Hello all, new member from north central Indiana. I have been pouring over this forum since June when we purchased the Party Deck. When we bought it we were looking for a compromise of me fishing and the wife wanting a pontoon and the kids 7 and 8 on a tube. It had newer paint and the interior was redone and looked great. The previous owner had put on a hydrofoil an SE Sport 300 with the Sport Clip to attach it, he said it helped getting on plane. Owner said it ran 26-27 mph with him in it at 5200-5300 rpm's (WOT for the motor is 5250). I verified that was accurate using the speedometer and tachometer in the dash even though the tach seemed to jump around or read very high even at idle. (fixed this by rotating the adjustment knob on the back of the tach back and forth then returning to the original position, works great now).
After several trips in the boat I decided to by a new Solas Rubex with the same dimensions 13.25 x17p as the original. Next trip out on a short run in a local quarry it ran 27 mph and 25 gps (added new fish finder) with 4 adults and 4 kids and a baby with a full livewell. It jumped on plane faster than before and had less splash. I didn't get a chance to get a good tach reading since it was a short run.
We had noticed a lot of splash from the front of the boat especially in choppy windy conditions. The old prop was pretty worn and dinged, it even had a crack along one blade about 1/4" in from the top. I could feel the cupping on the Rubex, it appeared it had larger blades and you could see the blades were thinner on the Rubex.
I decided that with the new prop working so well I would take off the hydrofoil since it appeared it was 3" thick on the front with the sport clip, I thought it may be creating to much drag.
Wow, with the new prop and no hydrofoil with 4 adults it ran 32 mph speedometer and 30 with GPS at 5100 rpms in windy choppy conditions and had a very small amount of splash even in those conditions. Previously on the same lake we would have putted around to avoid the splash. I did notice the front rise a little more with out the hydrofoil but it still jumped on plane pretty fast at about 15 mph. It also appears to steer easier now. I am very pleased with the new prop and the boat overall. Thank you all for all the information I have already learned on Iboats, I hope to be able to pass along anything I learn in the future
After several trips in the boat I decided to by a new Solas Rubex with the same dimensions 13.25 x17p as the original. Next trip out on a short run in a local quarry it ran 27 mph and 25 gps (added new fish finder) with 4 adults and 4 kids and a baby with a full livewell. It jumped on plane faster than before and had less splash. I didn't get a chance to get a good tach reading since it was a short run.
We had noticed a lot of splash from the front of the boat especially in choppy windy conditions. The old prop was pretty worn and dinged, it even had a crack along one blade about 1/4" in from the top. I could feel the cupping on the Rubex, it appeared it had larger blades and you could see the blades were thinner on the Rubex.
I decided that with the new prop working so well I would take off the hydrofoil since it appeared it was 3" thick on the front with the sport clip, I thought it may be creating to much drag.
Wow, with the new prop and no hydrofoil with 4 adults it ran 32 mph speedometer and 30 with GPS at 5100 rpms in windy choppy conditions and had a very small amount of splash even in those conditions. Previously on the same lake we would have putted around to avoid the splash. I did notice the front rise a little more with out the hydrofoil but it still jumped on plane pretty fast at about 15 mph. It also appears to steer easier now. I am very pleased with the new prop and the boat overall. Thank you all for all the information I have already learned on Iboats, I hope to be able to pass along anything I learn in the future