Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

[BOWMAKER1]

Re: Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

I don't have a GPS to give actual speeds, but I just put on a Solas 4 blade 13.25x 13 and it is working great. Before I had a 13.75x15 3 blade and could only hit about 4800 RPM from a 125 Mercury motor. With the switch my rpm level will now go to 5200 and the mid range performance is much better. The operating range for rpm for my motor was listed at 4750 to 5200 and now it will cruse very nicely at about 3800 rpm and just seems much smoother. I really don't know or care what my top speed is because I hardly ever run that way, because this motor really goes through some fuel at top end. I haven't tried to pull a tube yet or load up with passengers, usually just my wife and son and me, but I fully expect much better performance when I do.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

I don't have a GPS to give actual speeds, but I just put on a Solas 4 blade 13.25x 13 and it is working great. Before I had a 13.75x15 3 blade and could only hit about 4800 RPM from a 125 Mercury motor. With the switch my rpm level will now go to 5200 and the mid range performance is much better. The operating range for rpm for my motor was listed at 4750 to 5200 and now it will cruse very nicely at about 3800 rpm and just seems much smoother. I really don't know or care what my top speed is because I hardly ever run that way, because this motor really goes through some fuel at top end. I haven't tried to pull a tube yet or load up with passengers, usually just my wife and son and me, but I fully expect much better performance when I do.

If you have a smart phone you can download an app. Search for GPS speedometer..

 

[Old Screwball]

Re: Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

For whatever it is worth, Our last boat was a 70 mph closed bow screaming mimi. Absolutely hauled ***. Great fun for a bunch of years. Along came Grand Children, and the need for lots of room for kiddy toys, diaper bags, formula, and all the stuff for adults too. Could have looked at Advantage or Cheetah deck boats, same speed, room for 10 to dance BUT now you are looking at a $80,000+ toy. Our little Tracker Party Barge fits into our garage when not wet, has room for tons of stuff for the kids, and food and beverage for the adults. Was under $20 grand brand new..... BUT it will only go 23.5mph. That after experimenting with 3 propellers (11, 13, and 15 pitch) Everything is a trade off. I can't run full throttle to Lake Havasu and make it in under an hour any more, so we don't go that route anymore. I'm sure that sooner or later I'll get used to the 23.5mph, or we will ride the SeaDoo GTI SEs a lot more.

Good Luck!

 

[dubya1982]

Re: Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

I went back to the dealer and got a new 14x13 prop, I will take the boat out Sunday to see how it performs. I'm hoping that this is the one I need.

The service guy at the dealer made it clear that they would not be giving me another prop if this one didn't work out. He wasn't very happy that I came in to exchange from an 11P to a 13P and let me know all about it. So I guess if I do have to go up to a 14 or 15 I'll have to shell out the bucks.

I'm happy with the boat, but I couldn't have picked a worse dealer to buy from. Lesson learned.

 

[cc350]

Re: Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

OP. The only way you'll get to the 30mpg mark will be 13p prop and under-skinning. Will be the best thing you can do for it.

 

[The Woo Woo Kid]

Re: Purchased our new toon. Have some beginner questions.

All of this is why I spent many hours looking for a pontoon with lifting strakes for our first toon. So glad I found one.

All the comfort and plenty of room to move about are wonderful !!!

Being able to run 40 mph is also wonderful !!!

Being able to cruise at 30 mph is wonderful !!!

There just isn't anything much you can do to speed up a slow toon. Waterglides help some what,,,,,pricey tho.

Lifting strakes also greatly boost your gas mileage...... 30+ %.

Boating on a long or big lake is precarious or even worse with a slow boat. Would suck to be 20 or more miles from the launch with a huge thunder storm brewing, bearing down on yo azz and about to kick up 3-5 ft whitecaps. With a faster boat, you stand a good chance of outrunning it back to the launch.