1999 Triad V-21 - build/barn find/set up

[moatorbotin]

Recently picked up a 99 V-21. Thought I'd share where I'm at with it.





Backstory, I've wanted one of these since I was a teen ager and a friend on our lake had one. I looked for years, couldn't find one (or couldn't afford one).

In the meantime I didn't want to go boatless, so years ago I had a progression 24LD with a 300x, was a good fun 85 mph boat...unfortunately, divorce hit and the boat and I had to part ways. Fast forward a few years and I rejoined S&F and picked up a 2006 Vegas XT, the 2.5xs popped and work was uncertain, so I had to sell.

I then picked up a Sunsation 288 with a 600SCI in it, and to be honest, I never really liked the boat and wanted to get back into the outboard world.

I set out for a Progression 22 or 24LD, potentially another vegas, but really wanted a V21. I was able to stumble across this one in the V21 group on the face space.

It is a 1 owner boat that I'm told is a kevlar lay up. 1999 280 with 150 hours on it.


Per this thread: https://www.screamandfly.com/showthr...-to-these-days I didn't want to run the motor until someone who knew more than me (not hard to do) could inspect it and make sure it was in proper order, I expected it would at least need rings/bearings/etc.

It was recommended that I check out Capt. Insane-O who is only about 45 minutes away. So remembering the name from over a decade ago and seeing some of his previous builds I felt like I would be in good hands.



I pulled the powerhead and took it up to his shop a few weeks back. Upon pull down we found that the motor was just filled with carbon, rings were shot as expected (150 hours, never opened up). We were optimistic that everything else would look good, and for the most part it did.....until Lynn was able to clean the carbon out of the bores and found that the Nicasil had been compromised. The block has been prepped for a re-coat and parts have arrived. Injectors flowed and reeds sent out.






Now the waiting begins, at least once the block is back it should be able to be assembled fairly quickly.

In the meantime I wanted to get on the water and found a cheap boat with a 96 EFI FF block 2.5 that I went and picked up. (I still have the boat if someone wants it, otherwise I am going to pirate what's left for a hydrostream vixen that my son and I will finish restoring) that will be our first, and we know next to nothing, but we're interested in learning and spending that time together out in the barn.



<-- don't know why that one keeps rotating.

The Jackplate on the triad was trashed, looks like it had water in the system and froze, so upon recommendation from Chummy and the guys in the V21 group, we went with a 10" jack from Hydrodynamics.

<-- now they are all rotating for some reason?

I swapped the 200 onto the boat, bolted the sportmaster up and ran new fuel lines. I can't seem to get the water pressure gauge to read, the tach only works when it wants to, and I removed the plumbing for the tell tale speedo with plans to add a GPS speedo later......

So, the engine is still a little low, if the tach numbers I'm seeing are accurate, we're doing OK to start. I'm seeing (according to my phone) about 78 mph. 28 Lightning ET. Tach shows about 6800, i thought I read max RPM for the 200 EFI is 5800, do they have a rev limiter or is that just a suggestion?

I believe there is more in it with the 200, but not willing to push the engine height issue until I can get water pressure to register, though the temp guage seems to read well and is showing about 150. I confirmed in a pot of water that the thermostats do open, but forgot to use a thermometer to see what temp they are opening at. I assume 140.

Anyway, enough of the babbling, I'll raise the engine another click before the weekend and see where that puts us.

Enjoy the pics and please offer up any tips suggestions you may have.

[moatorbotin]

New pistons (and other parts) have arrived!

[transomstand]

Hold the phone in it's native orientation to take the photo. If you hold it upright you'll get a sideways photo.

[moatorbotin]

Hold the phone in it's native orientation to take the photo. If you hold it upright you'll get a sideways photo.

weird, will keep that in mind for future pics.

[Capt.Insane-o]

Crank,rods and all other carbon covered parts came back from the dishwasher yesterday and look much much better. Injectors came back home.

The 200"s will pull past the limiter and stop at about that point. They are very good motors. I have a lot of 3cyl 49ci parts to send with the vixen so bring your truck.

[moatorbotin]

Crank,rods and all other carbon covered parts came back from the dishwasher yesterday and look much much better. Injectors came back home.

The 200"s will pull past the limiter and stop at about that point. They are very good motors. I have a lot of 3cyl 49ci parts to send with the vixen so bring your truck.

I should have taken a picture of the driveshaft, It looked like it had been powder coated black.

[moatorbotin]

Found one.

[JBS]

You will love the boat. It handles great and runs on top of the water and is very forgiving. I found mine in a barn 4 years ago and restored it.

[Pulse186]

Sweet boat. Love the old barn finds.

[moatorbotin]

Put a bike pump to the water pressure hose and it blew off the back of the gauge and spit out a bunch of junk all over the front seats

after that we could blow in the tube and the gauge moves so hoping that works in the morning.

wired the control box so I could start in gear. (My 600 ate my upper gear set for lunch and the shop felt shifting really had taken its toll so I’m gun shy and wanna protect the lower).

re-measure and raised the engine. Chummy said go 1.5, I’m at 1.25 now and have one click left on the jack plate which would give me 1.5. So we’ll see how that goes tomorrow. Was at about 3/4” above bottom last time out.

[moatorbotin]

You will love the boat. It handles great and runs on top of the water and is very forgiving. I found mine in a barn 4 years ago and restored it.

There’s no “will love”, I’ve loved the looks for 20+ years, and I fell in love with the way it drove first night out.

I don’t have any intentions of letting this one go.

[CUDA]

Now was not that better than boxing it up and shipping to Texas

Your in good hands

[moatorbotin]

Now was not that better than boxing it up and shipping to Texas

Your in good hands

more convenient for sure. Met up with Capt crazy yesterday for a ride and hung out for the day. Had a great time.

1.25 was too high, couldn’t get much more than 10psi unless the motor was fully tucked, got a touch warm at speed, dropped it back down 2 clicks and we’re getting good water pressure again. Borrowed a 28 chopper from Capt that well try once we get a fat shaft hub into it. For the meantime its a 78 mph boat that well enjoy.


My son took a few passes himself as well. He’s starting to get the hang of balancing the boat.

[moatorbotin]

No major updates, but took the boat out again yesterday and can confirm @JBS is correct, I absolutely love this boat so far.

I was getting a random "cut out" where the motor would quit, I noticed when I was out with @Capt , that the voltage gauge would spike right before it happened. He quickly diagnosed that the voltage regulators were likely on their way out. Ordered up some new CDI units and took the boat out last night, tach now consistently works and never once had a spike in voltage or any motor quitting.

This boat also seems to take on a ton of water no matter how slowly I try to come off plane, I spun around one of the vents so the openings face forward, I also plugged all of the un-used rigging grommets that are on the boat. Still have a little space to bring water in on a couple of the grommets, but the amount of water we took on seemed much less.

Can it be coming in at the rub rail too? it sits with the rub rail just a few inches above the water, but the rub rail does go under on take off and slow down.

I also noticed the jackplate seems to scoop a ton of water when i come off plane, wondering if one of those jackplate skid plate deals would be beneficial?

Lastly, took a couple top end runs and hit 79.3 and 82.4. Pretty happy with that considering I had a full 30 gallons of fuel, my wife and I and lifejackets, dock lines, anchor, cooler, etc all in the boat. Still with the 28ET, RPM's around 65-6700, what kind of slip should be expected on this boat?

82.4/6700/1.87/28p=14%

[JBS]

I just came in from running mine and trying a new prop. It was a prop that came off a bass boat but ran surprisingly well. I would check around the rub rail to see if that's where the waters coming in? Once you get the 280 dialed in you should run triple digits. A few guys down here are running that consistently on their V21s.