94 Top Gun speeds
 

As a lot of you know, I am repowering my 94. I am looking at 4 different packages

500 efi
525 s/c
550 n/a
600 s/c

2 set ups are used - 2 will be new when built

My old set up were 502/ 390's which got me 63-66 mph all day long. Does anybody have similar hp in there boat so I can compare what my actual top speed should be around ??

My guess would be

500 68-70
525 70-72
550 73-75
600 76-78 mph

Ive tried the formula thats been floating around for my 502's and it came out REAL SLOW compared to what I was actually doing.

Merry Christmas

Bob

We have a Carbon Fiber, very light boat. 525 blower motors. It runs between 71-73 depending on the weight in the boat.

LS JR.

Lucky, Im surprised that it doesnt do better !! My boat is a tub. I have a hsitload of equipment and try to run with 2/3 full of gas or better and still got those ## with 390 hp

Here is my go at it:
500 efi / 71MPH
525 s/c / 72MPH
550 n/a / 74MPH
600 s/c / 78MPH- Boatme gets a little faster with this exact set-up but I think his boat is lighter than yours Bob.

BTW Bob I am bringing the Cafe Racer tomorrow to Syracuse for the pick up by the gentelmen from Chicago I should be passing by your house on the way back in the late afternoon early evenning, let me know if your around.

Those numbers are on a in water speedo.

LS JR.

GL, Ill be home all day. Ill be pissed if you dont stop and say hi. You have to see the new Kitchen that we had to put in due to your last visit !!!

Ive figured this kitchen equals 2 - 525's with exhaust

It looks real nice...but I want some motors waa waa waa

518 644-9115 call on that not the cell

Bob

There is a 95 Gun here with Bravo's and 500's. 65-68 on it's best day.

I have had several Top Guns with everything between 575hp up to 975hp a side; with 600sc all day any day people, fuel and adult beverages, 74mph on fresh water lake is the best. The 975's ran 93mph same load same conditions.

My friends '94 TG with Hawk SC550's and Bravo's ran 71-73 mph in salt on Gaffrig, light to medium load, non Kevlar'd hull.

GLH,

I live in Northern Illinois / Chicagoland . . is your Cafe coming to this region ? Or further south. Thanks. Just curious :)

Gentelmen lives in Antioch, IL and told me his marina is 40 miles North of Chicago. He must of driven thru Chicago today at some time. Real nice guy named Bob. He said he was getting it painted so might look very different on the lake next summer.

I am running Hawk 550 blower motors....very mild set up with only 4psi boost and the most I saw on the speedo was 73 tops.....

I'm looking at few 96&97 topguns that are kevlar lipship editions w/ cover girl cabins, what speeds could I expect w/ 502 415's and 600 sc's? Guy says 80-85mph w/ 600's, seems a bit high. Also how do these lighter TG's ride copmpared too heavier guns?

We went out in a 96 kevlar TG, covergirl cabin, with 600 ZUL's. At 4300 RPM's we were running 73 MPH while burning 45 gallons per engine on the fuel flow meters.

LS JR.

After testing quite a few Cigs, and I do mean quite a few, most of the Bravo big engine boats seem to porpoise badly when you trim them at all. They say its due to the engines being back a foot being compared to a TRS boat. Running constantly with your tabs down isn't the best way to go fast. Hopefully on the newer model T/S with bravo's they've corrected that problem. Didn't buy a Bravo boat because of it. Didn't want to spend the money for a late model T/S. Life is a compromise, but the TRS boat handles much better.

When we looked for an older 38' Gun and we decided Carbon Fiber or Kevlar was the only way to go. Our Carbon Fiber boat runs 6-7 MPH faster than a fiberglass boat with equal power. We have proved that a few times. So go light if you want to go faster. The less weight your toating around the faster you go.

LS

Cool.

I reside in/on Fox Lake IL, which is just south of Antioch IL. I imagine that I will be seeing this Cafe on either the Chain O Lakes where I/we live, or out on Lake Michigan.

Interesting. Craig told me that Carbon Fiber boats where about 400 pounds lighter than the normal FG boats. Unfortunately, since I never weighed my '91 Carbon Fiber Cafe', I cant clarify.

Is there a difference between carbon fiber and kevlar?

Our T/S with Bravo's does not porpoise at all.

it has always been my understanding that Cigarette produced quite a few kevlar layups in the Top Guns and Cafe's, whereas there were only a few actual Carbon Fiber layups........namely the 4 Top Gun F2's.

maybe CB could provide the "real" answer.

Philly quoted me a speed of 79-80mph freshwater, 80-81mph saltwater for a '97 Top Gun, Kevlar layup, covergirl cabin, Mercury 600SC's and Bravo1's.

chad

If you give it the juice they'll stop bouncing!

TRS might ride a little more balanced but wait till they break or you try selling the boat.:eek:

The TRS will last longer then the Bravo. My Heavy 38 Flat deck has been pushed by 550h.p. motors since 1985 and only blew 1 drive. (knock on wood) When is the last time you saw that from a bravo.
My next boat will have 3's or larger before I go with a Bravo.
Just my $.02

Havasu Cig,
Good to know! :)

LS JR.

I owned a TS 35 for a couple years and have ran with lot's of TS 38, I have never seen a Cig TS porpoise!

The T/S Cigarette won't porpose. I've even tried, no dice. It rides perfect.

We had a 1994 Top Gun with 600 Hawks and consistently saw 78 mph in freshwater... :cool:

Below are some property values for the three materials. Keep in mind these values are at optimum resin ratios.

Modulus of elasticity(stiffness)
Glass: 2,600,000psi
Kevlar: 3,100,000psi
Carbon: 8,700,000psi

You can see how much stiffer Carbin is than the other two.

Here are ultimate strengths for bi-directional woven fabrics:

Glass: 25,000psi
Kevlar: 51,900psi
Carbon: 87,900psi

Now, here's how they compare in terms of weight:
Glass: 0.072 lb/in^3
Kevlar: 0.061 lb/in^3
Carbon: 0.054 lb/in^3

Here are the strength to weight ratios:
Glass: 333,333
Kevlar: 850,819
Carbon: 1,627,777

You can see that Kevlar is about 2.5 times as strong per pound of glass and Carbon is about 5 times as strong per pound.

Below is a chart illustrating the manner which each material behaves when loaded.

The fiberglass is blue, Kevlar is magenta and carbon is yellow.

Note how the glass and carbon reach their peak load and then simply fracture. The kevlar begins to go elastic early and develops load gradually; the initial stiffness(slope of the line) is greater than glass however.

LS JR.

Interesting. How do you know all this?

OSO intelligence.

Found It Here

LS JR.