Making Progress

[ffjpowell]

Dang Diggin, if it weren't for bad luck u wouldn't have any luck. I will be in CS for memorial, running out with Jason (blackwater) on Saturday with the family. Give me a shout

[Tony480]

Damn that sucks.....I would be irrate. You've had nothing but bad luck

[Birddog247]

I would have sent them the whole boat!

[DynaMarine]

The rest of the story goes....I offered to ship out a new mill finish 2.5 (that's what's in stock, no anodize) so that his boat wouldn't be down for memorial day weekend. He chose not to go that route and Greg is not paying for any shipping (as he shouldn't have to) to have his box repaired.

He called me this morning and had a UPS return label after lunch.

Once I get his box back I'll be sure and share the cause of failure, I know some of you enjoy that.

Thanks,

[digginfool]

Please, everyone needs to know I'm not making any statement about the box, Ballistic, Shane or anyone else. And, it is exactly as Shane stated; I alerted him to the issue, he offered me a replacement box to use so I wasn't down. I turned it down so we don't have to go through the hassle of shipping back and forth. Plus, I still have my Stinger that I can put back on the boat if I need. Shane has continuously proven that he stands behind his products. That's one of the reasons I bought a Ballistic. Like I said; sheet happens. I just got lucky. So, you guys in the peanut gallery can keep your flappers to yourselves.

[digginfool]

One of the first things I noticed was how silky smooth the gears are when I turned it by hand. Once I got the old box off, just for comparison, I spun it by hand as well. It initially was very smooth then got progressively tighter until very tight, to the point I was pulling pretty hard on the drive plate to turn it. Then, suddenly got easy again. After a couple of pulls on the drive plate, the tightness returned and the process repeated, just to get easy again.

BTW, I don't believe I ever let you guys know how the old box turned out. Sharon at Stinger explained that this is perfectly normal with a box that is still breaking in. They set the tolerances very close when new and allow the gears to lap themselves in. During the process, high spots can develop, which is where the gear would get tight. Eventually, as the gears 'get to know each other better,' the box would be uniformly smooth.

[digginfool]

Dang Diggin, if it weren't for bad luck u wouldn't have any luck. I will be in CS for memorial, running out with Jason (blackwater) on Saturday with the family. Give me a shout

Will do. We haven't decided what we're going to do now that the barge is down. We might go to the Keys but I hate that place on holiday weekends. Traffic is bad enough on a regular weekend but Memorial Day weekend is second only to mini-season. It just plain sucks. You can't go anywhere unless it's on the water. Even then, between the water-Nazis and the drunks, better off staying at the dock. With that being said, might just end up hangin' around the house and take the sled out. If we stay, and you have time, I'll have you over to the house for a beer. Or two or three or...

[ffjpowell]

Sounds good buddy. Saturday night is my Dad's 75th surprise B day party. So will have to be Sunday if Ur in town. I will Holla at ya. Saturday we r going out with blackwater for a tour. Leaving stubb btw 9-10. Hitting camps and letting Jason do his thing.

[digginfool]

It basically took a month but the Ballistic is back and on the boat. Added another degree of pitch to the prop when I reinstalled it so now I'm running 15 degrees of pitch, measured 4 inches in from the tip of the winglet. Lost some of the snap but what I gained in cruise makes up for it. With Elevator Guy, me, a full tank of fuel and a cooler, we cruised at 3,300 RPM at 30 mph. That's a prop speed of only 1,320 RPM so it made for a very quiet ride. On top, hit 5,300 RPM and 52 mph. Would like to have seen a little more top end but we were also running into a very stiff breeze (15 - 20 mph). I figure the boat is probably good for 54, maybe 55 mph. That's plenty fast enough for what we do. Most of the time just cruising anyway. I think I finally got it dialed in.