Classes of XB02 drivers

[suicidealli]

the ss lip is to big, and can cause it to be an ill handeling boat. JMO i worked my old ss pad with steve smith. we took off about 30 thous. it really made the ss easier to drive, and safer.... i ran several powerheads on it over the years. from 200 to over 300.
the ss broke mpg records, and kinda designed for the lower hp motors. with bigger hp they can be a handful. also after a boat is 4, or 5 years old the pad isnt is striaght as it once was... i worked my pad on my 2002 as well. it can make a good boat better, my lip is pretty much stock though. straightening the pad makes for a more effiecient boat.
the 2002 drives really well with the factory lip!!!! a wavy pad has room for improvement!!!!!!!!!!

roy

 

[badbait]

Roy, I have heard of people over the years talk about trueing up the bottom of there boat but I'm not sure what this actually entail when your working on an Allison. I've seen pictures of my 2003 on the pad at 102 and it appears to me that no more than 6" of the pad is in the water. If your running over 100 in one of these 2002s or 2003s you have to have the pad pretty well dried out and the lip helps you do that. So what is it you do when trueing up your pad and how far up do you go?

 

[K.Kiser]

Trueing means making sure that all surfaces that are supposed to be straight amd flat are straight and flat, all chine edges and the trailing edge of the pad are sharp (sharpness relative to hulls intended usage) , and all lips or foils are restored to their intended geometry... Most hulls are gonna run with a couple feet of hull down unless it's a really aired out set-up, but it's a good question you ask... Trueing up the back 4' or so of the hull helps the holeshot, and acceleration... Lots of long block and board sanding, with lots of feeler gauge inspecting... Many hardcore hull guys will true surfaces to withing a couple thousandths straightness...

I'll patch up bunged spots in a bottom, and do some lip work myself, but if I want mine trued really well it's gonna get a trip to Louisville, Tenn...

 

[suicidealli]

I agree with Eric!!!!!!!! I was a body shop manager for years, so have done more blocking sanding then I care to remember!!!!!!!! It isn't for the rookie to just start sanding.. After I get a pad to where I'm happy, I have some slick "stuff" I spray on it. Wet sand it till it is perfect. It helps a little, if things were not straight. Usually if I work a bottom, and do the same to the lower unit 2-4 mph for a top end boat.

Roy

 

[Tim Bostic]

Trueing means making sure that all surfaces that are supposed to be straight amd flat are straight and flat, all chine edges and the trailing edge of the pad are sharp (sharpness relative to hulls intended usage) , and all lips or foils are restored to their intended geometry... Most hulls are gonna run with a couple feet of hull down unless it's a really aired out set-up, but it's a good question you ask... Trueing up the back 4' or so of the hull helps the holeshot, and acceleration... Lots of long block and board sanding, with lots of feeler gauge inspecting... Many hardcore hull guys will true surfaces to withing a couple thousandths straightness...

I'll patch up bunged spots in a bottom, and do some lip work myself, but if I want mine trued really well it's gonna get a trip to Louisville, Tenn...

The guys at the factory do the BEST work!!!! It was amazing the work they did on our
1987 XTB21...... They brought the bottom as well as the entire boat, back from the DEAD!!!!

Here are a series of photo's showing the bottom of my 1987 XB2002 that I blueprinted several years ago.... it was a lot of work & we called Darris a few times with some questions. (And we've done this to several other boats in the past, so we had experience, but still needed to talk to the factory) My suggestion would be to leave it to the experts at the factory!

The first photo shows how we mapped the bottom with the high & low spots.
The second shows the sanding..... we filled in the low & sanded off the high..... When we got close to being perfectly flat, we started to alternate between black & grey hi-build epoxy and finely sand until we started seeing the black "bleed" through.... then shoot some more paint & sand again until we it was as flat as possible.
The last photo shows the final product.

I was VERY happy with the results and felt like it was the BEST that I could do.

 

[aeneas]

Trueing means making sure that all surfaces that are supposed to be straight amd flat are straight and flat, all chine edges and the trailing edge of the pad are sharp (sharpness relative to hulls intended usage) , and all lips or foils are restored to their intended geometry... Most hulls are gonna run with a couple feet of hull down unless it's a really aired out set-up, but it's a good question you ask... Trueing up the back 4' or so of the hull helps the holeshot, and acceleration... Lots of long block and board sanding, with lots of feeler gauge inspecting... Many hardcore hull guys will true surfaces to withing a couple thousandths straightness...

I'll patch up bunged spots in a bottom, and do some lip work myself, but if I want mine trued really well it's gonna get a trip to Louisville, Tenn...

Blueprinting is making sure that all surfaces, foils, lips and edges are according to the technical drawing?

 

[K.Kiser]

Blueprinting is making sure that all surfaces, foils, lips and edges are according to the technical drawing?

That's the idea and goal...

 

[aeneas]

Good info on here! I never heard of trueing before! :beer:

 

[suicidealli]

Cross sanding primers is an old body mans trick.. Old school, but effective.!!!!! It is still used on cars everyday. Simple if you prime with one color, and lightly sand, then apply a different color over top.. When you sand through the first color and the second appears.. That is a high spot. The low spots will remain the top color... Let's you know where to sand, and fill.. Works great. I usually block the gel heavy with a coarser paper to straighten things up. You can tell the high spot really quick because it will be only slightly sanded til you start knocking down the high spots... My finish coat will last about 1 season, then it is ready for another coat.. This is on my 2002, it gets a lot of use.. The product I use never really dries. It kinda repels water. Keeps the boat free, and won't get that stuck to the water feeling. Keeps some air between the boat, and water. Need stuff.
I use it on my LU as well. If you run a water hose on it, as soon as you move the hose the lower unit is dry. Worth about 1 to 1.5 mph just doing the lower unit... On the top end....

Roy

 

[Tim Bostic]

Cross sanding primers is an old body mans trick.. Old school, but effective.!!!!! It is still used on cars everyday. Simple if you prime with one color, and lightly sand, then apply a different color over top.. When you sand through the first color and the second appears.. That is a high spot. The low spots will remain the top color... Let's you know where to sand, and fill.. Works great. I usually block the gel heavy with a coarser paper to straighten things up. You can tell the high spot really quick because it will be only slightly sanded til you start knocking down the high spots... My finish coat will last about 1 season, then it is ready for another coat.. This is on my 2002, it gets a lot of use.. The product I use never really dries. It kinda repels water. Keeps the boat free, and won't get that stuck to the water feeling. Keeps some air between the boat, and water. Need stuff.
I use it on my LU as well. If you run a water hose on it, as soon as you move the hose the lower unit is dry. Worth about 1 to 1.5 mph just doing the lower unit... On the top end....

Roy

Hey Roy,
Can you share the name of the stuff you use?
I'd like to test it & see what it will do for me.

 

[Scott in MN]

Hey Roy,
Can you share the name of the stuff you use?
I'd like to test it & see what it will do for me.

I agree. Might as well share all the secrets.....

 

[suicidealli]

Im not ready to give up all my secretes... Not on the Internet anyway!!! LOL

Roy

 

[K.Kiser]

My secret is I only sand in the direction of the water flow, and I make an audible "sssssswooooosh" sound when doing it...

 

[badbait]

Thanks for the information. Years ago I used to pull speed skiiers and I also did some speed skiing myself. At a little above 70 mph you can really feel the friction of the water. I was telling this to the guy that I used to pull in the outboard class and he went over to his pickup and pulled out a can of grafite spray and told me to put a few coats on the bottom of my ski and I did. The next time out I couldn't believe the difference. I could almost stand strait up at 70 mph. It reduced the friction by at least 75 percent. So to this day I have been using that stuff on the last 3 to 4' of my pads on any fast boats that I run as well as on the bottom half of the gear cases and even a few props. You do have to freshen it up every year or so and if you run your hand over it your hand will be black. It comes in wet or dry in a blue can at any Napa Auto Parts Store and for this use you use the dry not the wet. I can get you the name and part number if anybody wants it. Put on two or three coats and let it dry for 5 min. between coats. Then sand it very lightly with 1200 and put on a few more coats and wipe it with one of those blue paper shop towels. If you use it on a prop you need to touch up the prop before every trip to the water. I'm not making any guarantees of speed gains just telling you what I use. I have a 21 Cougar with a single stock 280 on it and it runs 114 mph GPS. I have never heard of another one with that power going any faster. My XB2003/250XS runs 102 mph. I have to admit I have never made back to back tests to prove that it's worth more speed on a boat. I do quite a few other things and if they each gave me 1 mph my Allison should be running up in the teens. I know one thing for sure and that is that the graphite reduces the friction on water skis and every speed skiier in the country uses it.