After almost 3 years, 1 child, and too many delays to count, my SeaCraft 18 went into the water for the first time.
This has taken me 2 years longer than I wanted, but small items - like work, children, food kept intruding. But -- now its in the water and looks/runs great.
It has a 'new' 2001 HPDI Yamaha, and I was worried about the extra 100 lbs in weight, and moved batteries, console, balance, etc. It actually sits better now, and isn't as heavy as before in the stern -- I got lucky. Also -- completely rebuilt the transom, and raised it about 3 inches.
As for performance, at 3000 RPM (during break-in) the boat cruises at 24 MPH, at 4000, 35, and when doing a full throttle for 1 minute, hits 45 at 5000 RPM. I need to raise the engine about an inch (manual jackplate) to see if I can get the RPM up to a better 5300-5500 -- the setback actually sticks the lower unit in the hull's wake as it's coming up. Didn't account for that when aligning cavitation plate with the hull.
Overall -- very pleased. Probably won't see full throttle runs of any length after break-in. A 3500 RPM cruise should sip gas -- and the engine is realll quiet. Anyway -- thanks to all who have helped out over the last year. Still have a ton of small details -- but when you own a boat - are you every really done working on it [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ?
