TwoBallScrewBall
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2003
- Messages
- 1,695
Had my maiden voyage on the 'new' boat yesterday.<br /><br />Rough day. Strong wind all morning, bay was 2-4 feet all over the place. I usually launch out of a marina in keyport, but didn't know if I'd clear the bridge with my canvas up so I wanted to launch somewhere else. The municipal ramp 3 blocks from me was getting pounded, so I drove about 10 miles to a ramp in Sayreville, a couple miles up the raritan river.<br /><br />Got to the ramp and launched well, though the ramp was a mess with logs and crap everywhere. <br /><br />Got out on the river and played around a little. I had the motor trimmed all the way down and it was taking a while to get up on plane. When I sea trialed the boat it planed out well. I ended up dropping the tabs and it got plaing well. <br /><br />River was a complete mess, tree-size logs all over the place. I was nervous enough without having to drive through this obstacle course. Even though when we got out to the bay it was solid whitecaps, I was much more comfortable there then on the river. Boat took the serious chop like butter, not a single pound all day. Did take quite a bit of spray on the canvas with the strong wind, but we stayed dry. 
<br /><br />Then to my suprise I found that the boat actually planes out better if the motor is not all the way down, but about 1/4 of the way up on the trim guage. The prop gets more spin and though there is a little more bow rise it will drop down on plane faster this way. Strange, no? I'm used to best planing happening trimmed all the way down. <br /><br />With 4 people on the boat (big folks, my friend is around 375, I'm 290, then my wife and another friend as well) and 50 gallons of gas I was able to squeak a top speed in the flat river area of 41mph GPS against the incoming tide when raising the tabs and trimming the motor. Plugged along quite nicely at 4000-4200 RPM at around 30-32 MPH. <br /><br />This is my first boat with trim tabs, so needless to say it was a little exciting when I was getting used to their operation and responsiveness. Boat responds very well to them, if not too well, just a little tap or two on the switch will correct even a strong list. At first I was holding them and waiting for the boat to respond, which would send us tipping quite quickly to the other side. Wife didn't like that. By the end of the day it was second nature though. <br /><br /><br />Cruised around a little, fished (not even a bite) and then headed back up the river. Got to the ramp, tied up and dropped the trailer in. Loaded up with no problem. <br /><br />Got about a mile and I heard this explosion and shattering glass behind me after I pulled out of a gas station driveway. Went and looked, and apparently a glass bottle from the cesspool of a ramp somehow got wedged in the trailer somewhere while loading and exploded when the boat rocked coming out of the driveway. Scared the crap out of me. No damage anywhere though. <br /><br />Got home, cleaned up, and all in all though I was highly stressed out all day it was a good time. <br /><br />Going out again after work today.
<br /><br />Then to my suprise I found that the boat actually planes out better if the motor is not all the way down, but about 1/4 of the way up on the trim guage. The prop gets more spin and though there is a little more bow rise it will drop down on plane faster this way. Strange, no? I'm used to best planing happening trimmed all the way down. <br /><br />With 4 people on the boat (big folks, my friend is around 375, I'm 290, then my wife and another friend as well) and 50 gallons of gas I was able to squeak a top speed in the flat river area of 41mph GPS against the incoming tide when raising the tabs and trimming the motor. Plugged along quite nicely at 4000-4200 RPM at around 30-32 MPH. <br /><br />This is my first boat with trim tabs, so needless to say it was a little exciting when I was getting used to their operation and responsiveness. Boat responds very well to them, if not too well, just a little tap or two on the switch will correct even a strong list. At first I was holding them and waiting for the boat to respond, which would send us tipping quite quickly to the other side. Wife didn't like that. By the end of the day it was second nature though. <br /><br /><br />Cruised around a little, fished (not even a bite) and then headed back up the river. Got to the ramp, tied up and dropped the trailer in. Loaded up with no problem. <br /><br />Got about a mile and I heard this explosion and shattering glass behind me after I pulled out of a gas station driveway. Went and looked, and apparently a glass bottle from the cesspool of a ramp somehow got wedged in the trailer somewhere while loading and exploded when the boat rocked coming out of the driveway. Scared the crap out of me. No damage anywhere though. <br /><br />Got home, cleaned up, and all in all though I was highly stressed out all day it was a good time. <br /><br />Going out again after work today. 
