MY NEW TOY HAVE LOTS OF QUESTIONS

[toondog]

HOLLY CRAP!!! johnO, that's a freak'n cruise ship. What the hell do you tow it with?

[onthelaketwo]

The sea legs give you 6 feet from bottom of deck. So if you have 24 inch logs you will get at most 4 feet.

I am in about 3.5 feet, and it did not move with 50+ mile an hour winds.

I don't remember how far down it hangs from deck I would guess about 6 inches, but I have the boat in storage so I cannot measure.

[JohnO]

HOLLY CRAP!!! johnO, that's a freak'n cruise ship. What the hell do you tow it with?

1998 Durango. I slip it for the summer so I only have to tow it one round trip per year. The first year I had it we towed everywhere. Last year I got lazy and got the slip. The Durnago does a pretty good job. I bought the boat about 200 miles form here and towed it home (and one trip back for some fixes) with no problem.

It is kind of a nice boat.

[buddy19520]

Cutknife, I use an Mercury Enertia prop 15x15. The boat came with an Evinrude 15x15 aluminum and I thought I would pick up a little speed with the shiny prop. I think the only thing that improved going to stainless is the hole shot - the prop has a better grip on the water. After seeing some of the glowing recommendations on various pontoon forums, I was a bit disappointed. Another pontoon owner in the neighborhood has the same prop in a 14" version. One day I am going to try to borrow it to see if it would work better for me. I get 38mph (gps) at 5300 rpm. I think it should rev a little higher. Seeing some of the speeds quoted in the Annual Test issue, my top speed does not seem out of the ordinary. I would love to be able to claim an over-40 top speed, but am not willing to put any time or money into achieving it. I rarely run that fast anyhow - mostly 20-25 mph for typical cruising.

I measured the amount of gas I burned between low-oil alarms, and figured that I got 70:1 ratio on the XD100 oil, which is all I've ever used. I've read elsewhere that a too-low redline will cause it to burn more oil. I rarely smell any oil - only when at idle speed with the wind behind me.

Philip

Phil, something doesn't sound right, I am running the 15p enertia with a 150hp and got 40.5 gps. I started with a 17p mirage plus and only got 38mph at 5300rpm. I had just heard of the enertia an ask them to put on a 15p enertia and that maxed me out to 5800rpm. What speed were you turning with the alum prop? Seems like you should be in the 42 to 43 range.
doc

Dock, I have always thought that my speed should be a little higher. I have attributed the lower top speed to a few things -

boat is probably a little heavier than yours or others in this size - it has a lot of furniture on it, a movable coffee table filled with stuff, tools under the changing room

my middle tube is a shorty tube that is just added in front of the same transom they put on two log boats instead of a custom tube with a built in transom,

way too much spray coming off the logs,

I think the four lifting strakes are probably welded on about 1-2 inches too low. They are just above the water line at speed, and spray comes off them at less than the half-way point. I see other pictures (BryDen) where the water is only touching the last 8-10 feet of the toon.

I have not tried moving the motor higher. I considered it, but it seems that I blow out enough in turns already and don't want it to do any more. I don't blow out if I trim way down before the turn, but I often forget.

I cannot remember what RPMs the aluminum prop gave me. I was late summer 2007 that I switched. I did try a no name Mercury 17p prop a neighbor lent me, and got decent speed out of it, but the RPMs were barely over 5000. What I would like is a prop with a smaller diameter and about the same 15p I currently have. I think it would allow me to get closer to 5800 RPM, which is about the redline. But the 14p Enertia that another neighbor has is an even larger diameter, maybe as big as 15.75, so I don't know if it will help or hurt.

After a while, I just decided it was not that important to eek out another mile or two top-end. The boat is on a lift in the lake, and working underneath it is a bitch without a trailer. You can piss away a lot of money messing with it, and I would rather spend it on gas

Philip