kesso2118
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2006
- Messages
- 590
Things have been a bit quiet on this Forum lately so I’ll give you a story that I hope you find interesting.
I was looking forward to a good day of testing & development at our Club Practice Day yesterday at Penrith and stayed up until 2.30am preparing my boats. These were, the TS2/CMB RS .21 I have been running and my two new additions, an HTB290/CMB LS .21 and a Seducer SD33/Mac .21.
I arrived at the pond early and full of anticipation
The Good
I began with the TS2.
On my previous outings I had been chasing the right fuel mixture/heat combination for the engine to get it to stay on the pipe. After a bit of playing, I got the engine heat pretty close i.e. you could hold the head when I brought it back to shore but only for about 3 – 4 seconds before it started to become a tad uncomfortable. I started to raise the engine height and got to the point where it was becoming very flighty but with the engine becoming quite responsive and producing good revs. I then started to bring the engine height back down and got to a point where it was going pretty **** good.
I was feeling good and responded to a request from a keen observer who was interested in seeing how the HTB would go?
The first few runs from the HTB were promising, with the boat showing very smooth handling characteristics. We played with the mixture adjustment and changed from the X637 to an X440 to try and get some more revs. After a few trials the engine started to come to life and the handling proved to be even better than what I had experienced in the first few runs. After a few more tweaks the boat was running beautifully and the handling thru the corners and over waves at speed was amazing. I then changed back to the X637 and LOOK OUT !! The HTB/CMB started to really scream. It showed a lot more punch out of the hole and was even more responsive around the course, the handling was precise and an absolute pleasure to drive. It felt like the boat was on rails around the corners and I was able to run a clean line around the buoys at full speed. As the boat came out of the corners and started down the straight it lifted its nose a tiny bit and then just sat on its tail and got faster and faster. The running attitude was pretty to watch and when you gave it a light touch on the rudder and it would just track smoothly around the turns.
This boat is great for my ego, it turned me from a novice newbie into someone that looked like they knew what they were doing??? ^_^
The Bad
I continued to run the HTB savouring the feeling of having a quick boat when, unfortunately, the revs went up and the go forward stopped, hopefully, it is only the flex shaft?? I removed the stub shaft at the pond but couldn’t pull out the flex shaft. I cleaned up the HTB, ran after run through it, oiled it and put it away for the day, overall very happy with the way it went. ^_^
I will take off the lower unit tonight and investigate further….. :unsure: :unsure:
The UGLY
I thought, one boat out of commission, but I’ve still got two left! Let’s get the TS2 back out again, continue with the tuning, and try to run the Shoboat 1440 back cut prop that previously I hadn’t been able to run……
The TS2 was running nicely with the X637 and was acting like it was overpowered with the CMB RS. It was tracking well around the corners and as it went down the straight it would build more and more revs and begin lifting the nose as the acceleration kicked in. It was going pretty fast! ^_^
OK let’s try the 1440 b/c and see if it will help keep the boat on the water?? I swapped the prop, fired it up and took it out again. The boat cavitated at the launch but then got going. It felt pretty good and I took it easy until I could complete a lap and let the engine heat up. Unfortunately, it slowed up and stalled just before the end of the first lap. Hmmm, that’s unusual???
I retrieved the boat gave it a serious look and richened up the mixture a bit. I fired it up again, launched it and same as before, a bit of cavitation and then the revs went up but the go forward stopped …. Oh well another flex shaft gone …???
I put the boat back on the bench, took out the flex shaft and found that there was nothing wrong with it …Oh Oh! I put it back in hoping that maybe somehow it would miraculously fix itself but unfortunately, no such luck.
By this time it was starting to rain, it was getting late and I was out of fuel ( I used about 3 litres during the day) so I didn’t get a chance to try the Seducer, probably a good thing!
When I got home I pulled apart the CMB RS and found the crank pin to drive the PTO had broken off and smashed a piece off the piston skirt. The pieces flying around inside the engine also gave the rod a few whacks so it has a few nicks on it as well.
This was not a good finish to what was otherwise a great day.
I was looking forward to a good day of testing & development at our Club Practice Day yesterday at Penrith and stayed up until 2.30am preparing my boats. These were, the TS2/CMB RS .21 I have been running and my two new additions, an HTB290/CMB LS .21 and a Seducer SD33/Mac .21.
I arrived at the pond early and full of anticipation
The Good
I began with the TS2.
On my previous outings I had been chasing the right fuel mixture/heat combination for the engine to get it to stay on the pipe. After a bit of playing, I got the engine heat pretty close i.e. you could hold the head when I brought it back to shore but only for about 3 – 4 seconds before it started to become a tad uncomfortable. I started to raise the engine height and got to the point where it was becoming very flighty but with the engine becoming quite responsive and producing good revs. I then started to bring the engine height back down and got to a point where it was going pretty **** good.
I was feeling good and responded to a request from a keen observer who was interested in seeing how the HTB would go?
The first few runs from the HTB were promising, with the boat showing very smooth handling characteristics. We played with the mixture adjustment and changed from the X637 to an X440 to try and get some more revs. After a few trials the engine started to come to life and the handling proved to be even better than what I had experienced in the first few runs. After a few more tweaks the boat was running beautifully and the handling thru the corners and over waves at speed was amazing. I then changed back to the X637 and LOOK OUT !! The HTB/CMB started to really scream. It showed a lot more punch out of the hole and was even more responsive around the course, the handling was precise and an absolute pleasure to drive. It felt like the boat was on rails around the corners and I was able to run a clean line around the buoys at full speed. As the boat came out of the corners and started down the straight it lifted its nose a tiny bit and then just sat on its tail and got faster and faster. The running attitude was pretty to watch and when you gave it a light touch on the rudder and it would just track smoothly around the turns.
This boat is great for my ego, it turned me from a novice newbie into someone that looked like they knew what they were doing??? ^_^
The Bad
I continued to run the HTB savouring the feeling of having a quick boat when, unfortunately, the revs went up and the go forward stopped, hopefully, it is only the flex shaft?? I removed the stub shaft at the pond but couldn’t pull out the flex shaft. I cleaned up the HTB, ran after run through it, oiled it and put it away for the day, overall very happy with the way it went. ^_^
I will take off the lower unit tonight and investigate further….. :unsure: :unsure:
The UGLY
I thought, one boat out of commission, but I’ve still got two left! Let’s get the TS2 back out again, continue with the tuning, and try to run the Shoboat 1440 back cut prop that previously I hadn’t been able to run……
The TS2 was running nicely with the X637 and was acting like it was overpowered with the CMB RS. It was tracking well around the corners and as it went down the straight it would build more and more revs and begin lifting the nose as the acceleration kicked in. It was going pretty fast! ^_^
OK let’s try the 1440 b/c and see if it will help keep the boat on the water?? I swapped the prop, fired it up and took it out again. The boat cavitated at the launch but then got going. It felt pretty good and I took it easy until I could complete a lap and let the engine heat up. Unfortunately, it slowed up and stalled just before the end of the first lap. Hmmm, that’s unusual???
I retrieved the boat gave it a serious look and richened up the mixture a bit. I fired it up again, launched it and same as before, a bit of cavitation and then the revs went up but the go forward stopped …. Oh well another flex shaft gone …???
I put the boat back on the bench, took out the flex shaft and found that there was nothing wrong with it …Oh Oh! I put it back in hoping that maybe somehow it would miraculously fix itself but unfortunately, no such luck.
By this time it was starting to rain, it was getting late and I was out of fuel ( I used about 3 litres during the day) so I didn’t get a chance to try the Seducer, probably a good thing!
When I got home I pulled apart the CMB RS and found the crank pin to drive the PTO had broken off and smashed a piece off the piston skirt. The pieces flying around inside the engine also gave the rod a few whacks so it has a few nicks on it as well.
This was not a good finish to what was otherwise a great day.
