oboyskibum

Sweet rage love the blue and grey color. Congrats!

blownhammer2000

iTrader: (1)

very nice! you will love it! blue and grey are my colors of chioce also, the walk thru rages are not to common, let us know how you like it

zum78spd

It's an incredible boat! Took it out Saturday morning in Havasu. Kept hitting the rev limiter at about 73 on the gauge, didn't GPS it. Lots of torque and gets up on plane in about 4 secs, if not less, and pulls hard all the way to the rev limiter. I love the afternoon chop now, it was rough in the 22, but this boat just skips right over it. Was cruising over the chop at about 55-60 without much trouble. The walkthrough is great, I prefer it over the mid-cabins. Lots of storage and sitting room. Gas consumption is high! Going from the 350 mag to the 502 hurts! I used to gas up the 22 and go all weekend. I gased up the Rage around 12p and ran very low around 6p. Given the throttle was pinned most of the time, but still hurts! Anyone have gas consumption numbers under normal conditions? Looking forward to next weekend!

JD Dearden

I burned up 84 gal in about half a day.

Steve Zuckerman

zum,
Sounds like you are having a ball with your new Rage. The big block is going to use more fuel than the small block. It has more displacement and horsepower.
I don't know what Nordic told you regarding break in procedures. Most people recommend running them at varying RPMs for the first 10/15 hours. If you are hitting your rev limiter limiter, you need to try a larger pitch propeller. That, and pulling back on the throttle to a more efficient cruising RPM (generally around 3500 on a big block) vs WOT can double your mileage. My boat gets approximately 1 MPG @ WOT, and 2 MPG @ 3500.
Regards,
Steve

zum78spd

Thanks Steve! It was mostly the excitement of the new boat and big block, but it won't always be pinned, haha! I will try staying around 3500 this coming weekend and see how it does and possibly switching to the 26p prop. Also, I was varying the RPMs throughout the day and will continue to do so until 10 or so hours.

Steve Zuckerman

I didn't want to come off as a buzz kill, but new engines will last longer if they are broken in per the manufacturers instructions. Banging the rev limiter can be hard on any motor. I don't know how Mercury is limiting the new 502 Mags (probably cutting the ignition, maybe fuel, possibly both). I never liked they way they did it on my motor (cutting off the fuel flow), A it didn't work very well, and B the last thing you want to do on a blower motor is cut off the fuel @ WOT, because it goes lean. I have added an MSD limiter to my ignition system, and it does work better now.
Regarding propping your boat, if you have really good/great acelleration on an I/O, it's quite possible that you can run more pitch. You may lose a little acelleration, but you should pick up some MPH, particularly if you are hitting the rev limiter. You should also have better cruise speeds at the same RPM, saving a little on fuel.
A lot of us have high temp/high altitude/heavy load propellers, and a second or more (with more pitch or different blade configuration) that work better for cool/light/low altitude.
Regards,
Steve

JFT

Would love to hear your impressions after a few additional months of usage.

I also own a 22E open bow and now that the season is over, I am definitely moving up to either a rage or Thor open bow.

I am especially interested in ride improvement of the rage in choppy water over the Evolution. Are you still happy with the walk thru open bow?

Thank you in advance.

JF

zum78spd

I apologize for the late reply. The 25 is night and day different from the 22. You would think 2.5 feet in length (22 is 22.2' and 25 is 24.7') won't make a huge difference but it's not just the length. The 25 is wider and has a step hull. The ride over choppy water is unbelievable. Take north lake Havasu at around 4pm for example. The ride coming back from the sandbar in the 22 was horrible, but very comfortable in the 25. It just gets up on the chop and goes. I can cruise at around 50mph over the chop and barely feel it. Love the 25!!! Also, you'll love the torque from the new 502. There hasn't been a single 496 that was able to hang with me out of the hole. Go for the 25 and don't look back! Good luck!

sport

Nice boat I seen it at the factory last fall nice and clean looking. Is it safe to go up the river this time of year I"ll be going down there next weekend and was thinking about taking a criuse up the river one day.
John