SS-2000/Mercury 200xs setup

[FlatOutAlly]

Damn good advice right there. Drive the boat with your azz and tweak it from there.

ps - glad to see you're not banned here, Jeff.

 

[aeneas]

Thanks racerx and FlatOutAlly! I feel more comfortable with the boat at low attitude with the ET Lightning. I have a Hydromotive prop in the mail that I am very excited to try - it's a QIV OT 28.

Here is a clip from a run I did a couple of days ago: http://youtu.be/Bu41ZGIOPU8

The ET Lightning 28 lab could easily go into the rev limiter but I was testing/setting up for a good run. Fuel tank full, same with oil (=heavy boat)...

 

[aeneas]

Old:

New:

 

[aeneas]

I have had a summer of setup and seat time. At first it did not handle well but after several adjustments it is like on a string now.

Todd B at Hydromitive made me a fantastic Hydromotive QIV OT for allround purposes. Here's a clip of me running it. At about 57 seconds in I trim out and the boat gets up and goes...

http://youtu.be/YiK9qeW1gc0

I have had so much fun in my beautiful Allison boat. :very happy

 

[whipper]

Nice looking water to run. Fantastic looking SS and motor combo!! Now for the advise part..:big grin You are under trimmed. Watch the vid and look at your spray of the prop. It should be to the top of your cowl high. Now maybe its just me but your motor sounds awfully quite? Could be 3 things. Your prop shaft hight is 1 inch or less below, Could be because your so under trimmed or those 200XS motors are very quite? Normally when running fast the prop is half in half out trimmed right. This allows the exhaust to exit more near the surface and the motor sounds louder because the water isn't muffeling the exhaust as much.

Buy no means am I being critical in a bad way. But i know you want to get her set up for faster speeds. So these are some things to think about that you will notice when you get going faster. There were still small corrections being made and maybe a little over correction hear and there. Some of that could also be attributed to the under trim condition or lower prop shaft hight. When your on the pad going over 70 and up with the motor at say 1/4 below to even you require less correction than with more hull in the water at higher speeds. Thats because the hull isn't reacting to in perfections in the surface of the water as much. With the right amount of counter balance and the hull riding higher with more trim and or prop shaft hight you can almost take your hands of the wheel.

i know you didnt ask for that but I had to mention it for ya bud. Some one correct me if im wrong thats just what i see. Be safe with the trim and take small steps up. Went the water is perfect try a little higher and more trim. Use your video to look back at the spray of the prop. Perfection is top of cowl when your even with the pad. Much higher and your over trimmed and loose forward thrust. Most of this you wont even notice happening because you are still gaining speed. it only at Max speed were the over trim situation may rear it ugly head. :big grin

 

[aeneas]

whipper, thank you for your input.

I am posting here to get some feedback so I don't have to 'invent the wheel' again.

The engine is not quite at all. It must be the GoPro Hero 3+ Silver Edition camera that reduces noise. When I get out of the boat after riding without a helmet - my ears are ringing.
The exhaust block off plate was removed before the engine was even put on a boat. :big grin

I will go down to the boat storage now and take some pictures of propshaft height.

Tomorrow there will not be any rain so the boat is going in... We have had 100mm in two days - see pic from yesterday of our golf course:

 

[TBuck2003]

Nice Job Nils !!!!

 

[whipper]

haha awesome looks like a swamp.:big grin All the trees have shed there leafs hear now and getting cooler.
I found this video of what I would call near perfection. Granted its an STV but look at how the gearcase is half in half out when he accelerates. Thats the goal but not as easy to get to as it might appear. You need perfect water for this to happen because when your running half and half and hit a wave your now out of the water and risk hooking on the way down. But when things are perfect you want it to look like this. For maximum reduced drag letting the prop spin free as possible while still maintaining thrust. Surfacing props and semi surfacing props like the ones we all use are designed to take advantage of this prop shaft hight. There alot of natural lift in the pad on an Allison so you wouldn't need to run say as high as a STV would for instance and every setup will be different because of hull weight and driver weight,power, prop etc. But when the stars align and you have a great prop and the weather and water are one you will be fastest when the props shaft looks like this grasshopper.:big grin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAxSVvVFk9M

At 1.48 now that is perfect!! See the spray because the top half of the prop is out of the water. Thats were ya get the cowl hight or so spray from. If you have spray that high with a lowered engine its just over trim and your not creating as much forward thrust. Its a fine line. Find that line and you'll get the most you can and its fun trying to figure it out i think. Takes a little while buts thats all setup and thats half the battle but worth it in the end. You just have to be extra careful when trying new stuff like higher prop shaft heights!! Be conscious of all the little things you do and you'll be fine.

 

[aeneas]

Thank you Todd! :beer:

Amazingly we are going to open 9 holes tomorrow if it does not rain. The golf course is ok, some of the roads are washed away. The one on the right from the red houses and down - more than a foot of gravel is gone.

whipper, I watched the clip and it looks like a F2 cat with 200xs sst. I would love to have a 8.000rpm limited 200xs sst with a 12" mid, wire steering and a ssm lower.

I have now been down to the boat storage to measure and adjust. I did it with minute precision. I measured and found the propshaft to be 13mm (0.6") below.

I thought I had been accurate measuring...

Anyway, the engine is up 13mm to be level with the pad. It will be all in for a n00b like me... :embarassed

 

[whipper]

whipper, I watched the clip and it looks like a F2 cat with 200xs sst. I would love to have a 8.000rpm limited 200xs sst with a 12" mid, wire steering and a ssm lower.

I have now been down to the boat storage to measure and adjust. I did it with minute precision. I measured and found the propshaft to be 13mm (0.6") below.

I thought I had been accurate measuring...

Anyway, the engine is up 13mm to be level with the pad. It will be all in for a n00b like me... :embarassed

Yes sweet motor for sure!! But the gear case even with the SM on a 15 or 20 inch should react the same way. Bullet up to the surface but level not angled while running. It was just the best example i could find. There was some SS running shots and videos ive saved over the years but cant seem to find them with my knob brain.:] Theres some good books about this stuff like Secrets of Propeller Design by James D Russell and Darris touches on it in the red book. Its off course prop dependent also as i wouldnt surface a trophy for instance.
If you can mount your go pro so you can see whats going on back there like the guys in the clip it really helps to see were your setup is in real time so you can mark your gauge when its just right. Then you can get there every time if you want to. I only run there when im going for it mostly. i have a book and Write down all the speeds at different prop heights until i loose MPH and gain rpm along with weather temps. That way I have a base line as to what to expect to run when conditions are good. Just some stuff to consider thats all. We have long winters and have more time than most to get prepared for the spring with a plan. There a million different ideas and theories out there but the result is the same. Top speed will always be when you run out of rpm in the peek power band of the motor at the highest gear case hight with the right angle for maximum forward thrust before loosing mph. Basicly.:laughing

 

[whipper]

I used to get a different measurement all the time until I started using a level on the fly wheel and skeg and a head of the pad and all along the trailer and wings plus laser.:big grin Oh and try and find a level surface is another story.:beer:

 

[aeneas]

I tried a laser before but now I used a level:
1. pad level
2. propshaft level
3. floor level

Measured from the floor to the pad and to the center of the propshaft. Now the propshaft is level to the pad and incidently the trim was at 5.0 on the SmartCraft. :big grin

I will try to film the spray and also later if I can film the lower...

 

[whipper]

Level on top the flywheel is level also. Neutral trim and good time to mark it some were.:big grin The pad is not level. Slopes down aft like a rounded wedge then theres a small lip at the transom. Forward of the pad is level for a bit on the keel line.

 

[aeneas]

I measured about 2' in from the lip on the keel line (bottom of the pad). Used a level on the propshaft too. That's how it is going to be when I test next time. Either it will run beautifully or I will make an unplanned stop... :big grin

 

[LakeAnna]

So long as you don't make any "unplanned turns" your going to be close. I have a 30 here that would move along on that bad boy.
You have 1.75 gears I guess???

 

[aeneas]

I'll try to avoid the unplanned turns. :gasp I run 1.87 gears. Thank you for the offer, I am buying one of David Shook's Mazco 30p from Roy. It will be very interesting to try - if it doesn't work I'll hang it on the wall and buy a 32p...

I am already thinking of modifications like converting the supercharger and raising the rev limiter and lower unit mods (Allison cut).

 

[LakeAnna]

Just saying about the 30 anyway she is not for sale bro. Look forward to seeing how it does. Be careful.

 

[aeneas]

Thank you Chris

Well, despite raising the engine .6 of an inch there still wasn't much of a rooster. Also the boat didn't handle well in midrange - it was very sensitive to trim (tried to chine walk) but at high speed it was like on a string - so today it was slow or fast. What to do?

I am getting a friend in to help me measure prop shaft height... He has held two speed records with rib boats and is a boat designer/builder so he should be able to get it straitened out.

The Hydromotive took the boat to 91.7mph still working on the setup. Here is a clip of todays fastest run at 91.7 in the chop: http://youtu.be/rTCIvgODHXc

 

[aeneas]

I took the boat to my friend to have it measured and we concluded that I was a bit off... We jacked up the engine a fair bit so it is now 1/4" below and yesterday I went out to test.

On the previous test I had experienced tendencies to chine walk at midrange, these were now gone. The boat runs like on a string. I even made a couple of runs where I did not move he steering wheel - it just hung and ran straight.
Previously the boat has felt like I could loose grip, this is also history. The boat feels fantastic! No porpoising, no chine walking and responds well to trim. The next issue is that when at speed the steering wheel moves to 1/5 - 1/4 off centered (stock sportmaster torque tab). When do I fix this and how? What i mean with when is after which propeller? Top speed 3 blade? Allround 4 blade? Allround 3 blade? How - I guess I file it down..? Or send it away to be cut or just buy an Allison cut lower...

Yesterdays conditions were not ideal with wind and waves. I had a hard time finding a good testing spot. I don't like wind because I got too much under the boat last time around and it blew me off the pad: http://youtu.be/Qf_s4IOsYp0
Here is a clip from yesterdays test. No top speed (high 80's) but it shows how the boat runs and how effortlessly it reaches almost 90mph. First minute is to show the distance and then I turn back into the wind (had to keep the boat low): http://youtu.be/PQyAn3AVBFU

 

[SSTOM]

I run a stock profile skeg just thinned a little and worked the torque tab I also run even with the pad. I have bottom work done to the boat so the lip isn't stock and I have found on my boat that the 3 blades are faster. I don't run anything over a 30 pitch the boat seems like it's lifting the stern and rolls a lot more 28 is my favorite pitch to run but my ecu's don't have limiters on them and I can spin more rpm's. The SS is a great boat I have had mine for ten yrs and love it.