Skater 30 / Ilmor Indy Upgrade

[FastDonzi]

Tx,

The new Ilmor engine drive pkg is drive by wire no cables for throttles or shifting. I have the older gen 3 engines but the new drive sends it's trim signal electronically. I didn't want heads up cable tabs w/ seperate L.E.D. drive indicators so ILMOR & Livorsi have worked on an all L.E.D. system. To be honest as much as I like the visibility of the heads up indicators the accuracy / repeatability wasn't there in fact it was dangerous not knowing exactly where the tabs were.

Did you have Stainless Marines "No Slack" Cables on your heads up indicators??? They are extremly accurate & Repeatable since the spring is always pulling the slack out of the cable. Now if you had just regular Morse Cables then "Yes" It's Dangerous since the Tabs or Drives could move 2" before the 1/4" Slack is consumed in the cable housing and starts to show in the display, the No Slacks take care of that. I do like your DBW's though, very clean....

PS. Can you walk over to Dale Jrs shop and poke him with a Hot Coat Hanger or something and tell him to get up on the wheel (maybe move his seat closer and don't let him know )

[NASCAT]

FD,

I don't believe I did have the no slack ones which may have been the ticket but since the drive sends an electronic indicator signal it made sense to convert the tabs to the same system w/ 1 display.

I'm not sure I can acknowledge those remarks on grounds it may adversley affect my future employment. I don't work in that shop but know many of the team members including the crew chief. There are many talented individuals next door so I don't know what to tell you. 2010 has been a different season for us all.

[FastDonzi]

I Understand .. Beautiful Job on your boat. The 30's are my Favorite. you should have a real good running reliable rig. Don't be affraid to crack that Bishh open regularly ..

[whatboat]

I really hope I am in the neighborhood when she comes home !!!

The attention to detail is amazing !

[NASCAT]

Trevor splashed the Skater yesterday w/ a pair of Hering 5 blade 16.5 x 35's & it ran 126 heavy on the chips out on Lake Michigan 1/2 tank w/ 3 on board in 2' chop.

This was to be expected based on the fact that we elected to go w/ 1.50 drives for acceleration & drivability over WOT Top End which I might tap into 3-5 times a year for a total run time of 5-7 mins. The other Ilmor Indy Cats all have 1.39 drives.

Today he tested a set of 37's which broke 130 but still on the chip. Lake Michigan was a little angry today w/ 4-6 footers so no speed runs were attempted there. The local lake had better conditions but is small, they run out of room quickly & the water patrol frowns upon the loud fast boats so testing has to be short & sweet.

Peter is off to LOTO tomorrow but hopes to get a pair of 39's & 40's for testing first of the week. I'm postponing p/u the boat up this weekend in light of the opportunity to get some more test & tune time.

Trevor is going to add a 1/2" spacer & run the 37's again tomorrow to see if he can't reduce the slip some which is currently in the 10% range.

As for the project overall he said the boat gets on plane w/ ease, it's very sensitive & responsive to trim changes, runs great & there's not been one leak or mechanical issue. He said it feels like a totally different boat, hooked up & on rails. The custom fabricated L.E.D. indicators are working like a charm as well from both an accuracy & repeatability standpoint.

To Be Cont'd.......................

[FastDonzi]

Great, I like it when people (Riggers) take the time to go over and complete every task before testing. I used to build AND test boats and nothing bugged me more than being out on the water in a new boat and have to spend part of the day correcting what the riggers should have completed on their shift. I know & expect some issues, but more than once I tested a boat where the steering was backwards You did good with those guys, they are the pros (as is Pete & Chris). 1st class all the way

[NASCAT]

Great, I like it when people (Riggers) take the time to go over and complete every task before testing. I used to build AND test boats and nothing bugged me more than being out on the water in a new boat and have to spend part of the day correcting what the riggers should have completed on their shift. I know & expect some issues, but more than once I tested a boat where the steering was backwards You did good with those guys, they are the pros (as is Pete & Chris). 1st class all the way

In this case Trevor & Paul preformed the drive retrofit & they are the ones testing the boat as well. Who better to judge their work than themselves?? Based on the 2 days of testing it appears they have the honor of holding their heads high.

[ILMORdude]

Its gotta have awesome acceleration with 1.50's

[NASCAT]

Yeah so awesome it's making it hard to test b/c they run out of room, LOL! Hopefully Lake Michigan conditions are better today, thats where they really need to run in order to be able to stretcg her legs long enough to trim up & down while it's on the wood to see if they gain anything etc, etc. On the local lake they are reaching top speed & having to turn or roll out of it almost immediately which isn't allowing them to see what she really likes & or doesn't.

Today is another day. I waited this long no sense rushing it now!

[Magic Medicine]

Yeah so awesome it's making it hard to test b/c they run out of room, LOL! Hopefully Lake Michigan conditions are better today, thats where they really need to run in order to be able to stretcg her legs long enough to trim up & down while it's on the wood to see if they gain anything etc, etc. On the local lake they are reaching top speed & having to turn or roll out of it almost immediately which isn't allowing them to see what she really likes & or doesn't.

Today is another day. I waited this long no sense rushing it now!

We are going through a cold spell up here right now. I am imagine the lake is going to be snotty out there again today. Winds are supposed to change back out of the south Friday and be nice all weekend, so good water conditions will be just around the corner.

[ApachePete]

Dead calm today.

What local lake are they running on?

[NASCAT]

I'm not sure, Trevor normally calls me EOD. He said he was going to shoot me a link for a streaming video so we'll se. The small lake they test on can be seen from the main drag in the town of Douglas. I saw it while eating lunch there one time. Not alot of straightaway room & ends up having to put wheel in it before it really winds up then ultimately they are out of room.

[NASCAT]

The plan is to hit Lake Michigan at 2pm today. Trevor puts in at Mackatawa (sp?) which dumps into the big lake! I guess those of you that are close by may be able to check it out.

[ApachePete]

I'm not sure, Trevor normally calls me EOD. He said he was going to shoot me a link for a streaming video so we'll se. The small lake they test on can be seen from the main drag in the town of Douglas. I saw it while eating lunch there one time. Not alot of straightaway room & ends up having to put wheel in it before it really winds up then ultimately they are out of room.

I don't think so. He'd be lucky to hit 50. Way too small

More likely is Lake Mackatawa in Holland, 10 miles north.

[Bobcat]

Outstanding service and products, way cool thread!

[NASCAT]

I don't think so. He'd be lucky to hit 50. Way too small

More likely is Lake Mackatawa in Holland, 10 miles north.

I think you are right now that you mentioned it!

[NASCAT]

Heres a link to a live stream video from prop testing earlier today. 12 min vid not the best quality but for me it was like I was there. I originally posted the link in a new thread this afternoon right as they begun. I personally couldn't access it live but can view it now. Reception in that neck of the woods is somewhat sketchy!

5 blade 37's w/ 1/2 drive spacers= noticebaly slower acceleration, feels very hooked up, same top speed, with room to spare but ran out of real estate. Guesstimate was there may have been 3-5 mph left. Same props yesterday w/o spacers pegged the limiter w/ a half mi or so to spare.

Enjoy!
http://qik.com/doscorn

[NASCAT]

Unfortunately no test time took place today, poor conditions so we elected to wait until first of the week.

I did receive a blank copy of the Sea Trial Test Sheet. Once my boat has been dialed in w/ the correct props I'll post another copy that has been filled out by Trevor & Paul. I wrote in anywhere it was difficult to read.

[NASCAT]

Have a fellow boater out at LOTO trying to negotiate the use of these in order to complete the test & tune.

[NASCAT]

Loto had put a wrench in our prop testing the past several days but nevertheless Trevor ran the boat again today w/ the 16.5 x 35's & 37's w/ the 1/2" spacer just to confirm the boat does not want the spacer. This eliminates one factor & will allow him to focus on running the next set of props

Herings Jeff Johnston has saved the day by rounding up a set of 16.5 x 39's 18deg SCL 5-blades which he's FedEx'd to Skater for Wed delivery. In the interim Skater will remove the 1/2" spacers. Once the 39's arrive Trevor & Paul plan to put the boat thru the paces. With any luck back to backing the 37's & 39's will determine whether the boat can handle the 39's or wants 38's. It's unlikely it will be able to spin 40's. Even if the 39's touch the limiters they will be doing so w/ 2 on board & half full of fuel. At an event I normally have 4 on board & start close to full.

If time allows custom 1/4" spacers maybe fitted & tested as well as spinning the props out.

Still plan to weigh the boat prior to departure inorder to compare the bravo to the Indy pkg.

I'm headed to Skater 1st thing Thurs AM w/ the hopes of being back in time to boat here the entire labor day weekend. If there is anything worth sharing tomorrow I certainly will otherwise more following my roundtrip voyage to Skater. I'm anxious to see whether or not I'm able to match or exceed Skaters performance #'s since water conditions here never upset my boat nor will I run out of lake.