Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

Kent - Thanks for the offer to help. But, I already splashed it a couple of hours ago. The weather's great! I never heard back from Formula78 and it looks like Jason may not make it out tonight. But, I will be around somewhere - either Carlos & Charlie's, Johnny Finn's or Aunt Tilly's.

Clay - It's bound to hit 80. Perfect boating weather. Come on out.

Kent - If you want to grab a beer and Johnny Finn's is closer then we could meet for a beer there. I'm in Costa Bella so I'm really close either way.

I'll check this site later or see you guys out there. If not tonight then we'll catch up tomorrow.


Brent

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

I took off today around 2:00pm. I cruised over to Johnny Fins, noone there, except for normal stuff. Cruised over to C&C's, and only cruisers there...Cruised to the dam and back, and saw nothing but cruisers and wimpers.

Then my eyeballs started getting cold around 5:30. It must have gotten down to 70 on my way back home, after seeing no hotrod boats all day...Noone to even race!!

Oh well, I did do a run, albeit all by myself, of about 30 seconds. I hit 76.3!! The best I did when Bob L. and I ran for the first check out run was 74.7, with him and I in the boat. I had 3/4 tank of gas today, but only me, on smooth water... I'm happier! I wonder when the speedometer needle will bend? It's pegged at 80++...

So, not a wasted day, but I did burn some gas all by myself, which is always not so much fun...

I'll look for y'all tomorrow. It should be another REALLY awesome weather day!! Sunday's weather looks incredible, too!!

Also, beware of that large work barge just north of Carlos and Charlies. They are doing something with a large cable or something towards shore, and have something shallow as well even on the lakeside. Keep your distance. The first time I went by, there was a cop boat telling everyone to stay away. The second time he was gone...Be careful there. I have no idea what they are doing.

So, any time and place estimates for tomorrow? Otherwise, I'll just be blasting down the lake. Look out for that plain jane looking purple and yellow Donzi 22zx, and yell!!

Hey Brent, isn't Costa Bella that row of infinite buck homes, just east (south) of Lakeway?

Kent

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

Kent - Sorry I never got to make it back on the water yeaterday. I ended up spending the night in the hospital with family. But, I am heading out in a little bit and will be out tomorrow. I'll look for your Donzi. 76.3 is pretty fast. Did Bob build it or is it a stock HP500?

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

Hi Brent:
I am sorry about your father in law, and that you had to spend time at the hospital. I sure hope and pray that he does well. That's always hard.
Our best wishes.
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It was great to meet you today! Too bad I had to leave to get my wife home to pick up the kids.

Actually, it was the first time the Mrs has been on the boat with the new power!
Shock to me is that she likes it! She doesn't like to go fast, but she mentioned that she loves the sound of power! Funny. She has given me such a hard time about doing the repower...
Driving home today at 35mph or so, we came up on a cruiser doing maybe 30, throwing probably 3 foot wakes. Since the Donzi's minimal plane is about 30, I asked her what she wanted to do. She said whatever I wanted. I said, "Hold on!". I upped it to about 50 and we jumped the wake! We didn't get enough air to get the prop out, but we definitely got some air! She LIKED IT!!! How bizarre is that!?!?
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Maybe it was a good thing that I had to come home though:
I came back to my dock to hear the boat's buzzer going off...Humm...The temps were fine, and the oil pressure was great, so I opened the hatch and there was no drive oil in the reservoir. I looked around, and the bilge had lots of drive oil in it...My suspicion is that that the hose from the reservoir was rubbing on the drive shaft, as it is routed through there..
So, I couldn't make it back out to meet again, and buy you a beer.

Bummer.

I looked but can't get to the hose, as I don't know where it attaches to the drive, and can't feel it down there. I'll try to poke around again in the morning, but I don't hold a lot of hope. Time for Bob's expertise, most likely...

If I can find and fix this, then I'll make sure to put my sound meter in the boat. Your boat is pretty LOUD!! I love it!! You don't have mild cams, either!! I LOVE the rumpity-rumpity!! I couldn't even hear my rumpity-rumpity after you fired yours up!
With the sound meter, we could find out how far you are from the law limits...
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Your boat is VERY NICE!! The engines sure are purdy! I love blowers! The rest of the boat looks great! You mentioned having things to work on, but that's half the fun! I like problems to fix when I can fix them! And the extra wires just might come in handy at some point!
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As I mentioned today, the HP500 is out of a Fountain, where the guy upped the power. I bought the engine with 180 hours on it, and redid the top end myself. It is totally stock. Bob swapped the motors and set everything up on this one. I am comfortable with engines, but not pulling or installing them in boats.
Yes, I was very happy to see 76+ on the GPS! I know there is more there. I am running a stock 28p Bravo prop, am hitting a little under 5,000 rpm, and have huge amounts of water coming out of the mufflers.
For the water volume problem, I have ordered a Merc Racing regulator/bypass, and will reinstall the thermostat. This should reduce the volume and perhaps up the HP some. Some on the 'other' forum have mentioned that this should help quite a bit. Also, with the huge water volume, the HP500 is about half as loud as my old 7.4MPI!!!!! That should NEVER happen!!
Note: I am running an EMI crossover with a bypass, and had 35+ PSI water pressure at 2,500 rpm with the thermostat!! When I installed a Whipple washer instead, the pressure dropped to 20 PSI at WOT, but zero at idle. There is also virtually no water temp, now, though, and the oil temps take forever to come up, even though these motors have an oil thermostat.

For the mufflers, the Corsa's that I am running are also restrictive, apparently. My plugs are very dark now. I plan on ordering some GGB's at some point, through Bob.

For the prop, Bob says labbing it will likely get the r's up and get at least a couple of MPH.
So, maybe 80 when it's all over with???

Oh, and high on the list is full hydraulic steering...But, so far, the boat handles very well.
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I hope when you wring yours out that the blower oil spitting problems are gone. That would be nice!

(Sorry for the LONG post. I type fast.)
Take care,
Kent

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

It was a great weekend for either boating or Harley riding. It was probably the last time we will see temps in the 80's this year.

I hope everyone had fun. I know I did! :D

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

Hey Kent -

It was good to meet you last weekend. Sorry to hear about you loosing your drive oil. I guess that's all part of it. I did have a chance to wring mine out a bit and the SB blower is still spitting out lube so they're going to have to come off. Good thing that the colder weather is coming and I don't have to pull it apart during the summer. I think i'm going to have Bob go ahead and do the work and also pull the heads off and inspect them, replace the springs and I am guessing that I may need new valve guides since I get smoke at start up after running it. So, it looks like I have a winter project.

I'd love to put a sound meter on my boat to see where I am. But, I know it is way, way over the legal limit. I'm guessing that i'm over 100 db at idle so I will have to figure something out.

Your Donzi is certainly nice. I think you'll get a lot out of some prop work considering the rpms you're seeing now. I'm sure you can hit 80 in that thing. That will be one wild ride!

I hope to see you out there again. Maybe I'll make it out once more before the end of the season. And then there's always the cabin cruiser that gets kept in the water so it doesn't get winterized. If I really have a need to get on the water I can always putter around in it.


Take Care,

Brent

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

Any pics from the weekend?

Re: November Boating on Lake Travis
 

I wish we would have taken some pics last weekend. It might have been the last chance for the smmer. Next year I'd like to get some action and jumping pics. Maybe a few of us can get out there with our digital cams in a few diferent boats and get some action pics. I'll have to find a massive cruiser wake to get some air under my big old pig and make it fly for a pic.

Brent