DaveW
Active Member
I've had my Ally for a few years now, and am lucky enough to have the only XTB-21 in Australia, and possibly the only fishing Allison in the country - I've heard about an XB2003 that gets used for ski racing but have never seen it.
I've had a few issues in the last year - ripping the top transom bolts through for one which resulted in a full transom rebuild and a new (2nd hand) motor.
The motor I lost had a worked ECU (raised limiter, thanks SimonMotorsports) and the new 200 EFI has been on for a while yet I only had a 24 Tropy and was all over the limiter at 64mph....... after being well over 70 previously it was getting depressing, particularly since my CLE went to gearbox heaven too and I've been running a standard case.
This weekend just gone I finally got my hands on a nice prop - TR428 and got to air her out for the first time in 18 months.
Two up I was at 74-76 fully loaded with fishing gear and a full tank of juice.
On my own I was nudging 78 pretty consistently, still with a standard case!
Now, when I first got her I had a very interesting time learning to drive, there was no-one with any performance boat driving that I could draw experience from down here, and my only info really came from the Allison family on here and Fastbass.
I literally spent 20+ hours in the seat before I was happy to get her up to speed properly.
As a consequence, I have always been hesitant to let anyone else drive, knowing how quickly the stickers can get washed!
Now, my friend I had as ballast testing the TR428 begged so I let him have a crack............
I've never been that scared in a boat before! As soon as we got anywhere near 60 he totally lost it, tried driving through it and overcorrected all over the place too - I thought we were going to come around!
Being the not so bright person I am I let him have another go - and it got worse :banghead
Oddly enough he didn't want another try :very happy
At the end of it all I'm pretty freakin' happy to be going quick again, it was very disheartening to have Skeeters with ETec HO's going past me but NOT ANYMORE :big grin
Here's my girl:
I've had a few issues in the last year - ripping the top transom bolts through for one which resulted in a full transom rebuild and a new (2nd hand) motor.
The motor I lost had a worked ECU (raised limiter, thanks SimonMotorsports) and the new 200 EFI has been on for a while yet I only had a 24 Tropy and was all over the limiter at 64mph....... after being well over 70 previously it was getting depressing, particularly since my CLE went to gearbox heaven too and I've been running a standard case.
This weekend just gone I finally got my hands on a nice prop - TR428 and got to air her out for the first time in 18 months.
Two up I was at 74-76 fully loaded with fishing gear and a full tank of juice.
On my own I was nudging 78 pretty consistently, still with a standard case!
Now, when I first got her I had a very interesting time learning to drive, there was no-one with any performance boat driving that I could draw experience from down here, and my only info really came from the Allison family on here and Fastbass.
I literally spent 20+ hours in the seat before I was happy to get her up to speed properly.
As a consequence, I have always been hesitant to let anyone else drive, knowing how quickly the stickers can get washed!
Now, my friend I had as ballast testing the TR428 begged so I let him have a crack............
I've never been that scared in a boat before! As soon as we got anywhere near 60 he totally lost it, tried driving through it and overcorrected all over the place too - I thought we were going to come around!
Being the not so bright person I am I let him have another go - and it got worse :banghead
Oddly enough he didn't want another try :very happy
At the end of it all I'm pretty freakin' happy to be going quick again, it was very disheartening to have Skeeters with ETec HO's going past me but NOT ANYMORE :big grin
Here's my girl:
