hotrod62

I have been hanging in the Magnum forum for years and recently purchased a 96 Top Gun, hoping to get some advice some experienced Cigarette owners. This is my first Cig and I can't rave enough about how awesome the boat is but it seems like I have have to keep the tabs completely buried to get the bow to settle down and ride descent. I can run the tabs down about half way in a light chop and the boat will ride great but 2 footers and up the boat is not happy without the tabs all the way down. The drives pretty much need to be all the way in regardless of what kind of water you are in.

I was told the boat came with a high X dimension from the factory but don't have any experience with top guns to know where the sweet spot might be. It has 3A's that sit with the prop centerline about 8 1/4" down from the bottom of the transom notch. Can anyone lend some insight or give me a comparison on a straight bottom Top Gun that is dialed in. Maybe props, maybe spacers? 16x28 4 blade clevers, not sure what the rake is.

class6

Go faster and raise the tabs. Put the rest of the season leaning to drive it before you start spending money

thisistank

I had a 95 with 3A's. There is a sweet spot for sure. I always found that if you kicked the drives out "a bit" and dropped the tabs down "a hair" from neutral the azz end would pick up slightly and the boat would loosen up and not be so sticky. Too much drives out and not enough tab would ride the bow high and porpoise. Too much tab with the drives tucked and that the thing would run wet and bury the nose.

The straight bottom cigs do not like flat water. They LOVE running in heavy chop / 1 to 2' swell and will eat up big water as well. Sounds like you need to get out and take a day to really experiment with the boat and different settings. Depending on what boat you came out of, there is a little bit of a learning curve coming out of a smaller / bravo boat. Most of those type boats you kick the drives out to loosen it up and ring the speed out of it. Can't nec do that with bigger drives / boats.

I NEVER had to drag tabs though, not even to get on plane. I pretty much just left the tabs in the neutral position or just a click down unless we were in huge water. If you need to bury your tabs all the time, something isn't right. I do know that if we put anything heavy in the bow (anchor, luggage, etc ) it would cause the boat to porpoise noticeably and require a LOT of tab whether it was a Tiger with 6's, Gun with 3a's or Café with Bravos.

Congrats on the boat. Post some pics!

Unlimited jd

iTrader: (5)

Tank, your old boat was at the Borden light poker run this weekend. I think Jeff got some pics.

thisistank

I'd love to see em. I've spoken to Mike (the new owner) a few times. I told him I want it back LOL. He seems to be enjoying it which is good!

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

Everything said above is correct. The issue you are having is caused by the Notched Transom. The notch is there to put the props in more/cleaner water in rougher conditions. However, on flat water, your lifting strakes are designed lift the boat and send the balance of the boat to the transom. Well, at the transom, you have a part of the hull "missing" which is the notch. Sonic and other brands can have the same issue due to the notched transoms, especially noticed on flat water. As stated, you just need to find the sweet spot.
A tip I always used, was marking two spots on my trim indicator window, with a Sharpie: Mark Neutral, where the tabs are parallel with the bottom plane of the hull. And, also mark (what is usually about 1 tick down) when the trailing edge of the tab, meets a straight edge coming off the bottom of the hull; which is virtually the equivalent of extending the hull.
You can do the same with your drive indicators too, to mark neutral and your "sweet spot", so it's easy to find with just a glance.

Also, you may benefit by going to longer tabs; depending on what you have. IF you have 280 K-planes, 380 K-plane plates should swap right in; if you can find them.

Zero Patience

I support all the advise above. They all hop, until 60 mph, then the tabs are not needed.

donzi matt

iTrader: (1)

I have a straight bottom factory #6 1995 Top Gun and I have found this boat is a whole new world compared to my previous bravo equipped Cafe. I have found the sweet spot cruising around 45 requires dragging a bit more tab, over 60 it is much happier and easier to free up, but I haven't found yet what it likes the most to be run wide open, mostly due to my lack of doing so. Too much tab and it will hop freely. My boat is pretty heavy with a bunch of stereo equipment spread all over, so your experience may be different. As others have said, it is apparent glass flat water is not what the hull likes, throw some chop in the equation and the boat is much more level. I'm still beside myself how good this boat is in rough water, it just doesn't seem to care.

ICDEDPPL

iTrader: (1)

This summer I have found the smaller the diameter prop the more she tends to hop. By small I mean 17-17.25.
Seems the larger diameter props, the better . 16 is pretty tiny. props are like tires, get the wrong ones and everything rides like ****

hotrod62

Thanks for the feedback guys! I need to get some more seat time to learn the boat better but I feel something needs to change. My other boat is a 1971 27 magnum with xrs and it is incredibly responsive to trim. Even with the tabs up and drives out a ways that boat will never hop or ride bow high. It slices right through a 1-3ft chop where the top gun will hop. With tabs down about 1/4 of the way the boat starts porpoising, I have tried throttling through it to get it to lay down but it seems to keep hoping even at speed... also needs tabs mid way down to bring it up on plane. I had it out in some 4 footers and it is quite impressive I just want to get it sorted out to run right in a 1-2 ft chop which should be plenty to get some air under the flat bottom and perform. With 850s in the boat I would love to see it cruise around 60. With the tabs down the Rpms are up around 4K runyning maybe 50.