XFS21 1st time plus sea trials results as they happen

gpratt · Post by **gpratt** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:37 pm

Took the XFS21 to the lake today and put a little time on the new motor. Going thru the breakin period as spec'd in manual.

Put some pics of the tunnel flow as best I could beingthe only one in the boat. Pics are captioned with a short description.

http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.p ... 319&page=6

The tunnel is built to spec and it definately works.

Hope to do a better job of testing after I get a few hours on the motor.

JASmine · Post by **JASmine** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:36 pm

Gary..how did you take the pics..lean over the stern...and steer at the same time??

gpratt · Post by **gpratt** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:09 pm

John

Would ya believe I had it on the auto pilot. This thing is so stable it was like sitting on a sofa. I can walk to one side to the other without hardly any shift or rolling to one side. Never had one drop of water come back up the scuppered drains. I don't thing it dipped to the cockpit level even when sitting on the gunwale.

My wife is going to love this boat. Like riding in a planing barge.

Jerry-rigged · Post by **Jerry-rigged** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:49 pm

Cool pics of the tunnel. Looks like you could stand to raise the motor another inch or three.

Great job!

Jerry

plumbertuck · Post by **plumbertuck** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:51 am

looks great, I would love to see more pics. , I guess i could check for an album. the hull looks slick, I am beginning if i have the patience for the fairing and sanding, I fish in muddy lakes and murky rivers I guess it would help me keep it clean
are you happy so far with the motor, tohatsu is it ?

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:16 pm

G,

Outstanding !!! What a great day it is ! Looks like you've got plenty of water . And now the jackplate ! Shrimp & reds watch out ! Can see it now , catching reds from one side and shrimp from the other !!

Great job !!!!

gpratt · Post by **gpratt** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:19 pm

Thanks for all the nice comments.

Jerry

Yep I'll be raising it some but that will be when I put the jack plate on it.

Plum'

The Tohatsu 50 TLDI is a great little motor .... I think. Only has 1.6 hrs on it. With the fuel injection it starts just like a car. Fires off on the 1st crank, computer idles it up for a second or so the back down to 700 rpm and as smooth as can be. Seems to have plenty of power.

Boo

May take it shrimpin Sat. 6:30 pm high tide at Riverbreeze and nice weather. Deb(wife) going shrimpin for the first time. They haven't been running yet but it will be fun anyway. If we get any that is a plus. Hopefully we can go early enough to fish a little before dark.

gpratt · Post by **gpratt** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:03 pm

Took her out for another 1.5 hr or so again today. This time I remembered to take the GPS.

She will plane at about 13 mph @ about 2500 rpm. 4000 rpm is about 20 mph. 5000 rpm is about 25. These numbers vary up or down a bit depending on trim angle and trim tabs settings. These are basically a rough guesstimates based on memory which has lots of room for error.

The motor is mounting to the transom and the cavitation plate is about 3" above the bottom of the boat. Pee hole had a good stream at all speeds and trim angles to the point of excessive cavitation. I am waiting for the correct fitting so I can hook up to water press gauge.

This setup puts the motor too close to the transom to make the best use of the tunnel. The motor needs to be back further and could most likely be raised more. I'll put the jack plate on it next week and let everyone know more details as I work thru my testing and setup changes.

The wind was blowing about 15 mph with higher gusts today. The ride was dry into or with the wind even in the open water with the associated chop. The pointed nose hasn't given me any indication of bow steer or any other adverse affects so far. The whole idea of the pointed nose change was to keep the chine under water when standing up front while trolling. This makes for quiet fishing. The mods have accomplished with and me up at the bow. I haven't even mounted the trolling motor and the batteries yet.

I am still in the learning process with this boat. So far looks to be everything I had hoped for.

The XFS21 story to be continued!

fishingdan · Post by **fishingdan** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:24 pm

Congratulations Gary. That sounds like an awesome boat.

gpratt · Post by **gpratt** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 6:24 pm

Just got back for trying the boat out with the jack plate installed. Didn't take any pics this time but will later.

The wind was blowning about 15 mph and the water as pretty choppy. I could run with the cavitation plate about 7.5 " above the bottom of the boat. That leaves about 5.5" below the bottom of the hull.

At that setting the cav plate was running just about at the top of the water hump out of the tunnel but a lot of water was getting blown out to the sides due to the engine shaft. Had good water flow out of the pee hole. I could raise it up a couple of inches more and still had water coming out of the pee hole but cavitation and prop slip got worse.

Not being familiar with jack plates and tunnels doesn't help much in know when enough is enough. I'm going to build a larger cav plate out of aluminum to see how that affects the cavitation.

Will post more info and pics as I proceed with the tuning.

Any input or advice from anyone?

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