Art Bernard
Banned
Thread starter- Joined
- May 4, 2011
- Messages
- 333
I wanted to give you guys another succesful splash report
I've got posts in several topics reguarding my 1977 Viking deck boat dealing with prop, engine height, wiring, etc... and I wanted to give another report. First I'd like to say thank you to everyone on this forum for your help, and advice. I've owned several boats over the years, spent 15 years in the navy and consider myself to be knoweldgable about them, but by no means am I a pro and the info I've gotten here has been a great help getting this new boat up and running for the season. With your help I've been able to compleatly re-wire, re-gage the boat as well as getting the engine adjusted to a better running height. You guys have also helped me deal with a low rpm issue and prop choice to fix that. I managed to do all this in just about a week (most of the time was spent in pulling and running wire and reconnecting it). The first 2 test runs were done in a freshwater lake nearby and while not perfect were satisfactory. After doing what I could based on input from this forum and local marine shops I decided that it was time for the big test. Today my fishing buddy and I put her in the water at the Panama City Marina and headed out for a day of running and gunning in the bay and gulf of mexico. I am very pleased to report that she ran 100% with no problems and handled the saltwater environment without a hitch. We were on the water for 9 hours going from spot to spot, stoping, starting, turning and really put her thru her paces and she did great, I felt like kissing her This being my first deck boat I learned a few lessons as well. My previous big boat was a 20'CC with t-top so that was what I was used to. The deck boat is a nice, wide and roomy boat with a hull that is more like a skiff with a shallow v. Running head on into the waves was not a plesant experiance as she dosen't cut through them like a trditional v-hull so the ride there was both rough and very wet (on mine, the driver gets it right in the face, every time) however she handled superbly when running in the trough and was much more stable than I thought she would be. I learned that this isn't a hull that is made for booming across a chopy bay but rather one that is very comfortable at a more sedate pace. Another thing I learned is that while fishing around a bimini top is a pain, I wouldn't give it up for all the sunscreen in the world. Having had a t-top on my last boat I was used to comming back with a good sunburn, not so any more In the morining when the water was glass she was really in her element riding so smoothly it was almost a sureal experiance. Having spent the day out on the bay I'm very happy with my choice of new/used boat. While all boats are a compromise, I now am confident that I chose a good one and she'll do her job well. One other thing that I found good was the ammount of storage on this type of boat. I have so many places to put stuff I found myself forgetting were the stuff was. The final vote of confidence though came from the dogs, we'd brought two dogs with us and they didn't complain or fuss a bit, were very comfy and enjoyed riding in the bow ears flying Again, thanks to all who replied to my numerous posts and lent me their knoweldge and experiance. I'm a happy man
Art
I've got posts in several topics reguarding my 1977 Viking deck boat dealing with prop, engine height, wiring, etc... and I wanted to give another report. First I'd like to say thank you to everyone on this forum for your help, and advice. I've owned several boats over the years, spent 15 years in the navy and consider myself to be knoweldgable about them, but by no means am I a pro and the info I've gotten here has been a great help getting this new boat up and running for the season. With your help I've been able to compleatly re-wire, re-gage the boat as well as getting the engine adjusted to a better running height. You guys have also helped me deal with a low rpm issue and prop choice to fix that. I managed to do all this in just about a week (most of the time was spent in pulling and running wire and reconnecting it). The first 2 test runs were done in a freshwater lake nearby and while not perfect were satisfactory. After doing what I could based on input from this forum and local marine shops I decided that it was time for the big test. Today my fishing buddy and I put her in the water at the Panama City Marina and headed out for a day of running and gunning in the bay and gulf of mexico. I am very pleased to report that she ran 100% with no problems and handled the saltwater environment without a hitch. We were on the water for 9 hours going from spot to spot, stoping, starting, turning and really put her thru her paces and she did great, I felt like kissing her This being my first deck boat I learned a few lessons as well. My previous big boat was a 20'CC with t-top so that was what I was used to. The deck boat is a nice, wide and roomy boat with a hull that is more like a skiff with a shallow v. Running head on into the waves was not a plesant experiance as she dosen't cut through them like a trditional v-hull so the ride there was both rough and very wet (on mine, the driver gets it right in the face, every time) however she handled superbly when running in the trough and was much more stable than I thought she would be. I learned that this isn't a hull that is made for booming across a chopy bay but rather one that is very comfortable at a more sedate pace. Another thing I learned is that while fishing around a bimini top is a pain, I wouldn't give it up for all the sunscreen in the world. Having had a t-top on my last boat I was used to comming back with a good sunburn, not so any more In the morining when the water was glass she was really in her element riding so smoothly it was almost a sureal experiance. Having spent the day out on the bay I'm very happy with my choice of new/used boat. While all boats are a compromise, I now am confident that I chose a good one and she'll do her job well. One other thing that I found good was the ammount of storage on this type of boat. I have so many places to put stuff I found myself forgetting were the stuff was. The final vote of confidence though came from the dogs, we'd brought two dogs with us and they didn't complain or fuss a bit, were very comfy and enjoyed riding in the bow ears flying Again, thanks to all who replied to my numerous posts and lent me their knoweldge and experiance. I'm a happy manArt