New (to me) XB2003 learning and setup

[RiverRat71]

You are likely doing the same thing I was when I first started driving my GS just chasing it back & forth. Once it starts bouncing chine to chine it is really hard to get her straight again so I suggest slowing down & starting over. Try keeping the motor trimmed down & as you are accelerating, when you feel the boat lean left bump the trim just enough to get her back level. Drive at that speed for a few then give more throttle until she starts to lean left then bump trim again to get level & that will slowly increase the speed without over trimming which to me was the reason I was having trouble with mine getting away from me. Slow down in the same manner, put the boat back down easing out of the throttle with small bumps down on the trim. I learned to drive this way with no help from anyone other than advice on the forum. I am still a newb too but my GS is really starting to come to me now. I am at the point where I am confident enough to run 80's now. Everyone's boat acts differently but maybe this will help. RR

 

[SLOmofo]

I copied and pasted this from another post I replied to.

And now I again copied and pasted it here for you.

"When I was learning. Balance the boat. Look at it from the rear while tied at the dock and make it level. I bought a RV curved level and glued it to the lip of the dash so it is always in easy view. Now you can sit and see if it's close with you in the seat. Rearrange the stuff you will always carry to get it level. Put the boat on plane and play with the trim at low speeds.. you'll see/feel the boat lean to each side as you trim "in" and "out".
I started at around 50 mph and drove around the lake thru and over all the different conditions I could encounter. Trim in and out "getting a/the feel for what happens". Increase speed 5 mph and do it all over again. Increase 5 mph again and again. At some point the boat will start to chine walk at the trim and speed you are going. Just back out of the throttle and ease back up to that speed.
At this point you will have to learn to drive by your senses, sight and inner ear balance. I do not look at the bow of the boat, I concentrate on the far shore or horizon. As soon as the boat leans, horizon tilts give the steering wheel a small bump to counteract the walk. Looking ahead gives you a larger scope. If you watch the bow your reaction(input) is way to late and you already way behind in reacting to the lean.
Trim it in...trim it out. Bump..bump. Back out and do it again.
Wax on wax off little grasshopper.
The time you put in now will make you an Allison boat driver. Trying to bull your way thru will make you an Ex Allison owner."

 

[dubmoney]

Hard to say what the next move should be. For me it would be nosecone on the lower unit, if a Mercury wasn't in the near future plan. Next would be Seastar Steering. Did you get the solid engine mounts? These three upgrades are most certainly the ones that need to be made. Let me change that, first solid mounts, then seastar, then nosecone. Prop would be after those three. After saying that you should be able to run in the upper 70's without a nosecone, in fact some will say it will you slow you down if you are not exceeding 80 mph. There may be no perfect order to upgrade, I was stuck at a certain speed for a long time, so don't feel like you are not progressing at the same rate as others. I have spent, more money than I could afford to achieve speeds that seem pretty common for Allison Owners.... I finally am knocking on the door of that number than not every Allison owner achieves.

 

[SLOmofo]

Correct on the nose cone possibly lowering top speed. But, if you cannot raise the engine high enough to achieve balance at your top speed...
I have on my earlier engines covered the highest water intake holes on the side of the lower unit. As you do this you must note the water pressure.
If the cable steering slack can be removed and not bind it's good. Hyd steering is diffacult to completely bleed ALL the air out. An air bubble equals slack like in a cable system. Plus if the Hyd leaks enough you'll have a dangerous ride. Don't get me wrong, I love Hyd steering. I bought it when Sea Star first brought it out. I also sent it right back because it was dangerous in my application (18'4" Champion). A year later they asked if I wanted to try it again as they thought they had perfected the helm. They had and I kept it andhave installed Hyd on every boat since then.

 

[dubmoney]

I never bleed my hydro steering, and it could be better, but once the torque pushes to one side, I am pretty comfortable in the upper 90's, and everywhere else. Maybe I got lucky.

 

[ntxwaterfowl]

Thanks all for the advice/encouragement. I knew there would be a learning curve but I feel like I haven't actually learned anything yet and started to wonder if perhaps it just wasn't "drivable" as it is set up right now. The previous owner said the fastest he had taken it was about 65 and that he had raised the engine some. But when I measured it the engine was buried, this boat was not set up by someone who knew Allisons apparently. The top intake holes had been filled in by him already but it was still over 6 inches below the pad. I have it at 3" below now and water pressure seems OK but I'll have to drop it a little because it seemed to be right on the edge of OK.

I'll keep on trudging along, it takes about 15-20 seconds or so (total guess here) to get to the mid 50's but climbing from there I seem to run out of good water fairly quick most days. Going from 55-65 takes a bit and a pretty fair amount of trim right now, I keep the boat balanced and I bump the trim, watch the gps climb, bump again, watch it climb etc. But most of that feels like I'm hanging on for dear life...

Don't worry, still love the boat and I'm even more determined than ever to conquer it but I may run out of gas money before I get there!

 

[RiverRat71]

Like I said I am a newb but 3" is probably low enough to make it hard as hell to drive. If you can get it to 1" or so it should make a lot of difference. RR

 

[hirk]

Put scoops on the intake holes, You can raise it an extra 1" or so with them. I recently drove a stock lower with the top 4 holes plugged and it handled good everywhere except wot which was about 75mph with my 200. I added scoops and raised it and got to 78 but it still took some driving at wot but handled great at less then wot. It previously ran 83 with the same prop and a coned lower.

 

[SLOmofo]

I never bleed my hydro steering, and it could be better, but once the torque pushes to one side, I am pretty comfortable in the upper 90's, and everywhere else. Maybe I got lucky.

I rather be lucky then good.

 

[ntxwaterfowl]

Put scoops on the intake holes, You can raise it an extra 1" or so with them. I recently drove a stock lower with the top 4 holes plugged and it handled good everywhere except wot which was about 75mph with my 200. I added scoops and raised it and got to 78 but it still took some driving at wot but handled great at less then wot. It previously ran 83 with the same prop and a coned lower.

Took my lower off and going to look at fixing up some scoops because I have the materials to do that and I don’t have the $$ to cone it yet. I’ve read that these OMC carriers have to be pinned to last when surfaced. I’m still not at surface level but to me it looks like these bolts are already securing the carrier? Or am I looking at it wrong?

 

[SLOmofo]

Pinning the carrier. Would be drilling from the outside thru the carrier sorta like that red dot so it cannot turn or move inside the case

 

[ntxwaterfowl]

Pinning the carrier. Would be drilling from the outside thru the carrier sorta like that red dot so it cannot turn or move inside the caseView attachment 13528

Thanks, that looks easy enough to do and cheap insurance as well. I was just surprised to find those tabs, I figured it couldn't move with those but a few set screws would be a good idea I suppose. I want that 250 Merc but I'm pretty sure "I blew up the lower unit" won't pass muster with the wife.

 

[ntxwaterfowl]

I finally broke 70! I got the nose cone installed and lifted the motor. I raised it to about 1/4” below pad and it wouldn’t lift the bow. I would trim up and bump it and the speed would climb until about 60 and then start dropping again. I lowered it to 1.5 ish below the pad and it ran much better but I still can’t drive. When I finally touched 70 it was getting a little easier to drive but then I ran out of lake. Unfortunately I couldn’t repeat the magic and my arms got tired. No hydraulic steering is a full time work out.

I also got a chance to take several family members out for the first time, they all loved the boat and were impressed with how well the 150 pushes it.

 

[ntxwaterfowl]

Save your money and buy new sea star hydraulic steering and a 225 promax ! It’s a whole different world ! Best money you could spend !

I wish I could right now but I was barely able to get the boat. Hopefully before too long, saw a JSRE rebuilt 225 on FB the other day that looked and sounded sweet for $6500 I think. I could just imagine the acceleration...