Gm fellas with this heat an flat water it's hard to get
The speeds expected .going out this am to try an put a few more mph
To the 24 .

Congratulations Tom on a pair of nice runs with your 24!!!! Saw one of the runs. Did not get to see David's boat run but bet it sounded great! Look forward to some videos from you guys

Well. I have tons of photos and video but am dog tired and the boat is still in the water. The 308 was a beast in the LOTO waters. I met Chris Mills. He let Jim Sykes and I take Jim Lee's 28 out for a run. The windshield is amazing and Chris's execution was spot on.

I met Tom Kennedy at the awards ceremony. Great guy who has to carry them around in a wheel barrow. 121 with bone stock 300X's in this heat and humidity was amazing.

But my real hero David and his beautiful wife were the real treat to meet and spend time with. 116 was a great run he had half fuel tanks and 150lbs of play sand in the back of the 36

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We definitely need to do a Outboard Skaterfest and get everyone together.

I wish could have made it. Looks like it was one he!! of an event!

Good morning guys ! The weekend was fantastic
I got the pleasure to meet skate an David ,great guys !! An thx
For the compliments . Looking for bigger numbers but
The heat was a big factor an the water cond were not the
Best ,I hope I can see all you guys again next year

Thanks a lot for the congrats Double it
Was a great weekend hope you can make it
Next yr.

Like someone side we should do an outboard Skater weekend somewhere central to everyone. How about Lake Lanier?
Open for suggestions...

I'll be down there next year for sure....

Lake Lanier is about 8 from Springfield so that should work. Wife and I did talk about trying to make the poker run there at some point. Summer is pretty well done as far as traveling to boat for us... I assume we are talking next year? We are going to finally make the worlds in KW this year but no boat.

How about Lake Tenkiller in eastern OK. Jennifer and I have been discussing since the LOTO weekend. Our lake is pristine and very easy to get to. Just off I 40. I live next to a resort owner. can get good rates or I have a friend that has top notch multi family house rentals with docks close. Thinking nest year fall for best consistent weather and no traffic. Let's talk. Good meeting Dave Walters and Tom Kennedy. Sorry Mile (Primer Performance) that we did not connect. Just lunched one of my XS's. Piston trashed my new Dewald prop as well. I guess it is just part of the game.

Was it the number six cylinder? How did it damage the prop? That sucks. Hopefully under warranty. I would be curious to see if it was number six. I have replaced two powerheads in my 4yrs of warranty. One at 10hrs and one at 120hrs. Same port eng both times.
Hopefully it did not lean out. Post some pics.

I'm going to take it in to Tulsa today and we will see. I cannot find a hole , but there are parts of rod and piston in the bottom pan. I assume that piston/rod fragments came out the exhaust and hit the prop. The damage (pits in the metal ) started at the root of the blades and radiated out to the leading edge. It also looks like rollers from the bearing bounced up the center of the blades. They left rust stains on the blades.

That's a bad deal. Any issues prior to it letting go. What octane fuel and type of oil are you using? How many hour on the motor?

Tenkiller works for me. Being centrally located I can hit most any lake but my schedule for the year is the problem.

I'm planning on keeping the 308. I don't know if I would rather buy the extended warrantee or a spare powerhead. I've already got spare lower units and hassling with warranttee can cost you half a season.

We have a couple of lakes here in Arkansas that would do but lodging and dockage will be an issue.

If I'm free I plan to do Tickfaw and LOTO in 2015. It might be more fun to hit one of those organized events and run together.

TIckfaw may be good too. Extended warranties will cost a bunch. I did it but got my monies worth. Definitely need two sets of lower units if you do not want to loose any boating due to mercury not having parts. Took me 8 weeks to get a gearcase replacement.

mine took 4 weeks

No issues prior. It was the stronger of the two motors. I have approx. 10 hours on them. Using 91 Conoco gas with AcesIV 2S and New red Mercury oil. Go figure!

I have an extra set of lowers now thanks to ron :flag: an extra powerhead would be nice. I am floored that mercury takes so long on parts total BS if you ask me to have so much of your stuff out there and not have a decent inventory of parts. It's not like they don't get good money for it either!

tickfaw 200 sounds perfect to me ;)

[QUOTE=skate;4178077]
I'm planning on keeping the 308.

What are your thoughts of the 308 when compared to a 28?

[QUOTE=Lake rat Skater;4178175]You give up top end speed with a 308 but gain handling and big water capability. I drove Jim Lee's 28 with the windshield at LOTO and it was awesome in the air the whole time and having fun. The 308 just blew across all the snot with no issues. We burned up the lake with a Cigarette on Sunday to Captn Ron's in the 308. The guy in the Cigarette was butt hurt that an outboard cat could run with him in the rough. So depending on what you want to do they are totally different boats. One is a drivers boat with speed and rough water capabilities. The other is a big water boat with speed capabilities and drivability.:lolhit:

Skate your boat looked great out there saw at Camden and tied up at the shootout. Can wait for next yr when we bring our Skater up.

Thanks. It was a great time. Sorry we did not catch one another.

Skate
How do you think it would handle with weight up front and a 3rd motor on the back?
That is what I am considering next if I could sell my boat for a decent price....

Definitely needs weight up front. Third motor is going to be a lot of weight to overcome. CG will be a challenge. A ballast tank might be the best answer. It would certainly put speed numbers very respectable with triples. I ask Pete to build a 32' flat deck with triples and he was not interested. Does anyone no anything about the triple engine flat deck 32' at Desert Storm this year. It really looked good.

I have run 98 so far with the bravos and half tanks. My new cleavers are much better with more stern lift and less bow lift. I have not had the opportunity to test top end speed yet. Mid range is stronger.

Skater? What did you find Mike?

Boat sold a few years ago on OSO originally had twin 300xs motors. I think they added a third and he was not happy with it and switched to x motors. There is some video of it running on you tube at Desert Storm. Boat is running flat and fast. I know of another 32 with some modified triple x motors running low 120's. Here is a pic.
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That's the boat. I'm curious how it performed with triple 300 XS's. I can't believe the fuel economy of the 300XS vs the 300X. I bet you could run triple 300XS's with the fuel twin X's would consume.

That boat looks great and really looks like it sits in the water nice. Most triples I have seen always look like the back end is underwater when they are docked. I would bet that it accelerates well also.

I would guess a third motor should add at least 12mph to the top end or so.

So I need some hints on preserving the life on 300XS lower's especially the starboard counter rotation. I change the gear oil like clock work every 10 hours but the amount of metal filings seen worries me.

Use that Merc racing gear oil - is there something better?

I was told not to shift so much but you got to get in &n out of port - so....

if he took the trips off and went back to twin X's I'd be interested in what his experience was and the reason to go back to twins... I'd have thought I would have sat lower in the rear as well. wonder if he added some weight to balance it out a little?

I added the Taylor Billet shift shaft and vertical shaft carrier, and run a little less than full drive fluid....still check the fluid every time I run......weak link in the 300XS.....as far as I know...No changes have been made by mercury to correct the water intrusion problems.

He went from twin xs's to triple xs's and then to x motors. I agree that there may be weight up front as well. But if you watch the video from DS that thing runs awesome. Fast and Flat!

When you say you have a lot of filings it is hard to gauge what you have. Can you post a pic of the drain plug? I also run the taylor shaft seals. Lakeside vent kit. I shift my motors a lot down here. Have not had any issues with metal. How old are the motors and hours on them. Is the idle high? Has anyone worked on them? If so maybe not shimmed properly.

With my 2.5 lus' when I ran 260s' I would change the drive fluid after two times out and had no problems. I would see some metal debris, but, after running three seasons without tearing them down they were in great shape when I had to repair them after hitting a log at 80 mph. Now that I have the 225 promaxes that very seldom see more than 6800 rpm I can go 10 hours easily without lu fluid change. I never shift in and out of gear while running. Just my preference. Also I use Sierra lu fluid. Nothing expensive or magic about it.
Please make sure to do a quick check of lu mounting hardware and steering assembly hardware. At the rpms we turn things loosen up. I need you guys to hang around until I can join the cool kids club!

The Talon Guy

Where can i find these parts?

motors are 2002 - the marina that does my repairs is the best in town. Have the vent kit installed. low idle.

If you are looking for the Taylor seals call Hydra-Tec in Lake Havasu. They have them. Depending on the case you have you may have to grind the housing a little to get it to fit.
Not a big deal.

Here are some photos on my Flickr account from Supercat Fest

http://flic.kr/p/oF96qx

If the link above disappears add "h" to this them paste into you browser "ttp://flic.kr/p/oF96qx"

ttp://flic.kr/p/oF96qx

Great Pics. Skate your boat looks really good! Love the green and silver colors! Thanks for posting...

David,
Any news on the engine? What did the find?