Last Time out ... out with the rot .. in with the speed

Maximerc

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Messages
292
Took the Baja to the lake just hours ago , very nice night here in nw ohio , I have owned the 18 ft SS Baja with 150 hp Black Max for two years. I finally did it..... Took it to the lake alone and played with the trim. The Merc was runnin sweet ,I even dumped out the skis ,tubes and all the extra weight . Just me and a life jacket. With the engine trimmed way farther down than it should be ( nose planted on the water ) it was running about 54 MPH @ 5500 RPM started to trim it up speed came up to 56 at redline 6000 and the bouncing starts.. I even moved forward as far as I could between the seats. <br /><br /> Well anyway some of you may have seen that I have the dreaded floor rot from other posts. I am really hoping that the boat has significant water retention in the butt. I plan on weighing everything I possibly can to see how my rebuild affects the performance. I can also see that I am topped out on the rpm , which until tonight was a unknown. So after the rebuild I may look at diffrent prop, but thats down the road. I am pretty sure that I will be digging in to it in the next two to three weeks. I want to get the old fiberglass crap out before it gets too cold , I have a heated garage but would like to to the dirty stuff in the open air. Gotta get this boat to run smoother wify and kid yell once I hit about 40 cause it wants to hop so bad. I have tried all the "fixes" talked about here. As I tried them I knew this boat should not hop this badly ... No one would have accepted it from a dealer like this. And the hull is still straight. <br /><br />Well this ended up to be rather long sorry .. but it sure was fun on the lake Alone smooth water and no one yellin at me to slow down!! :p :D
 

Chinewalker

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Aug 19, 2001
Messages
8,902
Re: Last Time out ... out with the rot .. in with the speed

Hi Max,<br /> It's possible that your bottom may appear flat at rest, but when underway the thrust of the motor may be tucking the bottom into a hook configuration. As the motor pushes on the transom it may be buckling the bottom just enough to create the hook that's causing your porpoising. Could be indicative of more than just a little floor rot...<br />- Scott
 

Maximerc

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Messages
292
Re: Last Time out ... out with the rot .. in with the speed

Chinewalker I plan to go through the boat compleatly , that includes the transom. I agree with you that there may be hook in the bottom, I have checked and rechecked it. It looks great on the trailer , but it does not porpoise on the trailer LOL...it almost sounds sadistic but I hope you are right ! I love the design of the boat and plan to keep it a long time after this rebuild is done.
 
Top