1979 Viking build

[rjdubiel]

Did you ever get to your new glass from the outside of the hull or were you able to get the crap glass out and still was in the original glass? Very excited to see the process you end up using from where you are at to finish colors. I just love these threads!

[LakeFever]

Yes I sure did. There was four holes through the hull when I bought it three of them had already been patched with a couple layers of 1708 using vinyester. They are bonded in very well so I worked with them. When I patched the fourth hole I used parchment and taped it with a form fit backer board to the contour of the hull and that patch came out flawless you can see it in couple pics above. The three patches that were existing while laid in strongly, were hanging low and when I was prepping the recent areas for faring I ground through two of them into the first layer of 1708 that I had laid. Then there’s the white impact areas that I ground out and I also completely ground out the factory glass there to the 1708 I laid inside. It’s easy to tell when I get to my glass because it’s transparent and I can see the green corebond through it. These will all be filled with csm and fared smooth before I lay the big sheet over.

im happy to contribute to the reading fun. I too love watching builds come together it’s better than any crap on tv lol

[LakeFever]

All dicey areas patched with csm and capped with waxed gel so tomorrow we can sand it

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[tnelsmn]

Reading all this makes me miss the big project to work on.

The patching looks great so far! I wonder if you went with 1208 for your outer skin if you could save some weight without sacrificing much strength?

Just throwing it out there.

Keep in mind, my hull came in at 745lbs before rigging and I believe Hydrostream said these were 650. I'm guessing that included an interior as well. With all that said mine is an easy 90+mph boat with a stone stock ProMax.

[LakeFever]

I thought about using 1208 but it really doesn’t take much less resin surprisingly and it’s a lot lighter mat. That and I have 1708. I did consider simply laying chop over all of it but we have pretty well committed to this plan now. Can’t see it being a big deal really just tricky to lay tight

[LakeFever]

Funny how it goes you think your done then you find more things to fix. I discovered a couple more spots that had tiny cracks on top and once I dug into them they were full of air bubbles. All these seem to be from the original construction so when I think of all the comments regarding poor build quality on streams this is bringing a whole new light to that perspective for me. Anyways we are working through these and getting close in the damage repair aspect and we are definitely skinning this entire running surface with 1708 and csm before gel.

Regarding the quality of the hull the pad is quite a mess geometrically speaking where it transitions from v to flat it’s very asymmetrical. It looks to be made this way because the lip is absent on one side at the very front where the pad has a v and fades into the hull there is approx 2” more lip on one side than the other so I don’t think this is sag or distortion related the one side of the pad has noticeably more lip at the front and it runs longer out. I’m not sure if this is unique to mine or how they all are but from side to side the rise angle of the very front of the pad is also off by 5 degrees. This is quite significant it’s about a quarter inch of height difference at the outer edge of the pad you can see this by eye quite easily. This effect tapers back to about the middle of the pad where one side is slightly lower than the other. We are measuring and verifying through angle finders and laser and the plan is to use kitty hair to rough in the shape of the pad so it’s symmetrical and then cover it with csm. We will be faring the pad out completely before we lay the big sheet of mat down.

this was a surprise to us and I hope I explained this well enough I don’t know the tech terms. I’ll get pics soon. Anyone else have this pad issue on their streams?

[tnelsmn]

I never noticed that bad of stuff around the front of the pad on mine. The worst I noticed side to side was on the first chine and how for off that was.

[LakeFever]

I squared the chines they are perfect I am very pleased with the side/side symmetry of the hull. All the weirdness is in the pad but I wonder about this because the cap to hull was definitely not bonded true it was offset over half an inch. We corrected this during assembly. The weirdest thing with the pad is the lip or leading edge where the pad starts to lift off the hull is noticeably longer on one side than the other. Ah well we’ll fix er up true and fare

[VkingMike]

I'm going to look at mine and see as well, but likely will not touch it. Mine ran true and that area was rarely in the water lol.

[LakeFever]

Agree we did consider that it’s not in the water for much but this was the thought that brought me to true it up; if I’m at full song and I get blow out or some other unhappy event and the hull immediately lays down in the water this uneven side/side bias is going to rudder the boat off to one side causing??? Whatever that effect becomes I’d rather not find out. I’m going to give myself every little advantage I can with regards to the shape of the running surface.

speaking of which we are going to try and make a sharpening template for the edges of the pad and using parchment paper to press over kitty hair and csm hoping to set the edges sharp with less faring. We’re going to try something like this and see how it works out

[LakeFever]

Good news! The pads not so bad. It was repaired so long ago it looks like factory glass but it’s not. Once we started comparing the angles of the hull side to side I could see it was filled in not absent so it’s a hump of smooth fiberglass over it all that we are now simply faring back out and things are looking much better. Whew

knock on wood today is the last day for roughing in all the patch work and small glass lays and tomorrow we can start laying faring compound. We are going to fare it best we can before we lay the big sheets then final fare. Seems like this is taking forever

[LakeFever]

We have been sanding and sanding and sanding some more. We laid out our first skim of faring putty today to fill some pinholes. Aiming to lay the mat next week. We are making progress even though this is a painfully slow process. The little pink dots are pinholes filled with faring putty we skimmed the whole hull today

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[LakeFever]

Today was the day. My back is aching this was a challenging lay but it came out great. 1708 capped with 1oz csm. We will be gel coating with wax to cure it so we can sand it then final fare and vinyl ester primer


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[LakeFever]

The Mrs helped push us forward a bit tonight. She’s a good egg

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[XstreamVking]

Looks real good! Some great glassing skills shown there.

[VkingMike]

Damn. This is looking great!

[LakeFever]

Thank you we appreciate that. I have to admit this lay was the first time I yelled during the entire build. There was a critical ten minutes there where I thought I may have to abort it was a huge challenge getting the mat to lay tight against both sides of the pad even though we did our best to shape and relax it before putting on resin. Fortunately a combination of my thumb and the finned roller managed to get it in tight. I was not going to settle for anything sub par in the pad area so the back up plan was to do this in three pieces instead of one but again thankfully we managed to pull it off.

[tnelsmn]

That turned out great! What an accomplishment, thats a big layup for one shot. This is certainly going to be a bullet proof hull!

[XstreamVking]

When you are runnin a bunch of glass, a little bit of yelling is expected.

[LakeFever]

When you are runnin a bunch of glass, a little bit of yelling is expected.


lol i can’t argue with that haha

[LakeFever]

How sharp should the pad edge be? Should I sharpen the chine where the floor sits too?

[XstreamVking]

Go about 6-8 feet fwd of the trans. Draw a triangle to the fwd point from the outside edges of the trans. This is the area you want to make as perfect as possible. This is your running surface at speed. Trailing edge is also very important as to sharpness. Look at the contact area in my pic, and you can see what I mean...

[LakeFever]

Copy that thanks. We did make sure the pad was as near to perfect as we could before we did the big lay. The edges of the pad are now a little more rounded than the factory so I will be sharpening these I was thinking a 1/6” rounded chamfer for the edges? Or sharper?

the rear of the notch and pad are currently perfectly sharp with no radius at all. There is one more thing I’m not sure of but a pic will work better than trying to explain so I will get a pic and ask about it shortly.

[XstreamVking]

I blocked my strake edges with 400 grit, Almost sharp enough to cut paper....Zero radius...

[tnelsmn]

I did mine perfectly sharp like Xstream.

[LakeFever]

That looks perfect Tnels thanks for the pics. I’ll be delighted to have mine turn out that good. We have been blocking until our arms fall off. Haven’t been taking many photos because we don’t bring our phones in the work area it’s a dust disaster zone lol

[LakeFever]

Chipping away blueprinting and faring

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[LakeFever]

Kitty hair wrapped up. More faring putty

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[tnelsmn]

Looking great! I found the longer the sanding block the better. I ended up using a 5' 2"x2" aluminum tube for my block getting everything into shape.

Tony

[LakeFever]

Thanks Tony, we have a lot of hours in cutting this already. Fortunately by adding the big lays we had a lot of meat to work with and we shaped most of it with that already best we could which should save a lot of time blocking out the faring compound plus the added bonus of not needing a lot of putty coverage. We did have to round over the edges of the pad to get the 1708 down tight and this is what we rebuilt with the kitty hair. I found some great product it’s short strand fiberglass putty with carbon fiber reinforcement. This stuff is hard and tough! I made a couple of test pieces and could not break it by hand it is strong.

We have a bunch of sanding blocks I believe 3’ is the longest. Hopefully long enough if not it’s time to fire up the surface planer and make a new one. We have some guide coat to aid this process.

[LakeFever]

More faring progress

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[LakeFever]

More progress. Hoping to have it in vinyester primer this week then we are going to let it sit for a week to help any shrink before the final cut and then, gel! Finally

It’s hell of a lot of hand sanding involved with this stage

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[LakeFever]

Busy times but we have primer! This stuff sprays the same as undercoating. Almost not worth spraying it would probably have as good or better finish if we rolled it. Used the accuspray pressure pot style system. Sprays fast

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[LakeFever]

We’re gel’d

Ran into some challenges and didnt get it laid down as smooth as i had hoped but it still looks really good. Cut and buff next, whats the grits we should use?

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[LakeFever]

Once cured the surface finish is better than i was hoping for. Thats a relief

Wish i could pour the coal on this and wrap it all up but these are busy days. Hope to get to this in a week or so and then flip it for deck paint

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[tnelsmn]

Looks great, Lake! That sure brings me back! I went 220 dry, 400 dry, then started wet with 600, then 800, 1000. The the 220 I didn't take all the roughness out, I left some to get cleared off with the 220 scratches as I moved to finer paper.

[LakeFever]

Thanks Tony. Anyone know the metal flake size streams came with? Im guessing .035”?

[tnelsmn]

Thanks Tony. Anyone know the metal flake size streams came with? Im guessing .035”?
From what I was able to figure out it looked like a mix of .015 and .025, I added .008 to the silver on my boat as well.

[LakeFever]

I spent some time searching and came up with nothing solid and yours looks great so i’ll go with similar. Now if i could just pick a color lol

[LakeFever]

I realized what happened with the gel texture today. Ive painted a lot of cars and other stuff and seldom if ever does it need a polish but this gel experience was just like spraying undercoating. A splattery mess regardless of how i adjusted the gun so i figured this is just how gel behaves and i sprayed it. Having zero prior experience spraying gel before this project along with using an accuspray 1 hgp for the first time after researching suitable gel guns along with watching literally every youtube vid on spraying gel that i could find, i was expecting some orange peel but what we achieved was next level brutal orange peel and we cut through to primer in so many places we decided to spray the whole thing in gel again and go thicker. Sanding it down again was not a lot of fun but it had to be done.

So fast forward to today and i get set up to spray along with a new spray head and on my test panel BAM! I laid down a few coats that were so smooth it almost looked like paint. In my excitement and melee i started laying down the first coat on the hull and man its looking great! Then the gel kicked before i got it all sprayed out and i had to replace the nozzle again which i did, and then Bam! Undercoating splatter orange peel again fortunately on my test panel not on the hull. So now im majorly confused i messed with the settings and saw no improvement so we hit the brakes and start looking into cause. After 20 mins or so of siphoning out ideas then it dawns on me; these plastic tips are not all that equal ( shipping damage maybe? They were packed loose with the kit and hard parts in sub par packaging ) and worse of all i have one 2.0 left to try and two 1.8’s. I decide to stuff the last 2.0 tip on and try it with 750ml of gel catalyzed at 1.5% and thinned 3% with styrene no wax. Once again bam! Beauty finish its laying down like paint once again on my test panel so once again i start laying it on the hull and it went great! I had some close calls with kicking resin in the tip but ran acetone through it after each 750 of gel and that worked very well. We did two coats this way and added wax to our third coat and the coverage looks excellent. The only bummer was the very last cup i filled and only 400ml too i guess i didnt get the kicked gel fully cleaned out of the tip so the one side in the first two feet at the bow it laid down a little orange peely but nothing we can’t sand and buff. The rest of it, well take a look at the pics and see for yourself. This hull refinishing and gel coat application was by far the most challenging aspect of the build.

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[phil blomquist]

Sorry will go back and catch up but did read your last post on the gel spraying. I went through a few guns myself doing the last two boats. So many variables can and will happen on any givin day my biggest problem maybe was mix ratio and materials combined with heat and humidity. We used no wax gel on all coats but added clear gloss additive at 30 percent after first color coat which really helped the flow. Then finished with50 percent clear ( which the clear actually thins the gel) and that really helped lay it down very little texture. Then next day followed up with Durateck Sunshield topcoat clear.

[LakeFever]

Initially that was my plan to use duratec high gloss additive but its not recommended for below the water line so we bailed on that plan. The biggest issue i have with these materials is lack of experience so we are going solely on what we could hear and read about and theres so many approaches i figured best to opt on the manufacture spec. The whole gel spray gun thing is a solid concern.

for what its worth the accuspray 1 hgp worked well when it worked but id give the manufacture qc on it at a 5/10 its not the best built product and im surprised being 3m they typically provide 9/10 stuff. That said i would have ruined a few spray guns doing this without the replaceable nozzles but the poor spray consistency made this job a lot harder than it should have been

[Jmr1974]

Lakefever, I’m thinking of completely sanding off the old gel on my running surface like you and start from scratch like you did. I’m guessing you did it because of all the repairs you needed to do and color change? My bottom is all beat up also and the old white gel is crazing like crazy. I’m not changing color tho, going to make it white again. By the way your resto looks awesome, I gotta catch back up with mine!i

[LakeFever]

Thanks Jmr we have really had our hands full with the gel coat job. The main reason we stripped the gel off was because there were a few holes completely through in a few different areas around the front that required all the gel in that area to come off and the pad had a wonky shape which we discovered was from a previous repair so all that gel came off and finally there was a lot of gel crazing near the first chine which also had to come off. It didnt leave much factory gel remaining. Sanding the factory metal flake gel off was a huge time suck but its not technically challenging and now i have complete awareness of what this hull is made of, literally.

As for the gel, I have a lot of auto paint experience i used to run a body shop eons ago but that experience gave me confidence that the faring and refinishing part of this build would be predictable and that confidence worked against me and made this harder than it had to be unfortunately. I can offer some solid guidance on this process dos and donts if you like i’ll think about the process and post up about it when i have it clear of mind. Today i feel run over by a bus we are so busy with work on top of all the boat stuff

[Jmr1974]

Thanks Jmr we have really had our hands full with the gel coat job. The main reason we stripped the gel off was because there were a few holes completely through in a few different areas around the front that required all the gel in that area to come off and the pad had a wonky shape which we discovered was from a previous repair so all that gel came off and finally there was a lot of gel crazing near the first chine which also had to come off. It didnt leave much factory gel remaining. Sanding the factory metal flake gel off was a huge time suck but its not technically challenging and now i have complete awareness of what this hull is made of, literally.

As for the gel, I have a lot of auto paint experience i used to run a body shop eons ago but that experience gave me confidence that the faring and refinishing part of this build would be predictable and that confidence worked against me and made this harder than it had to be unfortunately. I can offer some solid guidance on this process dos and donts if you like i’ll think about the process and post up about it when i have it clear of mind. Today i feel run over by a bus we are so busy with work on top of all the boat stuff What grit did you use to get thru the old gel and not be to aggressive to gouge the glass under it?

[LakeFever]

What grit did you use to get thru the old gel and not be to aggressive to gouge the glass under it?

we used diablo brand 40 grit on da’s to strip the gel. We finish sanded the gel and all faring putty with 80 grit before priming. We sanded the primer with a combo of 80 and 120 before we sprayed the gel. 80 on the running surface and 120 on the hull sides. Didnt seem to matter the gel easily filled the 80.

After much messing about even though this flies well beyond “officially recommended” settings i sprayed with 85 psi pressure which brought the gauge on the gun down to 45psi with the trigger pulled. I ran the fluid flow at 5 o’clock ( a tad past half turn open ) and the fan control at 2:30 ( about 3/4+ Open ) using a 2.0 tip with the 3m accuspray 1 hgp system using the collapsable cups and disposable caps with screens removed.

one tip i suggest thats VERY important is make sure the gel is fresh! The first batch i bought sat for a couple months before spraying and its noticeably thicker now than the stuff we just sprayed. We sprayed duratec vinylester primer on before gel to bury the original flake which worked great. We sprayed that out with the same gun straight out of the can catalyzed at 2% no thinning added. The gel we sprayed thinned with 3% styrene and catalyzed at 1.5% mekp in three heavy coats with the third coat wax additive at 3%

with that configuration it took about five minutes to spray out 750ml and one final tip is to shake lightly ( agitate ) the gel frequently while spraying it wants to kick fast spraying for whatever reason. Seemed to only gel up in the nozzle first. Hope this is some help for you

its easy now that i know lol

[Jmr1974]

we used diablo brand 40 grit on da’s to strip the gel. We finish sanded the gel and all faring putty with 80 grit before priming. We sanded the primer with a combo of 80 and 120 before we sprayed the gel. 80 on the running surface and 120 on the hull sides. Didnt seem to matter the gel easily filled the 80.

After much messing about even though this flies well beyond “officially recommended” settings i sprayed with 85 psi pressure which brought the gauge on the gun down to 45psi with the trigger pulled. I ran the fluid flow at 5 o’clock ( a tad past half turn open ) and the fan control at 2:30 ( about 3/4+ Open ) using a 2.0 tip with the 3m accuspray 1 hgp system using the collapsable cups and disposable caps with screens removed.

one tip i suggest thats VERY important is make sure the gel is fresh! The first batch i bought sat for a couple months before spraying and its noticeably thicker now than the stuff we just sprayed. We sprayed duratec vinylester primer on before gel to bury the original flake which worked great. We sprayed that out with the same gun straight out of the can catalyzed at 2% no thinning added. The gel we sprayed thinned with 3% styrene and catalyzed at 1.5% mekp in three heavy coats with the third coat wax additive at 3%

with that configuration it took about five minutes to spray out 750ml and one final tip is to shake lightly ( agitate ) the gel frequently while spraying it wants to kick fast spraying for whatever reason. Seemed to only gel up in the nozzle first. Hope this is some help for you

its easy now that i know lol Thanks for the tips. Any idea how much white gel I’ll need? If you look at my boat hull I’m only using white gel on the are that is already white ( running surface) they sell the stuff buy the quart or gallon, I would think a gallon would go along way for the area I’m doing but I really have no idea. I guess my ? Is how much did it take on your boat? 505117

[LakeFever]

I used about a gallon but its tricky to get it done without any wasted gel. I bought two gallons to make sure we had enough but spoiled quite a bit with it kicking in the cup before i got the gun dialed in to flow faster and reduce the catalyst down allowing more pot time. All but a couple of my 750’s kicked off before i laid it all down and it wasnt even that hot out so i dont know why it was kicking so fast. It seemed to have something to do with the spraying because it would gel up in the throat of the tip first

[tnelsmn]

Looking good, Lake! Laid it down pretty well. That stuff sure is a challenge. Like you said, now that you've done it, it's easy haha.

[LakeFever]

Thanks Tony yes it sure is a steep learning curve. The hardest part is the second you catalyze the clock is ticking and the window to use it is small. I dont see how im kicking gel at 1.5% in 65 degree temperature in five-10 minutes but thats what was happening

[Jmr1974]

Lakefever, couple ?’s so on my restore I used epoxy resin for the interior of the boat, I haven’t done any epoxy on the exterior yet. If I want to gel coat the running surface I can’t use epoxy for any patching ( gel won’t stick to it) so what kind of resin do I need to do the patch work? I can also just paint it because paint will work with epoxy and I have all the material at hand ( epoxy)and I’m use to working with it. I just figured gel would be more durable for trailering the boat and beaching on sandbars and such. Boat will never be in the water for more than a few hours a couple times a month during our Wisconsin short summers. I know with paint you don’t want to leave the boat in the water for days on end, which I will not do.

[tnelsmn]

Jmr, you can use either polyester or vinylester resin to do the exterior patch work to have it be compatible with gel coat. Vinylester is the better of the two products and I believe what Lake here used for his entire build.

Lake I sure understand the gel kicking. The clear mixed with flake kicked my butt, with no color or additives it lets it go that much faster. Had an entire batch start to cure in the gun when I was spraying flake. I ended up using two guns and two helpers. I would continue to spray while one helper cleaned the other gun, and the other helper was preparing the next batch of gel. Was a ton of work and a big struggle on a hot humid day.

Tony.

[Jmr1974]

Jmr, you can use either polyester or vinylester resin to do the exterior patch work to have it be compatible with gel coat. Vinylester is the better of the two products and I believe what Lake here used for his entire build.

Lake I sure understand the gel kicking. The clear mixed with flake kicked my butt, with no color or additives it lets it go that much faster. Had an entire batch start to cure in the gun when I was spraying flake. I ended up using two guns and two helpers. I would continue to spray while one helper cleaned the other gun, and the other helper was preparing the next batch of gel. Was a ton of work and a big struggle on a hot humid day.

Tony. Ok, maybe a stupid ? But can I let the vinylester or polyester harden and then sand/shape it before gel coating? I probably only have a half dozen areas on the bottom from 6”-12” long and narrow to get back into shape so I shouldn’t need to buy to much…

[LakeFever]

Jmr your correct your not supposed to use gel over epoxy but im almost certain that you can use duratec vinylester primer over epoxy and gel over that. If you have epoxy and are familiar then this is the way to go plus i would also use epoxy faring putty its a lot smoother and less porous than poly faring putty. Once laid epoxy and hull is sanded and fared out spray the duratec, block it out and gel coat away. Sounds like a great method to me and yes for the same reasons i wanted gel its a lot tougher than paint. My deck is getting paint but the hull was always planned for gel


Tony is correct I used vinylester resin for my entire build aside from poly to prime the core. Man the kicking gel thing is crazy i would have dropped to 1% mekp but didnt want to risk it on my first go so 1.5 was as brave as i got and it cured perfect. Wish i could plow through the rest of this thing but work is in front of me now for at least a week i wont have spare time for the boat. Inching closer does feel good. Getting this hull repair and gel work done was the biggest challenge so the goal post is looking very near

[Jmr1974]

Jmr your correct your not supposed to use gel over epoxy but im almost certain that you can use duratec vinylester primer over epoxy and gel over that. If you have epoxy and are familiar then this is the way to go plus i would also use epoxy faring putty its a lot smoother and less porous than poly faring putty. Once laid epoxy and hull is sanded and fared out spray the duratec, block it out and gel coat away. Sounds like a great method to me and yes for the same reasons i wanted gel its a lot tougher than paint. My deck is getting paint but the hull was always planned for gel


Tony is correct I used vinylester resin for my entire build aside from poly to prime the core. Man the kicking gel thing is crazy i would gave dropped to 1% mekp but didnt want to risk it on my first go so 1.5 was as brave as i got and it cured perfect. Wish i could plow through the rest of this thing but work is in front of me now for at least a week i wont have spare time for the boat. Inching closer does feel good. Getting this hull repair and gel work done was the biggest challenge so the goal post is looking very near
Lake, I like your idea. I already have the fairing compound you mention and epoxy. Where can I get the duratec?

[LakeFever]

Express composites sells it. There is quite a few variations to their vinylester primer line and you have to get it prepped its not a shelf stable item so id call and ask which version they recommend and order the primer when your ready. It takes about a week iirc to get the primer prepped for pick up.

hawkeye industries makes it and the man you want to speak with is Jody 1-800-977-0060 he can advise the absolute best approach and maybe offer some improved solutions to what i suggested hes a materials/chemical expert

[Jmr1974]

Express composites sells it. There is quite a few variations to their vinylester primer line and you have to get it prepped its not a shelf stable item so id call and ask which version they recommend and order the primer when your ready. It takes about a week iirc to get the primer prepped for pick up.

hawkeye industries makes it and the man you want to speak with is Jody 1-800-977-0060 (tel:1-800-977-0060) he can advise the absolute best approach and maybe offer some improved solutions to what i suggested hes a materials/chemical expert
Perfect, thank you.

[Jmr1974]

Lake, just got off the phone with Jody, guy was extremely helpful and lead me in the right direction. Duratec will work for me. Thanks again.

[LakeFever]

I couldnt agree more, Jody is the man when it comes to the chemistry of resins. Looking forward to seeing your build come together :cheers:

[XstreamVking]

A 2.5 tip on a drop gun is gonna dump thinned gell so fast you have about 1 min spray time per cup A big tip is crucial and thinning % is best done with a #2 zahn cup as a guide to your master mix ratio.

[LakeFever]

I have one of those cups here from the painting days. I used it with old lacquers and enamels but switched to depth sticks matched to systems and that sped up my workflow and i never went back to the drip method. The largest spray nozzle for the accuspray is a 2.0 which is a bit small but in the end im very pleased with the spray level and finish. If a 2.5 was available i dont think i would have had any kicking issues. Theres always something to improve lol

[XstreamVking]

Take a drill bit and hog that tip out.

[LakeFever]

I thought about trying that but they are plastic and i dont know how true/round the hole would be after drilling. I do have some leftover waxed gel I was using for curing the hull glass for sanding that i could try maybe? When i get this cut and buffed and flip it i might give the drill a go

[Jmr1974]

I couldnt agree more, Jody is the man when it comes to the chemistry of resins. Looking forward to seeing your build come together :cheers:
Lake, there’s fairing primer duratec and just duratec primer. I forgot to ask Jody which one I needed, I would think it’s just the primer. Do you know? It’s to late in the day to talk to anyone at express composites. I kinda want to get this stuff ordered sooner than later so I have it for the upcoming holiday weekend. If my plan goes the way I’d like I should be able to spray it by then. Also they have it in black,white or gray what color should I use if I’m using white gel?

[Jmr1974]

505141 Here’s the stuff.

[LakeFever]

The regular primer is what i used its still high build and it sands very nicely. It seems to cure with a slightly hard shell once you cut through that the materials come off fast so be careful not to sand all the way through. I covered my whole hull with less than a gallon. I did sand through in a couple spots especially after cutting the gel but i had just enough remaining to touch it up before the final gel.

compared to high build auto primers i would compare this primer more similar to spray putty. It fills very well although i did get a few pinholes but it sands beautifully. I think your going to like it

also the color doesnt matter its just the tint. I wanted black but they said it would take longer than i wanted to wait so i used beige

[Jmr1974]

The regular primer is what i used its still high build and it sands very nicely. It seems to cure with a slightly hard shell once you cut through that the materials come off fast so be careful not to sand all the way through. I covered my whole hull with less than a gallon. I did sand through in a couple spots especially after cutting the gel but i had just enough remaining to touch it up before the final gel.

compared to high build auto primers i would compare this primer more similar to spray putty. It fills very well although i did get a few pinholes but it sands beautifully. I think your going to like it

also the color doesnt matter its just the tint. I wanted black but they said it would take longer than i wanted to wait so i used beige
Ok, good info. Thanks.

[LakeFever]

This has been a tough summer for free time. I havent had a moment to even launch a boat this year. Im prepared to write this year off and take what time i do have and put it into the resto. Managed a half day free today so i moved the axle on my trailer back 8” because it was pulling wheelies lol. Anyways its not much, but its progress, finally

[tnelsmn]

It's something! Finding time for these is sometimes the hardest part. I also struggle with very low tongue weight on my rig. With the tandem axles I can let go of the coupler and it will just float 2-3" off the ground. Trying to track down a 100lbs or so of led shot to fill the front trailer bars with just for the weight.

[LakeFever]

We are shuffling things around again and trying to get this project on the front burner for the next couple weeks. We added a spare tire mount on the front of the trailer and had to shorten the side platforms behind the wheels after moving the axle. This quick project is turning into more work than anticipated but it should be a nice set up all in and done


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[LakeFever]

Heat gun removal of decals, Fresh paint, new bunks ready to go. Heres a pic of the spare tire mount. Using a brass nut and nylon washer to hold the spare on. Next week polish the hull, flip it back on the trailer. Also bought a smooth back offshore mid, clamp, and pump today

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[LakeFever]

Big moment for us, the bow eye is in!!! To those who dont know how hard this is to do my hat goes off to Ethan the young lad who is super tall and super thin who could reach this for us today. Did a super quick polish on the area first, very pleased with that shine

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[tnelsmn]

Any progress over the summer, Lake?

[LakeFever]

It was a one step forward two steps back summer. I had the hull sprayed out in gel looking great then we started to cut and buff and the gel we used was two different tones of black. I had used one gallon without wax to spray out the first two coats and then a gallon with wax for the third coat. To say it looked terrible was an understatement and at that point we were so shocked, frustrated and disappointed. My supplier copped to the problem right away when I inquired about what happened so we decided to paint black over the black gel. The entire gel coat experience was hellish for us it really did not go well at any turn. I managed to get the drain plug tube installed a little higher than i wanted but the angle of the inside was different than the outside so i had to whip up a brass shim to square it all up and needed a little breathing room. The shim and the drain tube install went great i was worried about that a little. Used 5200 liberally and feeling confident its good to go.

We discovered the gel issue late August and because the gel was fubar and i realized we were not hitting the water this summer the wheels fell off the bus and i havent really been working that hard on it since. Really didnt feel like talking about it then either which is why i never updated the thread but im good now. Since then while its upside down i finished the tabs on my knees to the deck stringers, added some small stringers under the wings so they can be stood on, and ive been sanding the gel prepping for paint here and there its pretty close to ready now. Been gathering up parts for my engine rebuild in the meantime which i have the block back from my machine guy now so things are looking up.

i laid a little extra gel around the nose and front areas. The gel pics are are where those areas blend which is right on the side and runs top to bottom near the front. Very visible area and there was some swiss cheese effect black on the underside when i started polishing. The bow eye i had laid plenty of extra gel on too so that came out nice because theres four coats, two with wax and i didnt cut through to the darker one below. The wife made me some decals for the trailer too. Really sets it off nice


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[rjdubiel]

bummer, just sucks to have things like this happen. But in the end you will be happy with the delay!

[LakeFever]

I do enjoy building but these types of set backs can zap the fun out in a hurry. Strangely enough i was confident from the outset that the refinishing phase would be good because i have paint experience and i was worried about the layup which i had none. The layup went without a blip and i am very pleased with the outcome and the refinishing has been a huge challenge. So it goes, we’ll get it done. Plus with paint no need to buff or polish ever and still have the protection of gel and duratec vinylester underneath. Should be good

[tnelsmn]

Sorry to hear about the setback! It sucks you won't be able to make the water this season, but now you won't feel so rushed and will have the entire winter to finish the project. I remember reaching the point on mine where I knew it wouldn't be in the water that year, taking a deep breath and walking away for a few weeks. Sometimes getting to that point isn't the end of the world.

[LakeFever]

Hull is complete. Paint turned out good and the faring turned out better than i hoped. Gloss black shows all. Going to let this harden up for a couple weeks before we flip it back onto the trailer and then get to painting the deck. Im so relieved to be moving past the hull refinishing, its been a battle of attrition.


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[LakeFever]

Heres the pad

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[rjdubiel]

I should go take a picture of mine. haha. It looks like it was in a war VS this one! great work. Excited to see it flipped back right side up and start on the cap!

[tnelsmn]

Looks great, Lake! She's gonna fly!

[LakeFever]

Thanks fellas. We sanded this thing until our arms fell off, again, and again, and again. My helper said at one point during the first gel disaster that this is the point where most people push the project out the door. Thankfully, that did not happen. We stuck it out and got past this and now six months later, we are moving forwards again. Yipeeeee!

[LakeFever]

Took my make shift booth down. This angle shows what streams are all about. Looks like some sort of space ship or stealth equipment

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[LakeFever]

Got the new bunks installed on the trailer and flipped the boat back onto it. Crazy to see it right side up again after so long. Its been upside down for most of the year. I also weighed the hull today using this method;

https://web.archive.org/web/20121001010205/https://www.egyptian.net/~raymacke/Weigh.html

drumroll….. 694lbs! Im very pleased with that considering how much glass we laid into this thing. Coosa and corebond for the win! Both are very lightweight. Thats going to be all for a while, probably wont get to do anymore work on it until after Christmas.

[rjdubiel]

Where is the picture of it on the trailer?

[LakeFever]

The black is so black its almost not visible. Its super dirty inside and the deck i have to roll it out and blow it all off, wash it all down before we start on it again. I still have a few things to do to the trailer, new aluminum wheels, strap, maybe some new tie down hooks, mount spare. Feels good to be on the trailer though

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[rjdubiel]

Can wait to see the progress on top with the finish. Looks fantastic.

[tnelsmn]

Looking good Lake! Great feeling to be back on the trailer. You came in 50lbs lighter than mine.

[PCS9136]

Hey Lake, your boat is really coming along, it looks great. I was wondering what size air compressor you are using to spray gel coat?
Thanks for sharing all the work you have done.
Phil

[LakeFever]

Glad your enjoying the build. I have a 60 gallon kellog american compressor. Its an oldy but a goody. Bought this back when we used to have a body shop. All you really need is a big tank or tie a couple together with flexi air line. You need enough volume to keep the pressure always above the needs of the spray equipment. Iirc the one i have will hold 90psi constantly.

hope you guys all have a Merry Christmas and happy holiday. We hope to be working on the boat again in the next month or so

[XstreamVking]

Merry Christmas back at ya! Boats turning out great!

[tnelsmn]

Any progress over the last few months, Lake? Or did that pesky work stuff get in the way?

Tony.

[LakeFever]

I pulled it into the shop a month ago to get going on the deck, only to pull it out the next day for work priorities. Taking it day by day now really wanting to wrap this up. Anything new with your build this year?

[tnelsmn]

I know how that goes, my garage has been full of work stuff all winter.

I dropped my interior off at a new shop to get done, hope to have that back in the next six weeks or so, and still need to get the original clamshells on the ProMax. Also grabbed a 32ET to hopefully break the 100mph mark. If that won't do it I'll grab a new ECU.

[LakeFever]

Alright we have a plan and we have skilled hands coming to assist. Next weekend, we are gonna thrash and the goal is to have the cap in vinylester primer by Sunday night. Then the plan is to attack it in small sessions over the following week. First is to let the vinylester cure at least 24 hours. Then sand the primer to 500 or 600 grit. Let that off gas for another 24hrs min. Then shoot it with black base and clear with flake. Let that cure for a couple days, sand down the orange peal and flow coat more clear. Cut/Buff if nec. Time frames are tight here but gonna give it our best

*edit* I also had to move my OSM out of the corner where we set up the booth. I put it on an engine stand and couldn't resist digging into it a bit. All the bolts come out nice its not all frozen together thankfully. The swivel is soooo tight im very impressed. I put a thread up about it I had a few questions.

[LakeFever]

We busted out a solid day. The deck is 80% sanded prepped for duratec primer. Working on filling in a few cracks whoever separated the deck caused and added some csm over the old rigging holes. Sanded the transom down to prep for faring putty. Goal is to have it in primer tomorrow night

[LakeFever]

Long day but we have primer. Pinholes galore though so still more work ahead instead of the sand and paint i was dreaming of. Had another problem reveal itself after primer we couldnt see at all before. More spider cracks near the rub rail. Either caused from whoever separated it or dock strikes. Not a big deal just a bummer to have to grind the duratec off in those areas and lay a few small pieces of csm down and fare/prime again. The transom turned out sweet we are very pleased with it. Barely any faring putty on it too just a bit where the csm tapers into the sides of the deck.

next move is to fill the pinholes, repair the spider cracks, and start the final sanding. Then paint. Getting close now

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[LakeFever]

Two steps forward, one step back.

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[LakeFever]

I also went over the entire hull with cabosil thickened duratec primer to fill pinholes before we start sanding the primer. Works so slick. Look close. This is in the dash area only a couple but easy to photograph. There was so many pinholes. I spent hours filling them all

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[XstreamVking]

TON of work but well worth it in the end. Did mine many years ago and it's needing a fresh deck finish. Ugg. Not looking fwd to it. Do it right now and enjoy the results for many seasons.

[LakeFever]

This whole build has been an enormous effort for sure. I have simply run out of time for this so we are trying to blast through this stage as quickly as possible. If i wasnt feeling the time crunch so much i would have covered the entire deck with 1.5oz csm and fared it out just for longevity insurance. If i have to refinish the deck again in ten years im
fine with that.

[XstreamVking]

I think you are good for at least 10... Did mine in 08, and it was good till 2019-2020 then the deck finish got ugly.

[tnelsmn]

Looks great, Lake! My fiberglass supplier convinced me to roll the first coat of primer to avoid the pin hole issue. This was mostly sanded off while block sanding, then sprayed the second coat.

[LakeFever]

We had some pinholes on the hull but maybe 25-50. On the deck? There waa thousands, literally like chicken pox all over the thing. I remembered reading your thread about rolling it on and we did roll the areas i did glass work for the first coat, then sprayed over them wet when we sprayed out the hull. I didnt want to roll the whole thing to save time sanding. In hind sight this was unwise and we were rushing like mad trying to just plow through this. Got bit, but the putty trick worked thankfully. Im trying to round up support for one final push and get this thing wrapped up. Tight schedules making this very hard to accomplish now

[XstreamVking]

Sand and inspect, sand and inspect. Then spend an hour or two spraying the pretty stuff. THEN....Beers and smiles all round. Mine took almost a YEAR working on and off....

[LakeFever]

Sanded for two days straight. Still needs another day of sanding to straighten it all out then prime again, then finish sand, then paint. It seems so close

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[tnelsmn]

Looking good man! It's so worth it when it's done to have the laser straight finish.

[LakeFever]

We are managing a few hours each day and got the thing fully blocked out. I shot it with the rest of my duratec today its looking nice and straight. We will block cut this down to 180 and then we switch gears and go into paint world. Starting with black tinted 2k primer then cut that down starting with 220 ending in 600 dry before we lay the base clear on. Getting excited now. Shoulders are shot

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[LakeFever]

Sanded the final round of duratec to 180 and laid down black urethane 2k primer

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[LakeFever]

Cut to 500, ready for paint

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[LakeFever]

Massive spray job. 3 coats rm onyx base, 3 coats gunmetal blue flake mixed in rm glamor clear, 3 coats clear on top, left to cure 36hrs, scuffed with 320 scotch brite pads, 3 more coats clear. Could probably have kept coating with extra reducer to smooth it out but we are sticking with the original plan to sand this down to 600 finish very flat, then flow coat 3 more coats of clear and that should be that. The contrast is so extreme my camera cannot pick it up lol. It totally blows out the color of the flake which you can barely see on the lower left of the bow shot.

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[LakeFever]

Paint is done, finally. What a crazy year this has been. So glad to be rounding this corner. Now onto rigging

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[Zammit_Racing]

Love the flake buddy! Looks awesome…
I wanted to do that same color and flake on my boat but was afraid I’d mess it up so I just sprayed white witch was hard enough.

[LakeFever]

The flake is easy enough to spray you just have to be prepared to drown it in clear afterwards. Almost 2 gallons of clear on this thing $$$

we pulled the snout out in the sun. Blinding

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[tnelsmn]

Looks awesome man! I know how pictures do very little justice for flake, that must look incredible in person!

[LakeFever]

Thanks Tony! Yeah its hard to get the photos to show all the color and contrast. We are very pleased with it. Its been a loooooong road to this day. Cant wait to rig it

[LakeFever]

Drilled the transom today
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[bbezok]

[QUOTE=LakeFever;3396036]Drilled the transom today
521738
great idea to make a template.......

[XstreamVking]

Getting closer....Squirt job looks great. Gonna be an awesome boat!

[LakeFever]

Drilled the transom drain hole today. Measured the fiberglass plug, just a few thou over 3/8” per side. Also drilled and bolted the deck side panels up. Tried to make a threading die shoe arrangement for the 1/2” 316L stainless rod im using for the transom studs and that didn’t work too well. Threading stainless steel is a bear of a job. I might see if i can buy some bolts i need them 5 1/2” - 6” long fine thread

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[LakeFever]

Managed a few tasks. Got the splashwell plug swaged in nicely. A bit of a tricky job getting that all in square and neat. Also got the drivers seat in and drilled/mounted the helm. Made a few layouts for the gauges, decided on all straight. Will be drilling and installing those next as well as mounting the jackplate and seastar foot throttle

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[LakeFever]

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[Hippie459MN]

The gauges look great! One day I'll pony up the money for some AutoMeter gauges for my Vulture.

[LakeFever]

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[VkingMike]

Thats nice! How much lift do these offer?

[LakeFever]

Thanks i really like it too. The seastar jackplate lifts 5.6” and does the entire move in 8 seconds. The feature that really put me onto these is the protap. I can program the max lift position i want and it will return there when i tap the button twice. I can also program lift increments so one tap could be one inch. Theres more features too i cant recall but i had issues with my first stream paddle wheeling which freaked me out a lot. It happened when i jacked the plate too high and i had blowout a few times on that rig too. Mind you i was stream green so i was doing things i shouldnt trying to figure it all out. Anyways i looked at all the jackplates the market had to offer and liked this one best. Seems ultra rigid too which is nice

Edit for gratuitous pic. I would love to leave it as it is with no rubrail its looks so clean and tight but thats never going to survive in my world so the ranger rub rail install is coming soon

[VkingMike]

Thats an awesome feature. I'm looking for a plate with a bit more lift for my stream. My other option is a 15" mid and I don't even want to get that involved lol

[LakeFever]

Ya i hear you. I did some measuring and mounted it high as i dared. The lower will be about 2” below the pad where it is now and i can jack it higher than need be. Hopefully it all works good, no turning back now lol. The second choice was the Atlas. I liked these two because 4” setback. I did consider building my own 2” set back jackplate but didn’t want to put more time into this build delaying launch by a good margin too

[tnelsmn]

Those SeaStar plates look really stout. I like that you marked the bolts as well. Never knew about that tap feature, thats awesome!

[62 bugzilla]

This project is great and just went thru all 26 pages and learned a ton. Thanks for all your work putting this into a thread for others to see. Going to be an awesome boat and the best part is now when your putting on all the bells and whistles!! Great job!!!

[LakeFever]

Rub rail installed. Quite a bit of effort to get that sucker on there. Soaked it in a 45gal drum of hot water for 30 mins to soften it. Still had to wrastle this sucker over the lip we were sweatin bullets. Looks ok, i much prefer the look without but function is definitely there this is a beefy rub rail. Ranger bass boat rail for anyone curious got it at Great Lakes Skipper

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[LakeFever]

New trailer wheels
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[LakeFever]

Spring around the corner back to this project. Made a new frame for the rear bench out of coosa today. Have to tab it in and mount the seat panel but it’s a start

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[LakeFever]

Managed a few hours today. Ran some stainless piano hinge and a piece of 1708 on top of the seat. Tomorrow I’ll tab in the rest of the base.

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[LakeFever]

Time is really not on my side much these days so I enlisted help to assemble my lower unit. I did manage to wrap up the rear seat frame and the front seats are done. I have to focus on the motor next

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[LakeFever]

Got the mid mounted and started plotting out rigging holes for steering and controls. Also working on the engine cover prepping for paint

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[VkingMike]

Looking really good!

[LakeFever]

Yesterday was not very productive. Today I managed a tricky task of making this battery tray bracket. It took the best part of the day if you can believe that. I made the battery pad with the plan of using a box with a strap so I had planned for that with the layup. After hippie showed me a better system and a few people I spoke with who crapped all over using a battery box ( I had no idea they were so disliked I had good experience with them ) anyways I opted for a Moeller hold down which is certainly nicer. I had no way of bolting it down to the hull because I had planned for the box and I didn’t feel comfortable with screws holding down the battery so I made this thing up. I only had some hard aluminum in hand I had to anneal the heck out of it to work with it. My brake is buried and set up for 16ga so I just used a couple pieces of angle iron and my vise as a break. Hammered it square. It’s bolted from below with #10 stainless countersunk screws and nylocs and into the knee and stringer with 1/4” stainless again with nylocs. Anyways that was today. One more little job done

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[LakeFever]

Laid out and drilled my rigging holes today

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[LakeFever]

Mounted the rigging flanges and the gas filler. I put the rigging flanges in through the bottom and carefully drilled blind holes for short screws to hold them in. Turned out super clean. I also made a bracket for the bilge pump. There’s no way I am compromising the core for a bilge pump so I made a simple c shaped bracket and it will hang off the floor instead. I also installed the front nav lights today.

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[Jmr1974]

Lakefever, what brand of paint did you use on the bottom of your boat over the duratec primer? I’m still kicking around between paint and gel. Duratech makes a clear additive you add to the gel that if I understand correctly requires no sanding or buffing once it’s applied. In regards to the paint on your bottom did you have to buff it to get it that shiny or add clear coat? I’m going with a solid gray color on the entire boat except for the running surface, in other words I want all the gray to match top, sides and bottom. If I gel the bottom and paint the top I’m not sure it will match as good as just paint everything. I know you have a lot of experience in painting I don’t and I especially have no experience with gel. When I get done with the boat I don’t want to have to buff it to keep the shine, I just want to get in it and enjoy it.

[LakeFever]

I used a polyurethane paint called Endura which is basically the same stuff as awlgrip or imron. It’s not rated for below the water line but none of this stuff is although many of us use it. I was told not to leave it in the water longer than a week but I won’t be leaving my boat in the water over night let alone a week so no biggie here. That said, we sprayed a StarCraft aluminum boat with imron over thirty years ago and it’s still holding up perfectly fine and it sits in the water for the entire season every year. Plus as you said, it’s a spray and go system it’s much faster. It seems hard as heck I can’t scratch it with my fingernail. I used a 1.4 tip and fairly high pressure to spray it. I think I would thin it down even more and use a 1.2 tip if I was to shoot it again to get the flattest, smoothest finish possible.

Gel coat is a major pita to spray I had numerous struggles with it as I mentioned in this build. It must be cut and buffed and it’s a lot of work. There is the high gloss additive but again it’s not rated for below the water line. I was concerned about osmosis or gel chalking issue with it on the hull so I shied away from it because gel does take a lot of maintenance over time to stay looking good plus I have had gel become pin hole swollen before. Osmosis or whatever. My supplier said gel is porous and really only works great in a mould when the gel is mushed against the surface forcing a smooth bond between the large gel nodules. He said when it’s sprayed this benefit doesn’t happen and the gel nodules remain open which makes it easier and more likely to take on water damage over time. I don’t have any clue, that’s just what he told me and it sounded reasonable. With the duratec underneath it’s good to go anyways

[Jmr1974]

I used a polyurethane paint called Endura which is basically the same stuff as awlgrip or imron. It’s not rated for below the water line but none of this stuff is although many of us use it. I was told not to leave it in the water longer than a week but I won’t be leaving my boat in the water over night let alone a week so no biggie here. That said, we sprayed a StarCraft aluminum boat with imron over thirty years ago and it’s still holding up perfectly fine and it sits in the water for the entire season every year. Plus as you said, it’s a spray and go system it’s much faster. It seems hard as heck I can’t scratch it with my fingernail. I used a 1.4 tip and fairly high pressure to spray it. I think I would thin it down even more and use a 1.2 tip if I was to shoot it again to get the flattest, smoothest finish possible.

Gel coat is a major pita to spray I had numerous struggles with it as I mentioned in this build. It must be cut and buffed and it’s a lot of work. There is the high gloss additive but again it’s not rated for below the water line. I was concerned about osmosis or gel chalking issue with it on the hull so I shied away from it because gel does take a lot of maintenance over time to stay looking good plus I have had gel become pin hole swollen before. Osmosis or whatever. My supplier said gel is porous and really only works great in a mould when the gel is mushed against the surface forcing a smooth bond between the large gel nodules. He said when it’s sprayed this benefit doesn’t happen and the gel nodules remain open which makes it easier and more likely to take on water damage over time. I don’t have any clue, that’s just what he told me and it sounded reasonable. With the duratec underneath it’s good to go anywayswhat grit did you sand the duratec down to in order to except the paint and how much paint do you think I would need for my primer area on my bottom. I laid down 4 coats of the duratec primer and still have half a gallon left.

[LakeFever]

That paint covers very well I bought 3 quarts which is catalyzed 50/50 and I only used up a little more than 1 quart. If it’s just for the hull I’d guess two quarts ( plus two hardener of course ) would be plenty and leave you some for repairs. Make sure you get the quality recommended thinner and pay close attention to the tds regarding spray nozzle size, coats, and flash times. If you’re new to spray painting it’s pretty easy if you follow a simple rule. Only spray what you need to make one coat. One coat doesn’t mean one swipe with the spray gun it means one layer of paint. You want to get this down as smooth as possible without runs or sags. Once you have once coat down wait for the paint to flash which is almost dry. I always spray a little on my plastic or paper in the same amount as what I am painting and stick my finger in it to test for flash. If the paint does not stick to your finger? That’s sufficient flash time. If it’s still wet and sticks to your finger? If you shoot another coat on top you’ll get runs or orange peel. Some orange peel is inevitable it takes a lot of skill to spray a mirror glass finish.

When it comes to the second and third coats you have to watch closely and spray until paint is flat and stop there. The line between flat ( smooth, glossy ) and a run is very fine so tread lightly. If you don’t spray flat it will have a bit of orange peel but no runs. You can get a little more aggressive on the second and third coats with volume. The first tack coat is the easiest to run or sag so go easy and mist it down just enough to cover and let that tack up.

Surface finish before spraying you want to follow the tds on recommendations there and use interference pads under the paper always. Never use bare hands or fingers to sand the final prep you’ll see grooves under the paint. I like the dual density sponge/foam pads and fold the sheets around. I cut the duratec down with 180 using blocks. I like the durablocks for this I have an entire set they are great. Once I had the duratec cut I did the primer spot putty trick then iirc the endura was 240-320 recommended surface finish and I finished it at 320. For appearance quality always go for the finest suggested grit. Hope this is of some help for ya. A bit jumbled back forth in there but I’m typing quick

[Jmr1974]

That paint covers very well I bought 3 quarts which is catalyzed 50/50 and I only used up a little more than 1 quart. If it’s just for the hull I’d guess two quarts ( plus two hardener of course ) would be plenty and leave you some for repairs. Make sure you get the quality recommended thinner and pay close attention to the tds regarding spray nozzle size, coats, and flash times. If you’re new to spray painting it’s pretty easy if you follow a simple rule. Only spray what you need to make one coat. One coat doesn’t mean one swipe with the spray gun it means one layer of paint. You want to get this down as smooth as possible without runs or sags. Once you have once coat down wait for the paint to flash which is almost dry. I always spray a little on my plastic or paper in the same amount as what I am painting and stick my finger in it to test for flash. If the paint does not stick to your finger? That’s sufficient flash time. If it’s still wet and sticks to your finger? If you shoot another coat on top you’ll get runs or orange peel. Some orange peel is inevitable it takes a lot of skill to spray a mirror glass finish.

When it comes to the second and third coats you have to watch closely and spray until paint is flat and stop there. The line between flat ( smooth, glossy ) and a run is very fine so treat lightly. If you don’t spray flat it will have a bit of orange peel but no runs. You can get a little more aggressive on the second and third coats with volume. The first tack coat is the easiest to run or sag so tread lightly there.

Surface finish before spraying you want to follow the tds on recommendations there and use interference pads under the paper always. Never use bare hands or fingers to sand the final prep you’ll see grooves under the paint. I like the dual density sponge/foam pads and fold the sheets around. I cut the duratec down with 180 using blocks. I like the durablocks for this I have an entire set they are great. Once I had the duratec cut I did the primer spot putty trick then iirc the endura was 240-320 recommended surface finish and I finished it at 320. For appearance quality always go for the finest suggested grit. Hope this is of some help for ya. A bit jumbled back forth in there but I’m typing quickwhere did you purchase the paint and hardener?

[LakeFever]

JMR I sent you a PM with info. Been poking away lately a few tasks. The swivel on my mid was a little loose on the bottom so I decided to pull it apart and inspect. I dont believe it was ever once greased so I have some rust around the bushing area. The pin is not trash but I have a parts motor Im pulling apart to get at the pin. I also made some mods to my rear seat to fit the rear and tank better. I got the foot throttle mounted and the rear light base in. A few other bits and pieces here and there.

[Jmr1974]

JMR I sent you a PM with info. Been poking away lately a few tasks. The swivel on my mid was a little loose on the bottom so I decided to pull it apart and inspect. I dont believe it was ever once greased so I have some rust around the bushing area. The pin is not trash but I have a parts motor Im pulling apart to get at the pin. I also made some mods to my rear seat to fit the rear and tank better. I got the foot throttle mounted and the rear light base in. A few other bits and pieces here and there.I am going to try my luck with the gel coat. I ordered my stuff Wednesday, should be here today. I ordered it from express composites, I’m adding the duratec clear additive to the gel when I spray. Talked to a fellow who I ordered it from and about it and I feel fairly confident, fingers are crossed it turns out. Plan to spray Saturday.

[LakeFever]

Gel is the best if you can get it down well. Gel hates me or at least hates my boat. Two screw ups was enough. Hope you don’t face any of those challenges. Plenty of members got it done well so it’s definitely doable

[LakeFever]

Getting closer. New lifeline arrived today :)

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[tnelsmn]

That's a nice battery mount, I was planning for a box as well and placed my battery in the same location. Well there was no way a battery box would fit there, I have a hard enough time just fitting the battery there.

Couldn't agree more with not jeprodisring the core to mount a bilge pump. I just glued down the base/mount with some 4200, its been holding for 3 years now.

Boat is looking great, Lake!

[Hippie459MN]

That's a nice battery mount, I was planning for a box as well and placed my battery in the same location. Well there was no way a battery box would fit there, I have a hard enough time just fitting the battery there.

Couldn't agree more with not jeprodisring the core to mount a bilge pump. I just glued down the base/mount with some 4200, its been holding for 3 years now.

Boat is looking great, Lake!

I have the same battery hold downs as he does here and they hold the batteries amazing. No boxes.

And I did the same thing with my bilge pump, I just 4200'ed the base down. No screws. Pretty certain it wont go anywhere.

[LakeFever]

Got the seat back from my buddy who did the upholstery for me. I was going to get the whole interior done custom but I scored a very nice condition set of seats from a Valero the guy was switching to lightweight center steer. The seats all match so I had the rear seat material cut and refit to the coosa bench frame I made. Turned out great and best of all it’s below the cap rail I don’t like the look of the foam roll that goes up and over sitting on top of the front of the splash well it ruins the vkings gorgeous lines. This guy was a class act he said it would take a month and a few days later it was done. I added an extension to the top of the seat so it meets flush with the front of the transom and clears my big fuel tank. Makes the seat look better too imo. Nice and light it’s surprising with that coosa how light this seems. I will weigh it before installing

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Edit. Added a couple pics just sitting in place. I’m very pleased with the look and fit of this

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[LakeFever]

Bilge pump mounted and plumbed. Fuel tank in

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[Hippie459MN]

Is that bilge pump going to work properly laying on its side like that? If any part of that pick up is sucking air it wont really pump efficiently, or at all, until the whole thing is under water and by that time, that's going to be a lot of water in the boat. I have never mounted a bilge pump on its side or seen one on its side before. I do know my 120v drop in submersible pump I use for draining water in part of my yard when we get too much rain, if that get any air or tips over and start getting air, it will stop pumping water.

[LakeFever]

Appreciate you looking out for mistakes thank you. It’s a Johnson Low Boy bilge pump and made to mount that way. The pick up is on the bottom even though the pump is on its side. Made for low clearance applications like this. Check it out

https://www.spxflow.com/johnson-pump-marine/products/low-boy-submersible-bilge-pump/

[Hippie459MN]

Right on! I have never personally seen one like that before. I like it! Carry on then. :D

[tnelsmn]

Good looking tank! Getting pretty close, Lake. Think you can splash this season?

[LakeFever]

Thanks Tony, we had set a goal of may 28th earlier this year. We drew out the jobs that needed doing and have been poking away. The trouble is many other jobs I didn’t foresee popped up along the way and this stuff always takes longer than you think. We are very close now. At least half of the wiring is complete we have been poking away at that as well. Power head is built and ready to bolt up. The biggest job left in front is to finish painting the engine cover which I have been avoiding because I’m not set up for painting at the moment. I rounded up four ecu’s and got them all tested. Thankfully all check out good to go. Injectors are cleaned and flowed too. Still have to mount the windshield, and install the shifter, wire up the smart stick along with the trim/tilt and jack plate relays, install ignition switch. We are getting there

worth noting here I am one of those guys where the build process is as much of the fun ( more? ) than the actual using of the things I build so I’m not rushing any of this. Last Saturday my whole family was around while I built the motor at a snails pace. Weather was perfect. We bbq’d rib eyes and had music going living life without a care in the world. Best day of the year for sure. That’s the speed I like to go at with this stuff. During the layup phase we had some periods of high intensity. Most of the layup was a lot of fun too. The refinishing ordeal was hellish which is ironic as my background in auto body and paint had me going into that without a concern. Once this boat is done I have a long list of other projects in the wait and some still on the hunt. You guys know the drill, 99% of us here are all the same type. Addicted to doing instead of talking. The irony is I talk so little throughout the day. I stay out of sight, keep my head down, and work away 7 days a week. I blabber on here about this project more than anything else I have going on lol. I’ve been trying to help other members out wherever I can too just to return all the support the S&F community has brought me. Sometimes I get in over my head but I’m trying to help, don’t always have the perfect answers. Still having fun though. Strange that I’ve been here long enough to see the sites user base shift so much. We are missing some of our stalwarts who were always good to read. I sure miss following your build Tony you hit a home run with that thread and your videos too wow thanks I really enjoyed all that work. It’s a bit too much for me to reach those levels of content production. Maybe one day

anyways almost 7am gotta rock. It’s so close now I can hardly wait for the first fire in the motor!!

[LakeFever]

Tony what rear view mirror did you put on your boat? It seems so securely mounted and minimalist I like it. How did you mount it?

[tnelsmn]

Oh man I couldn't tell you, that mirror was bought in probably 1977 when my fathers previous Hydrostream Vandal was new. It survived when the Vandal broke a strap and rolled off the trailer totaling the boat and leading to the purchase of my Viking.

If you can find one similar it mounts with essentially a C channel over the top of the windshield frame and two set screws on the forward edge of the windshield frame.

[tnelsmn]

worth noting here I am one of those guys where the build process is as much of the fun ( more? ) than the actual using of the things I build so I’m not rushing any of this. Last Saturday my whole family was around while I built the motor at a snails pace. Weather was perfect. We bbq’d rib eyes and had music going living life without a care in the world. Best day of the year for sure. That’s the speed I like to go at with this stuff. During the layup phase we had some periods of high intensity. Most of the layup was a lot of fun too. The refinishing ordeal was hellish which is ironic as my background in auto body and paint had me going into that without a concern. Once this boat is done I have a long list of other projects in the wait and some still on the hunt. You guys know the drill, 99% of us here are all the same type. Addicted to doing instead of talking. The irony is I talk so little throughout the day. I stay out of sight, keep my head down, and work away 7 days a week. I blabber on here about this project more than anything else I have going on lol. I’ve been trying to help other members out wherever I can too just to return all the support the S&F community has brought me. Sometimes I get in over my head but I’m trying to help, don’t always have the perfect answers. Still having fun though. Strange that I’ve been here long enough to see the sites user base shift so much. We are missing some of our stalwarts who were always good to read. I sure miss following your build Tony you hit a home run with that thread and your videos too wow thanks I really enjoyed all that work. It’s a bit too much for me to reach those levels of content production. Maybe one day

Lake, you sure hit the nail on the head there! Looking back I loved every minute of the entire build process of my boat, even though sometimes it was difficult or dirty and itchy. I love having a project to work on, the endless problem solving is where it's at for me. Sharing it on here was the biggest, most involved writing project of my life haha. Now that the project is done, and set up figured out, I find myself not running it nearly as much as I used to and looking for the next build. It spends more of its life pulling myself on a slalom ski or my nieces and nephew on a tube. But thats mainly why I built it, so the next generation can have as many fond memories on the lake with the "blue boat" as I did as a kid.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[LakeFever]

Tony where did you get the capacity plate from? Mine is absent. I can only seem to find a vector one online

[Hippie459MN]

Tony where did you get the capacity plate from? Mine is absent. I can only seem to find a vector one online

Tony had them made. I have one from him and they are amazing! They are metal too. He might have a few left but he had a batch of them made a while back.

[LakeFever]

Been whittling down the list of tiny details. Got the grab bar in for the front passenger. Got the passenger seat mounted. Wired and test the jack plate. Got all the nav and gauge lights wired and tested. Bilge wired and tested. Shifter in. Working on mounting the windshield. I say working on because the windshield frame needs some straightening and paint. I tried it out with the factory silver and it doesn’t look right on this color so we are going to paint it black. It also has some snaps for some sort of mooring cover on the frame. I’m going to remove those and epoxy the holes up. Going to give the plexi a quick polish and get it bolted down. The engine cover is coming along it’s pretty much ready for primer. I’m going to hit that with urethane 2k and flex agent. I’ll cut that down to 500 grit finish and spray with base clear most likely. I may use the polyurethane hull paint but probably base clear.

[LakeFever]

Got the repairs done to the cowling and it’s now in a very high build primer with flex additive. Once I get the base plate shot in black I’ll start assembling the rest of the power head and rigging. I noticed when I took the bunji plates off the cowl there were some cracks in those cavities so I beefed them up quite a bit with some fiberglass mesh and stainless backing plates. Assembled all wet so the bond would be really strong. The wiggle test is noticeably stiffer on the entire sides of the cowls after these repairs. Being flexible it should be good to go. Ain’t pretty but under the hood so won’t see em. All repairs were done with epoxy flexible bumper repair. The pricey stuff that comes in the dual caulking tubes and requires the dual squirt gun. Anyways closing in

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[LakeFever]

Haven’t had much time this week to get any work done on the boat. Mounted up my break in prop tonight just for some fun. Tempest 27 race cut

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[LakeFever]

Got the engine cover sprayed out today. It’s so black the pics don’t show anything unless super close. This was a job I was putting off for some time. After all the paint work gel disaster on the hull i was gun shy. My skirt is like new so I thought I didn’t need to paint it so I left it out of the job. Now that the base and cover are sprayed they are 10x blacker and the skirt looks like crap. So this painting thing won’t leave me be! I’m going to try and hit the skirt with adhesion promoter and shoot the paint straight to that without priming and see how it goes. The good news is now that the base is complete I can bolt the power head to the mid and get to firing this thing up.

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[LakeFever]

This cover keeps kicking my ass. After messing around with every 1/8 pipe fitting I could find I finally got the mid plate water route planned out. It did make the hose coming from the plate through the cover very tight however. Fortunately I have a few vst’s around so I used one of the pre bent rubber hoses off it to plumb the plate port in with. Worked slick. Seems so easy but I spent a bit of time messing with this. I also bought a stainless base plate for this cover and most of the holes for the plate into the plastic were cracked or fatigued from years of use so I thought I’d get crafty. I used the plasma cutter and I cut the old base plate into a half inch wide plate to support the top better than little washers would. Got it all cut, cleaned and painted. Got the it all bolted up with new stainless 1/4’s and nylocs. Put it on the mid and went to install the power head and then my great idea came to smack me in the face. The block interferes with the top cap plate so I had to pull the whole thing back apart. I have to notch the plate and clearance a couple spots to make this work. What a pain. That’s what I get for trying to make custom haha. Anyways if I can get off the couch I’ll make another attempt tonight.

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[LakeFever]

War of attrition today but I got the power head mounted finally. Thought I was going to be at this stage before noon. Ran into issues trying to get that last nut around the coolant hose deal. Threw in the towel for today

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[LakeFever]

Details matter. I couldn’t use these so I peened out some fresh stainless ones. New buckshot racing cowl seal. Decals to install and whew, this cowl is complete

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[LakeFever]

Decals are on. Tricky task to get these lined up nice. Engine is now complete and ready to fire. Didn’t like the barb with a line clamped to it to block the oil input on the vst so I cut the nipple off and brazed it. Looks much better. I have a few ecu’s and I got them all tested. One is a 225 promax with a 7800 limiter. I’m going to break the motor in and get used to the hull with the stock 200 ecu and when I get my lower installed and I’m ready to wind things up a bit I’m going to install the promax ecu with an adjustable fpr ( thanks Chaz ) and use that to clean up the tune. Probably lower the fuel pressure a tad being four petal. There’s still a bunch of small jobs to do the biggest of which is wiring in the ignition switch and gauges. I have the control cables in as well as the shifter. Thanks Baicour marine for the sweet shifter.

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[LakeFever]

She's all done. Thrashed pretty hard for a couple days because I had some time off and wanted to get it in the water. Engine starts and runs great. Having a high water pressure issue that I'm working through otherwise everything is aces. The hull is so stiff, and it sits so nice in the water. I was worried with all the extra transom glass but it sits high and dry and looks fantastic. I only managed one pic on the trailer and none in the water I'll get some of those next time. I still have the JC lower unit to go on as well. All in good time

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[motexas]

Congratulations- Looks Slick!!!!

MO

[skialot2]

B-E-A-utiful !!! Great job. Worth all the work for the sense of accomplishment!!! Enjoy

[MrBoatYard]

Man! So sweet, congrats on the build. It has been common practice for me to get into work early on Saturdays and go straight to this thread for updates. I imagine the feeling of having this complete build in the water is crazy. Thank you for the inspiration and the updates along the whole process.

[LakeFever]

Thanks gents for the kind remarks. I’m definitely happy to have it completed but once I got the engine cover painted I got a little sad because it’s done and working on this while trying at times has been an extremely gratifying process. The layup especially was a really good time. The funny thing about being done to me it is normalized and I’m used to seeing it and being around it. Everywhere I stop dudes are jumping out of their cars and coming up to talk about it which catches me right off guard. I’m very happy that it’s bringing happiness to other people too that’s just a bonus.

MrBoatYard I know exactly what you mean. When Tnels was building his I did the exact same thing I was always thrilled to see updates to his build. I knew I was always going to do this one day but after Tony’s build I got amped up and made it happen and without his detailed thread and all the S&F input I would never have ended up with near as good of a final result as I did.

ScreamandFly made this boat come together the way it is. I just put up the materials and the labor :cheers:

[sonicss33]

What a great thread and build. Thanks for sharing. When you decide to sell this one and start another. I’ll be first in line to buy it from you. :D

[LakeFever]

Shaking this thing down and making some headway. Small side story, I was a very active water skier and like many of us I started out with some old ski’s hand me downs from whoever in the family. I bought a half decent cypress gardens ski in my teens and I was a decent skier nothing special. Then I got a little older and bought a pricey o’Brien Kevlar reinforced blah blah all the goodies aside from dual boot. I remember clear as glass my first ski on that thing and I was jaw dropped how easy it was to ski twice as aggressive as I had previously been able to ski. Crossing the wake was like a knife it didn’t give a whimper of resistance it just cut right through. Rougher waters no longer a big issue I could seemingly ski through anything. Well, that’s how this hull feels to me. As I now have the engine basically broken in and I’m beginning to lean on it it’s shocking to me how easy it is to drive fast even over rough waters. Once up on the pad it’s very similar feeling to that water ski I loved. All in all the hull is really amazing im very pleased with the hulls performance and feel. Its so easy to drive it makes me look a lot better than I am. One strange thing that im still confused by is there really isn’t any chine walk like my other hulls have. Once its flying and I begin to trim up I do have to correct it a little but I mean a little. It’s pretty easy to rip this thing.

I was having issues with cooling that had me chasing my tail but it’s sorted out now. I’ve linked that thread here if you want to read about it.
https://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?370828-Adapting-260-cowl-to-200-2-piece-adapter-plate-questions

at this point I’m really in need of my lower unit with lwp. Running the stock non ratchet case now with no torque tab is not ideal. I haven’t strung it out to much yet im easing into it to hopefully give the motor its best chances. I ran a bunch of heat cycles on the hose then the ramp then short tours each time letting it fully cool down. I spent an entire day on the lake doing this once. Last time out I ran it up to 62mph and today I spooled in up a little higher. Engines running perfect, highest rpm so far is around 5500. This was todays top speed


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[VkingMike]

A damn good start. In my findings, these things can get easier to control above 70-75mph once you're past the chine walk speed and it only really takes small inputs to keep it going straight and fast. I barely get walk anymore after learning trim control. Now its all about judging how high the nose is, which is still scary for me lol

[LakeFever]

I got hard schooled with my first stream. A Valero with a 135 and it didn’t have the power to drive past the chine walk. I had paddle wheeling as well as blow out and a very hairy experience overall. Since then I’m now on stream number five and this one is so much easier to drive. That transition period of wet to aired out where my other streams got hairy just doesn’t exist with this one. My vandal I have to wrestle that wheel to keep it running straight and I swear I can drive this Vking one handed. I think it’s the hull blueprinting as well as the rigidity. Nothing weird happening underneath so no surprises at the helm. This is the first properly straight and solid stream I’ve ever had.

There were two wake board tanks out yesterday and those things have been my nemesis’s causing stuffs and swampings. With this hull at first I slowed down to a surf speed and just rode up and over no drama. As the day went on if I was going fast enough say 50+ it just skipped over the top without much drama at all. I did run into a swirly pile of wakeboard wakes later in the day that had me wobbling side to side a fair bit but my confidence in the hull was growing by that point so again no drama.

gotta get that lower unit sorted out soon. It really likes raised engine height and I can’t get any higher because of the stock lower.

[LakeFever]

I wonder how much the chine walk issue has to do with hull twist? There’s not a lot of hull between the transom and the core, and under full jam the motor is torquing against the transom sideways as well as fore. Maybe making a twist spring effect increasing chine walk? Now that I have knees and no twist is why? Been thinking about it most of the day

[LakeFever]

Finally got a pic of it in the water. Not the best quality pic but its all I have for now

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[LakeFever]

Lower unit complete with geigertech billet small shaft carrier installed. JC coned C1 case with torque tab. Gorgeous work on the cone and faring by JC on this case. Going to stick my 30p SRX on next and hopefully get back on the water soon


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[LakeFever]

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[LakeFever]

Well the srx was a bit of lunch bag letdown. My motor does not make enough power to work that prop where it needs to be. It did run slightly faster than my tempest but if I run the tempest as hard as I ran this srx it would probably top this one. With the srx I just couldn’t get the hull loaded onto the prop it was lazy and not holding. I could feel it just wanted to be pushed harder so until I build a hotter motor this prop is going back on the wall. The lower unit worked well I now have that sweet scream of 2.5 open at speed and it made my water pressure ideal at 15psi wot so that was good. Next trip out I’ll be testing props. 28 big ear, 28 small ear, tempest et 27 again, 28 hoss triton 1, maybe try the 28 labbed cleaver

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[89LASER]

I'll trade you a 27SRX for the 29

[LakeFever]

I have a 27 srx lol. I have most pitches and styles now. Some in duplicates. The only reason I’m not trying any of the 27 and smaller pitches now is while I’m still on the stock 200 ecu I’m not turning enough rpm. Later when I will spin higher I will be trying out my 24-27 stuff again. Then later when I add more power and more rpm I might try 30-32’s again. Time will tell

[LakeFever]

I went out prop testing today and only tested one prop. I loved it so much I couldn’t stop driving it. Hoss Triton 1 28p and it is really great. My favorite prop so far. If I test a prop that works better than this one I’ll be surprised let’s put it that way. The acceleration was great, the holding power and lift was excellent. It held the hull really tight and strong just like a large ear chopper without the excessive bow lift. I was on some bigger water and was really moving through some huge rollers and it launched straight as an arrow no bow rise effect at all. It made the whole experience feel super fun and very safe. I did launch huge today though I think the bow eye must have been 20’ plus off the water it was a huge jump. I dialed it back, way back after that one. It got dark sky quickly and the sun was ahead of me so the water was flat and hard to read and I didn’t see this set of rollers ahead and man did I launch it. Although I don’t take video it made me want to get a gopro it would have been so cool to see. I felt a little bad beating the hull up like this but I was following friends in much bigger boats and I was trying to keep up. It wasn’t ideal conditions for any real speed runs today so my best was 77.7mph.

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I read a thread years ago about favorite props and captain insaneo said hoss tritons were the best prop for streams and I’m thinking he’s right. Loving this prop.

[LakeFever]

Interesting prop testing. I ran the ET cut tempest again on it now that I have a coned lower and it's not half as exciting as the Hoss was, or the first time I ran the Tempest on the stock lower. With the stock no LWP lower unit this et cut tempest was the bees knees. The only knock against it was the hole shot it would blow off a lot and i had to feather the throttle until it hooked. I do have the large PVS holes and they are wide open so thats got a lot to do with this but Im not going to bother much more with it for now. The 28 Hoss turned 77.9mph on the limiter so I guess I was pretty well there with it last time round when it ran 77.7mph. The 27 Tempest et went 76.4 also on the limiter ( 6200RPM ) which really surprised me because the tempest ran 78 before and I know I wasn't flat out yet it was at 5800 or so, definitely not 6000 yet so really great slip numbers on the stock lower. The cone does scrub speed but it also changes the hull dynamics considerably too. It is a lot more stable with the coned lower which is nice. On the stock one it was twitchier up top. The Tempest does hold the hull well and it is a confident inspiring prop to run, just not as much as the Hoss on my combo is.

So, seeing as im banging the limiter pretty easy I decided to try my A17 ProMax 225 ecu which has a raised limiter to 7600 with the Hoss 28 again and see how it runs simply as is. If its doggy or wont push past low 6's then I think my next mod is going to be increased compression via a head swap and again try this with the A17 ecu. I'm probably going to try the 2.0L fatblock heads first and if I dont like those then I'll swap to stock 200 heads cut to 34cc. I'm not sure if I commented on this before but I have the stock 38CC heads on it now I put those one when I was trying to figure out what was going on with my over heat worries during shake down. I also have the timing set to 23 degrees so nothing crazy, just little mods one at a time until I get it where I want it. IMO the only way to mod a two stroke is one change at a time and test so thats my approach. So far I'm running pump 91 no ethanol mixed at 40:1. My water pressure runs steady at 15 psi when Im about 5000 RPM and climbs to 20psi at full jam

When I'm running solo i'm having some balance issues so I have to make a slow left turn to keep it on pad flat. I'm going to make some ballast bags out of lead shot and blue jeans with hot glue. I'm thinking 10lbs per bag and make 4 of them and see how that goes. With a passenger it runs flatter and thats how I got my best number so far which is 81.4 on the 30p SRX. I am probably going to try that prop again after some careful attention to the prop height I may not have been running it high enough. It was a very hard prop to feel, it just wasn't hooking up right somehow I dont know how else to explain it but I could feel it wasn't carrying the hull properly. Maybe some set up tweaks would improve that i was running in a pack so plenty of stimulus happening

[skialot2]

It makes sense that the stock lower was twitcher up top. At 78 MPH you are only a few MPH of the limit of the stock lower. It was probably about to blowout.

[LakeFever]

It makes sense that the stock lower was twitcher up top. At 78 MPH you are only a few MPH of the limit of the stock lower. It was probably about to blowout.

maybe but it didn’t feel like it was going to blow out. It felt loaded and strong. I have blown out before and once just a couple runs ago but I actually hooked it because I was flying with another stream having a total ball and didn’t trim down enough for a corner. It wasn’t really all that dramatic but I did break the steering wheel lol. Not enough that I couldn’t drive back to the launch but enough that I had to replace it. Anyways there’s always a feeling out process with new stuff and I’m working through it best I can. My first stream blew out all the time but I had zero clue what I was doing then. Now I have ten percent of a clue, ten years from now I’ll have the other 90 sorted.

I got the A17 ecu installed and the hoss is going back on. Trying to get out as much as I can

[LakeFever]

I went out for a little rip today with the family. Not the best area for fast boat’n but the promax ecu completely transforms the sound of the motor. It sounds ten x angrier, it really growls now. Aside from the noise change driving it felt exactly the same except for punching it off a cruise speed. Quite a bit snappier. I dropped everyone at the beach and managed to run it up twice for short blasts only I couldn’t find any calm water and the best I managed was 74.4 I couldn’t say the rpm it was too rough to look down at the gauges. My Speedo has a recall feature I use that to measure speed. The downside was fuel consumption was way up. It probably uses 1/3 more fuel than the A8 200 ecu. Also the prop is black with soot it was running too rich. Again though you wouldn’t know it to drive it.

[LakeFever]

Trying to get out as much as possible before the season wraps up. Went out yesterday with some other fun boats and decide to put the stock A8 ecu back on again running the Hoss 28. I finally discovered the chine walk place with this hull. It happens at 80mph. I can and have driven it one handed up to 75 no drama at all but at 80 it starts to get flighty. It’s hard to find a long enough calm enough stretch to really work through this because it seems to like more trim up to 80 then I have to trim down a little to lay it flat. If I don’t trim it up on the way up to 80 it settles in at 77 and stays there. So a bit of technique is required and more practice needed for sure. It gets to 6200 rpm at 77 so that’s the brick wall it’s full rich. It will turn past that I can’t say how much because I was working the balance but I did manage to equal my previous best of 81.4mph with this 28 vs the 30 I did that number with last time. I also had a passenger yesterday and I asked him to sit in the back for a couple runs and that really made a huge difference. The hull loved that shift and that’s when I managed by highest speeds. I’m pretty heavy so I am asking the motor to move a lot of weight. I have a whack of tools and cooler and so on all on board as well. Definitely not running light yesterday. I think with my lead shot bags set in place and lightening up the load I can work the hull up further with this 28. It would be nice to see 85 or so on this combo. I also have decided to leave the A8 computer and the engine as is for the rest of the season and work on another motor for more power. This one runs too good to mess with and it’s still a lot of fun as it is.

One more thing that was extremely nice. Some time ago there was a thread about eye protection on here and one member suggested sky diving goggles. I bought some Kroops boogie goggles and compared to my wrap around sun glasses these goggles are amazing. No wind gets in your eyes at all! Plus they are so light and very comfy. They look funny but the safety and performance is well worth it to me.

[tnelsmn]

Congrats on the completion, Lake! The boat looks incredible in the water, it sits just perfect! I really enjoyed following along with your thread here.

You're at the fun part of all the prop testing now. I was in the river 2-3 days a week when I first finished mine getting everything sorted. Sounds like it rides about like mine, anyone could drive it up to 80, then you start needing some talent.

My rig likes about 50-60lbs of lead in the far aft port "wing". Lead wake .com has bags you can buy ready to go, but sounds like you're able to make some just as easy, and probably much cheaper.

Sounds like you like the SRX my boat likes those as well, but it likes an ET cut chopper a lot more. If you can get your hands on one of those give it a run.

[LakeFever]

Thanks Tony, appreciate it. I still have quite a few props to work through, no et yet but its on the list. Might get one cut too. I have some lead shot from the old stock car days but only 25lbs prepped in jean sacks right now. I had dropped them in the front beside the front seat outside of the stringer during my one solo run but it was way too rough to see if it was doing anything. My hull didnt really like the SRX much it loves the Hoss though wow that prop rides the boat so much higher it feels like it has air ride. Just upon take off at 20mph it seems to ride at least 6" higher out of the water than the other props. So hooked up. Loving it cant really take it off Im enjoying it so much.

As for the 80mph deal this hull is a lot different than my other streams which says they were/are shot and flexing or whatevering because this is a whole different experience. A good one thankfully. More seat time, more props too but mostly more seat time before season wraps up im not too concerned with big speed numbers this year.

[LakeFever]

Alright we are getting there. I added fifty pounds of lead shot ballast in the rear wing like Tony suggested and that made a big improvement in handling. Today more impressive was the head swap I did. I put a pair of 2.0L fatblock heads on and let me tell ya these heads woke this sucker up big time. I gained an easy 7mph and I was still climbing I just ran out of room. With these heads I blow right past 80 effortlessly and with less trim so it’s a lot easier to control too. Then on top of that if this wasn’t reward enough it burns less gas too! I’ve made this same run many times now and I can compare it is using less than before. Today I ran 87.3 on the same 28 Hoss which is really working so dang good I don’t know if Captain Insaneo is still reading any of this but it was following his suggestion to source a Hoss and man was he right. I’ve linked the thread below about the 2.0L heads in case anyone is curious. Tony if you’re looking for more jam out of your motor I think you would love these heads. I’m still on the A8 ecu stock fuel pressure. Checked the plugs all good. Piston tops still black. I did run 94 octane fuel at 36:1 today just to be safe


https://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?371107-2-0L-135-fatblock-heads-on-2-5L-200

[tnelsmn]

I keep thinking of buying a set of cut heads. Just to find a bit more power, I'll have to check these out.
I'm still testing and tuning on my new brucato box. Back to the fun of wanting to get to the ramp every few days!

[LakeFever]

Did you get any gains with the brucato? That’s on my list of mods. I want to try my chipped promax ecu again too but with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and do the wot shut downs etc. I really just haven’t felt like working on this now that the boat is working so well I’m having too much fun ripping around. I was hoping for 90+ with this first motor and I’m just about there now. The 2.0L heads worked out to 133psi so I could shave them for even more umph which may happen as well. Little by little you know the drill.

I went out again yesterday with a passenger 160lbs and it ran 84 consistently but now that I’m getting familiar with it I don’t like running fast with a passenger it’s hard to get the prop to bite. I tried with and without the rear ballast and it’s better with the rear ballast but with a full 26 gallons, tools, oil and whatnot the boat doesn’t like that much weight. Without the ballast in the rear the passenger in the back ran the best but the balance still wasn’t great it is harder to balance on pad this way than it is running solo with ballast. I’m also still on the 28p and going to run my 30 again soon solo with ballast and see how it goes. I also really need to get a GoPro aimed at my lower so I can see what’s going on and make sure I have the engine height optimized im going by feel at the moment

[rjdubiel]

Take all that stuff out the boat. 10 gallons of fuel and go out and run. If you get 84 with all that crap and another person, you're at 90 running light and alone. Remember the setup is different when you have a passenger VS alone. alone you can run the motor higher than you can with the weight of another person unless you keep that person in the back seat.

Stock Brucato will not do anything really exciting for you. You need to tune the box yourself to get it to work well. They give you the base curve when they ship it to you and you get to be the one to blow the motor VS them sending you a box that is tuned. If you don't know anyone with the program and cable to adjust the curve you will not be very impressed with it. you can use EGT and adjust the main fuel trim on the box + or - but you cant take away fuel up top, or add fuel up top, it does the whole curve. There are guys that can fiddle with the stock merc box to remove rpm limiter and adjust the curve.

if you have an ET or Yamaha Drag 3 28p i would try those. I never liked the hoss on my Vking. I liked my small ear chopper 30p but that little guy has cracked a few times now.


@Tony (https://www.screamandfly.com/member.php?u=1580), I got some heads for you to run, these would be close to race gas but we would have to bolt them up and see, but that shoudl do it.

Compression is the best bang for the buck you can do for performance.

[LakeFever]

RJ thanks for the info on the Brucato that is solid to know what to expect. I will be doing more controlled testing and tuning with less weight, less fuel, adjustable fuel pressure regulator, chipped ecu, box of new plugs to read, etc etc but probably next year I'm having too much fun ripping around as it is to and running out of season to start modding it more now. I'm going to try a couple more props this year but thats about it. Im pleased with the motors performance at the moment and am working on a clone of this 2.5 as well as a 260 for later so plenty of mods coming over time. Got the Vandal to restore too in the coming years and some 2.0L plans for that one. Lots of boat stuff ahead


Props are weird. If you ran this Hoss on my hull and said you didnt like it I would be shocked this thing hooks and books and carries the hull so flat. I'm very pleased with it. Its easy to control and flies very well without the freaky bow lift stuff. It is basically in 10/10 condition too which helps. I still have a good pile of props to test although no ET's yet those will come in time. I may shave these 2.0L heads a bit too because Im only at 133 psi now and can bring that up to 145 without much worry. The pistons tops are still black I have plenty of color on the plugs too I think the stock A8 ecu can handle more. I used up all the head gaskets I bought for now so again this will be a next year thing. I will be buying a bunch of sets so at some point I probably will stuff some really tight heads on it and run some race gas just to see how hard this fishin motor will chug. I think I have 7 or 8 pairs of heads now, two of these small chamber guys. The rest are 2.5 stockers. One set of those is 34cc already. The chipped ecu I have was done by CDI has the limiter raised to 7600 I am quite curious to run that again with the motor now that I have the small chamber heads on it as well as the adjustable fuel regulator and dial in the fuel. These are all things I have to do when I have a full day or two simply to focus on tuning. Looking forward to it

[rjdubiel]

whats a chipped ecu? a 11350 digital with a promax chip? The more compression use use the more fuel you will need. You can reuse head gaskets as long as they are not super old. Like brand new and run it a few times and swap heads and reuse the gaskets, just keep them on the same side of the motor and should be fine and the spark plug will tell you if water is getting in. What rpm were you at when ya got 87? I assume on the limiter at about 6800?

[LakeFever]

My stock A8 ecu which I sent for testing has the enrichment cycle set to 5800 rpm and it was hitting the wall at 6200 rpm before the head swap. With the tighter heads I can’t say for sure it’s max rpm but I did glance at the tach once when I was pretty well full out and it was 6500 so I’m pushing the full rich over the top. I was somewhere in this range at 87. Around 6500

The chipped ecu I have is a 225 Promax A17. The tune work was done by CDI some time ago when this was still a service being done. I gather Merc is now out to get companies who offer this service nowadays. and from what I understand of the process the potting material is removed. The eprom is removed and reflashed and then it’s all repotted. I was told it was a 225 promax ecu with no modifications to the fuel curve just raised limiter before full enrichment to 7600. I ran it once on my motor before the head swap and it ran great. Sounded mean. But drank noticeably more fuel so I put the stock A8 200 ecu back on. I was checking plugs and saw it was still quite rich so I put the small chamber heads on and loved it. It’s still rich so I do want to run the A17 box again but with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator so I can try and dial in the mixture a bit. I’m also wanting to shave these small chamber heads down a bit more first. Probably all will be next spring. Having too much fun right now as it is

[rjdubiel]

OK, I got a 11350 digital box that has a 225 PM chip in it. Never ran it as i swapped the chip to use on my 280.

Anyway, Run that box that should rev to 7600. Do you have a 26P prop, chopper? Run that and see if it will turn up, if it does you should run about 90-91. then try a 28P to see if you have the HP to turn that over 7K . I am guessing you don't have the compression to get a whole lot more RPM than 7k with a 28P but I could be wrong. Very careful lowering fuel mixture. you may be rich up top but mid range can go lean and you can fry the motor running 4-5K! So do a mid range plug check also if you start with the fuel pressure messing around.

[LakeFever]

That’s a solid plan RJ thanks. I do have many props from 22-30. 22+24 small ears. I will be super cautious with the fuel pressure tuning. I have a full box of new plugs and I’ll figure out the leanest hole and use that to read. Drop 1psi at a time and check the plugs mid/high all that. Slow and cautious process for sure I’ll likely spend and entire day or more messing with this when I get to it.

For my next day out I’m going to lighten the load, run the hoss 28 again and see how it does. I might try the 30 again too just to see how it goes as well.

[rjdubiel]

I would put the mod box on and run a 24 and see what it will turn to make sure it actually goes higher than the stock 6800 limiter. If it does start with the next taller prop and see what you can get it to for RPM and Speed. Usually lack of compression keeps the motor form climbing in RPM with taller props. I run into it with my 280, has 145 to 150 per hole compression, but i need more to turn a taller prop for top end. with a 28P i can get about 8K, if i go to 30P speed is about the same but RPM drops.

[LakeFever]

It’s been busy lately but I finally managed to get back out yesterday. Fantastic weather and a great run. I ran with some other guys so I left with a full tank and took my tools just in case. It got dark before i wanted to stop running but with a half tank and my weight I managed this. I’m not one to embellish things but I’d say it ran 90 if we use a rounding method :D


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[LakeFever]

Managed a run the other day and I decided to try the promax ecu again. It sounds so much rowdier with that box than the A8. If all I wanted to do was show off? This is the brain to run the sweet merc crackle and off throttle sounds are very, very cool. It did run very well and it seems to have more snot in the mid range but it’s using a ton more fuel even with the small chamber heads. Interestingly enough it did run the same speed as the A8 box with this Hoss prop 88mph. The conditions were awful, the wind was 25+mph and crossing the lake to the river was insane the waves were 3-4’ I got soaked. The interesting note here that I definitely saw was the tach hit 7000RPM at one point, I’m guessing this was during my fastest run. Another very interesting thing was this run was mostly full of fuel and man did it ever set nice. Once past the chine at 80 it settled right down and drove straight effortlessly. So I definitely think with better conditions and less weight the promax ecu will run a bigger number. The plugs are dark brown and wet so I can lean this thing out more which I believe will be the ideal mod at this stage. My ignition timing is also set to 23 degrees, I’m wondering if I should bump this up to 25 do any of you think this will help top end or just acceleration?

I did buy an adjustable fuel pressure regulator that I thought was a bolt on to replace the VST regulator but it’s too small. Does anyone know of a bolt on aftermarket adjustable fuel pressure regulator that will fit on the VST?

[LakeFever]

Tore a VST apart and got to sorting out an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I was going to install a new stand alone pump/filter/regulator but pumping a return back into the boat didn’t sit well with me. It just feels and is dangerous. Also with a siphon feed fuel tank and installing a dry stand alone pump I didn’t want the hassle of priming issues and all that. Finally my VST works perfect and it’s whisper quiet so why take perfectly good parts off for the sake of it? So, I went to figuring how best to add the adjustable regulator to the VST. Initially I was going to drill out the VST cover and tap that with 1/8 npt but after some more studying felt this to be unwise. I decided to take the factory fixed regulator off and found a way to adapt it instead. Goes like follows

remove reg and cut off metal diaphragm cap with band saw
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drive out stainless orfice. It’s sitting on the bench in the back of this pic.
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drill and tap that opening 1/8 npt
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shorten the little tubes under the screws about 1/4 to make the clamp hold properly. I smoothed out the saw marks off of the factory regulator chassis first. Installed a 5/16 barb into the opening
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Made a small aluminum angle bracket to hold the adjustable regulator I sourced from Amazon right behind the ecu directly above the VST. Using the factory vst hose I cut the one angle off so it was just a 90 and using stainless cinch clamps ( same as Merc ) I installed the return side of the hose. I used a 1/8 npt 90 out of the bottom of the reg and another 5/16” barb. Then I used a piece of 3/8 fuel line and made a loop from the input side of the brass fitting above the vst to the regulator again cinch clamps. I used 3/8 line because I had marine rated on hand and the barb on the vst is quite large my 5/16 marine line struggled to fit over it. I’ve tested it no leaks at all, everything good. Bunch of pics to show how it turned out. I’m a little leery of that pressure gauge it’s a cheapo regulator and the gauge is small indexed incrementally every 5psi which is not really fine enough for my goals here. I’ll be modding that shortly with an improved gauge and probably a bleed port too. I hooked up the factory vacuum line as well I think you can see it in one of the pics. It’s facing to the rear of the motor.

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[LakeFever]

Got a liquid filled 0-60psi gauge. Indexed it to see the 40psi area the easiest. Added a schrader like oem for bleed and mainly so I could verify the gauge accuracy. I figured so long as I set the regulator to the same number showing on my tester I used on the factory regulator then even if the cheap gauge was off I could have a safe baseline to start with. Thankfully both gauges showed identical pressure so I’m considering this regulator mod good to go. Got a box of new plugs and I’ll be back out to test the promax ecu and some fuel pressure tuning soon

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[LakeFever]

We are in the zone here gents. The regulator itself is a pos and heading to the bin I should have known better and bought an aeromotive. It is so sensitive in the 35-40psi range which is where I need the adjustment it made it very hard to dial in. That said I did manage to get this thing leaned out to pretty much perfection and wow she’s flying now. Major improvement. My previous best with the Hoss 28 was 88. My fastest ever was 90 with the 30 srx. Today I ran 93 with the 28 Hoss with 3/4 tank of fuel and tools etc on board not at all my lightest possible set up. I was running a river and ran out of room and courage a bit because I didn’t try for max trim. This hull above 90 sets right down and just runs straight as an arrow it just gets a lot of lift from the air. No chine walk at all above 90 though, it’s actually a bit weird because it’s as easy to drive there as 60. The big difference being the nose is high and pretty light at 90 so I didn’t really try to bump in more trim to test the limits like I did when gunning for my previous best. I just set it where I like it and let it eat! A super satisfying day I’m very pleased with 93 on a 28 at 7200rpm give or take because I’m glancing at the tach at those speeds not staring at it. Also as expected my fuel consumption is way down. It still drinks a little more than the A8 box but it’s spinning a lot higher and I’m running harder so that’s to be expected. Although I didn’t run it out to max speed when I had it set to 34psi the thing ran like a wild animal. The acceleration was insane but the plug was just a wee too white around the electrode for my liking so I fattened it up. It likes 36 psi it runs great there and the plug looks decent. Piston wash it’s hard to tell because I cleaned em off with that 34 psi run haha. If I can get out again I’ll try the 30 one more time but I probably should just stick with this hoss the hull loves it and it’s easy to drive.

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I posted the rest of the spark plugs in this how to read plug color thread
https://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?371482-Spark-plug-color-how-long&p=3435545#post3435545

[LakeFever]

New aeromotive 13129 fuel pressure regulator installed. Much more stable. Testing again soon might try my 30p again but I want to keep the prop a constant to track gains. This regulator is a bit taller with the an-6 fittings instead of npt and man is it close to the cowl. I had to file the top of the threads down a whisker to get some clearance. For mounting I used the bracket that came with the regulator, cut it down, and welded it to a small 1/8 stainless plate. There’s two 11/64” holes on the top of the laser that were already for #12 self tapping stainless screws. Much cleaner bracket than last time




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[LakeFever]

I managed to squeeze in another test run but had no success with gains. First I did the dumb move of using my boat ratchet and plug socket at the shop and didn’t I leave it on the work bench? Lesson relearned. Don’t use tools from the car/truck/boat tool kits in the shop. So that killed the ability to read the plugs. Second, massive wind gusts. I got one run up to 85 and a gust of wind came at me and man did the whole boat ever lift high. Freaky. Third and most unfortunate I met up with a fellow fast boater who blew his lower unit and I had to tow him back to the ramp. All that aside it was a fun run but no chance to do any meaningful tuning. One interesting aspect is I did set the new regulator to 35psi and the plugs when I got home were dark, and wet. Plus I’m used to the engine sounds now and it sounded fat again. Loads of black soot on the prop too so definitely needs fuel pulled out further. I attribute this to the aeromotive flowing more or better than the cheapo I had on previously. I’ll try and get out again but the time is running short now for this year. Starting to see frost in the mornings

[LakeFever]

Well here we are after a long cold spring finally back at testing and tuning and working the set up. I was on the hunt all winter for a 30hoss and came close but no cigar. I did manage to source a 30p lightning et though so aside from the four blade stuff I now have all the three blade gofast prop inventory on hand. About that et, I have to say it is a bit of lunch bag letdown after running it. It is fast yes no doubt but it’s not the best feeling prop, at all. In fact I’d say that worked 30p SRX I have is slightly better feeling and I don’t particularly care for that one either. I believe this to simply be a matter of personal preference because there is no denying the performance of both they are fast it’s just that they push the hull rather than lift and hold the hull which I have to come to prefer. I like a prop that feels planted firm with solid grip, confidence inspiring which neither the et or the SRX are, until your flying that is. Once I’m over 80 and the hull starts packing air the et is great and the SRX is pretty solid too. The et runs the boat a lot flatter than the SRX or my favourite the Hoss. The hoss is a completely unique animal it’s nothing like an et. The hoss is chopper’ish but has this odd and for me at least very pleasing effect of pulling the transom into the water while lifting the bow at the same time. So while the hoss does fly the bow higher than the et or SRX it is planted and easier to handle at any speed. I will concede though that as speeds move upwards the et becomes the nicer prop it does feel safer at speeds over 80. Up until 80 the hoss is 10x better to run in real world conditions it’s a heck of a lot easier to drive. The hoss does generate more porpoising though so there is a price to everything. In terms of blow over the et really doesn’t make me worry about that at all where the hoss does flirt with that thought rolling back of mind under a hard pass. The et also has a strange over trim reaction where the hull goes from fine and dandy to pulling huge wheelies and wobbling all over the place. There is little to no warning for this where the hoss never does this. It will lift the bow up and up with more trim and chine walk like crazy as this happens it never makes me feel like it’s going out of control where the et goes from calm and cool to “uh oh” which surprised me considering all the et fanfare out there. I could go on about props for a while but I’ll have more to say after a full season with the et to be fair. Anyways back to tuning and testing.

So the new regulator is nice and I can accurately control the fuel pressure. I have been inching up to the right plug read and I’m still a bit fat. I managed a 90mph run yesterday with the new et around 6500rpm in very poor air quality. I’m running the promax ecu and fuel pressure at 31psi with timing at 23 degrees. I will be turning the fuel pressure down to 30.5psi next time out. It is getting closer to ideal so half pound bumps only. I do think I have pretty much reached the max power level of this powerhead though especially considering the srx, hoss and et are reaching pretty much the same speeds. Once I get the air fuel dialed in and get a day with good air I can see 95-97mph on a perfect pass with the et but I don’t see 100 out of it. Maybe if I run with just a couple gallons of fuel and take every bit of weight out, maybe. But I don’t consider that much of anything. In the drag racing world a car that runs 9.99 in the quarter is called a solid ten second car not a 9 second car. That’s how i see this boat it’s a solid 90mph rig and im very happy with that. For now

i am slowly working on the 260 power head and hope to have it together this year. It would be nice to get to a solid 100mph boat. Maybe 103 or something like that to put it solidly in the zone. Probably won’t run the new power head until next spring though so for this year it’s mostly rippin around as is.

[XstreamVking]

Sounds like your having fun with it...This is when all the hard work pays off...

[LakeFever]

Stator took a dive this week. I think I might have nicked some of the epoxy off the windings this spring when I swapped flywheels because it had a tiny stumble under acceleration right from the first time out. It was so slight I could barely detect it at first. This past week it became quite noticeable and the low speed acceleration was definitely off so I dug in to see what was going on and found a burnt winding area. Fortunately I have spares so a quick swap and I was back in business. The acceleration is so much better now. I am running close to 15v when under full throttle though which might be a bit high so I’m going to investigate the voltage regs and see if they are up to snuff. Tuning wise I have it dialed in good now no further adjustments needed. It runs strong and gets good mileage and the plugs look great. Prop testing a ton but it’s a 90mph boat it’s never going to be a 95mph boat all day every day with this power head. It is a ton of fun to drive as it is but until I get the new power head together I’m calling this engine sorted.

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[LakeFever]

Continually testing props and working the set up and have learned some really helpful tricks here. I don’t know if I’ve ever read anyone else doing this or not this may be old hat to you but to me this was a massive revelation I figured out on yesterdays run. I run with a lot boats mostly stvs and cats. I can keep up on any runs in the 80mph range but in the corners these guys all leave me in the dust. Not last night. They couldn’t pass me. The trick is I worked the trim to its maximum setting which is a bit fussy and does change a little with full fuel load or empty but there is a sweet spot where it will air completely out and is drivable vs a blip too much where the chine walk gets too hairy to stay in it and I have to bump it down. The difference between a perfect trim set up and not quite enough is about 5mph so I try to get this dialed every time. The challenge is every corner I trim down and have to get it exactly back to its sweet spot again which is hard to hit perfect every time.

My new style of driving is leave the trim alone once it’s set I don’t touch it. I use the jackplate instead and power it down for the corners and back up when I’m coming out of the corner. This is way easier and with the added bonus of being able to take the corner a lot faster than I can with just the trim. I’ve been trimming down for corners my whole life and have looked at the jackplate as a tool for setting the correct height for load and little else. It is great for me to have because with a passenger it needs to run a little deeper to carry the bow properly and when I have the wife and kids just out for an ice cream cruise it’s deeper again. For speed runs I’ve been measuring and setting at specific heights to compare data at what works best. Well, now I’m throwing all this in the trash. The jackplate is my goto and the trim is the set it and forget it part of my set up.

Best part of this is my jackplate has protap which is a computer to control jackplate height with presets. So im going to get this thing and install it and get the perfect height and trim combo figured out then leave my trim maxed and use the programmed settings to make this whole ordeal very easy. Pretty pumped about this.


As for the props I have grown to like the et. What I like most about it is it wants to run deep. Out of all my props it really doesn’t want to be surfaced much I’m about even or half inch above pad with it at most. The et also runs great jacked down below the pad. In fact it doesn’t really scrub too much speed or acceleration off the et even if I jack two inches below the pad. This for obvious reasons considering the above is making my goto prop. I have also grown a real appreciation this summer for my big ear 28 which is the best prop to run if I have a passenger. The et hates passengers and has a hard time carrying the bow properly with a front seated passenger. The big chopper does this with ease. I can run 88 no issues with a passenger or two running the big ear. The et runs low 90’s on my own and accelerates great for a 30p. The et cut tempest is my goto for rougher days. Very neutral lift so it makes running fast over chop easy.

Next mod is adding protap which is now called Dometic interact drive jackplate controller. Yikes who at corporate thought that name change was wise? Lol

[LakeFever]

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