Man, this is a swell boat! Took it out to a small lake (Omega) at
Forbes State Park, for a bit of of a run and getting familiar with
it. WOW, was I impressed! for a thirty yr old craft, this thing is
solid. engine ran flawlwss, and steering was great. it took a bit to
get used to the four-button trim switch, and the Morse-type throttle/
gear shift. But I was really amazed at how well this boat handled and
trimmed out very nicely. it IS a bit heavy and the 228 hp. 350 GM
seemed to pour its guts into getting it out on plane, but once the bow
settled down, it sped really nicely. if there is any accuracy to the
speedometer at all, it was saying 46 mph @ 4100 rpm. that was WOT., it
could have climbed a bit higher, but I figure thats enough for the
engine, so I ba ked it down to 3100, it cruised very well at that
speed..

This is one of the nicest riding boats I've ever been on. I don't know
if thats from hull design, or because of its weight, but it sliced
thorugh wakes well, and didn't jar and bang us around.

Plenty of power to pull the nephews up on ski's while not having to
trim down. Just left the trim alone, and up they came.

That was on Thursday evening, and Sat was a pretty good day of more
of the same. All I really would like to do to the engine, is switch
over to a Pertronix ignition, but this boat starts and runs so well, I
really don't think it's necessary at this time.

I've got some ideas on tricking out the boat, and making it a bit
nicer, and adding top for it. But other wise, it's good to go.

When we got back home with it, I looked at the little 18 ft. Chris
Craft,a nd wondered how I even fit in it anyhow.

Anyhow, for a cheap investment of less than $1500.00 US, and a trip
to SW Ohiom, I can't be happier. Seems like if you shop you can find a
bargian occassionally.

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:01:11 -0700, Tim wrote:

Man, this is a swell boat! Took it out to a small lake (Omega) at
Forbes State Park, for a bit of of a run and getting familiar with
it. WOW, was I impressed! for a thirty yr old craft, this thing is
solid. engine ran flawlwss, and steering was great. it took a bit to
get used to the four-button trim switch, and the Morse-type throttle/
gear shift. But I was really amazed at how well this boat handled and
trimmed out very nicely. it IS a bit heavy and the 228 hp. 350 GM
seemed to pour its guts into getting it out on plane, but once the bow
settled down, it sped really nicely. if there is any accuracy to the
speedometer at all, it was saying 46 mph @ 4100 rpm. that was WOT., it
could have climbed a bit higher, but I figure thats enough for the
engine, so I ba ked it down to 3100, it cruised very well at that
speed..

This is one of the nicest riding boats I've ever been on. I don't know
if thats from hull design, or because of its weight, but it sliced
thorugh wakes well, and didn't jar and bang us around.

Plenty of power to pull the nephews up on ski's while not having to
trim down. Just left the trim alone, and up they came.

That was on Thursday evening, and Sat was a pretty good day of more
of the same. All I really would like to do to the engine, is switch
over to a Pertronix ignition, but this boat starts and runs so well, I
really don't think it's necessary at this time.

I've got some ideas on tricking out the boat, and making it a bit
nicer, and adding top for it. But other wise, it's good to go.

When we got back home with it, I looked at the little 18 ft. Chris
Craft,a nd wondered how I even fit in it anyhow.

Anyhow, for a cheap investment of less than $1500.00 US, and a trip
to SW Ohiom, I can't be happier. Seems like if you shop you can find a
bargian occassionally.

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!

On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?


Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....


I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.

Tim wrote:
On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?


Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....


I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.


Tim,
You will find the gas guage will probably not reflect the actual amount
of gas in the tank, (ie in a 50 gal tank, a guage reading 1/2 full will
not mean you have 25 gals of gas). So make sure you watch how fast the
guage will drop once you get below 1/3 of a tank.

I have found by running the boat in the 3200-3300 rpm range (fast enough
to keep it on plane), gives me just as much fun factor per hour, at
substantial lower gph.

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:50:51 -0700, Tim wrote:

On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?


Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....


I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.

Nope, karma is what determined that you didn't get a boat full of sneaky
little problems that would creap up on you when you were least expecting
it!

Sounds like your 'fun factor' was running quite high. Great!

On Jun 19, 6:58 am, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:
Tim wrote:
On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?

Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....

I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.

Tim,
You will find the gas guage will probably not reflect the actual amount
of gas in the tank, (ie in a 50 gal tank, a guage reading 1/2 full will
not mean you have 25 gals of gas). So make sure you watch how fast the
guage will drop once you get below 1/3 of a tank.

I have found by running the boat in the 3200-3300 rpm range (fast enough
to keep it on plane), gives me just as much fun factor per hour, at
substantial lower gph.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

agreed. 32-3300 is an ideal and comfortable rpm

My nephews idea of fun factor is WOT untill the rods start hammering.

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 05:48:00 -0700, Tim wrote:

On Jun 19, 6:58 am, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:
Tim wrote:
On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?

Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....

I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.

Tim,
You will find the gas guage will probably not reflect the actual amount
of gas in the tank, (ie in a 50 gal tank, a guage reading 1/2 full will
not mean you have 25 gals of gas). So make sure you watch how fast the
guage will drop once you get below 1/3 of a tank.

I have found by running the boat in the 3200-3300 rpm range (fast enough
to keep it on plane), gives me just as much fun factor per hour, at
substantial lower gph.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

agreed. 32-3300 is an ideal and comfortable rpm

My nephews idea of fun factor is WOT untill the rods start hammering.



My 350 *loves* 32-3300rpm!

Tim wrote:
On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?


Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....


I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.



One of my boats has a 170-gallon gasoline tank. It's a 25-footer,
nominally (measures about 32' from the ass end of the engine bracket to
the front of the bow pulpit). At a decent cruise speed, the engine burns
about nine gallons an hour. That's about $30-$32 an hour. Bad, but it
could be worse, and probably will be at some point. I can keep track of
the fuel burn because I have a flow gauge that does that for me.

I go out fishing with three buddies. We split the costs for fuel and
bait. Usually comes out to $25 a guy for a full day of fishing. That
makes the cost reasonable, in my mind.

Unless we're going a long distance by boat, I never keep more than 50-70
gallons in the tank. Carrying around an extra 100 gallons or so of
gasoline wastes time, money and energy.

That's why I usually don't fill the boat untill the last stop before
the lake. and Usually the Huck's is about the cheapest place to buy
gas before we hit the water anyhow.


HK wrote:
Tim wrote:
On Jun 18, 7:34 pm, John H. wrote:

Glad to hear all went so well, Tim. You got one hell of a deal. You must
have some great karma!-

"Karma"?


Well? I suppose "Karma" wil be determined by how many gallons this
beast will guzzle over a summer.... ?:

whe I got the boat, the fuel tank was reading at 1/2. you could jossle
the boat a bit and the fuel guage would twitch, so I knew it there was
"something" in there. first day out, I dropped in $50.00 (15 gal)
*gulp!* That raised the tank to 3/4. OK, I feel better now. after
cruising and playing for a bit, retired for the day. Sat, I dropped
anopther $50.00 in it *gulp!* and that raised it to "full" so....


I have now idea how much gas this boat holds, but I'd say it has close
to a 50 gal tank.

Eh, what the heck. If I was worried about economy, I wouldn't have a
boat anyhow.

It's all equated in the "fun factor", John.



One of my boats has a 170-gallon gasoline tank. It's a 25-footer,
nominally (measures about 32' from the ass end of the engine bracket to
the front of the bow pulpit). At a decent cruise speed, the engine burns
about nine gallons an hour. That's about $30-$32 an hour. Bad, but it
could be worse, and probably will be at some point. I can keep track of
the fuel burn because I have a flow gauge that does that for me.

I go out fishing with three buddies. We split the costs for fuel and
bait. Usually comes out to $25 a guy for a full day of fishing. That
makes the cost reasonable, in my mind.

Unless we're going a long distance by boat, I never keep more than 50-70
gallons in the tank. Carrying around an extra 100 gallons or so of
gasoline wastes time, money and energy.

Towing is the concern now. I use a 1990 Merc. Grand Marquis station
wagon to pull the boat, and it has the same drive train as a 1/2 ton
PU of the same year. It's a bit odd, to see a car towing a boat
larger than itself, and if the trailer didn't have the surge brakes I
probably wouldn't consider it. But the old battle wagon, is heavy
enough, but with the automatic overdrive, it's a bit limp wristed. I
mean, the engine in the boat is more power than what's in the car.

I have found that towing out of overdrive, and running about 50 mph
is it's best suit. Fuel milage drops from about 20 down to 10 mpg. So
with a 120 mi. turn around, to the lake and back, it will suck a
goodly tank full of gas just doing that.

I don't know, I really don't need a pick up truck. I wouldn't mind
having one if I was going to use it daily, that is utilizing the
truck for more than hauling a boat. But that might be in store for the
future.

Until then, the wagon, is loaded with working creature comforts, and
you can haul people and stuff in it, that is what you don't already
throw in the boat.

But until plans change, I suppose the old rule still applies:

"You run what you brung"