"I have been a fan of the Express boats for some time now. A
friend in the business sells them on his lot. I have always felt a
great performance possibility from their pad design. Just last month I
began stocking and selling the Triton Aluminum rigs.
We sold a Triton aluminum 186Mag with a Merc 115 4-stroke 2 weeks ago. I
took it to the water for break in and testing/setup. It runs extremely
well. It runs with a 6" rapid jack and a 22" laser at 6000rpm
at 54mph (gps indicated of course).
Last week we where getting our drag boats prepared for the ODBA 1/4
mile world finals at Jasper TN, when I got an idea. I pulled a
Triton 186Mag aluminum bass boat from the showroom, installed 8 inches
of setback, machined a set of wedges with 9 degrees of negative tuck,
and bolted on a stock 2.5 ltr. 280 Merc shortie (we removed the rev
limiter from the ECU-"lake racer"rules allow that on a stock
engine).
We added our usual planing fin to the gearcase, set the propshaft
1/2" above the pad and added a 24 Lightning ET.
Took it to the local lake thursday for testing, it required only minimal
changes to run 12.80 to
13.0's at 91-93 mph thru the quarter!!
This hull responded very well to being nearly overpowered by almost
double (rated for a 150). The handling is very precise, it runs similiar
to an Allison in that it runs bow up with the engine app. 1 degree
tucked in relation to the running surface. It runs with approximately
18-20 inches of wetted pad surface.
We put on a 28 lightning and ran 103 mph at
8000 rpm. The transom showed no flex at any time(nearly
3 inches thick). We took it to the drags and ran "lake racer"
class on Sunday.
Now I knew it could not win because my racing partner(Glenn Reynolds)
always finishes either 2nd or 1st at every event we have attended for
the past 3 years. His boat runs 11.90s consistently at 103-105 thru the
1/4 mile track (and he has had the record in that class for the past
three years at 101, 104, 106mph), but I enjoyed the challenge anyway.
My first card draw was Gillman from AZ, he has a Formula1 Johnson V-8 on
an Eliminator tunnel ski boat. We got a good start, he pulled me by 5
boat lengths down the quarter. NOT BAD for an aluminum bass boat.
My 2nd draw was Roy Martin from around Knoxville in a Bullet with a Merc
300 drag with SVS, Ultra hi-compression heads, and a host of other full
boogie race mod's (I know Roy's boat cause he tests with us).
Again, I got beat out of the gate, and Roy pulled a length and a half on
me down the quarter. To the trailer for the tin boat. We had fun though.
And judging by the crowd of people in our pit area, this aluminum boat
definately made an impression.
I am planning to have Triton build one for me 20 ft long, with a
deeper v , and a narrower pad to race next year on the circuit.
Maybe we can even get one on the WCF circuit?? If anyone who reads
this board would like to see this rig, or ride in it, call me for an
appointment, I will gladly take it to the water. The ride is comparable
to most other 18.5ft fiberglass boats, better than some, not as good as
the real heavy ones though. This boat weighs 1710 lbs with me in the
boat.
With the stock 280, the rules say we could have weighed as
little as 1550, but it was impossible to get the boat that light in 'showroom'
form."
Tony Reynolds
Reynolds Performance
Marine
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November
10....update
We used the standard Teleflex dual cable in the
"Tin Toon"; if I had more time available before the races I
probably would have installed hydraulic, but the boat was factory
equipped with the dual cable so we left it alone.
One thing we have found with most any properly set up hi-speed rig
whether it be a 90 plus mph Bullet, Allison, Stroker or the "Tin
Toony", is the lack of steering torque.
We have found torque to be non-existent on this boat.
Now a few years ago when we were led to believe that an over hub 4 blade
Spinelli was "the" prop for a Bullet, we had ungodly steering
torque (anybody who runs one shows incredibly high amounts of slippage
when you compare prop pitch to rpm to speed). This is gonna sound
strange, but steering torque is created by prop slippage.
Ever been in an older non-performance Ranger with only a 150, running
flat as a barge with the motor trimmed out all the way blowing a rooster
tail 60 feet high? Gobs of torque.
Hydraulic steering came on the market to act as a "band-aid"
patch for the boat builders to use as a cover up. The boat
builders now do not have to work harder at set-up to get rid of steering
torque, they just put hydraulic in it.
About the only hi-speed builder I know of that did not
go to hydraulice as a cover up is Allison.
A properly set up Allison of any model will not have steering torque.
Why? Because Darris designed the pad of the boat to do all the
lifting work; the prop only has to concentrate on pushing the boat
forward.
Same with this little Toon, the pad on it has a bead of weld across the
back similar to the "lifting bump" on the back edge of the
Allison pad. Amazingly this lump of weld gives the boat just the
right amount of lift (notice in one picture the boat is up clean, but
the motor is about a degree or two negative). If it had created
too much lift, I would have used the file to knock it down a bit.
Tony Reynolds
Reynolds Performance
Marine
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