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Tower Boat with Sealegs?

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Off Call

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Needs some help from the Tower Boat boys!! Are any of you having issues when boats are loaded up dropping speed and RPM's? Dealer, Bennington and myself are perplexed!!! When I have 2-4 adults on and 1/2-3/4 full of 56 gallon tank I am able to run 45-50mph and 5500 RPM's. Mind you I have the 350 yami Pig on back as well. As soon as we load up with 6-8 adults and a few kids pulling our tube we lose serious MPH and Rpm's. I am only able to run 25-29 Mph and 4400-4600. When really loaded with 12-14 we run 19-21mph WOT. We also have sea legs which roughly weigh 500lbs. (250 for the front and 250# for back legs). Bennington engineer and Dealer have been spinning as to what might be causing this. They are thinking d/t weight of tower, center gas tank, wt. of 350 and sea legs that I am to heavy in the stern and thus need some lift. They are going to try a 4 blade prop to see if that might help. Both feel with that HP I should not be dropping performance as I am. What props are those with towers and bigger engines running? I hope that some of the experts here maybe can give me some insight or suggestions. Thanks guys!!

PS Sealegs work awesome so I am hoping this is what is not causing my issues!!!
 
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:rolleyes: TB recently saw data suggesting that SeaLegs do affect performance. Although a great product and perfect for some situations, they are not recommended for Bennington owners who are keen on optimal performance and handling. :unsure:
 
Well the wife nixed the idea of sea legs right off the hop! I showed her how cool your boat looked in the pic when installing, and before I could even ask, she said no we aren't getting those! It's like she knows me so well!
 
Thanks TB, wish that data would have been available prior to purchase. Whats considered optimal? To me this seems drastic. I would be okay with a few MPH as what others who have the product were saying. The product works great but not sure for the price of lost performance.
 
Hmmm, TB read the data and tossed it as Sealegs are not effective in my neck of the woods. You already own a heavy boat with the tower and 350 Yami, and after adding a boatload of passengers and fuel, plus the Sealegs, you are asking a lot of that boat!
 
I understand boat is already heavy, but would the sea legs not balance each other out thus a wash? Or should I look at it I already have 2 Wisconsin cheese eating fellas already on board you just can't see them?
 
yes...think extra CHEESE equals EXTRA WEIGHT! :p
 
It might be worthwhile to hang a camera down there while under way to see how much drag they create with loads. A couple guys did that when showing how the wave shield works. I'd bet a ton of water hits those when you have the heavy loads. It would definitely slow it down.
 
Those 2 toon boats with the wave shield were getting drenched at 20 mph on the under deck. The ESP has a lot more buoyancy but the tubes are still only 25" tall so I'd assume there is some drag.
 
I think re propping with a 4 blade will help. However, you are losing drastic performance. Seems like everyone, especially dealers prop for top end speed with just a couple of people on board. Top speed seems to what everyone seems to want, but in real life use of the boat, those props won't do the job. The boat should be proped for the most used conditions.

Good luck
 
I haven't had quite that much load on my 2275 w/250 but I've had 8 adults, full fuel and was still as close to 40 as they could stand with wind in their faces. It does seem pretty drastic, but 12-14 is a LOT of people.
 
I'm no expert on this, but, wow .. 12-14 people, an almost 800 lb motor, 40 gallons of fuel at roughly 8 lbs/gal, plus 500 lb in sealegs ..... you have aroughly 1700 lbs in "max" capacity weight. What is max capacity weight rating on your plate?

I'm guessing "person" capacity you are within limits, but "total" capacity, persons, motor, gear you gotta be pushing the max, or over.

The sea legs themselves are 2-3 "people" "total" capacity in weight.

As TB stated, that's asking alot of that boat. Others will be able to input prop recommendations, but I think with that amount of total weight, you are going to be very limited on increase in speed. (If I only had this problem with my boat ..... :D )
 
I frequently have 10-12 people on board my 25R, without a tower or sea legs, but I do have a 350 yamaha. I do see some performance loss due to the weight, but definitely nothing like you are describing. I'm running a 17p three blade. The dealer originally had a 19p on but the rpms were 5500. I changed to a 17p and got up to 6000, which is where this motor needs to be. Top end speed was slightly better, but the hole shot was amazing with the 17p.
 
You may also want to see how low the boat sits when loaded, cheese and all :p .

My point is that with more of the toons in the water, that creates more drag, and being that low, more water hitting the sea legs=more drag.

It would also be nice to know exactly how much weight you have when fully loaded, as it sounds like you are really close to the max weight limit.

This part is strictly my opinion, whether it is a boat, car, truck, bike etc. it has a 'window' for optimum performance, once you get outside that window, the drop in performance can be drastic, as the engine can produce only so much torque, and torque IS what moves you. ( no toque this time!)
 
Off Call said:
Wt. plate 2400lbs.
Click to expand...
If I'm no crazy that leaves you roughly 700 lbs total capacity after motor/fuel/legs or 3-4 adults. No wonder she's sluggish. Propping may help but again, I might be nuts, but me thinks you are way over capacity rating...... ????
 
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