Hole shot, or up easy?

[harringtondav]

I've had plenty of power in the boats I've owned and driven. So when it's time to get on top of the water I dump the throttle and get up w/in a few seconds. ...old habit from pulling skiers up I guess.
I observe many boats from our river house clearing the no wake and getting on a plane. Many that have as good of, or better power/weight than me take their time getting up. I've never beat any machine that I've owned, and figure any I/O or O/B boat is designed for a life of hole shots.
Fuel consumption would take an instrument I don't own. ....any thoughts on the best way to get on a plane with enough power to choose?

 

[airshot]

When I was younger, I looked forward to fast hole shots, but now that I am retired and more laid back, what is the hurry? More comfortable for my passengers when I come up easy....

 

[tpenfield]

Even with skiers, I tended to increase the throttle to the desired 'full' range in about 1-2 seconds.

When not doing water sports I usually let the boat get going a bit at one throttle setting and continually increase throttle as the boat accelerates.

Pehaps it is because I have larger boats and if you go to full throttle right away the props just cavitate and you loose grip on the water.

 

[harringtondav]

When I was younger, I looked forward to fast hole shots, but now that I am retired and more laid back, what is the hurry? More comfortable for my passengers when I come up easy....

Understand. If I have passengers they are in the back bench....never in the bow seats. So a slow acceleration means more time with the bow blocking my vision. ...another reason I get it over with quickly.

 

[Alumarine]

I always advance the throttle to full in about 1 second and then once I know it's about to plane I start backing it off to my cruise setting.
I don't like the bow up any longer than necessary.

 

[QBhoy]

I’ve rarely opened the throttle full open from a stand still on one of the boats I have now. Big v8 with 300 odd hp…through an alpha one and a fair pitch on the prop. Never going to be good for it. I gradually increase speed in increments usually. Other outboard boats…maybe not so fragile with it perhaps.

 

[Scott06]

I've had plenty of power in the boats I've owned and driven. So when it's time to get on top of the water I dump the throttle and get up w/in a few seconds. ...old habit from pulling skiers up I guess.
I observe many boats from our river house clearing the no wake and getting on a plane. Many that have as good of, or better power/weight than me take their time getting up. I've never beat any machine that I've owned, and figure any I/O or O/B boat is designed for a life of hole shots.
Fuel consumption would take an instrument I don't own. ....any thoughts on the best way to get on a plane with enough power to choose?

I'm with you I hit it pretty hard until I'm up on a plane than back it off to about 3 k ,3200 for cruising ... and it gets made worse by having all adults in the back bench ...

 

[harringtondav]

I’ve rarely opened the throttle full open from a stand still on one of the boats I have now. Big v8 with 300 odd hp…through an alpha one and a fair pitch on the prop. Never going to be good for it. I gradually increase speed in increments usually. Other outboard boats…maybe not so fragile with it perhaps.

Torque stress on the drive is at its worse on a hole shot for sure. I've been aware of this. Past boat had a 4.3 LX 180 hp pushing and Alpha Gen 2 on a 2300 lb dry boat. I wasn't too worried since my pal had a 350 mag pushing a heavier boat in front of the same Alpha which I resealed and saw no gear/bearing stress.
Current boat has a VP SX behind a 250 hp 4.3 Gen V. I have no knowledge of the SX's robustness or hp limit. But current boat's weight/hp is less than the previous Alpha and jumps out of the water as quickly. I guess I could start acting my age. But I reckon the new Regal is likely to outlive me.

 

[airshot]

Hey....a mans gotta do...what a mans gotta do !!! That is all there is to it !!

 

[BWR1953]

Hole shot. Ever since my first bass boat.

 

[Renken2000Classic]

I like to do it quick (like push it to WOT reasonably quickly) and back off to 3k or so like others have said, once up, but last time out I started using part-throttle and it came up fine like that. I must be getting old too, heh.

One time in a previous season, I think when I was letting one of the kids drive on our way back to the dock, I started at 1k or so and kept pushing the RPM up very gradually after cruising at each new setting for a bit; it surprised me when the thing just gently planed out. I was like wow, that was kinda cool... I musta been like kneeling in the seat behind them so I could see well.

4.3L, 2bbl, Cobra

 

[Scott Danforth]

at idle you are at displacement speed. burning very little fuel
on plane you are at planing speed. burning very little fuel

trying to climb the hole, you are burning lots of fuel.

save fuel, get out of the hole quickly

 

[DeepCMark58A]

The ski boat is called the go fast boat for a reason.

 

[Chris1956]

The majority of the fuel burned happens at planning speed, because that is where the majority of the boating time is spent. The amount of fuel burnt getting on plane is small compared to that. The strain on the engine when getting plane is quite high.

So I recommend planning very quickly when pulling a skier, and more moderation to save wear and tear on the engine, when pulling a tube or cruising.

Quick acceleration when pulling a tube is not recommended. I have destroyed several tubes that way.

 

[JimS123]

When I was younger, I looked forward to fast hole shots, but now that I am retired and more laid back, what is the hurry? More comfortable for my passengers when I come up easy....

That fits me as well. I usually go to half throttle and then when on plane I set it to cruise throttle. Never a problem getting on plane.

I have performance curves for all of my boats and I run at the optimum fuel usage. Seldom go at WOT because its usually pretty choppy and there is never a place I NEED to go fast.

I see a lot of boats go bow high when doing a hole shot, thus the operator has to stand up. I only had that problem once and fixed it in short order.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

The motor on the go fast drops down to about 3/4 throttle unless you hold it down, that is by design. I like to go for an early morning ride on the weekends, there is just something about flying over the water at full throttle for me very therapeutic.

 

[airshot]

The motor on the go fast drops down to about 3/4 throttle unless you hold it down, that is by design. I like to go for an early morning ride on the weekends, there is just something about flying over the water at full throttle for me very therapeutic.

I do the same and feel the same way. I am retired so I get out a couple times a week, by myself just to have a nice fast run....but when I have family or guests, I tend to go easier, much easier..

 

[DeepCMark58A]

My poor motor gets run hard every weekend by the kids skiing and tubing. That is why I run old boats that I paid cash for don't sweat the dock rash or dings. Don't get me wrong I vet every group I know every group for the most part inexperienced are not allowed to operate to pull a skier or a tube.

 

[dingbat]

My hull design is such that between 4 kts and 20 kts. it's pushing a huge wake, burning a ton of fuel in the process.

Much easier on both motor and fuel to drop the tabs and firewall the throttle to get the boat up on plane in the least amount of time. Doesn't take but a couple of seconds to run up to the cruise speed of 27 kts., 4,400 rpm.

 

[ejnichol]

I get up on plane as safely and quickly as possible. I installed a engine gateway talking to a raymarine display to get more info from motor etc..

When you see the gph data at the out of hole climb it motivates to get the sled up on plane. My boat is to me is underpowered 22 ft with a 5.0 v-8/270hp. I give it as much as is comfortable to everybody involved; skiers, tubers and passengers to get up on plane. When pulling skiers there well being is paramount so I give it all its got so they aren't dragged much at all.

If just cruising I settle into the most fuel efficient on plane throttle point.