23" Scepter I/O performance

[DonV]

Hey Lew, be careful with that Citgo sign!! Sandy will be looking for it in the Bahamas when he takes his "slacker" over later in the year at the gathering. We want to make sure he can see it from far away on the water to put his mind at ease!

[BigLew]

Originally Posted by DonV

Hey Lew, be careful with that Citgo sign!! Sandy will be looking for it in the Bahamas when he takes his "slacker" over later in the year at the gathering. We want to make sure he can see it from far away on the water to put his mind at ease!

Don V,

ALWAYS remember, "Possession is 9/10ths of the law!" The Citgo sign is safe and will be visible at ALL Red Sox games in the foreseeable future!!! GFS can take it to the supreme court if he wants, but it is NOT going anywhere! (Do you hear me Sandy, my friend!)?

I think it was Floorboy who mentioned availability of props for the Volvo's. I too, have had some challenge in finding a variety of available props over the years. I have a 15 x 17 as well, but they are cupped. I spun the first one and decided to replace it with a cupped verision. It was adequate, so I had the first one cupped when I had it recon'd. It had had a few dings in it and I thought it might be nice to have the confidence of having a replacement onboard - but haven't needed it!

My biggest complaint is that the stern just seems to sit deeper than it should! It has been a while, but I remember that at cruise the outer aft corner was still 2-3 inches below the surface, though the outer side was not wet. On Plane the the stern corners were below the suraface but "dry" as the water exited out and back. (Is that clear?) I will say at this point that I had to step back there and really look, so my 200 +/-lbs. were back there at that moment!

I think if you look around you will find more options than you minght think are out there. Speak with some of your local prop guys/shops and I suspect they will tell you about how they can get you anything you might want. Beware though, the price might be higher because of the lower volume- Mercs out number V/P's 10 :1 at least! Original manufactures want to keep theiy selling price down, so more are inclined to go with the merc drives.

That doesn't change that the Volvo's seem to have a better long term reliability reputation and a very loyal following.

[BigLew]

Originally Posted by DonV

Hey Lew, be careful with that Citgo sign!! Sandy will be looking for it in the Bahamas when he takes his "slacker" over later in the year at the gathering. We want to make sure he can see it from far away on the water to put his mind at ease!

Don V,

ALWAYS remember, "Possession is 9/10ths of the law!" The Citgo sign is safe and will be visible at ALL Red Sox games in the foreseeable future!!! GFS can take it to the supreme court if he wants, but it is NOT going anywhere! (Do you hear me Sandy, my friend!)?

I think it was Floorboy who mentioned availability of props for the Volvo's. I too, have had some challenge in finding a variety of available props over the years. I have a 15 x 17 as well, but they are cupped. I spun the first one and decided to replace it with a cupped verision. It was adequate, so I had the first one cupped when I had it recon'd. It had had a few dings in it and I thought it might be nice to have the confidence of having a replacement onboard - but haven't needed it!

My biggest complaint is that the stern just seems to sit deeper than it should! It has been a while, but I remember that at cruise the outer aft corner was still 2-3 inches below the surface, though the outer side was not wet. On Plane the the stern corners were below the suraface but "dry" as the water exited out and back. (Is that clear?) I will say at this point that I had to step back there and really look, so my 200 +/-lbs. were back there at that moment!

I think if you look around you will find more options than you might think are out there. Speak with some of your local prop guys/shops and I suspect they will tell you about how they can get you anything you might want. Beware though, the price might be higher because of the lower volume- Mercs out number V/P's 10 :1 at least! Original manufactures want to keep their selling price down, so more are inclined to go with the merc drives.

That doesn't change that the Volvo's seem to have a better long term reliability reputation and a very loyal following.

[bigeasy1]

Lew,I have the same problem as you with the stern sitting lower than it should.When under power,and on plane,my boat also has the outside corners a bit under water.I think it's common with most of the I/O powered Sceptre/Tsunami models.

It's way to late now,but I wish I had used a lighter core material like coosa when I did the restore instead of plywood.
When I removed the rotted core from the rear transom cap,and got rid of the bait wells,I had loads of roving laying around,so I stupidly layed up something like ten layers of it instead of using core.I could park a car on it,but it didn't help in the weight dept.
I think if I had used a synthetic core on all the areas like the transom,hatches,cap,and deck floor.I could have saved considerable weight.
That along with the kicker motor,4 downriggers with 15lb weights and other goodies doesn't help either.The scuppers are a nightmare,thank god for plugs.
My thanks to FR.Frank and also to Prop Gods for helping me get the right prop.

The guys at Prop Gods were great to deal with.

Lew here's a few shots of the boat under power.The first shows the waterline in a troll at about 3mph,you can see how low it sits.Even when on plane the stern doesn't rise up much.
The second is under power on plane(hard to see.it's a long distance shot).and the third is coming down off plane.Water conditions were calm in the first picture,and probably about a 1-2' chop in the last two pics.

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by bigeasy1

Lew,I have the same problem as you with the stern sitting lower than it should.When under power,and on plane,my boat also has the outside corners a bit under water.I think it's common with most of the I/O powered Sceptre/Tsunami models.

John, I think you're right about the I/O models sitting a little lower in the water, even on plane . . . if you look at that Boating Magazine article I sent you of the tests of the I/O and OB powered Tsunami's, they had a good shot of both lightly loaded boats running together at high speed and you can clearly see the chine at the transom of the OB model! Looks like the entire outer panel was dry! The OB model had twin I-6 Mercs and the other had twin 165 I-6 Mercruisers, so the OB model would have been much lighter. Interesting that the min running angle on the I/O was a little flatter (3 degrees vs. 4 for the OB), so either the extra weight is enough further forward to shift CG further forward on the I/O, or what's more likely is that the power trim was more effective at controlling running angle on the outdrives than on the outboards.

BTW, I still have a .pdf file of that excellent 9 page article. Will be glad to forward it to anyone that wants a copy if you'll just PM me with an e-mail address. Denny

[bigeasy1]

Denny,I think you're correct about there being enough weight forward on the Sceptre models to give them that flat running angle.I know that even without touching the tabs,I can get the boat to jump on plane extremely quick.
As you mentioned,the running differences between the I/O & OB model in that article are striking.The outboard was much higher out of the water.I would assume that if the same could be achieved with the I/O's,the speed would be increased significantly.

BTW,thanks again for that article. Funny, I just bought the original article from a seller on EBAY for $10.00.
I guess I didn't read the ad all that well,because he only sent me the article,not the entire magazine(1973 Boating).It's still kind of neat having the original article though.

[bigeasy1]

Rod,That's about where mine rides as well.I'll bet you're glad you didn't remove the hardtop.She looks good.You should be receiving the light today or tomorrow,as UPS tracking says it's on time.