Florida foot line

We've had some vistors over the holidays. In fact we've been really busy down here. Family and friends have been plentiful for the last few weeks and it's been a pleasure to experience. That what the holidays are for.

As many of you know, I rebuilt my motor a couple years ago. My vision when I researched the parts list and built it was to be able to do at least 5 man deepwater starts and then still have enough snort left on the top end for all five guys to be able to do one foots. Not an impossible task but certainly not your every day garden variety rebuild either. In my own feeble, somewhat limited mindset, a tournament inboard with those capabilities is a pretty rare bird.

For the last couple of years I've been racking my brain to figure out what was needed to even attempt this feat without looking like a complete moron. Ropes and handles of equal length or even reasonably close is a lot harder to get than you might think. I have three ropes (two of which are very old school and way different lengths) and have to use an assortment of twinks, extensions and handles to get the three of them within a foot of each other. New ropes are probably a whole lot closer in length but I still can't afford to just go out and buy five new ropes and handles.

So you get the rope/handle combinations figured out and the next thing is the skiers. Anyone who has ever tried deepwater starts with any more than two or three bodies knows full well that the natural reaction of ropes coming tight when attached to a central pulling point such as a pylon, bodies start bumping and banging into each other and at that point it's purely survival of the fittest! So what can I do to minimize this? Simple....two booms right? Again, you have the monetary thing that comes into play which just isn't happening for this experiment. Then again, everybody has a boom right? Much easier said than done. Maybe when you have a group of CCFans with relatively close year or model of CC. No problem.
When you have an American Skier the distance between pylon and bow eye can make for some pretty extreme boom cable changes which may/may not be that easy to do for something like this. Trust me, I've tried.

So this weekend the planets aligned...ropes, handles, skiers, booms weather...the perfect storm.

Here's what I ended up with thanks to Seacamper and JBear. We were able to get the inside portion of Tom's boom and height adjuster matched with JBears outside portion of his boom which just so happen to fit perfectly.



Then we found some skiers....
Left to right: JBear, My good buddy from WI Mike, Seacamper's son Thomas, Diana and Rob Kadansky and finally the CCFan world traveler HW.



At this point I have a really big lump in my throat knowing that I'm actually about to find out if my vision and dream motor has paid off or falls flat on it's face!!!
We started with four man flyers seeing as the boat in factory form could pull three but it struggled and only topped out at about 38 or 39 MPH. I was much relieved when four was successful but when I throttled up, the stern wanted to walk straight to the right side but then finally hooked up and was pretty much effortless after that. Then we tried a four man deepwater which was actually easier than the flyer. No weird sideways walk of the stern with the throttle. Maybe in hind site, I may have been pulling a little off to one side from the skiers which pulled the stern to the right. It didn't really happen after that. I wasn't WFO on either run so I knew there was something left in the tank.
So we added a fifth and did a flyer which was also a success but the boat struggled. Then we did the same five guys deepwater and again, much easier than the flyer and pretty much effortless for the boat although I had it pretty much WFO. Then we realize that the two observers in the boat have pics but no video. We gave the guys a break and got the video phones ready to roll and went out and did it again.



As you can see, I'm a pretty happy camper. I know that everyone wasn't doing one foots but 42MPH is more than enough for me to do ones and toe holds so I know I accomplished what I set out to accomplish. I really think it would pull six. It would struggle, but if the skiers really straighten out and wait for speed before trying to sit up, it could be done. We needed another rope and a little more time available but everyone agrees it could be done.

Special thanks to Seacamper and Mrs. Seacamper for letting us invade their space once again. Really cool people. I know there are other pics and vids that may find their way here but I gotta tell you, it was really awesome. Thanks guys for the assist!!!!!!

Now, I need some victims for a backdeep line. HW and I have done it several times. We need some more takers.

Ha, that's pretty sweet. I'm surprised the holeshot looked that effortless- that's a lot of bodies to pull out of the water with just one prop, regardless of how much hp you've got! 42mph is no joke... Nice to see a plan come together like that! I'm guessing you didn't prop down based on the mph/rpm... Even more impressive. Next time line up 6-7 bodies and throw a 541 or 543 on there!

Very Kool for Sure!! Having driven that beast my money would have bet on success! What a great way to spend the Christmas holiday, thanks for sharing!

by the way, wasn't it Thomas that less than a year ago you and HW were showing basic barefoot position to so he could "try" a step out on the boom? and now he's in a five man deep line?!

good work out of you Thomas, and also you're a jerk for being better than me and I started when I was your age.

IAughtNaut wrote: by the way, wasn't it Thomas that less than a year ago you and HW were showing basic barefoot position to so he could "try" a step out on the boom? and now he's in a five man deep line?! good work out of you Thomas, and also you're a jerk for being better than me and I started when I was your age.

That's the same one Adam. I just worked with him this weekend doing one foots too. He's a good footer.

Eddie - that is awesome, I cringed a little when everyone came crashing together in the middle, but glad everyone survived. That boat is so strong, I wouldn't have doubted it for a second!

Sweet!!

Eddie, you da man. Looks like BBB1 and 2 with that double boom!!! Heck get me behind it and you could pull 7 deep I'm tiny hahahah. That's one killer rig.

TRBenj wrote: Ha, that's pretty sweet. I'm surprised the holeshot looked that effortless- that's a lot of bodies to pull out of the water with just one prop, regardless of how much hp you've got! 42mph is no joke... Nice to see a plan come together like that! I'm guessing you didn't prop down based on the mph/rpm... Even more impressive. Next time line up 6-7 bodies and throw a 541 or 543 on there!

You are correct sir. That was with the 431. I guess I never even considered propping down. I would've lost some of my top end. Would be kinda fun to give that a go one time I suppose.

I had always envisioned five guys side-by-side all doing toe holds. Hell, I'd even take one foots. How cool of a pic would that be? At least I know if the skiers have the ability, it could be done.

backfoot100 wrote: Donald80SN wrote: That Boat sounds Bad A@s !!!! Funny you mention that Donald. We had a guy come down to the dock (who owns a very sweet and super clean 81 BFN) who heard the first few runs and had to come down and see what was going on. He lives, as he put it " just up over the hill". Just exactly like my sig line says

Hey Eddie,
That was Bob Jessie, an ex Cypress Gardens skier and hang glider guy.

Another one from the front:

Awesome start, run and sound of that motor
Had to watch it again this morning while drinking coffee.....double jolt!

I thought Eddie called 4800 RPM at 42 MPH

I thought he said 3800 in the video but even at 4800, another 300-400rpm wouldn't be unwelcome! I don't know about holding that speed with 2 extra footers but I bet it'll hold footing speed!

It was indeed 42@4800. I tried to find my desktop dyno numbers for peak torque and HP but got sidetracked. I know I have it saved on my PC and will have look at that again. It might at least give some indication of what we could expect knowing WOT RPM and speed now with and without skiers in tow.