. Doesn't hurt em a bit as the stock T mag puts out 28-32 volts AC, so 12 volts DC don't bother em at all.

Performance numbers and a PSA
 

I don't exactly know about model T coils but the coils off the 3.8 Pontiac get your attention.

Performance numbers thus far

It is debatable as to what speed the boat will plane. Without a doubt it is on plane at 12 MPH at 2200 RPM (I believe 10.6 at 2100)
MPH RPM
15.5 2500 2.1 GPH
20.5 3000 2.2 GPH
26 3500 ?
30 4000 2.9 GPH
35 4500 ?
39 5000 5.4 GPH
42 5600 ?
46 6100 ?
I got 2.2 hours on the clock and I opened her up.
MPG is going to be real good as you can tell.

PSA *** PLEASE READ ***
This is not bragging guys I am dead serious, please take it in the way it was meant from the bottom of my heart and soul.. As a matter of fact, it could be said that I am a blooming idiot (albeit very lucky) and should be embarrassed for admitting to such lax behavior..
I have had this vessel for 18 years. I have had numerous other boats V-bottom, flat bottom, offshore, inshore, flats, bay, airboat. I worked at a landlocked Marina off and on for 10 years as a lot boy and worked my way up to chief screw-off whereby I lake tested a variety of boats. Bass boats to 70 mph were not common but I could be the steering wheel holder if such a vessel came my way. My boss held many a title in tunnel boats and knew a thing about how hulls work. I picked up on some as you might imagine. I am not an expert but my experience with motor boats is perhaps a bit more than others is the point.
I would have never predicted any bad behavior from this boat. BUT
AT speeds above 40 mph this boat wants to chuck you out. A combination of those loose motor mounts, a little play in the steering, having a big lower unit buried in the water, high trim angle and hammer down (at or above 5000 rpm) and hold on to your a$$. It was as if I am testing an old familiar set of shoes gentleman. Wait, WTF just happened? The bow will start to rise and fly and then the motor moves to one side and hang on, you just changed course by 10 degrees and the boat is doing a version of chine walking. (I was lucky) Yes that kill switch and life vest are on board for a reason. I slowed down and put on both and proceeded with caution... Spareparts and I agree that the boat would have been properly powered with a 70 hp motor. As he put it "You wouldn't be satisfied until you put enough hp on it that it could kill you."
STUFF HAPPENS-- ALWAYS Be alert and prepared for the unexpected
WEAR YOUR VEST AND USE THE SAFETY LANYARD !

Woah! ..... Glad ur ok!... I wonder if moving some weight forward would help? Also maybe some sort of shock to stabilize the motor mounts like a steering stabilizer for a performance bike? I'm sure you know a dual cable steering system would tighten it up too.

WOW! 10 mpg??? Is that even possible? ..... Very impressive!!!


Didnt know that.... Very cool.

Steering play is 95% of the side to side action. You are correct Smoke single cable steering simply has too much play to go real fast.

You can always put a BAYSTAR steering kit on it. They aren't that horribly priced(compared to the SEASTAR system), and should be more than enough for that 115. Sounds like you need more HP. You need enough to push through the scary spot to get to the even faster speeds.

Nah, I'll pass on that. I was there when this vessel was built. It isn't designed properly to pack air and it never will be safe at ludicrous speed. It is too thin for that kind of pressure and I don't have a death wish. The good news is there are a plethora of real simple solutions to something like this. The least costly is to back off the go-go stick. OR If you jack the engine up with the jack plate 2.5" the problem goes away and she flys straight. Prop change will certainly change the driving behavior too. The motor will barely touch the limiter with the 21p Thunderbolt prop. (motor trimmed and jacked to the proper safe?? attitude..) I think I am going to try a 4-or5 blade prop just to see if the mileage is any different.

I still can't believe I finally bit the bullet and went 4-stroke, and new. I freakin hate payments, but I love the new engine too. It is starting to sink in. The quiet is starting to make me horny, kinda like the smell of 2-stroke oil..:oh:

If you have a hub kit, I have a HIGH FIVE old style(doesn't have the vent holes in it) 21 pitch you can try out. I swapped to the TROPHY PLUS when I had my flats boat to get more top end, but this HIGH FIVE got on plane in a HURRY! I could throw people back onto the deck unless I gave them a rope to hang onto. If it works out I'm sure I can work out a deal you'd be happy with.

Ferman, that is a great offer that I will take you up on. That is one of the ones I want to try as it happens. When they first came out in like 1987 we used to rig them on Carolina Skiffs with the 90 hp motors (smaller case) You could surface them and keep the boat moving across some very shallow waters. I recall they were very good on holding plane slow and I see that they have a following now from the ski boat crowd. Must have some good bite. Someone on S&F has one for sale, but I want to try one first. I was thinking of calling Ken @ Prop Gods and see what he thinks as well. You solved one problem. Maybe we could get together and get Patrick to the water for some fishing/swimming/testing.
Based on preliminary testing and some initial numbers, I believe it will be hard to top the 21P Thunderbolt. It is just a great prop (Mirage Copy without the Vent holes). Maybe the ECO Enertia like Big Shrimpin posted the other day. He gained 3 or 4 MPH at the same RPM switching from a Mirage to a one pitch higher Enertia. I really really want to try a Maximus straight tube. IIRC it has the Tempest blade rake and shape and the diffuser ring cut off would help give less stern lift. How about a 21 Chopper? Lots of choices..

I know when I ran the high five I have it was like a rocket out of the hole. Boat came up almost level without tabs. It gave a good deal of stern lift, and wasn't able to lift the bow much even trimmed up. It did hold plane at low speeds like nobodies business, and actually planed out slower than the TROPHY did. The reason I took it off was the boat hit a wall at 50. 1 or 5 people on board, it didn't matter, 52 was as fast as it would go(but it got there QUICK!). I was thinking maybe I could bum a ride or 2 with yeah, and call it a deal. It isn't doing me any good, just taking up space in my shed. As for taking Patrick, I don't think he would sit still long enough to do anything. He's an atomic rubber ball bouncing off the walls all day.

Great offer Ferman, I will take you up on that. No boating this weekend. Lots of soccer and a minor relapse of gut hurting.. :nut:

Made it through the day. I hate food all over again.. 182 and falling fast
I was in Bass Pro Sunday walking around people watching and I noticed a guy walking around over by the boats that had the same kind of shirt that I was wearing, didn't think twice about it until I got a little closer and realized it was my own reflection in the glass. Scary when you don't recognize yourself in the mirror. BTW- They had ZERO selection in the Hydraulic Steering Department.. I think my marina has the Baystar at $650

Sucks cutting fresh ty-wraps. Just when you thought it was over and done with.. Everything, and I mean every wire in the boat is ty-wrapped to the freaking steering cable. I used the steering head to mount a couple terminal blocks for power distribution. No more cable steering means I will need to do a little more reconfiguring,, v1

lol just cut off the ends of the cable and rename it a "wire guide"

Theres several on ebay for under $550

Jamestown Distributors has the best price on Hydraulic steering

On it.. Thanks for the leads

Jamestown is $575 plus the ride. I think another thousand sounds about right

BOAThousand

I've found a thousand isn't too bad, usually ends up being more.

That is SPIN right there. The bright side is it will be a thousand or less.

Got it.. Train the brain:beer: