Laser LTV

[onebadlaser]

I recently bought a 86 Laser ltv, It has a 2.4 200 on it, hydraulic steering, Livorsi gauges, the boat is set up pretty clean, I have done minor things too it I had the steering all rebled and seals fixed, a bunch of wiring, not much motor stuff yet, the boat right now runs about 85 on the gps at 5800rpm with a 28 pitch prop, the problem im having is once you get past 80mph it wants to walk really bad, Is there anything I can do or upgrades I can make to help with this?

[Ratracer]

I have the same thing I converted mine to center steer.
It's a bit of a handful running about 86 but tearing up props
Choppers going to try running a cleaver.

[D.Ally]

Ive had 1 and another that a friend has both with merc power and 28 cleaver is the only way to go but ... u were over triming the boat a little .. it was one bump to high in that set up , cleavers are stern lifters so ur Boat will change attitude and u may need that extra bump of trim they will lay flatter and the azz end will free up fom the water and letting the air pass more efficently under the air entrapments with less touchin the water . It will be faster! but more on the edge just like anything else when u string it out.

These things are known to be blow over queens at 100 so be care full i lost mine 1 time bot 90 and lost the Top of the Tree line for vison all i saw was Blue sky!!! It came back but it was not good very very close.


Dave

[Ratracer]

That's right how far above the bottom did you run it?

[99fxst99]

"These things are known to be blow over queens at 100 so be care full i lost mine 1 time bot 90 and lost the Top of the Tree line for vison all i saw was Blue sky!!! It came back but it was not good very very close."
:eek:
I must have been lucky, because I raced a Mod VP STV that would run 100-102 and it felt great. Ran 28 and 30 Merc cleavers, Merc Mod VP 2.4 Bridgeport. I loved that boat!:thumbsup:

[D.Ally]

I belive the Stv mod vps had a little bit diffrent bottom ? and a more closed cockpit but yha there was one in mn blew over and mine , my buddie w his lost at upper 90s with a little side wind was evil

Dave

[200valeroyt]

Cleaver would be a step in the right direction if the boat is light enough. I ran a 28 et on mine and the boat stayed very neutral with the trim. A high prop height will settle the boat down and keep the bow a bit less senseitive to coming up. I'd probably stay away from chopper props if your indeed running 85.

[99fxst99]

I belive the Stv mod vps had a little bit diffrent bottom ? and a more closed cockpit but yha there was one in mn blew over and mine , my buddie w his lost at upper 90s with a little side wind was evil

Dave
Dave, my bad, it was an LTV, not STV. I guess its old age creeping up..... ;-)

[HStream1]

Dave, my bad, it was an LTV, not STV. I guess its old age creeping up..... ;-)

And my memory isn't that bad at all. Yes you are getting OLD:p.

[Ally94]

When power boat mag did a test on this hull back in the 1980's they used a cleaver 28 pitch for the test. The boat ran well and was stable.

Jim

[mastertrax]

Hi, I can offer some thoughts on your rig based on my experience with them:

A 2.4 even on a heavy LTV should be turning a 28" prop well into the 6's at the least! The engine is probably too low resulting in the engine having to be trimmed 'way out to get the hull out of the water, and you're flying it like a V bottom. Perfect engine height on my LTV is with the prop shaft 3/4" above the bottom of the center sponson. This allows the boat to run at a more level attitude without so much engine stuck down in the water, the way it was designed to run. Your engine will turn faster, the boat will be more stable and top speed will increase. For reference, with a 26" cleaver I can do the numbers you are getting with your 28.

Since cleavers tend to lift the stern rather than the bow (or maybe they just don't lift the bow) they make perfect sense in this application. I use cleavers on my LTV and I have stuck with them exclusively on this type of hull, the only exception being a super-heavy Stratos VT rocket I had back in the 80's.

I don't see any reason why a healthy 2.4 shouldn't push any structurally sound LTV into at least the low nineties and beyond with the right setup and prop, and if it's a light layup who knows....maybe more....mine is very very light and I have yet to tap into it's full potential. My nads seem much tighter than my wallet at high speed, and I don't think they are ready to die.

[timmc6]

maybe laser ed will chime his is super fast,115+ and looks good doing it,

[Ratracer]

Wow 115 had trouble with it wanting to hook hard to the left.

[laser_ED]

Hi, I can offer some thoughts on your rig based on my experience with them:

A 2.4 even on a heavy LTV should be turning a 28" prop well into the 6's at the least! The engine is probably too low resulting in the engine having to be trimmed 'way out to get the hull out of the water, and you're flying it like a V bottom. Perfect engine height on my LTV is with the prop shaft 3/4" above the bottom of the center sponson. This allows the boat to run at a more level attitude without so much engine stuck down in the water, the way it was designed to run. Your engine will turn faster, the boat will be more stable and top speed will increase. For reference, with a 26" cleaver I can do the numbers you are getting with your 28.

Since cleavers tend to lift the stern rather than the bow (or maybe they just don't lift the bow) they make perfect sense in this application. I use cleavers on my LTV and I have stuck with them exclusively on this type of hull, the only exception being a super-heavy Stratos VT rocket I had back in the 80's.

I don't see any reason why a healthy 2.4 shouldn't push any structurally sound LTV into at least the low nineties and beyond with the right setup and prop, and if it's a light layup who knows....maybe more....mine is very very light and I have yet to tap into it's full potential. My nads seem much tighter than my wallet at high speed, and I don't think they are ready to die.All information in this post is spot on.. and on the right track as far as set up and prop selection..The cleavers are the best all around prop for the laser LTVS...the best engine set up for everyday lake rideing is 1an1/4 inch above the center pad on a 6 inch set back...This set up will give you about 7 to 8 lbs water pressure and keeps the nose down....the laser LTv is very trim sensative due to its short lenght....17ft6inch....the best all around prop is the merc 4 blade cleaver...On my 89 laser and a 280 15 inch merc an a out the box 32 4 blade cleaver,would run 112 with a rider in the back seat....solid as a rock.......Ed

[rf285]

I'm putting on a merc 3 blade 28" cleaver on my LTV. Has anyone run them with a 150 Xr2? I'm about even with the pad with stock LU on a CMC 6 inch hydraulic jack plate and crappy 23 p thru hub prop. Runs about 6400 RPM at 66 GPS. Only mods are milled heads and boysen reeds. What kind of speed is possible with the 150 combo?

[Ratracer]

Your going to need a lwp
To go faster

[mastertrax]

Hello Laser Ed, glad you saw this thread. Seems a lot of us still love the old LTV boats, and I'm certainly obsessed with mine. I would love to ride in yours and get some pointers on fine tuning from someone who obviously has the LTV down stone cold. Have you done any hull mods such as padding the center sponson like T rex did on his?

To the OP: If you do whatever Ed says to do with your LTV you can't go wrong. Check out his rig and his top end numbers, 115mph blows my eyelids apart just thinking about it

rf285, I used to have an XR2, I've had a couple of them, and they like to scream and they don't want too tall of a prop, at least not compared to the bigger v6's. Remember, the xr2 is 2.0 litres, they don't have the muscle to turn tall props fast but they can be great motors on light boats. Unless your hull is really super-light I would run a 24" - 26" cleaver first to see what it does. You can raise the motor a little at a time without getting a LWP first, just watch the water pressure, it will tell you when you either need to go back down a notch or get a LWP. Bottom line, right now if your engine is turning a 23" at 6600, a 28" will likely perform poorly. On a medium to heavyweight LTV with a 2.4 or 2.5, a 28 might be perfect and is a common choice, but these engines make 230-40-50hp and an xr2 with milled heads is making maybe 170-80hp and less torque. But try all the props you can -who knows a 28 might just work after all ...just my hazy saturday thoughts

Sorry for the long post, I'm just bored and love to talk about these great old boats.

[timmc6]

xr-2 is a 2 lire block with 1.78 gear ratio I THINK 28 pitch will be to much prop with the nose cone even with the pad ,but who knows give a ,try i would think that motor needs to turn as many rpms as you can get 7000 -7500 . good luck.

[mastertrax]

Onebadlaser, have you made any changes and tried them yet?

Side note - after re-reading your OP again, your tach and speedo readings do not add up. You might want to check your tachometer. If you are getting 85mph on your GPS, then your motor is turning that 28 a whole lot faster than your tach says it is. At 5800rpm with 8% slip and a 28" prop you'd be getting about 75mph

Anyway, let us know what's up. LTV's are a blast to tinker with, and if set up right they can run with the big dogs

[16winder]

i have one running about 95mph with a 28 chopper and a 2.4 efi bridgeport a quarter to half inch above pad no problems with walking or anything bow can get a little kitty with to much trim a 30 et would prolly do the job

[mastertrax]

i have one running about 95mph with a 28 chopper and a 2.4 efi bridgeport a quarter to half inch above pad no problems with walking or anything bow can get a little kitty with to much trim a 30 et would prolly do the job

Is your LTV heavy? I could never use a chopper on mine, even with a cleaver the boat feels weightless anywhere above 80. I've even thought about weighting the bow especially if I ever get the nerve to drive it over 100