Offshoreonly.com - Rebirth of a Baja

Well we went to the lake today.

Shannon I got your voice mail but we were trying to load and I had my hands full. I'm glad you did not head out it was not a nice weather day even with the warm temps.

Man that wind was brutal. I don't remember ever seeing LKN that rough brfore. It compared to those lakes Jason Smith goes out on!

I backed the trailer in the water and let the engines run about 15 minutes and spoke woth Mark Boos once before heading out. The wife was excited but once we got there and she got a good taste of the 25 MPH winds she decided to stay in the truck and keep the trailer in the water for me.

I idled out of Queens almost to the main channel and all looked good so I pushed the throttles forward and the boat felt MUCH lighter than before with the added horsepower. She came up on plane very easy and quick and I cruised to the 150 bridge at 3500 RPM. I came off plane and raised the hatch and all was good. We still have a water leak on the sea strainer but Mark gave me a good idea on how to cure that. I came back on plane heading south and as I went by the inlet to Queens the wife got a good look and she said it sounded "Wicked Nasty".

The engines are AWESOME!

The drives did every thing they were suppose to do. I did as Dick Tryce likes and came on plane a short time and then off and back on again to try and let everything seat n the drives.

The drives shift very easy and the motors idle so smooth it is not funny. They do not even know you shift the drives in gear and out.

The 32 pitch props feel real good. At 3200 RPM I am out of vacumn and at zero boost on the gauges. I NEVER ran them over 4000 RPM today. At 4000 RPM I was just seeing the slightest boost of 1 to 2 PSI.

The boat just feels awesome with the added horsepower. It feels much lighter and more nimble than I remember. It had so much throttle left that I can only imagine what she will do.

I was the only one out there, it was extremely windy and I could not afford to break anything and get into trouble today.

There are water leaks to deal with on the strainers, the battery on the GPS speedo is dead and I have no readings on the water pressure gauges. These are all very minor and easy to fix before spring.

I spoke with Mark right after we got her back on the trailer and he is very pleased with what I reported and I am extremely pleased with the way the engines ran.

It was a lot to take in and being my myself I was overly cautious. Don't slam me too bad but I never got to listen to the ladies scream today. I think I was too worried about getting her safely back on the trailer and I am VERY thankful that neither engine died while attemping to drive back on the trailer or I would have been in trouble fast.

I have to get off here and head back to the office. Just wanted to give you all an update and tell you that we are very pleased with this setup and look forward to getting her dialed in early spring. I think I will definately leave the mufflers off.