New AT 37 owner....need alittle help
 

So i bought the red gray and yellow 08 37 AT w 525s that was posted on here. i have run it two weekends in the Put in Bay area and a whole week at lake Norris Tenn. My first question is does anyone know the best RPM to run at for best fuel consumption.i dont have the smart craft screen on the dash. 2cd question does any body else have a gas tank shaped like an upside down triangle? seems like after half a tank it drops to E real fast. is that normal? i personally think 82 gallon tanks are to small for the 525s. i am filling up every weekend it seems like. 3rd question Are the 32p 4 blade props the best for that boat? Is it worth having the props labbed? it seems like i am having trouble getting it to spin 5200 rpm? maybe im not trimming it out far enough? i also have not been real comfortable leaving it pinned at WOT for long periods of time considering i just bought it and i don't wanna break it just yet. so its possible i just need to trim it out farther and keep it pinned alittle longer? I have honestly only seen 78 to 80 mph and the previous owner said the best he ever saw was 83. but all these guys on here say mid 80s to 90 w 525s. i am interested in getting more out of it so Any info or things to watch out for or pay attention to? i would like any advise or tips from the AT crowd. All in all i do love this boat. great looks, great power, AC and great amenities. nice and deep so it feels safe and i was out in some snotty lake erie 4-6 ft waves this week and it handles great. One last thing. where is the first place to start if the refrigerator comes on but does not get cold? any and all info appreciated.

Damn that's a lot of questions! First off, congrats on the boat! I'll try to help out, but as a new owner myself, I won't have ALL the info. I have seen about 81 out of mine, trimmed to 4. I have been told that neutral position give the best performance. I was really only expecting 80-82 out of the boat in fresh water...figured salt water adds 2-3 mph...the only 37 with 525s that has run 90 was Stealin' Thunder, but that was with Herrings on it. The biggest problem I have with the boat is the fuel capacity...its about the same as my 35 Fountain...and the AT is a LOT more boat. That said, with all the good things about the boat, stopping for gas more often doesn't really harsh my buzz too much.

Welcome to the cult!

Congrats on the new boat! I always love seeing it in Grand Haven. From what I have read around 4k is best for cruise speed and fuel efficiency. 160 gal won't last twin 525s long if your in the throttles much. I have no clue about props on a 37. As for speed...I think to see 90 conditions would have to be near perfect, light load and in salt water...but I could be wrong.

All boats with belly tanks are triangle shaped. If it get's below a 1/2 tank, you need to be heading for the trailer or a gas dock.

You do NOT need to trim the boat out to go fast. I suggest marking exact neutral on your indicators as you have someone help you with a straight edge off the transom. Remember, a step bottom boat gives you natural "trim" as the attack angle points the nose of the boat upward due to the step. Depending on water conditions you might get a couple more MPH out of it by raising the drives 2 ticks above neutral, but that is on flat water. You will not see the top speed of the boat unless you are in 2-3 footers and you are really running the boat. I run the tabs at neutral at all times. If you raise them all the way up, that will give you another 1/2 mph.

32 4 blades are probably your top speed props.
A set of 5 blades would be your best cruise speed props. Since it seems as though you want some range out of the boat, you might talk to Brett at BBlades as he knows how to set up props for these boats. Unless you really have some experience throttling, 5 blades can be detrimental to the life of an XR when running in consistent rough water; they have a lot of bite.

The old racer's and kilo runner's trick is to slightly over trim to get the RPM's up, and then back it back down to get the top speed (bite back).
However, take it easy until you really know the boat. We don't want any bad stories. The 525EFI is a fantastic engine. Racers leave them virtually pinned at WFO for 50-100 miles at a time; but they also have a completely different maintenance schedule & program than you do.

Not sure about your fridge, it sounds like a bad component or loss of refrigerant. Best to contact the fridge's manufacturer and run it by them. There are no "offshore or rough water rated" marine fridges and microwaves. They do break. It happens. If you strap your Sub-Zero into the back of the Bigfoot monster truck for 50 hours, it probably won't fare so well at the end of the season either. :D

Thanks guys. sounds to me that maybe i was trimming to far. the drive and tab indicators have level marks on them and i have been running them level for the most part except when hammering down, then i would trim it up farther...i havent used the tabs to much unless it pretty rough. and so far it seems like i dont go anywhere w/o a boat load of people so i havent got much time w a light load.

Another thing i find is that i need to push the starboard motor alittle harder to run the same RPM as the port motor and that being said the port motor runs outa gas first. the port motor has 6 less hours on it and after i ran out a mile from the gas dock in Lake Norris i know why the less hours. apparently i wasnt the first guy to do that.... but i actually did it somewhat on purpose. i wanted to see what the actual run outa gas point was and i figured better to do it on lake Norris instead of Lake Erie... Well E means E in that boat. So finding the right RPM to get the most range out of a tank is important to me. 4k rpm sounds about right. the boat seems like it wants to run around the 3500 to 4k rpm range w the least amount of effort. but that is based on sound and feel.

Sydwayz, What kind of maintenance schedule do you recommend? hours between oil changes,drives and motors? just wandering what others do. i change motor oil every 25 hours, drives every 50 to 75 hours. also as a side note my mechanic Jim Simmons from Simmons Marine and Race team in told me the race guys himself included are running mercury 2 stroke oil in the crank case of their race engines. sounds crazy to me but i guess its a new thing. If you know Jim or have heard of him you know he knows his **** when it comes to high performance boats.

Thanks again guys and if any one is runnin around the lake erie islands this summer i can be found on kellys island or Put in bay on most weekends. Also any info on poker runs is appreciated. i did the key west poker run last year on my buddys 42ft fountain and it was a blast minus the 18hour drive to Miami.


Newest cult member Erik
37ft Active Thunder. "Runnin on E"

Your maintenance schedule is right on track.

Is this your first performance/twin engine boat? If so, way to do it right.

As for the lack of RPMs on one engine; it could be a couple things. Make sure the props are not dinged and or bent up. That can be done with a cursory check, but a professional is needed to be precise.
Second, I'd go over every spark plug wire and make sure it's positively locked on the plug. Any non-firing plug would give you the same condition, and cost you some fuel.
I'd also invest in a Rinda scanner if I were you; or have one to share among your boating friends with SmartCraft motors. www.rinda.com I've make a few posts on this in the past couple weeks which will come up with a search.

Next time you are out and have about 10 minutes to spare; try this with your boat.
Find a big open stretch of flat water with no one else around.
Set the drive trim at neutral and the tabs all the way up.
Set the throttles at 3500 RPM.
Then play with the trim while you watch the .decimal points on your GPS speedo. I can pretty much guarantee the fastest MPH in ticks will be with neutral trim.

Most people call a "cruise speed" between 3200 and 3500 RPM.

yeah, my last boat was a 1997 Mach 1 290 w a single 502 MPI. and before that was1987 23ft wellcraft Nova. I have been boating since i was 15 and i turn 33 in two days so i am no rookie but this is my first twin and i find it easier to maneuver and 1000 times more fun to drive. I was almost dead set to buy a fountain i even flew to florida looking at some and they were miss represented and not worth the money. i found this one and started doing some research. after some reading and talking to the previous owner i decided to go take a look and a test ride. the test ride was in 3 to 5 ft waves and i have been a happy boat owner ever since. i remembered being parked next to the blue AT w the lightning down the side at the key west poker run, and thinking it looked awesome and i didnt know anything about. Glad i learned about em so far anyway. hope she holds up and stays nice.

I need to get another set of props anyway so i have some spares but i will check em. i will also go over the plug wires. and try out what your saying w the trim. My buddy has a set of 34p 4blades what would those do if i tried them?
I thank you for the help.

Erik,

Don't get too excited about the tachs and RPM difference. We have to use a box to convert the digital engine signal to the analog signal the somewhat antiquated Livorsi gauges will read. I hate to say they are all off. Get something to read smartcraft.

Next time you are out simply turn your head a bit and listen to the engines, bump the throttle on one up or back and listen for harmony. You don't need to stinkin' gauges......

Pat

If you're looking for a run Aug 9th and 10th in Buffalo we'd love to have more AT representation Just search buffalo poker run 2013

Go to leopa.com . They do a lot on Erie. Good bunch of guys.

You will have a very hard time getting on plane with those 34P 4 blades; if at all. The only AT that can really turn them at proper RPM is a 33AT with 525s or better.

Your best investment would be a set of labbed 32s or talk to BBlades about a set of 5 blades.

Congrats on your purchase! She's a gorgeous one and definitely needed a good home. Been stalking her in the classifieds for a while :)

Congrats on the new boat! This must be the new boat my Dad said is now racked next to him.. I hope to get a chance to look it over when I am back in town over the 4th.

I'm certainly no expert, but most boats will run most efficiently around 3500 RPM, so if you want to get the most out of your fuel tanks, that's were you should run it. Of course all the fun happens when you move the sticks past that point! Congrats on the new boat, it'll be a great match for Erie!

I am a new ohio active thunder owner myself. I ran out of gas this weekend also. It said it had a quarter tank and one pass down the lake fuel pressure dropped and boom out of fuel on starboard side. Limped back 2 miles on 1 motor with no steering. It was fun and I love this boat. My 33 might be different but it likes a little trim to reach top speed. Have fun with boat and maybe we can hook up at the bay

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, Pat's right about this one!:party-smiley-004: When the digital signal is converted back to analog, the Livorsi gauges are about as reliable as the weather forcast. It took me a while to accept it also. Sometimes I get concerned about the disparity on alot of the gauges, not just tachs. Then I look at the smartcraft screen and realize the engines are exactly where they should be. Next time, I'll get a larger screen and ditch the gauges!

yeah the last owner replaced the boxes under the dash that change the signal from digital to analog. he said the gauges went haywire on him so he changed out the boxes. i had a bit of a glitch in the gauges this weekend, i shut it down and restarted and it was fine. i am gonna look into getting the smartcraft readout screen. i also been thinking about a much bigger gps chartplotter maybe i can find something that will do both and i can mount it in place of old gps. i will say cutting a bigger hole or should i say square in my dash does not sound fun. but may have to be done.

my livorsi gauges are goofy also. on my gps screen i have the gauges that pop up but only 1 motor is reading? wonder where it is disconected at or what the deal is? never have messed with that stuff before?

where is the connector for the smart craft on the motor?

this is a nice little gauge.

http://www.mercurymarine.com/gauges-...al/vesselview/

Yeah just forget the gauges. Duck down under the windshield some to get wind out of your ears. Listen to engines going straight and move one throttle until they stop "warbling" (yes Steve... real aircraft term. Lol) you might have to adjust throttle cables some to get sticks to match. When guages go crazy just shut it off and restart. Don't worry too much about them, if a parameter is off you will get an alarm and certain faults will shut the engine down. Have fun and congrats on the purchase!!

Still waiting for my ride. Nice boat

do these boats have a sync gauge ? my old twin wellcraft nova did and you could always hear when they were in sync tachs would be off but sync was right on

I've heard of an orange breasted warbler, any relation?

:( I was hoping to see it next week when were back home.

where is your dads boat racked at ?

Venetian in the open rack building. I think right in between yours and a twin step gun

Here's the AGI boxes.

Now that is some pretty wiring!

Pat. I am looking into that vessel view digital gauge. Have u put one of those in a boat w analog gauges before? do all the gauges still work in conjunction w vessel view or do you hook it up instead of the AGI boxes. Maybe a stupid question but ur response to TDSTYG with the pic of where the smartcraft hook up is got me thinking.

J-bonez ill have to check it out. probly going up tomorrow

Congrats! Sure miss mine. Watched the poker runners go by yesterday and it damn near brought a tear to my eye.

I highly recommend the Hydromotive 5 blades. Do a search and you should find a thread by me about them. As Sideways said they hook up really well so you need to be good on the sticks.

You sure your tanks are not 100 gallons? Regardless, the 525's are thirsty beasts for sure!

Finally some real world speed numbers, not this 90mph+ internet b.s.

http://static.someecards.com/someeca...60_2867279.png

Nice to see you are still lurking in the forum.

That 90 was not real world because it was near impossible to get the boat on plane with those props. They did not stay on long after that. But he got to say he did it!

The OP's posted speeds are low. Mine would hit 85 - 86 any day. (Even up the fresh water James River.) 87 - 88 pretty much guaranteed in perfect conditions. Even with stock Hydromotive 5 blades, which is why those props work so great on these boats. The Max's need to be labbed to work well.

That seems to be the norm for this setup.

I am looking for a set of props for this 37 AT. i have bravo 1 32p 4 blade stock. i hear you guys saying get 5 blades and some guys say what i have is best for performance. Either way i only have the one set i am running so i would like to get a new set and keep these for spares. anyone got a set of either one they wanna sell? preferably labbed. I would like to try the 5 blade before i spend $2k to $2500 on them but i know that's probly not gonna happen. so i am counting on fellow AT guys to give me their experiences and knowledge on the matter. i am pretty sure Pat told me on the phone that 32p 4 blades r best and i find it hard to argue w the man building these things. but im open to hear what other guys have tried. Should i call BBlades or anyone else recommended?

also what diameter is best. i see there is some small differences out there. same w brand. does the brand matter? have the diffusers cut or no? i know alot less than i thought i knew about props once i started looking around.

Get a set of Mercury Labbed 32s. Part # 48-831919L55 and 20L55. This has been the best for top end.

Boat looked real nice. I got to see it when it got put back on the rack on Sunday.

Oh if only there was a way to keep members out of this forum.. I bet I`m NUMBER 1 on that list!! lol

Well my 5 year old elected me the Anti Coolaid Police so I`m getting my lurk on , sorry Atari