Well we managed to put the boat in the water this evening. Everything ran just as smooth as could be. No leaks in fuel system. No leaks in washdown. Electronics all work as they should. Pretty happy with all the systems.
Now, the big question was how was the boat going to sit in the water? Would it be stern down? More than it was before? Well, my expectations were met and exceeded with the result. The boat sits about 1.5" higher at the stern than it did before the refit. It makes my old waterline stripe look goofy. Now I am going to have to re-stripe the waterline again. Only 5 gal of fuel in the tank. Tomorrow I will fill her up and see how she sits!
Now, performance numbers. Honda BF135. Hustler 14x19 prop.
WOT got up to 6k RPM, 35 knots, 12 GPH. Didn't hold this very long cause it was quite cold and the wife didn't want to go that fast.
Cruised easily at 4k RPM, 22 knots, 4 GPH. This was a pretty easy cruising speed.
The boat stayed on plane at 3400 RPM, 16 knots, and I don't remember the GPH. It held pretty easily there, without wanting to fall off plane, which it would always do before when you tried to go that slow. I didn't have a lot of time to test this end of the speed range either, as it was getting dark and it has been a long day. I am thinking of putting trim tabs on which I think will allow me to plane slower, but maybe not much better fuel efficiency.
Hole shot was impressive. Not a lot of lift on the bow and the boat just rose up onto the water. Planing out was really nice, the boat stays very level throughout.
So, I am very pleased with the numbers so far. There is a lot of room to improve when I can find the proper trim. Of course this was without the T top as well, so that will change things a bit.
Got some more shots uploaded to Drive.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?...Hc&usp=sharing