Sea Sled Madness: It's Incurable

Well, the goal of everyone here is for you to succeed. Noone ought lose sight of it. Last thing I want to do is mess you up. If you only need a couple inches of change; a simple manual jack plate with a minus range would do it.

 

Well, that was based on the info that said that the engine was overheating when under load, which it was not. Again showing the importance of facts. Now this thread is about the evolution of a commuter, which is a different creature.

 

Well, that was actually a solution for the prop being unable to develop thrust because of the aerated water. But I have it on good authority that adding cup to the prop will solve that problem.
Edit: my memory is going. The engine was definitely overheating. @baeckmo remembers my own boat better than I do.

 

...darn --- is it my memory overheating??

As far as I can recall without wading back, the temperature rise was found to be primarily caused by sticking thermostat?

 

The original overheating problem was caused by aeration over the intakes. So I was obliged to limit power to only 10%. I ran like that for about two months, then she began to overheat even at that level. It was, as you say, failing thermostats.

 

Yea I'm nervous about that aspect of outboard life. My Big Blocks in my SeaRay are cast iron and the thermostats are set to 140 degrees F and they would usually stay at touch over 180F after about 8 hours of hard running. But if you popped an impeller they could shoot to 220F in a heartbeat and cool off without blowing a head gasket or anything. I dont know an aluminum block can do that... however i think the computers are fancier these days, my carburetors just kept dumping fuel till they hit the hard stops at 210F

 

@bajansailor , you asked how my current thinking differs from the TX18. Check out these views from the plans. In the top view you can see how the edges of the deck are curved. Very attractive, but very inefficient for transferring loads, which is where the money comes from.
Note also the front view: the hull bottom is relatively narrow, with disproportionately wide non- tripping chines. The chines, being so wide and of extremely low deadrise, would detract from tunnel lift, while causing too much pounding on bad days. The topsides flair quite a bit, so heavy loads right on the deck edge (like me with a large beam on my shoulder) would lead to far more roll than is necessary.

The TX18, by all accounts, is an excellent boat that fullfills its sor admirably. I'm pleased I bought the plans. But it doesn't quite work for me.

 

Looks like the bow is quite low as well... that's good for speed but not of much use if you get any decent wave height... could see swamping the bow in a 2 foot sea with some weight onboard.

 

This is a flats fishing boat. It ain't drawn for offshore use or for loads which is probably why John wants to modify.

 

The sheer and bow is drawn to easily land a fish from sides or a forward casting deck; from seated.

The bottom of the bows are designed with a super fine entry to not spook shallows fish with a massive bow wake when you stop. Mertens does this with all his flats boats.

It is a great design for its intended purpose, but things like the fine entry make the boat a terrible fit for a forward cabin, or for heavier sea states. It is designed for chop, not breaking seas or fast or high swells.

I probably could have added these in my last comment, but seems obvious, but probably because I have been on the Mertens blog for about 10 years.

 

I will freely admit fishing is one area where I am ignorant. I’ve owned many boats and never fished. However I think it reinforces my instinct that if he wants to put some weight forward for cargo, he definitely needs to look at some freeboard. I do, however, agree that the chine slant on that boat is extremely wide almost like a racing catamaran.

 

Thread starting to drift.

 

Not really. I'm pointing out nuances of the TX that don't match the sor.

 

Well, here is a representative hole in our commuter's bottom. Looks like a Hertzian Cone to me. Screw from the inside out maybe. There's about a half dozen like this.

 

What did you hit?