Corky's Build

[Corky]

Actually....NO.........The river didn't cooperate.... We had a stretch of no rain and in turn the river here was close to record low...There just wasn't enough water to drop it in and get all the adjustments made...I'm all for running low water knowing the hull is getting banged up but this river is made up of layers of rock in this area and unfortunately the probability of damage to the hull was just too great...I'm talking the local guys had all the boats marooned near the shore and the hardcore fisherman had canoes and kayaks just to say they were out there...When it did finally rain it took the river the other way with the most flow it had all year with trees,logs and other debris coming downstream to find a new home so that pretty much ended the chances of having some good weather/temps for the launch ceremony...
You can imagine my disappointment after all that work only to not be able to get out there...But it is what it is and I'll be ready for spring !!!

[bgmcl60]

i think you made a good choice corky. as die hard as i am i would not do anything with the odds against me. it's better to wait for conditions to improve. we got nothing but time. never take a chance in hurting your self. the boat can be replaced.

[Corky]

Well, today was the day !!! The water level is good...And the weather is now down from the high humidity 90s...Everything went great...Jumps right up on plane flawlessly with the bow profile I used, it goes much faster than I thought it would, I need to gps the speed just to see where I'm at.. I'm still using the factory carb and to be honest it's not as bad as anticipated...
I do have two small adjustments to make...One is the prop pitch..On the trailer it was set for 3700..But once on the water and moving it's actually around 38-3900 RPMs...I do have some small amount of porpoising at near top speed with just me in it..So I will need to adjust the engine angle a touch..I took the wife for a ride and surprisingly it didn't affect the upper speed of the boat as much as expected..Overall it was considered a huge sucess !!

[kent]

Hi Corky,
Good to hear the first run went well.
Did the boat stop hopping with your wife's weight forward on the hull? How much fuel was in the tank (weight)?
I have not had mine in the water this season.
kent

[Corky]

Hi Kent,
The engine angle is real close..I only get a slight hop at full throttle with just me in the boat...As soon as I touch the stick in either direction it stops..With my wife aboard there's no issues what so ever...
It was beautiful this morning so I went for a long solo ride...What a pleasure ...The stick turns the boat effortlessly, it's very responsive...The hull design is perfect..With the bow radiused as planned it transitions up on plane quickly and effortlessly with no dead spots....It turns on the water as hoped with no digging in, it drafts only inches with me on there and I can breeze over areas I wouldn't have even tried in my little airboat... Overall I'm more than happy with the design...

[Corky]

Here's another thing I've noticed...I did the 084s factory carb modifications as suggested and it hasn't missed a beat !! There's virtually no lag when the throttle is depressed...And it has a good response at all areas....I must have it dialed in very close...I guess all those initial hours with the air/fuel meter did some good after all..

[Bart]

congratulations. I am glad that you have had a great time the last couple of days, testing out the boat. and that everything is working great.

[kent]

Sounds like you got a winner on your hands. When you adjust prop pitch to lower the top revs, you may find better mid-band cruise with a slight drop on the top end. That may settle the hopping you are experiencing. Make very small prop adjustments between trial runs before you change engine angle.

[Corky]

Thanks guys...I haven't changed anything yet I'm having too much fun !! After work I took a run up to Halifax and back...The river is down from 3.9 to 3.5 it's amazing how different the river is with just that slight drop...It was windy today and it hid some obstacles just under the waterline so I need to get back up there when its calm and learn the best path... As expected I've run over few rocks along the way but none have made any damage that I can see...I'm moving fast enough that I skid right over them..We'll see what the quick slick bottom looks like at the end of this season..I can definitely tell the difference running through vegetation and even those rocks with that stuff on the bottom..
At this point I don't see any reason to change out the intake or carb for the rest of the season, it runs that good...
Kent, I'll do as suggested and just bump the prop pitch a touch and see what that gets me...I can run the RPMs down considerably after I'm on plane and still keep a good cruising speed...
As everyone has stated the CHT gauge is nice and steady from around 3200 and lower..Way different than running it on the trailer..Extended wide open throttle will get the temp creeping up slowly but will come back down after returning to cruising speed..
I was afraid of how much weight I added to the hull by going with the larger C channels but I'm feeling pretty good about how it performs and having the added bottom support for the rock ledges...

[Corky]

Hi everyone it's time for an update !! I've been running pretty much every summer since the build...No issues with the exception of my episode last year.. I ran up to halifax from the house for a fishing trip and all was well until the ride home.. I got a vibration that happened almost immediately so I ran to the nearest island for a quick inspection.. After checking the redrive and prop I couldn't find anything that jumped out at me.. But I knew something was wrong so I came home at a touch above idle {it took 2 1/2 hours} and pulled the boat...I figured a bearing went bad in the redrive so I touched base with Bruce at Circle S and got all the bearing numbers ahead of the teardown...To make a long story short as soon as I pulled the prop the problem was evident...My "new and improved" prop hub from Whirlwind Props had failed !!! Cracked the rear plate which wasn't evident until it was off the redrive...
Whirlwind had me send the unit back for them to see just what had happened.. And redesigned the hub once again and sent a new hub free of charge but my season was over by the time it came back to me...
So while I'm reinstalling it I've decided to upgrade to phase 2 of the cooling shields and see if I'm on the right track for unlimited high RPM running for distance...