New toon on the lake tomorrow!

[workerbee606]

I will be taking the new G3 toon to Eufuala in the morning with the family. We have the suburban hooked up to her already and will be leaving aroung sunup for a day of fun. It will be a break in run for the most part but we plan on cooking out and doing a little fishing too!

 

[The Rooster]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Best of luck w/ the maiden voyage. The rest of us envious souls will be working !!!

 

[Big Bubba]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Yeap, me too, got to work the next three days, then it is boating Saturday with the family can't wait myself.

 

[WaterDR]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Sounds fun....enjoy! Working here too, then coaching softball all weekend.

 

[lncoop]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Just remember, if you come back here without pics of the crew enjoying the new barge we'll be mad. Might even call you names, but only behind your back. Hope you guys have a great maiden voyage, and do be sure to let us know how it goes. Nothing like it.

 

[workerbee606]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Ok, everything went well, ran the motor for the break in priod for the most part, still not ready to open her up to WOT but I got her to 25 on the spedo at 5000 rpm for a short stint. Had the wife and our six kids on the boat with the bimini up so O am kind of impressed for a two log toon with 8 people on board to hit 25 and still have close to another grand to go give or take a bit. We ran the motor from 10:45 am till 5:00 pm today with about an hour or so just parked to cook some hot dogs on a sand bar and still have over half a tank of gas ! The first hourI kept it below 2000 rpm and the second hour at 3000 rpm but would raise and lower the rpm a couple hundred avery few minutes. I hit the 5000 rpm mark for only about 30 seconds. Getting it back on the trailer was smooth as silk, I had been watching a few videos on how to load a pontoon boat and it helped. We saw one large alligator, in the marina of all places!

 

[The Rooster]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Sounds like a perfect day !!!

 

[workerbee606]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Rooster it was a very fun day, the kids had a blast and the boat worked! Only possible snag is grease slinging out of the right rear trailer bearing cover, and both hubs on the rear axle felt pretty hot after 80 miles of hilly 60 mph driving on the way home. Maybe it's due to being new or the surge brakes needing to be calibrated a bit. The 2011 suburban didnt like it either, even with the tranny in tow mode she burned alot of fuel and was working hard to keep up speed and climb the long but not that steep of hills. Of course she had 8 people on board too! Tranny temp got to 210 for a few minutes on the realy hilly parts, but 90 percent of the time the tranny temps were about 198

 

[lncoop]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

The thing about barges is this. They're not all that heavy, but they violate every law of aerodynamics in the book, so they can be a hassle to tow. I had Z71s for years and finally switched to an Expedition for a number of reasons, but the Burb's towing performance sounds normal to me. Just try to keep it under sixty and don't pass too many gas stations; not that you'll be able to!

 

[workerbee606]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

The thing about barges is this. They're not all that heavy, but they violate every law of aerodynamics in the book, so they can be a hassle to tow. I had Z71s for years and finally switched to an Expedition for a number of reasons, but the Burb's towing performance sounds normal to me. Just try to keep it under sixty and don't pass too many gas stations; not that you'll be able to!

Incoop, is 210 degrees too high a temp on the tranny? I dont know if it has an external trans cooler on it , but my Titan pickup does so I might let the wife drive the burban with the kids and gear and I will pull the toon with the titan next time, this saturday!!!

 

[lncoop]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Incoop, is 210 degrees too high a temp on the tranny? I dont know if it has an external trans cooler on it , but my Titan pickup does so I might let the wife drive the burban with the kids and gear and I will pull the toon with the titan next time, this saturday!!!

Honestly don't know as I've never had a tranny temp qauge, but as long you have the tow/haul button engaged it should be fine. Every GMC I had did quite a bit of hunting when I towed and I never experienced any adverse effects other than it being really annoying. If you read through some posts from guys towing with half ton GMCs you'll find that it's normal, but I would encourage you to keep your average speed closer to fifty. You'll be amazed what a difference that will make. And, if it will make you feel better just call the dealer and ask them about the tranny temp.

 

[workerbee606]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Incoop your right, about keeping the speed close to fifty, it didnt have any problem at all keeping it there, but trying to get to say 60 or 70 seemed to realy make the burbans engine work too hard. I will call the chevy dealer and ask the service rep what the safe trans temp is for towing.

 

[lncoop]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

Incoop your right, about keeping the speed close to fifty, it didnt have any problem at all keeping it there, but trying to get to say 60 or 70 seemed to realy make the burbans engine work too hard. I will call the chevy dealer and ask the service rep what the safe trans temp is for towing.

It's amazing, isn't it? I think that additional ten mph must really increase the wind resistance against the barge. Have you ever taken a good look at a party barge being towed? It's really pretty ridiculous looking if one stops to think about it LOL:facepalm:. What about the wheel bearing grease and hub temps? Any word on that?

 

[workerbee606]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

incoop am going to tow her to the river tomorrow and I am going to keep the speed to 50 mph and check and see what the hubs feel like. If they are still getting hot I will take thetrailer back to the dealer and let them check it out and adjust the breaks and or the bearing play. I cant wait to get back on the water!!! Your right about the drag when towing, it seems to hit a brick wall around 65 to 70 mph !

 

[lncoop]

Re: New toon on the lake tomorrow!

I'd encourage you to go ahead and take her to the dealer now if you can. If one set of hubs is hotter than the other something's not right, and chances are whatever it is they can take care of it quickly, but if you let it go it could turn into something worse. It's unlikely, but it's possible, and if I were a dealer and one of my customers continued to tow knowing something wasn't right I would be unhappy if I had to do more work than would have been necessary had the issue been addressed promptly. My money says you need a brake adjustment and the grease just escaped because you have EZ Lube hubs and there was a little too much in there, but if I'm wrong and you do have BBs if one was overfilled it could blow or have already blown the inner seal, in which case those bearings could end up running dry and grease could be coating the brake shoes rendering them useless. At least give the dealer a call and explain the situation.