Baja Sport 280
02-21-2004, 09:32 PM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Baja Sport 280
Anyone with experience on Baja Sport 280, T/454 mag B1
1990 vintage, want to reduce porposing at high speed
I just bought my second one, (price too good to pass up) still a good bang for the buck, last one I put a bunch of hp in and straightened the bottom of the boat but the
boat still did not handle very well, porpoised very easily at top end and had to get out of the throttle or dump some tab
The one I just got has fresh 400hp Bravo 1 set ups so i am not going to touch the motors, boat bottom is
stock, has 280ss k-planes, I am redoing all the interior to be super lightweight trying to get 600-800 pounds out of the boat and also want to work the bottom
I have heard some have lenghtened the two inside lifting strakes to improve handling?? anyone hear of this being successful
(The stock 280 typically has a little rocker on the hull and the two outer lifting strakes go all the way to the transom and have a slight hook at the end )
Also any feedback on optimum location of Center of gravity to minimize porpoising would be appreciated
I may dump the steel manifolds for aluminum to get some addit engine performance and more importantly less weight.
This boat currently runs 70, naturally I would like a little
more but really just want boat to perform better
Thanks Tom
PS warm weather is coming!
1990 vintage, want to reduce porposing at high speed
I just bought my second one, (price too good to pass up) still a good bang for the buck, last one I put a bunch of hp in and straightened the bottom of the boat but the
boat still did not handle very well, porpoised very easily at top end and had to get out of the throttle or dump some tab
The one I just got has fresh 400hp Bravo 1 set ups so i am not going to touch the motors, boat bottom is
stock, has 280ss k-planes, I am redoing all the interior to be super lightweight trying to get 600-800 pounds out of the boat and also want to work the bottom
I have heard some have lenghtened the two inside lifting strakes to improve handling?? anyone hear of this being successful
(The stock 280 typically has a little rocker on the hull and the two outer lifting strakes go all the way to the transom and have a slight hook at the end )
Also any feedback on optimum location of Center of gravity to minimize porpoising would be appreciated
I may dump the steel manifolds for aluminum to get some addit engine performance and more importantly less weight.
This boat currently runs 70, naturally I would like a little
more but really just want boat to perform better
Thanks Tom
PS warm weather is coming!
02-22-2004, 07:42 PM
#2
Registered
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: franklin,tn
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I had one that radared at 78. It porposed and I would always back out of it also. A friend of mine that used to race took a ride and told me to drive through it. I wouldn't because I didn't trust it, so he drove it and trimmed up more and drove through it. It was a handful I will say that. You could feel the loosen up and watch the tach's creep a couple more.
Mike
Mike
02-22-2004, 08:17 PM
#3
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Drove one in '91, shortly after I bought my Formula.
280 Sport. Twin 502 Mag Carb - i think it was a 90 model.
Came in from Baja with only one tach working, fuel gauge stuck on empty, and none of the trim gauges (electric) working. I was at the dealership when it rolled in on the semi.
There was an in-water boat show on Saturday and it was Wednesday. It was kind of cool, so I stuck around while they unloaded it to a normal trailer and put muffs on it to fire it up. I sat in it with the service guys and started noticing things wrong with it and they said - no time to worry about those, we gotta get it shiny for the show.
I stopped by the show on Sunday. They were giving test rides in it. Me and Dad hopped in for a run, along with a salesman and their "driver" who knew me.
It was choppy water out, but a clear day. The mother was porpoising badly. Dad asked if they could tab out the bouncing and the salesman (who didn't know us) said that it was the way a high performance hull behaves. I asked Rusty what he had the tabs set to, and he said "who knows". It had Bennetts with the LED display but the display wasn't working, along with the other gauges I had mentioned earlier.
Rusty hammered it and it never quit porpoising. The salesman said that this was one that Baja had "experimentally" installed the 502's in and that it was more motor than the hull was rated for...
Rusty said so far nobody has been able to run it WOT without tabs. He asked if I wanted to drive. I started to swap places with him and the salesman started freaking out saying that only drivers that the Baja rep had approved could drive it. We kept swapping and I pulled the drives all the way in, and started running the tabs down (to even see if the dang things were working since nothing else was). The tabs WERE working, so I ran them full UP. Then we ran up to where the ONE tach was showing 4400 (the other was not working). Boat was still porpoising and neutral trim was by far the worst. With it bouncing to beat h3ll, I set the drives to what "felt" like neutral and hammered it. It kept pounding, but I turned it into the wind and trimmed up more till the nose lifted pretty good. Was trying to chinewalk, but wasn't tough to drive thru the walk - porpoising is still pretty hard. With the throttles pegged, I fed lots of positive trim till the props began to carry the nose and I think a set of chines broke suction. The chinewalk still needed fought, but the porpoise stopped, as long as the bow stayed high and into the wind. At this point, we were hauling butt and the speedo wasnt working cause it had picked up trash early in the weekend. No GPS no speedo but the single tach was showing 5300 and the wind in my ears told me we were definitely hauling.
We slowed and on the way back asked what props were on it. They were 25's with 1.36. That calculates to 81. Course who could trust that crappy tach...
Anyhow, they had that boat for 2 seasons and could never sell it. Nobody felt good in it. It porpoised and was truly angry on the big end. They told everybody that it ran 85.
That's the only experience I have had with a 280 Sport. My take on it is that it was flexible, probably had a rocker, and had definitely NOT been sorted out very well.
For all I know, it may be the one that Goob ended up with (it was all red and came from whatever Travis marine across from Waffle house in Hendersonville was called before Travis bought them out).
Good luck with yours.
280 Sport. Twin 502 Mag Carb - i think it was a 90 model.
Came in from Baja with only one tach working, fuel gauge stuck on empty, and none of the trim gauges (electric) working. I was at the dealership when it rolled in on the semi.
There was an in-water boat show on Saturday and it was Wednesday. It was kind of cool, so I stuck around while they unloaded it to a normal trailer and put muffs on it to fire it up. I sat in it with the service guys and started noticing things wrong with it and they said - no time to worry about those, we gotta get it shiny for the show.
I stopped by the show on Sunday. They were giving test rides in it. Me and Dad hopped in for a run, along with a salesman and their "driver" who knew me.
It was choppy water out, but a clear day. The mother was porpoising badly. Dad asked if they could tab out the bouncing and the salesman (who didn't know us) said that it was the way a high performance hull behaves. I asked Rusty what he had the tabs set to, and he said "who knows". It had Bennetts with the LED display but the display wasn't working, along with the other gauges I had mentioned earlier.
Rusty hammered it and it never quit porpoising. The salesman said that this was one that Baja had "experimentally" installed the 502's in and that it was more motor than the hull was rated for...
Rusty said so far nobody has been able to run it WOT without tabs. He asked if I wanted to drive. I started to swap places with him and the salesman started freaking out saying that only drivers that the Baja rep had approved could drive it. We kept swapping and I pulled the drives all the way in, and started running the tabs down (to even see if the dang things were working since nothing else was). The tabs WERE working, so I ran them full UP. Then we ran up to where the ONE tach was showing 4400 (the other was not working). Boat was still porpoising and neutral trim was by far the worst. With it bouncing to beat h3ll, I set the drives to what "felt" like neutral and hammered it. It kept pounding, but I turned it into the wind and trimmed up more till the nose lifted pretty good. Was trying to chinewalk, but wasn't tough to drive thru the walk - porpoising is still pretty hard. With the throttles pegged, I fed lots of positive trim till the props began to carry the nose and I think a set of chines broke suction. The chinewalk still needed fought, but the porpoise stopped, as long as the bow stayed high and into the wind. At this point, we were hauling butt and the speedo wasnt working cause it had picked up trash early in the weekend. No GPS no speedo but the single tach was showing 5300 and the wind in my ears told me we were definitely hauling.
We slowed and on the way back asked what props were on it. They were 25's with 1.36. That calculates to 81. Course who could trust that crappy tach...
Anyhow, they had that boat for 2 seasons and could never sell it. Nobody felt good in it. It porpoised and was truly angry on the big end. They told everybody that it ran 85.
That's the only experience I have had with a 280 Sport. My take on it is that it was flexible, probably had a rocker, and had definitely NOT been sorted out very well.
For all I know, it may be the one that Goob ended up with (it was all red and came from whatever Travis marine across from Waffle house in Hendersonville was called before Travis bought them out).
Good luck with yours.
Last edited by mcollinstn; 02-22-2004 at 08:22 PM.
02-22-2004, 09:12 PM
#4
I bought a Sport 280 new in 1990. Mine had 7.4L 330's.
I put over 850 hrs on it during 12 seasons. We really enjoyed it. I never experienced any chine walk problems. It did porpose in flat water and liked the K-Planes level with the hull but it did not slow the boat at all with them level. When choppy they could be pulled up.
For what we used it for (lake only, had a 10M ICBM for the ocean) it worked well for what it was. It was delivered with 25 p Mirage props and when it was new it would spin them 4600. Pretty quick for stock 330's. Cruising speed was incredible, 3200 rpm was 50 mph.
Another thing we liked was the cabin was very liveable for a 28' sport boat. It worked quite well for a reasonably priced speed boat. I paid 45k new in 1990 and sold it for 30k in 2002
I put over 850 hrs on it during 12 seasons. We really enjoyed it. I never experienced any chine walk problems. It did porpose in flat water and liked the K-Planes level with the hull but it did not slow the boat at all with them level. When choppy they could be pulled up.
For what we used it for (lake only, had a 10M ICBM for the ocean) it worked well for what it was. It was delivered with 25 p Mirage props and when it was new it would spin them 4600. Pretty quick for stock 330's. Cruising speed was incredible, 3200 rpm was 50 mph.
Another thing we liked was the cabin was very liveable for a 28' sport boat. It worked quite well for a reasonably priced speed boat. I paid 45k new in 1990 and sold it for 30k in 2002
02-23-2004, 07:15 AM
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Baja Sport 280 Porpoising
Thaks for the continued feedback,
Like I mentioned this is my second one and overall
the boat is awesome it just seems to me someone
must have solved the porpoising problem, BAJA sold
a million of these boats.
Thanks and keep the stories coming -
Tom
Like I mentioned this is my second one and overall
the boat is awesome it just seems to me someone
must have solved the porpoising problem, BAJA sold
a million of these boats.
Thanks and keep the stories coming -
Tom
03-04-2004, 09:52 PM
#7
Registered
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: franklin,tn
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
mcollins,
Southeast Marine had the red one. The eventually ran it aground on Old Hickory. Tore the drive up all. No that wasn't the one I had. I had mine when they got it. I don't think they could sell it because everyone in Nashville had ridden in it and drove the snot out of it. Just like the 322 they had that KDF used for the summer.
Mike
Southeast Marine had the red one. The eventually ran it aground on Old Hickory. Tore the drive up all. No that wasn't the one I had. I had mine when they got it. I don't think they could sell it because everyone in Nashville had ridden in it and drove the snot out of it. Just like the 322 they had that KDF used for the summer.
Mike
