I took Das boot out today. Sometimes I feel like a glutton for punishment, and I have to admit that I had lost faith in my ability to get this boat running right.... Last time out, I burned up a brand new exhaust boot (45$) and the exhaust bellows (30$) because a water hose blew off the engine driven water pump... So, it was with GREAT aprehension that I set off to splash the hull into the James River just one more time... I mean, how much punishment can one lay on oneself before a man breaks down?
Well... here's how it went... I should first qualify this by saying that I ran with a ripped exhaust bellows and a hole in the exhaust boot because I didn't feel like spending 75$ to see if I could melt a couple of brand-new ones again... First thing that happened was there was a brand new 24' "Hurricane" deck boat tied up at the ramp. I asked the owner if he would be so kind as to make sure that none of the ugly (from my boat) rubbed off on any of the shinier parts of his new ride.. he kindly abliged. I launched the boat and tied her up to the pier... parked the car and ran back to the pier... started the engine and let her run a while before casting off the bowline and backing away from the pier.. so far, so good. I did a U-turn and headed out into the James... it's about 60 yards of no-wake zone and then the channel.. again, so far, so good... no boat traffic to speak of (It was raining), made it to the channel and throttled her up a bit on plane and headed down river. Temps running to about 120 degrees... throttled up to about 2/3rds throttle, temp holding steady at 120 and down the river I go... a mile, then two...three, four... I get scared and turn back up river. This is going all too well, I tell myself, and I go all the way back up to the marina... still no overheating.
I turn her back around and head down river again, this time I go out of sight of the high-rise bridge next to the marina... about ten miles downstream, still running 120 degrees... so I run the throttle up until I get her WOT and still no overheating. I turn back around and run back up to the bridge, ten miles, and still the temp gauge is locked on 120 degrees. So I turn it back around and head downriver again... I think you get the point.... I ran for TWO SOLID HOURS... up and down, and then up and down again.... no overheating. I ran fast, slow, idled, did hole-shots, cruised at 1/2, 3/4 and full throttle with no rise in the temperature at all.:bounce:
I didn't have my depthfinder hooked up, else I'd have fished out of the channel for a while. All in all, I was well pleased with the way the boat ran.... now for even better news... I burned what looked to be half a tank of fuel... so I stopped at the gas station on the way home to top off the fuel tank. It took less than 6 gallons of fuel to fill her up. I figure three gallons an hour is pretty darn good for a boat that can cruise at about 30mph. It looks like I might get to fish before winter in my own boat afterall...
TT<><
Well... here's how it went... I should first qualify this by saying that I ran with a ripped exhaust bellows and a hole in the exhaust boot because I didn't feel like spending 75$ to see if I could melt a couple of brand-new ones again... First thing that happened was there was a brand new 24' "Hurricane" deck boat tied up at the ramp. I asked the owner if he would be so kind as to make sure that none of the ugly (from my boat) rubbed off on any of the shinier parts of his new ride.. he kindly abliged. I launched the boat and tied her up to the pier... parked the car and ran back to the pier... started the engine and let her run a while before casting off the bowline and backing away from the pier.. so far, so good. I did a U-turn and headed out into the James... it's about 60 yards of no-wake zone and then the channel.. again, so far, so good... no boat traffic to speak of (It was raining), made it to the channel and throttled her up a bit on plane and headed down river. Temps running to about 120 degrees... throttled up to about 2/3rds throttle, temp holding steady at 120 and down the river I go... a mile, then two...three, four... I get scared and turn back up river. This is going all too well, I tell myself, and I go all the way back up to the marina... still no overheating.
I turn her back around and head down river again, this time I go out of sight of the high-rise bridge next to the marina... about ten miles downstream, still running 120 degrees... so I run the throttle up until I get her WOT and still no overheating. I turn back around and run back up to the bridge, ten miles, and still the temp gauge is locked on 120 degrees. So I turn it back around and head downriver again... I think you get the point.... I ran for TWO SOLID HOURS... up and down, and then up and down again.... no overheating. I ran fast, slow, idled, did hole-shots, cruised at 1/2, 3/4 and full throttle with no rise in the temperature at all.:bounce:
I didn't have my depthfinder hooked up, else I'd have fished out of the channel for a while. All in all, I was well pleased with the way the boat ran.... now for even better news... I burned what looked to be half a tank of fuel... so I stopped at the gas station on the way home to top off the fuel tank. It took less than 6 gallons of fuel to fill her up. I figure three gallons an hour is pretty darn good for a boat that can cruise at about 30mph. It looks like I might get to fish before winter in my own boat afterall...
TT<><
