New boat...finally

[Empire]

Last week, I finally took delivery of my boat. Special thanks to all the folks at Ifish with all of the posts about what they have, and what they would not have in their boats. Ifish influenced what I put into this boat!

Now if I can just put a fish into this boat...

Alan
http://www.ifish.net/uploads/26380792.jpg

[id. painter]

Dear Empire, nice boat. What brand and how long is it? And my i ask what she cost? What motor is that , i cant tell from photo. Thanks , id. painter

[id. painter]

Dear Empire, nice boat. What brand and how long is it? And my i ask what she cost? What motor is that , i cant tell from photo. Thanks , id. painter

[T-Jet]

The sleepless nights are over! Congrats and enjoy!

[Empire]

The boat is an 18' FishRite Performer. 115HP Mercury fuel injected, four stroke, saltwater engine with the extra long shaft. The trailer is a DHM (which is the best trailer in the business as far as I am concerned).

I upgraded to a Lowrance X15 fish finder. The resolution is incredible! Fish Rite gave me a free speed probe for the fish finder, even though I have GPS. For those of you relying on the speed probe for MPH, you might want to have the speed calibrated. Out of the box, my speed on the Lowrance showed 59.6 MPH when GPS showed 40.1!!!

I need to try out some other props to bring up the top speed. The boat came with a 3 blade, aluminum, 14" dia, 17" pitch prop. Top speed was just over 40MPH, a bit slower than I expected, but the hole shots were incredibly fast. Anybody have any ideas as to which prop to try?

Alan

[id. painter]

Empire, thanks , nice boat. Last year i bought a new Alumaweld 17ft, 75hp merc two strk. with a 9.9 kicker ,metal craft trailer, scotty downriggers fish finder and G.P.S. for 15k ,just wanted to see what an upgrade will cost. id. Painter

[WaterDog]

Empire,

Try a stainless steel 14x17 prop. On my last boat with a 90 johnson I switched to a Rapture (Michigan Wheel) I got from Cabela’s and what a difference. 3-4 mph gain in the top end, better hole shot and zero cavitation in WOT turns. I did a lot of price checking and Cabela’s was $100-$150 cheaper for the EXACT same prop at other shops. All of the shops I talked to said to go with the same diameter and pitch.

Also don’t trade that prop in, a spare comes in handy.

Good luck and congrats on the new boat. Love that new boat smell. Now you need to get some fish blood in it. :grin:

[Hoosier Daddy]

That boat's to purty to fish from...
is that a dent on the starboard side?

JK, congrats. :grin:

[16/0 Circle]

Was your GPS giving you back your actual speed over ground and your speed probe combining the speed over ground and the current speed? Or was there even any water speed involved?

[Empire]

IDPainter. I assume you have an Alumaweld Stryker. I looked at those, and they are nice. This is quite a bit more boat. I looked at the North River boats(grew up in Roseburg, the Lorenzens are friends of the family). In order to get the features I liked, I would have needed a 19 foot or bigger North River. The "Mariner" model was basic, like the Stryker. The gunnels on the FishRite are wide enough, and have tracks for traction, so that I can walk all the way around the boat on them. To go from a 75 2 stroke to a 115 4 stroke is about 2 or 3 thousand dollars (guessing only), also add about 4 to 5 grand for the boat, depending what you want to put into it.

Waterdog: At WOT, and trimmed out, the prop definately cavitates on turns (sending the RPMs to the peg). I was going to have the motor lowered one notch (it looks too high anyway). Do you think the SS prop would eliminate the problem, or should I just lower the motor?

Chnookie: There are no dents in the boat, not yet anyway. I think what you see is a reflection.

Scott: When testing the speed of the boat, I was on a lake. SOG was the same as speed over water.

[Empire]

Here is the inside. I put the front 2 seats on boxes, and the back two are on removable pedestals. I wanted to be able to take the rear seats out for fishing, as there is limited space in an 18 foot boat.
http://www.ifish.net/uploads/43331092.jpg

[Red]

After the proper break-in period, you need to find out if your engine reaches the proper rpms at wide open throttle, with your current prop. The rpm range at WOT will be listed on the specs page for your engine. If you reach the proper rpm range, then stay with the same pitch prop. If you don't reach the max rpm range you should use a higher pitch. A 19 pitch will give you more top end speed. BTW nice boat. :smile:

[WaterDog]

I assume you have power trim. I would have to trim the motor in just a touch to keep it from cavitating. With the factory prop I had to trim it in a lot. Next time out, play with the power trim.

To really do it right you need to have a selection of props and try each one and watch the rpm’s. I know some dealers will loan you props to try out on the river. Red is right about getting more pitch will increase top end but then hole shot suffers. Where I boat I needed to get up quick so I stuck with the same pitch. I also noticed I could maintain the same speed at 200 rpms less with the SS according to my gps, which translates to better fuel economy.

Of course it’s all gonna depend on the hull and a bunch of other factors so “your results may vary”. :rolleyes: I'm just telling you what I experienced on that particular boat. :smile:

[crabbait]

Good looking "kicker" in the first photo. It does not look like you have much room between the motor skeg and the ground. Do you tow with the motor down? Lowering the motor will decrease the already low position.

[Uncle Roman]

Beautiful boat! Might I ask where you purchased it? A dealer or the factory? Thanks!

[Empire]

To Crabbait: I cannot put the motor all the way down when the boat is on the trailer. These trailers are designed to ride very low for easier launching. I bought a transom saver bracket (for $30) and use it when on the road. I read in the motor users guide NOT to use the lock (in the upward position) for holding the motor during transport. That lock is for holding the motor up while servicing the hydraulics.

To UncleRoman: I first dealt with Hank at FishRite boats. I negotiated with him, back and forth. I met Jamie Dorsey(the owner) at the San Francisco boat show, and again at the Sacramento boat show one week later. I dealt with Jamie at the show, and settled on a price with him. After negotiating with him, I met the local dealer. The Northern California dealer is Fishermans Marine, located in Loomis (no relation to GL Loomis). Jamie was great to deal with. Jamie worked with me to build the boat that I wanted. Jamie never said a bad word about anyone elses boats (unlike a whole bunch of salesmen). The local dealer has been great, even though I asked for a bunch of changes after the boat was ordered. The answer was always yes. Today, I spoke with the service department about lowering my motor. They have been extremely busy with the rush of boats being sold (the boats are rigged at the dealership). The service manager, Jim, is going to come in early to work (on his own time) so he can lower my motor.

I am convinced that one really can get a better deal on a boat at a show. I think the dealers get an incentive, which they can pass along.

I also think I did well pricewise, because I bought the boat in January, on the heels of 09/11, and before the boat season got started. Nobody knew if any boats would be sold this season. Fisherman's Marine has sold about 20 boats in the last couple of months, guessing by how many boats I have seen go through there during my visits. They are very busy, and probably have many more FishRites on order.

Anybody have any suggestions about getting the registration numbers put on. The dealership gave me black stick on numbers, but I want to find out about getting some custom numbering. Any ideas? Alan

[Mojo]

Empire,
Try your local sign shop for the regestration numbers. They can do anything you want.

[Dan Christopher]

purdddyyyy it will look good with blood on it.. :grin:

[id. painter]

Empire, thanks for your response, I ment to send a reply and it ended up a new topic post, "boats" Thanks again.