Tideline Boats

You mentioned that you liked the tower that was on your buddies boat. If you are thinking that you may end up wanting a tower on yours, make sure you go with digital controls from the get go, it will make the tower option much cleaner and easier later. If you want digital controls from the engine makers (versus aftermarket ones) this will narrow down your engine choices a lot. Just something to keep in mind.

Hey Dman, I could use a little more info to really help narrow down the problem. It definately sounds like something is off though. Let me see if I can help with what is provided though. I will guess the engine is a 1999 saltwater yamaha 115 2 stroke. If so the gear ratio is 2:1, and the WOT rpm range is 4500 to 5500. So you are bumping up against the max wot rating, which is good. (I assume you are not hitting any rev limiters, not sure if they were even on those engines) The biggest question is what prop are you currently running? (pitch and diameter should be marked somewhere on the prop) With a gear ratio of 2:1 and running at 5500 RPM, even a pretty low pitched prop (lets guess 15" pitch) should be getting you in the neighborhood of 35 mph if you are seeing 10% prop slip. My guess is you are seeing massive amounts of prop slip. First and foremost, you are likely going to want to switch to a 4 blade SS prop. Most single engine cats will perform much better with a 4 blade prop versus a 3 blade. I would also look for a 4 blade that has a decent amount of cupping. If you can get a good estimate on your boat weight, current prop specs, and some good numbers on current performance; give the guys at propgods.com a call and get their advice. My guess is you are going to want a 4 blade with about 14" or 15" in pitch, but that will greatly depend on comparing to what you are currently running. Hope this helps, good luck.

I think alloy boats have a lot of positives. From a marketing standpoint, I always assumed the biggest hurtles to overcome were the lack of alloy to take on sexy compound curves and the noise/sound of the boats in rough water. They are certainly tough and are well suited to lots of applications. What is the pricing like on a welded aluminum boat versus the same hull build in a female mold for glass?

Also, for those boatbuilders like ourselves that are factory direct, it gives us a chance to get our actual boats in front of large numbers of people. We continuously here from people that come to see our boat, that it is much bigger in person and pics don't represent it well. For us, ads and forums and such are a great way to spark an interest in our boats. But it is giving people a chance to crawl over one and really look at it (particularly ride one at certain boat shows) that converts lookers to customers. This doesn't even factor in all the other vendors that are at boat shows, besides just the actual boats. I have yet to ever go to a big boat show where I didn't find some product I thought was very useful and had never heard of before. It also lets a potential boatbuyer another unique oppurtunity, getting special add ons discussed with his builder. For instance, we had a customer really want a bow pulpit for our 19 foot boat. We had never looked at doing this before and were not sure how feasable it would be. So as the show wound down that evening, we were able to walk about and actually get three seperate pulpit/windlass guys to come over to our boat, take measurements and give us some good options. Don't overlook how helpful this can be if you are considering having a baot built for you. And don't forget, boat shows are just fun.

Great video Wiley. I never got to the convention center for any amount of time, so look forward to all the photos. Next time track me down for a test ride, we appreciate the quick cameo of us leaving the slip.