Aluminum Hydro- Sea Trials!

[Winger Ed.]

Hooty and I got to the lake today with the more or less finished boat. He was going to bring his STV for a chase boat and get some pictures under power,,,,, but he tore up his jack plate the other day.

It ran well, there's lots of 'set up' and prop experimentation to do still.

With the 150 hp 2.4, a 1 to 1.87 gear case, 25p Merc. Tempest prop:

It turned up 5,200 rpm before it ran out of horsepower, giving a GPS speed of 59.7.

We raised the tilt about a inch. The water was getting 'less flat' by then. It had a series of 3-6 inch swells from many many boat wakes that you could really feel the boat getting hit by a big surge of resistance when crossing them.

I felt the engine could have wound up a little higher if the water was more flat. But, conditions what they were, it only got up to 5,000 rpm, but the GPS speed read 61.7mph.

I figure the slippage percentage went down as the engine's tilt angle came up.

///

The take off was great, no bow rise or cavitation to speak of.
Acceleration shoves ya straight back in the seat. Top speed
was reached in just a few hundred yards.

I couldn't ask it to have been more stable, very little sideways tilt in the turns. I had a little trouble with a battery connection, and was able to get out of the seat and walk down the side of the cowling to reach in the back and fiddle with them. The boat leaned over with my 250lbs doing that, but only a couple of inches.

At 60, the rear 4-6 inches of the sponsons were in the water, and there was no hint that it wanted to kite or nose up.

We'll start more serious work on the set-up in the next few days. I figure I'll raise the engine a inch first, and we'll try one of Hooty's 28" Choppers to see how it does.

I hope to get it to where it runs out of horsepower and tach.s out at around 6500rpm. It won't be raced, and the older I get, the less I like rebuilding engines.


I can't thank you folks enough for helping me along during the design and construction stages, and all the support as it came along.

Ed.

[Winger Ed.]

Here's a so-so picture taken from the front when I got home this afternoon.

I'll try and get some better pic.s and change these out. The sun was just full on me when I took these and ya can't see all the pearl colors very well, or the orange & gold pearl over the white part of the hull.

[Winger Ed.]

Here's the rather spartan drivers station.

Making it as safe and easy to get out of---- or thrown out of as possible, there is nothing over the driver's legs.

The instrument cluster is in front of the drivers feet. The seat has about 3 inches of rise in the front, the steering wheel is tucked up fairly close but angled forward, and for footrests- there's a hot-foot on the right, and the bottom corner of the dash itself on the left.

The setup works great, going over a decent sized boat wake, you feel a normal pounding, but not any sensation like you're going to get bounced out.


Thanks again yawl.

Although there is plenty of tweeking left to do,,,
The 'Poco Loco' project is a huge sucess.


Here's a few older pic.s while it was being built:

http://community.webshots.com/album/76082519ymNNLn


Ed.

[sho305]

That is great! Must be a huge charge to take a ride in that after you put it together. Looking nice! Just wait until someone asks what kind of boat that is....:)

[wing nut]

i like it!!! alot!! good luck with it:)

scott

[Winger Ed.]

[i] Must be a huge charge to take a ride in that after you put it together. [/B]


It was a rush. The acceleration really surprised me. My cheeks actually pushed back from the 'G's and the wind. It isn't done, or a drag boat, but it sure sets ya back in the seat when it takes off.

After starting last Aug. and going through 12 large welding tanks of Argon, around 15 pounds of Aluminum welding rods, a dozen or so drill bits & about 7,000 rivets, 14 gallons of 2 part foam, lots of paint work for the thing,,,,,,,, it was a fine day for the 2 of us to get it out on the lake and have it run so great.

I got a sensation like them folks describe when they shoot up some of that narcotic and it runs up & hits their brain.

[Dave S]

I think you should try to find a 12 inch champ housing.;)

[Winger Ed.]

Originally posted by Dave S
I think you should try to find a 12 inch champ housing.;)

I'll be keeping an eye out for engine goodies in the future. The transom is made to where it can be cut down without any problems if and when a short midsection comes along.

Right now, I'm a bit exhausted from the rush to get it on the water. And, several 'Honey Dooos' have sort of backed up on me.

I figure to be gettting the right prop and setup for what I got this season, then do eng. mods. in the winter. By next season as the weather warms- I should be in a position to really enjoy using it more, and working on it less.


Ed.

[Winger Ed.]

Originally posted by sho305
Must be a huge charge to take a ride in that after you put it together.


Its pretty cool.

We've been playing around with different trim & props during the few short minutes Hooty & I have had to get it wet.

But we've gotten it to touch 70mph under 5800rpm with 'fishing' props. And it accelerates as if its trying to turn your sunglasses into contacts.

And again, I can't thank everybody enough around here who has helped me to get it thought up, designed, and built.

[mendo]

Great to see the results of your work!!!!

I have been watching this project for a while and you guys did a great job!!!

I think the setup that would be the fastest would be to get the motor to lift the stern out so that it is riding on the 2 sponsons and the prop.

Have fun, be safe, thanks for sharing!!

[Winger Ed.]

Originally posted by mendo
get the motor to lift the stern out so that it is riding on the 2 sponsons and the prop.


Hey, Hadn't seen ya around in awhile. I thought you'd been shot by a jealous husband.

Yep, that'd be the real ideal set up, but I think I'm about 100 horse power short of being able to do that.

I'll send the heads out this Winter, and tinker around with some other things- the eng is way too low right now, and then go after a performance prop.

It still has a few miles per hour left to gain, and a bit more hull to come up out of the water. But as heavy as it & I am,,,, it'll never 'fly' with a 2.4.