One year, seven months, and five days after starting work, she went back in the water yesterday. The launch was a success with only a couple bugs to work out. I was too preoccupied to take pics, but I had friends along who helped with documentation. We got lots of video, but it takes forever to upload. Stills are a lot quicker, so I'll post what I've got so far.
Final preparations at the house before departing.
We launched at Fanning Springs on the Suwanee River, the closest ramp to home.
The boat at the top of the right hand ramp in this video is my buddy Greg who came along to assist if we had any problems. He also served as camera boat while Erich shot some video.
Cruise is a comfortable 33 mph at about 3300 rpm.
And when you give her a little more throttle, she'll get up and move.
I'm very happy with performance so far. I've got to finish getting her rigged for fishing and take her out in the Gulf to see how she handles the chop.
The 350 Mag MPI seems to be just right on power. I was able to keep her on plane down to about 14 mph, and touched 43 mph without opening her all the way up. Won't know WOT speed until I get through the first 10 hours of the break in period.
I'm glad I raised the helm deck, at least so far. I'll have to see how comfortable it is when trolling or on the hook in bumpy water. But running in smooth water or just floating along enjoying the river it's at a good height.
I've stilll got a lot to do, but yesterday was a great day on the water and I'm glad the trial run went well.
Dave