Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

[lj973gm]

I have a trophy 1802 with a 4 cycle Mercury 115, 2004 model year. Boat is on Lake Michigan only.

Just recently purchased and am looking to improve a few things in terms of performance and the way the boat rides.

The boat currently is running the stock 15p prop and gets to about 36-37mph in 2-3 foot waves at 5800 rpm.

I have trim tabs/smart tabs on the boat from the previous owner. Hole shot is OK but would have expected better. The boat is fairly light but I know the 4 stroke does not have the torque of the 2 strokes that most came optioned with.

I have to say the steering on the boat is horrible at no wake speeds and reverse is even worse.

The boat gets pushed around very easily from any wind while in harbor and while cruising it hits waves like you are running into a wall. My revs drop pretty good and I typically just bring the boat to about 3600-3800 rpms and keep the bow up and not in plane so the boat will not get the beat to hell.

I have owned a few boat previously and they would cut through a 4 foot wave with not problem. The 1802 hits the wave and it hits it hard. I am not shy from waves and typically am out in 4-6 foot waves with previous boats.

Maybe it is just the attributes and the hull design of the 1802 with a outboard compared to my previous 18 foot cuddy with a inboard.

Anyone care to comment how their 1802 does in water with moderate size waves?

Anyone with a 1802 and if you have changed your prop what you went with.

I have been in contact with a couple of prop shops and they are recommending a 4 blade SS prop that will give stern lift to try and change how the boat rides in the water.

 

[raymor]

Re: Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

I have a 2005 with a 115 4-stroke. The hull design is a step hull not a deep v so the ride will be different than a deep v. The plus side is it gets much better fuel economy. I get 5.5 mpg running at 4k rpm. I did hit a rock once and took a piece of skeg off so I replaced the skeg with a Black fin carbon fiber skeg which is a little different than the regular skeg. When I did this it corrected almost all of my wandering at wake speed. Wander sometimes is caused by over correcting on these boats.

 

[emoney]

Re: Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

Spend any amount of time in a single engine jet boat or a sailboat (both prvious boats for me) and you'll come to appreciate the 1802, lol.

 

[Monterey10]

Re: Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

The 1802 is the Fuel economy champ of the Trophy line. I spoke with our Local Merc expert and he said the #1 problem he encounters with 1802 owners is that the fuel goes bad. The the 115 burns so little fuel that it goes bad before it gets used.

I think the ride in the 1802 is pretty fair. Try riding in the common 18' aluminum center console. The ride and windage is much worse than the 1802. The only other 17'er that has a better ride is the Arima 17' "Chaser". For the size, the Arima is a very good Ocean boat.

 

[hodaka112]

Re: Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

HI, from the north country of quebec canada

I am a one summer owner of an 1802 and love it. I have owned boats from 14' to 32', single inboard, twins, diesel, and sails. we are now retired on Lac-Megantic which is 12 miles in lenght and around 3 miles wide with the bays. our waves are short but white caps. I have done fishing from weeki wachee in the past and on the gulf the waves are far apart. in what we call rough conditions I cruise at 2200 and when not choppy my cruising speed is around 3700. it planes good at 3500 with full fuel. But I did install electric trim tabs instead of the automatic ones that I had purchased. did not like the hole shot. my boat is kept on a boat lift at our lake front home. and do a lot of fishing. the only fault is that all rain water goes into the bilge.

 

[soundsatsunrise]

Re: Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

I have a 1997 1802 with Merc Force 120. Adjusting the trim at different speeds/seas greatly helps ease my steering response. I don't force it if the steering feels tight. I reset the the best trim for the conditions. Keeping the steering unit well-lubed is a must. I wipe it off after each salt water run and apply petroleum jelly while fully turning the steering wheel back and forth. Turn the wheel to fully expose the steering assembly, apply lube, and fully turn the wheel several times. This only takes a couple minutes.

I rarely use reverse except when docking in a calmer waters because the transom is very low. The best idea I've read for a bow mounted trolling motor is cutting the safety bar just in front of the front two supports and add end caps. Then, add a robust safety chain with a quick release snap fitting in place of the factory safety bar that was partially removed. I may add a Minn Kota I-unit with GPS and power anchor set-up using the same batteries. This should provide the extra room needed.

Seems like a easy solution and I read it here. Local boat shops were stumped.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Trophy 1802 owners, please state your experiences compared to mine

soundsatsunrise,

You continue to reply to old threads. Please adhere to the "RED BOX" at the bottom of the screen before posting. See rule #12.