hmmm I'm guessing the hatches that flew were not fountains.I think the are too good a boat for that,

Anyway..I can put tie downs between the bars to make sure.

Thanks for the replies

You would be correct. It was a Baja.

That was me.

It was my 15 minutes of fame:D


Every thing was fine til that roller at the end of the course gave us a toss:eek:

I have since, developed a better intake system,
and the hatch stays closed.

I have still not looked at my belt .I was palnning on it but the boat is a wrapped up like a burrito now and i have not had any "Boat Time" lately..I will say this ..My pulleys are not the Sproket style you have .They are more of a Serpentine belt as you would find on a car..

Doesn't matter what kind of boat it is.

The hatch actuator will be the weak link.
( actuators are a vendor sourced part that
many of the same manufacturers use)

Once the hatch grabs enough air, or with
enough upward inertia, ( from wave action)
the guts will pull out of the hatch actuator.

You then, have yourself a large ( and heavy) flap attached to the rear of the boat that is very rapidly, trying to go the
opposite direction that the boat is going.

If you're going to do it, secure it with a strap.

So did it run any better w more Air??? Do you have a blower ?

What kind of power and speed were you doing when she flew?
Thanks,Chad

The run that it came off was 82 mph, but there
were a few rollers throughout the course, so
I couldn't stay in it.

Later on, I ran it without the hatch and it ran
85, but, the water conditions were better.

The course is only a mile, so you got to get
what you can while you can.

They're 575SCi's

I've since built a cold air box that attaches to
the underside of the hatch.

I have the boxes ducted right to the air inlets
on the inside of the hull.

I did a temperature test after it was done,
and found the air temp inside the box to be
ambient ( 77* that day) and engine room temp
to be 104*.

Yeah Makes sense >.its like running your boat oin a cold day or a hot day..A difference in intake air temp makes a diff..Plus more Air would seem to help as well..Thanks for the post..Good stuff.

Chad

Jaay Teee

It's been a long winter. I was thinking about cracking my hatch at the Shootout last year, but remembered what happened to you.

I'll have to take a look at the cold air box. Do you keep your boat in Des Moines or at LOTO?

Des Moines ( Ankeny actually...just north of DSM)

I've been meaning to take a few pic's of the air box
setup, once I do, I'll post some pic's.

Don't have any LOTO trips planned til July,
I should be able to get some pic's taken before then :D