inaugural launch

[victorfb]

well bonnevillebaby and i just got back from the river for the rogers inaugural launch and ive just got to say that that is one awsome boat to drive.
we went to park moabi since they have calm water at the ramp. we backed her into the water but left it hooked to the trailer to get a timing light on it but had a small problem, water coming in from the reverse cable hole and one float bowl (carb) not filling up. back up the ramp we go, seal up the hole and the water gods must have been with us as the bowl started filling up all by itself. back down the ramp and into the water. no leaks and too sunny to see the timing marks so i set it by ear and disconnect. im nevous as hell and i see the truck and trailer going away from me, but what the heck, its running and floating.(damn it sounds mean). i float in the harbor for a few waiting for Toni to park the truck and get to the shoreline,im double checking everything, the motor is warming up a bit too high so i do a quik adjustment to the valve. perfect, good temp and Toni is ready to hop in, i pick her up, she pushes me offshore, i fire it up and idle out. as i get closer and closer to the end of the no wake zone my heart beats faster and harder. im shaking like a leaf but when i get to the opening i stab the throttle and she takes off like a bat out of hell. OMG this aint the tahiti im thinking to myself. we go up river a bit and im too scared to anything but look at the other boaters and all my quages. we finally get into clear water and i start learning the boat. holy crap this thing turns on a dime. the rest of the day went very well even though i couldnt lose the nervousness. i may have to do a little adjusting to the ride plate as i get some porposing in rough water that even the diverter cant remedy very easily. then again i may have just been going to slow to keep it on plane. im telling you i was nervous man.:p but it was actually nice getting some rough water to see how the suspension seats worked and i am tickled. my back is thanking me big time for that idea. :D we ran the boat up at big bend the next day and all went fantastic. had alot of compliments and made some new friends, but the best part is finally driving my boat that Toni and i have been working so hard on. what a great feeling. we didnt have anyone to take pics or video but we are hoping to in two weeks. i can hardly wait to get back out there. a few finishing touches and im ready to get her wet again. i am one happy dude! :D

[MudPumper]

Congrats, glad everything went well.;)

[MikeF]

Very cool Vic!
If you have some pictures......we'd like to see them. :cool:

[Squirtcha?]

Waytago Victor
Anxious to see some photos as well. Hard to believe that CBBB is only a month away. Guess I'll be seeing her in person then anyway.

[roostwear]

Congratulations! I was at the house last weekend, and had the same problem with porpoising. i dropped the plate down to aound 2 degrees and all is good. Didn't get a chance to GPS it because of all the frickin' lake lice. Anyhow, glad it went well....enjoy!

[Danhercules]

I have been keepin en eye on the boat, I though it looked good on the trailer. She looks killer on the water!!!
2 weeks? We will be in Laughlin too. I can get some video then.

[cyclone]

it's about time. :D
seriously glad to hear all went well and I cant wait to see it on the water in person.

[HalletDave]

Good on ya Victor.
I guess I will have to wait until CBBB to see the boat.:)

[hack job]

vic, that is great news ! i cant wait to see it at CBBB in person ( i still want to see pics)lol
anyhow glad every thing went well and now its time were you enjoy it!;)

[flat broke]

Vic,
That is great news!!!!. Only one request. Disconnect that driveline and get the timing set right on that bad boy. You can't set timing by ear and I don't want to see you hurt the motor once you start leaning on her a bit. I've got a nice digital dialback light if you need to borrow one. Once again, great news on the first voyage!
Chris

[victorfb]

thanks guys. as dan said he will be in laughlin that weekend aswell, so maybe he will be able to get some pics or even video up for us. heck id like to see it more than anyone. so far all ive seen is the bow, guages and motor. :D though Toni did say it has quite a roost, i was too nervous to look back that long. hopefully we wont have to wait till the CBBB, but i am so looking forward to that event. cant wait to see all the boats and wonderful people.
hey Roostwear, we went by your place on sunday but you must have allready gotten on the water. played with the yellow lab pup for a bit then launched at lazy harrys. we looked around both up river and down for ya but couldnt find you. went down to the avi and up to the cove hoping to hook up with ya. oh well, guess i should have let you know we were in the area before hand.
so be warned.... two weeks man.
:p after we got off the water we looked around for lots in the area. got some great info on a few that we will look into. might be nieghbors.:D
thanks to everyone that has helped me and toni get our boat on the water and looking so nice. i recieved parts from people that ive never met before and some from that ive allready known. what a great group of people this boating bunch. and thanks to Toddnjuzz for putting up with me and my demands on the gel/paint. i wanted it to look like it did back in its day and Todd accomplished the task very nicely. i got so many compliments.
see you all soon on the water. yipppeeee!!!!

[victorfb]

FlatBroke.
the driveline will definatly be dissconnected for the timing and tuning. i just didnt have time to do so before we left so i connected the driveline around 5AM and drove out, figuring id do it on the ramp. it was a bit early to start it with open headers. and i agree, you cant do it by ear properly, but i also didnt hammer it the whole weekend. well maybe once to pass a drunk boater, but it didnt seem like it was knocking or pinging so i think im ok. thanks for the offer of the digital timing light. i dont have one of those just the old style, but im thinking i should. besides id like to know how to use one. i normally have to rev the motor passed its advance curve to set it properly. im going to try and bring the boat to jack MPD today since i am still in city of orange so he can give me some advice on how to set the ride plate. maybe while im out ill pick up a new timing light. in my research ive found that 34 degrees should be a safe and acceptible timing for the 502. sound about right?

[roostwear]

Damn it! The lab's name is Obie (actually O.B.), and he's 13 weeks old and was there for his first river trip. Obie has a genetic defect, and although he's purebred, the breeder couldn't sell him to anyone for breeding, but he's a great pet. The defect is an OverBite (get it, OB?).
On Sunday, if you were playing with Obie, we were not on the water yet. (note to self... Obie is obviously not a watch dog). Must have been out getting food. Leave a note next time, and we can meet up. You would have really liked the fireworks show that night on the water.
How did you like my palm tree? :D

[victorfb]

what are you talking about watchdog? he watched Toni walk right in.lol actually i didnt notice the palm tree since i stayed in the truck and was looking for a piece of paper to leave a note but couldnt find anything. didnt think youd appreciate me scratching it into the door with a flat blade screw driver. we did come by toward the evening, but it looked like you had allready left since we didnt see any pup. next time i will leave a note for sure.

[roostwear]

Toni's damn lucky to get out without being licked to death! We went to Sonic (slower than a 7 year itch) to get some food to take on the boat. We left a little before 7, and launched at Lazy Harry's around 8. It was nice cruising up to the casinos in the twilight... nice and smooth, little traffic. Watched the fireworks anchored just above Harrah's. Afterwards, went down river... in the friggin' DARK! I followed one boat down to Holiday Shores, then he turned. Followed a second about a mile further. After that, I was the only boat going that far downriver. I may be a big puss, but with no moon, it's bizarre being on the water at night. I bought a million candlepower halogen just for that occasion. Shelley turns it on, and aims it straight ahead! This may be obvious to others, but when you turn on that powerful of a light and aim it straight ahead, it BLINDS YOU! You realize how well you know the river when you have to look at a very small section of shore 100 feet away in the dark, and be able to tell where the bends, islands, and points are. All in all, a very cool night, though.
Don't know if we'll be back out in 2 weeks. I have a couple repairs to make to the boat before it goes out again. I'll let you know.

[MudPumper]

Originally posted by Danhercules
I have been keepin en eye on the boat, I though it looked good on the trailer. She looks killer on the water!!!
2 weeks? We will be in Laughlin too. I can get some video then.
Are you guys talking about the weekend of the 17th??? If so I'll be there too, we should hook up.

[victorfb]

yep, thats the weekend, and yea definatly we gotta hook up. ill let you know were we will be staying and launching from.
yea roost, OB did do a number on toni, but we are both suckers for that. your actually lucky toni didnt dogknap him. :p too bad you wont be out there for the weekend of the 17th, but i totally understand. and if you happen to change plans keep me posted and we will come by for sure.

[Danhercules]

I will start a new thread on the trip.

[HotHallet]

It was good to see you up there Vic and I look forward to meeting up with you guys at CBBB. Your boat looks great man. I did notice on Sunday when I was heading back to the ramp with my trailer and I saw you that you could use a longer drop hitch for your dually-tongue of trailer looked a little high. Once again it was great to see you guys and hang out for the brief time we did.

[Heatseeker]

Vic, it's great to hear that everything went well! You present another example of how hard work does pay off! Congrats!
Another ol' Roger's brought back to life!!!
I've got a couple of set up ?'s for you.
Do you have a turning fin? The way you describe the boat's turning ability, I'm kind of assuming you do.
What was your ride plate set at initially? I just put mine back to where it was when I got the boat. I haven't even checked the angle yet.
I hope my maiden voyage(tomorrow morning!!!) goes as well yours. I'm starting to feel the tension buzz. The last time mine ran was in 1992.
Again, way to go man!!!

[TRG]

"lucky bastards" LOL!!!

[victorfb]

HotHallet. thanks man, and it was great to meet up with you too. just too bad it was so late in the day but im sure we will get to run together soon. thanks for the concern of the drop hitch, i knew it was a bit high but it was all i had at the time. besides i plan to raise the trailer a little to gain a bit more fender to tire clearance, and possibly add some shocks to help from the bouncies. at that point i will find out exactly what length hitch to make. i just brought the diverter all the way up in tow and all was ok, but it will be remedied soon. thanks man.
Heatseeker. thanks for the props man, its been a fun time building it and the rewards are outstanding. a little fine tuning and the ole rogers will be back to its old self again. as for the fin, yes i do have it on there and im betting thats what is making it turn so well. the ride plate is at about 4.5 degrees but it needs to be set lower about 1/8" to maybe 3/16". it has an old style type shoe and there was two plates between the ride plate and intake, one of which was very coroded and flaking metal chips so i took it out and one shim from the cradle to keep the angle the same. after talking with Jack at MPD this afternoon, he set me straight on what i need to do. he nailed it by telling ME what the boat was doing by the way he saw my set up. the boat was doing exactly what he said it would so im betting with his advice i will get it right. good luck with your maiden voyage tomorrow. i hope it goes well and you wont have to change a thing. though thats all part of the fun aswell.:D as for the tension buzz, i dont think i can help ya there man, but i can tell ya one thing---- the second day is by far less stressfull.:D have fun and let us know how it turned out.
Toddnjuzz. it's only the top of the second inning with two men on and your up. and i have a feeling your gunna hit a dinger. now its time for you to step up to the plate, spit a big ole chaw, scratch your nuts, look that sucker in the eye and put us all in Ahhww. i know you feel like your all alone up there man, but you really do have a team behind ya. its rally time and we are gunna get that red tug wet. :D

[Rexone]

Congrats Victor on getting her running. Sounds like all your hard work and long nights paid off. :)

[victorfb]

thanks mike, all the hard work, long nights, and the great support from the folks at rex marine got her going. thanks for all your help man. :D

[roostwear]

We require pictures......:D

[Slider]

Saw the boat on Saturday night LOOKED GREAT.Then we saw them on the water in the sun light "Whow". Shes a beautiful boat Victor.Good job.

[victorfb]

thanks slider. it was great seeing you out there, and hopefully next time we will be able to go for a run aswell. ive got a few things to do on the boat and help out with toddnjuzz to get his on the water aswell, but we will be back next week and for the CBBB. hope to see ya there. :D

[Shark In The Pond]

Hope all goes well and make sure someone get a pic of that shit eating grin on your face while putting your foot through the floor :D