1st Weekend With The 31 - Impressions
 

We got to use the new boat for the first time this weekend and man what a difference over my old Baja 26 Outlaw ! The boat performed GREAT ! We overnighted on it Saturday night and the cabin is like a small condo compared to the Outlaw ! The electric head and fridge made my wife very happy. Just a couple of impressions that maybe some of you guys could comment on:

1. In a small chop (1-2') the boat really tends to "porpoise" in the 3,000 - 3,500 RPM range. I had to really mash the trim tabs down to get it to somewhat settle out. At about 4,000 RPM the "porposing" eases and I was able to raise the tabs.

2. After a 4 or 5 hour raft up (no radio playing or fridge running) the port engine would not crank on it's own battery. I had to set the battery switches to "both" to get it to start. I think the dealer left the orginal 2007 batteries in the boat which I am going to change out this week, but I still question how long can you sit with the stereo and fridge running and still have enough power to start the engines ?

3. She does love to drink fuel ! Per the GPS we ran 171 miles and burned about 140 gallons of fuel (about 1.22 mpg). Most of the runtime was between 3,000 and 4,000 RPM, with a couple of WOT bursts just to see what she can do !

4. There is no 12V outlet in the boat to plug in cell phone charger / handheld GPS etc. ?

Any guidance on what size / make batteries you guys are using to optimize max battery life ?

Thanks,

Steve

Hey Steve, nice meeting you and Lisa yesterday, boat looks great. I will just add a few thoughts here for you. Your boat and mine are similar design (old school deep vee, fairly heavy for their size). You will need to add more tab or run the drives in more than you may have with the Baja, the weight of the bow is just too much for the boat to carry high at lower speeds. The trick is to find out which runs better, trimming drives up and adding some tab or simply leaving the drives trimmed down. On mine its a wash although trimming up and tabbing down seems to be a little more efficient. The funny thing is mine carries at a lower speed now since I added more power, I have no idea why that is, same props and drives. You definitely have a weak battery if no accessories were on. I suppose someone else will chime in but frankly I never seem to get more than 2 years from any kind of battery, so I just buy the regular 27 series ones and change them at the beginning of my third season on them. Had AGM's and didn't get more than a year from them. If you are gonna run the fridge make sure you turn a battery off for starting later, you should get about 6 hours off a battery, depending on the temperature and how often the fridge is opened. Your mileage is pretty good, about 1 MPG is what mine and most I talk to run. (The sick thing is Marty's MTI runs almost the same at 100 :eek: )

Look in to getting either the BEP battery cluster(http://www.bepmarine.com/home-mainme...ry-40/clusters) or the Blue seas add a battery(http://bluesea.com/category/1/productline/overview/329). They are essentially isolators. Starting batteries have their own circuit and electronics and accessories have their own battery. Should alleviate weak battery for starting

This is odd as other 31's are getting 1.7 to 1.8 MPG. Are you getting a lot of soot on the transom? Are you running 87 octane? That's what the HO's are designed to run. Higher octane will actually hurt your performance and create excess soot. You might also check that your ECM has the latest program.

Steve, yes unfortunately there is no 12V outlet...wish there was.

If you don't have already, get some drive showers on your outdrives. Makes a big difference.

I have an 02 31 and leave my tabs in the "neutral" position #6 on gauges this allow the tabs to be even with the bottom of the boat , i can stay on plane at 2500-2800 rpm , i honestly don't see the porposieing your talking about and run 26p bravo1 4 blades and occasional 28p bravo1 labbed finished props, could it be your newer boat had the "x" dimension changed ?

Mines a 03 and has a 12v by the steering wheel. Im in Destin, FL this week and took her out in the gulf love the ride, get in some big water you will appreciate her! :drink:

Steve it was great to meet you and your wife this weekend. Look forward to seeing you all out on the water more. I have a few questions about the porpoise.

Does the boat porpoise at low speeds in flat water?

What speeds were you doing from 3000 to 4000 RPMS?

Is neutral marked on you indicators for drives and tabs?

I have some ideas if you want to talk.

Boat looks great and good luck with her!!!!!

A 12 volt outlet or 2 is an easy upgrade, there probably is a 12 volt power strip behind the passenger dash panel. You can put one in the cabin/galley and run the wires from that power strip. You can add another one in the cockpit either to the left of the cooler as the dash slopes back (out of the rain) or is there room under the cup holder, can't remember what your boat was set-up like. You could add one like Jim Diesel's under the streering wheel but I think that's a busy place, my AT has on there also. What did you see for speed, when I ran the boat it was a thunderstorm and the water was flat! Ask Don Hunter about that day! Steve

You shouldn't need the tabs unless in big water (4'+). You are either over trimming (they don't like much until around 50mph) or running 3 blades.
The 12v outlet is cheap and easy to add.
The fridge is a huge draw on a battery. If I remember right I had figured 5-6 hours of continuous operation per battery (no off cycle) so how long a battery lasts will depend on the setting you have the fridge on and outside temps, which will determine the duty cycle.

Your boat looks great. Wait until you play in some rough water, you will really see the difference between a Sonic and a Baja.