[OMC-Boats] Thank you all.

With all the great help I got from this mailing list, I was able to
get on the water today. Pics here
http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee285/nitsujcbr/First%20voyage/

I'm happy to report, the old Johnson ran beautifully. I was very
impressed with the motor. Not the highest top speed on the river, but
nice and torquey. Took right off and planed nicely. No issues to
report. Few observations though. The marketing hype about the sea-foil
hull isn't just hype. The boat rides much nicer than my tri-hull did.
Crossing wakes didn't result in the loud,hard slapping like my old
Glastron. It just glides through them. Maybe not as smooth as a deep
V, but very manageable. Cable steering is a little odd. Higher effort
than I'm used to. And you have to spin the wheel several time to get
from side to side. It sort of felt like I was always having to steer
the boat. Not so much that it won't track straight, just that it needs
lots of little corrections. Maybe the cables can stretch a bit?

 I still need to re-acquaint myself with some basics like anchoring
and docking, but other than that it went smooth. I actually impressed
myself with how well I did launching and recovering. Considering I
hadn't done it in years and it was my first time with this boat, it
was easy. One shot both times. I had a chance to inspect the trailer
once the bot was off it. I don't know who Johnson had building the
trailers, but they built a nice trailer. The companies building the
junk today could take a lesson there. If the boat sinks, I could refit
the trailer to haul bulldozers around. I'm thinking a couple of posts
at the rear corners of the trailer so I can see it with the boat off
may be a nice addition. I left the remote control for the electric
winch at home, so I had to crank it on the old fashioned way. It
wasn't too bad though.

Maybe a question though. What rpm should I be running at wide open top
speed? I was getting uncomfortably close to redline I thought. I don't
remember what red line is, but top speed is within 500 of redline. I
only went there briefly. I didn't want to stay that high until I asked
you guys. I'm thinking maybe I want to change props to get my WOT rpm
down a bit. (If I can even get props for it.) I forgot my GPS and the
boat doesn't have a speedo, so I don't know what top speed is. I hope
to find out tomorrow.

The previous owner gave me this ancient King Loran thing from 1987.
Looks like something from Tron or Wargames. I think the technology is
obsolete though. I don't even know if it gets a signal anymore. If it
did, it seems like it would be a pain to use compared to modern GPS.
I'm thinking it will be a great paper weight and thats about it.

Again, thank you all for your help.

Justin
Received on Wednesday, 2 September 2009