Havasu this week

[toyotafreak]

Hey, small papas to be lost in the midst of another awesome roundup, Powell pics, etc. but I wanted to give you guys the stats on our nine-night, 8.5 lake day trip to Havascrew. One day was on our friends' Centurion Avalanche.

29.7 engine hours, 98.9 gallons for 3.33 GPH. This was a mix of no-wake zone idling, 11-people cruising, small crew ballasted, some nice 25 mph cruising and more high 30's cruising than we've done before. On a side note, the VERY best way to finish a day at Havasu is to take the last wakeboarding set down at the dam, then race like hell all the way back to town (15 or 18 miles) to try to beat the darkness. We really burned some fuel one night :-) That day our Centurion buddy (350 Magnum) burned 22 gallons. We did 30 gallons over the three days including that day.

Fest, after having a boatfull for several of the days, I see why a HUMONGOUS 247 might be WAY more comfortable than our v-drive Epics. Trying to maneuver all the stuff (anchors, ice chests, chests, kids, boards, lunch, bags, etc.....was pretty much non stop work for me. We've got a 7-month old so everybody's kinda on tip toes while he's cruising around the boat. What a friggin trooper he was - our best river kid yet. He's like me though - if I start fussing, she's just got to whip out the boob and it's all good.

I learned that there is a sort of steering in reverse - by moving the wheel you can get either more or less right turn. Still suck for sure, even after ~200 hours. At this point I just know the situations I don't want to get into - but once in them, still can't get out. I've learned though there's not much wrong besides losing style points for putting her in neutral instead of trying to force a bad situation.

Anyhoo, on with the saga. Got a new board finally - 2006 CWB Flame 141 with 2006 Hinge tech Torqs. Compared to my old board, this thing's got some serious pop. Maybe not Parks pop, but a lot of pop. I've finally had a fun set behind my S22 without ballast. Put that thing on edge, stand tall and wham! Then again, with added length, width, rocker type and amount, different tail shapes and riding finless, there's a lot to learn, or relearn. Fun pop, but sent me back to basics. Still prefer the ride with at least the 750 in the center of the boat.

Best of all, no injuries, no boat damage, no fighting, no mechanical issues whatsoever. Once again, our monster bimini kept us fresh for nine days inthe Arizona desert. The whole aft cockpit's covered at noon.

Will post a few pics soon. Includinga real life ram.


I love my Epic.

[festivus]

those are the trips that I wait all year for.  Glead to hear you had an "Epic" time.  What did you think of your friend's Avalanche?   I've never been on one.  Can't wait for the pictures!

[toyotafreak]

They got their boat new right after I got mine (unrelated I think) which would make it June 2003. It's an Avalanche with the walkthrough deal on the stbd side of the engine. There's storage under it, so it's not like it goes all the way down, but they like it because you can walk into the cockpit without having to track all over the upholstery. The hull and freeboard seems really deep in the center of the boat - the driver sits high and the bow cushions are pretty darn deep. The walkway and bow area are a little busy between ice chests, etc., but the playpen is good size. Our Epics are much more anatomical when you're sitting in the bow facing forward, but there's not as much leg room to kick your feet up as in the Avalanche.

The wake is really fun in that even fairly light, I find myself launching up well with a strong edge and still landing short at times. I've had some of my best sets behind that boat. Much steeper than ours when light, but much more prone to rolling edges when slow. Since the wake's steep you want to go slow... Friday night we had five good sized adults, two kids and the full small internal ballast (think it's 500). It was a little ugly at our normal speed, but had good size and kick. My S22 with that same wake would've been less steep, but much cleaner and maybe more firm. Less pop perhaps, but more confidence-inspiring to charge a little harder with a little more control.

The big thing with the Avalanche is the ride. It's vee is so deep and with all the bracing (see busy walkway/bow area note above) she's as solid as a rock and slices through big chop. I haven't really compared the two hull surfaces very well, but think the main differences are more vee front and back, the chines ours has outboard of the chin area (think those are the right terms, but not sure), and a lack of lifting strakes on his. Our chines make like pockets to trap spray or whatever really early in the hull - when the bow knifes into a wave, I think the water rushes up (across lifting strakes) and crashes into these spray pocket chines. IIRC, the strakes give both directional stability (vert surfaces) and lift (horizontal surfaces), but have to roughen the ride a little. Without the lifting strakes, his boat might give up a little planing time, but cuts through chop with less resistance. I know our boats (hull construction and everything attached to it) is solid, but good chop really beats the thing compared to his. We've got a relatively deep vee in back, and sure enough the ride in the back seat is good, but up front, when you enter chop it really jars compared to the Avalanche.

His boat is generally similar in quickness and speed to the S22 but holds speed much better. He does get good gas mileage, but we're still usually 25% better. I mentioned the half hour speed run - if he burned 22 that day, we may have burned 10 to 15 - I remember the gauge reading 3/4.

Nutshell, his 2003 Avalanche with 350 Mag rides awesome, throws a fun wake when light and makes good use of space. Of course the construction materials weren't in the same class as our Epics, but the got a lot for what they spent - it's not cheap, though, don't get that impression.