My first Allison!

[Burris Fishing]

Hey everyone just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Lance from Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. I just picked up my first Allison over the weekend from South Carolina, it’s a 1998 xb2003 with a 2019 250xs. I’ve got some unique projects planned for this one that I’ll post later.

I’ve driven bass boats my whole life and just took this one out for the first time yesterday, it is definitely unique and I can see a pretty good learning curve ahead of me. If you have any tips you wish you knew the first time you got yours be free to share lol.

 

[wcarlyle]

Welcome to the forum, nice boat, I love the color. Definitely a learning curve, take your time, seat time is key, wear your lifeline, and make sure to have your kill switch lanyard attached. Don't push it, seat time, seat time. Try to get out on a weekday where there are just a few boats on the water so you can learn it on smooth water. Read the Allison Red Book, should still be a link to it on this site. Great tips for driving these boats. I am sure others will chime in also. Good luck, and enjoy it.

 

[Burris Fishing]

Welcome to the forum, nice boat, I love the color. Definitely a learning curve, take your time, seat time is key, wear your lifeline, and make sure to have your kill switch lanyard attached. Don't push it, seat time, seat time. Try to get out on a weekday where there are just a few boats on the water so you can learn it on smooth water. Read the Allison Red Book, should still be a link to it on this site. Great tips for driving these boats. I am sure others will chime in also. Good luck, and enjoy it.

Thanks I appreciate it. Lake of the Ozarks isn't a calm lake very often so it wont see much on pad time unless its an early morning run. Not sure what kind of chop these boats can run in on pad but the one smooth spot I had for about 100 yards felt like my trans am getting into boost so I'm hooked lol.

 

[aj06bolt12r]

Welcome to the club.. Enjoy! Too bad your lake is soo busy and rough all of the time.. That is going to lengthen your learning curve most likely. Dont give up. It will come to you with enough seat time as long as the boat is set up correctly. Id get up at dawn to go run around or trailer to a different lake to get on pad seat time.

 

[Jessie]

Lance,
Make sure your boat is balanced, side to side, and front to back. You may want to take a level with you when you are on the water. Drive the boat using very little trim at first. Gradually increase your speed and begin to trim the motor up. If the boat starts to chine walk, put boat in a slight left hand turn. Use small increments of the steering wheel to try and keep the boat on the pad. If you have an experienced Allison driver around, let that person go with you and it will shorten the learning curve. Make sure there is no slop in your steering system. When running at speed, DO NOT SUDDENLY LET OFF THE THROTTLE! Trim down first. Have fun and be careful.

 

[aj06bolt12r]

I would assume you already know this.. But just in case.. When people say to use very little trim.. They mean use very little positive trim. They don't mean try to drive around with the engine tucked under.. On my Allison if I try to run around with much lower than neutral trim the boat drives like crap and lays over on its side. You want to be pretty close to neutral trim for any speed between 30 and 90. Level the boat and then level the motor, that is neutral trim. Make a mark on your trim gauge at that spot so you can find it easily and quickly. Once you have some seat time you will be able to feel the boat telling you if it wants a bump or two more or less trim depending on speed, load, prop, driving style ect...

 

[Burris Fishing]

Just took it out for the first time without the family today and got a good feel for some different water. Nothing was glassy so I didn’t get to feel it’s full potential but as much as I felt comfortable with. Hit 85 a couple of times and it really felt like I had to drive it. I don’t know if it’s being an Allison novice or the way the boat is set up. I feel like a hydraulic jackplate would help me find the sweet spot as I have quite a bit of experience with them on other boats. Is it pretty normal to come off pad coming up on a set of waves to have a pretty rough side to side motion and have to drop speed a lot to stop it?

 

[Ally-Sun]

Beautiful Allison you have Lance, congrats! Could be a little of both, you and the setup. Or it could be setup alone. More than likely the previous owner has the setup close if not on. So probably just your learning curve. I am sure there are some experienced Allison owners up there somewhere. Try to meet up with them and get some sound first hand advice. Give Tim Powell, owner of Fastbass Marine a call. I am sure he knows a fellow Allison owner you can trust in your area. So many variables with the 03 and 3L combo. Which can be an absolutely amazing solid setup or a recipe for disaster. Good luck, have fun, and enjoy the ride!

 

[aj06bolt12r]

The side to side motion you are describing sounds like chine walk.. Once that gets going its hard to stop it without slowing down to somewhere around 55mph or less... Once you have more seat time you will be able to recover from it most times with a couple of sharp well timed corrections on the wheel and a little more throttle right when you feel it starting before it has time to amplify...

Id assume when you are slowing down for the waves you see coming you are just making a little mistake and not keeping the boat balanced on pad until it sets back down in the water...

When you are accelerating or maintaining speed the propeller is trying the twist the boat over onto its side in one direction and you are countering that with steering input to keep the boat level.. When you go to slow down this twisting motion you are countering with steering reverses direction and so the steering input required changes with it... This is something you are just going to have to develop a feel for over time... Once you get it you wont have to think about it anymore, it will just happen for you.

In the mean time, don't let off too fast, reduce throttle setting gradually, better to hit a set of waves a little too fast than to drop the bow right into them. Don't trim down too much too fast either... If you were at neutral trim running in the 80's you can slow down at neutral trim... When I was first learning to drive I always wanted to trim down too fast when slowing down because of everything I had read, one time I held the down button too long at too high of a speed and got a little bow steer action going on, boat changed direction about 30* instantly, almost caused me to hook it.

When you do hit the waves have your foot in the throttle at least enough to maintain whatever speed you are at.. Again, you don't want to let the bow drop and bite into a set of waves.

 

[ROBERT CROSS]

Welcome Aboard
Start out running an inch above the pad, neutral trim with a hole shot prop. Take it slow get comfortable and go from
there. It ain't rocket seince it just takes some getting used to. I'm a big fan of Hydromotive Props, I have three,
14 3/4" X 28 R Q4 OT,14 3/4” X 26 R Q4 OT, 14 1/2” X 25R Q4 X OT Round Ear,(hole shot)
Todd & his Dad have run Allison's for years.

The Allison Skid Plate has been a very good improvement for us.



Both trim and lift are marked at neutral...



Oh...and don't forget the lanyard kill switch. Good luck & HAVE FUN.
Bob & Sandra

 

[aj06bolt12r]

Do NOT start out running with the propshaft 1" above pad unless the lip has been sanded off of the pad. If you still have the factory lip 1" above is going to be way too high. Especially just starting out. If you have the lip you will want to be 1/2" to 1/4" BELOW pad to start.

Welcome Aboard
Start out running an inch above the pad, neutral trim with a hole shot prop.

 

[ROBERT CROSS]

My bad..had an extream brain fart, the above was exactly what I was told with our first GSE. THANK'S

 

[aj06bolt12r]

My bad..had an extream brain fart, the above was exactly what I was told with our first GSE. THANK'S

Yessir! I was sure you knew better than that unless you were talking about boats with modified pads... Not sure what the pad looks like on the OP's boat.

 

[wcarlyle]

I am at 1/4" below the pad on my Grand Sport. It's perfect.

 

[silverbullet02]

First thing, number one before even touching anything, talk to the previous owner if you can and see how it ran for him, what it liked, whether it was setup well or not, etc...get all the info you can from him IF it's available. If not, well, you'll have to talk to some guys with 3L motors on these boats, a bit different than a 2.5.