Re: Tohatsu on a POS boat
Elvin,
The owner told me "it's overheating"... Hmmm... I asked when/how... he verified alarm only at WOT -- easing the gas back silenced the alarm; no limp-in governor... Hmmm. sounds like he didn't read the owner's manual and was confusing overheat with over-rev. So I tossed on my diag kit, verified that it had never overheated, but was kicking in the ESG all the time. Re-pitched and did sea trials with a tach. Now just touches redline downwind/downcurrent -- no ESG.
Final configuration was MFS30EPT short, 5-degree transom wedges (could have used more!), 3/4" jack, battery forward, fuel forward, steeper pitch (I think it was 12) to keep WOT RPM under redline... Oh, and my personal recommendation not to hot-dog the boat in anything but completely flat water. Donuts would be a very bad idea.
To get on plane, you must flick the throttle open briskly... and still a dog hole shot. I was thinking that automatic RIB tabs would help, but the consumer did not want to spend the $$ on them. About 25 seconds to plane. I was able to "stick" the boat up at about 45 degrees if launching "gently", then hold it there at WOT. Once on plane, it is very, very fast, but scary-unstable at WOT. Feels like being on some sort of towable water toy that is about to launch airborne. IMHO, quite easy to flip it. Think hydrofoil races. Dangerous? You bet. Better not run WOT unless you are very sure of your reaction speed and abilities at the helm. Probably a result of the hook in the hull design. If it were my boat, I would run the 10 pitch for better hole shot, and just keep the tach under redline. But this guy is a "consumer", and wants to be able to have the lever all the way down.
Apparently it lives up to his requirements.
Compared to the Walker Bay Genesis, well, there is no comparison. The WB launches faster (4-10 seconds to plane, depending on load/placement), handles better, is more comfortable, and doesn't feel like it will flip at any second.
HTH,
Paul
