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New Boat!

McZiggy

McZiggy

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Location
Northern Wisconsin
We picked up our new boat last night!  2014 21SLX F115LA & Express Tube.  We couldn't be happier.

Short story...

We drive the 3 hours to buy the boat sight unseen, which is always nerve racking.  Missing changing room and 3rd pontoon bunk for the trailer hasn't arrived, no big deal, will be in the mail.

We get out to the lake, put it in the water and take it out of neutral, the most god awful racket happens between 1-2,000 rpms.  Not happy!  Everybody is thinking it was the prop, so we trailer back to the dealership so they can try out a different prop.  There was some off brand 13 pitch SS on it.  Didn't have any other SS props in stock, so they installed a 13 pitch Yamaha Aluminum prop.  I get a phone call from the dealer saying, I KNOW WHAT IT IS GET BACK HERE!  The rear wave tamer that was installed was missing a hand full of rivets and was rattling the boat like crazy!  Get it back on the water and it purrs like a kitten.  Unfortunately the prop is terribly terrible.  Half throttle brings it to redline almost instantly and feels like the prop is slipping hard core.  27 mph GPS at half throttle, but near redline.  Talked with the dealer today and am getting the Yamaha Pontoon Performance series 14x13 SS prop, should be in this week.  Just picked up a spare aluminum prop to have as a backup, Solas 13.5x15 pitch.  Plan to take it out after work to get the rest of the break in period done then hopefully a WOT run today!  I'll be sure to post back GPS speed with this new aluminum prop.

Sorry for the terrible sentence structure, didn't feel like giving a full effort, last night was late!

Chris

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Very nice and congrats!  Welcome to the toon world.
 
Congrats !! Welcome to the Family !!
 
Good looking boat!! Am interested in the performance specs with the 14x13 as prop. We went with the 13.5x15 alum prop. 34/35 mph at 6000 rpm. One person on board and 1/2 tank of gas. I would think yours would be comparable.
 
Rpms with two adults and two toddlers maxed about 5200 with the trim pretty far up. Also, my motor is mounted all the way down. It gets soaked while at any kind of speed. Water flies everywhere. Being a express tube, the front sits up high and rear way low. Think I think to raise the motor up? Max speed was 26 with the new prop.
 
Congrats but where are the pics?
 
looks good ziggy.

I have a question about the water flying all over. Is it soaking your motor? and Do you have a depth finder on your boat. 

The reason I ask is I had water soaking my motor last year, and it turned out to be where the transducer was mounted, If you look at my 2013 benny gallery there is a video of the motor getting wet. 

just thought the info might help if it was doing the same as mine was. 
 
I'll have to post some pictures and a video of what it does next time I'm out on the water.
 
Congrats.  Nice looking rig.   Time to have some fun........ enjoy.
 
McZiggy said:
I'll have to post some pictures and a video of what it does next time I'm out on the water.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure its the Express Tube setup.  Mine does throws a lot of water all over the motor too.
 
Here is a video I took tonight. Half throttle at first, then wide open. Motor mounted as far deep as could be. First hole. 13.5 x 15 solar aluminum prop running 4800 rpms WOT at 28.1 mph. Can't wait for the new prop!

 
That's what mine looks like.  Other than you seem to have some kind of "misting" thing going on close to the motor on the starboard side (you can see it well about 25 seconds in on the video).  Mine may do that too, I don't know.  I'm almost always the one driving when we're going that fast, and maybe mine does that too but I just cant see it from the helm chair.  My motor does get all wet though.  Even on top.

Everything else looks like mine though.  Especially the large "V" spray off both sides of the motor.
 
I had often thought my motor was mounted too low, but it doesn't take much trim for it to ventilate, and so moving the motor up a hole would just make that a lot worse.

Can anyone else with Express verify the spray he's getting?
 
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Mine doesn't start to vent until my trim is about 7/8's up, amd even then it doesn't really vent, the boat just starts to slow down.
 
Heading out tonight with a new aluminum prop.  4800 RPM WOT with the Solas 13.5 x 15 pitch.  Trying a Solas 13.75 x 13 tonight.  Won't get my Yamaha Pontoon Performance series 14x13 SS till next week. Hoping to creep past 30 mph tonight!
 
Hang in there.  Sounds as if your dealer's cooperating.  As far as I'm concerned, part of buying a new boat is having it setup properly for maximum performance.  Any good dealer should want to get his boats tuned in and his customers happy.

Pontoons are strange animals when it comes to water flow.  Yes, many throw out strange waves and water from between the toons.  Sometimes there's not much you can do about it.  And sometimes the old boating law where an anticavitation plate should be seen at medium cruising speeds is not always true.

My F150 in the second hole (3/4" off the lowest position) runs great and ventilates just a little in a tight turn when trimmed about 3/4 up--just like I like it.  And the top speed is exactly what I expected.  And I still just see spray over my lower unit.
 
Sad Face. 28.8 gps trimmed up and just barely off the rev limiter. Two adults and two toddlers. I really hope the SS prop will put me over the 30 mark, just not sure if that's possible. I'll be getting the new prop end of next week.

Chris
 
Are you fully getting the nosecones out of the water @ 29 mph?

My boat really comes alive @ 30 mph when the engine's trimmed up.  It almost feels like a gust of wind gets under the hull and raises the front end--getting the toons father out of the water.  And it's getting the nosecones out of the water that gives it speed and efficiency.

Don't give up yet, different propellers do perform differently.
 
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