[charlie_the_tuna]

My buddy shows up this morning to give us a splash. Drove through the gas station and paid $250 for 48 gallons. Oh well, let’s go Brandon. Dropped her in, no problem. Started right up. Ran a little wonky for 5 or so minutes. Every time we came up to 2,000 rpm, it would bog big time. Feathered the throttle for 5-10 minutes and after that everything was perfect.
Man! This boat is under powered. The bottom is a mess and we slopped on two more coats of paint. Got about 22 mph out of her and backed down to around 4,300 at 17-18 mph. Any lower and we were coming off plane. So cruising rpm is over 4K and the speed is under 20 mph. She’s gonna drink a sh!t load of gas. Oh well…… this is what the boss wanted. I figure we’ll burn twice the fuel and run at 3/4 speed.
So my boy is running the boat and I look back and see more wake kicking up on the starboard side. I take a look and the smart tab came off at the hinge. Aahhhh…… now I know why she’s listing to starboard. These smart tabs are set to drop the bow, unless you manually lift them up and install the pin that keeps them neutral. So now I’m gonna pull her up near the beach tomorrow, kick the motor up so I can work on her in a couple feet of water.
So to wrap up, she’s slower than sh!t, runs beautifully and I’m going swimming tomorrow.