Troy85

^^^^^ I would imagine this would be the second most embarrassing thing that could happen on the ramp. With the 1st being, not tying your boat properly and having it float away.

I used to have a manual transmission. The way I did was when I was ready to pull forward off the ramp, put the truck into gear but leave the E-Brake on. Give the engine a little throttle and let the clutch out slowly until you feel the transmission starting to engage, you will feel the truck trying to overpower the E-Break. When you feel that, just release break and you should pull right out of the water.

If the ramp is wide enough for two boats to launch at the same time, don't back right down the middle of the ramp.

I have the H18 with Hyper-Lift hull. Quickly gets up on top, and very smooth ride. I am not disappointed with it one bit.

I may be heading to the Mobile River delta in Mid March for a weekend. Planning on bringing the boat so I wanted to ask. Anyone have experience fishing the Mobile Delta for bass? Is the fishing good? Any special techniques or baits you recommend for this time of year? Troy

I know this post is kind of old but. After the time springs forward, there is a weekly tournament at bayou signette boat launch in Westwego. It's every Wednesday night, 5pm till safe light. Cost is $6 per person, you can fish alone or team doubles. You don't have to be in a club to fish, but I know a lot guys that fish it are in clubs, it would be a good way to make some contacts and an easy and cheap way to get into tournaments. You could bring your boat or try to hitch a ride. There are usually 20ish boats that show up when weather is nice, when august rolls around it will average about 12-15 boats. i also know of 2 different open tournaments that fish the pearl river system. If ur interested in those I can give you more info. My thumb is tired from typing on my phone

Haha...I should have paid him extra so he could guarantee limits.

Boat seems to be running great now. Took it out yesterday, it ran 46 with me and 1 passenger. It seems to be running like a champ. Now if only the weekend would hurry up and get here! Thanks for all the info and help everyone. Troy

I know a few years ago they used to have No Fishing signs around the ponds at Audubon park, I haven't really tried to fish out there, so I don't know if they enforce it or not. City Park is usually where I go after work to fish. I have caught several 2-4 pounders in City park. Lafreniere Park out in in Kenner has a pond, I've seen people fishing in it. I've never fished there, so I can't say if its any good. Most of the bank is lined with cement, so it's kind of a turn off for me, haha.

I left the 19 pitch inside the boat when I dropped it off. The mechanic said he would take the 15 pitch off, and put the original 19 pitch back on for me. He said that motor would have hit the rev limiter with that 15 pitch, if it had been firing on all 4 cylinders.

The shop ran a diagnostic on the engine and found that the fuel injector on number 3 cylinder isn't opening. I had them check all the fuel lines between the tank and the engine, they said the lines seemed ok. The mechanic is going to pull and clean then test all the injectors, and pull apart and clean/replace filters inside the VST tank. He said it should be done not later than Wednesday, but he may have it done this afternoon. I'll take it out and run it again and let yall know how it goes. Thanks for all your help so far. Troy

I maxed out at 39 with just me and low fuel, with the 19P prop, that was going with the wind, against the wind it was about 37. I brought the boat to the shop this morning to have the engine checked out, hopefully they have a chance to look at it today. The suspense is killin me.

I will have to try this, thanks for the info.

Sorry. The specs was a typo its H18, I corrected it. The stock prop was a 19 pitch, but it wouldn't even get on plane this morning. It would only hit about 3500 while plowing thru the water. The 15 pitch did allow us to plane, but it seemed painfully slow and still could only go about 33-34mph. We didn't fill the livewells to trouble shoot, the bass started biting

Thanks for the links, I was just looking them over. I'm thinking it may be some kind of engine issue, I just spoke with a dealer and the recommended a 17 pitch prop for that boat/motor combo. They said the 15 pitch that we put on as a test was way under propped. Which makes me think, if the motor is under propped, shouldn't the engine not have trouble reaching max RPM at WOT? Assuming the engine is running as it should.

I just purchased a 2009 Xpress H18 with Yamaha 115 4-Stroke. I took it out the other day for a spin, just me, about 10 gallons of fuel and 3 batteries.. Running WOT the engine would only turn about 4900 RPMs and top speed was about 39mph. I thought maybe the engine just needed a tune up, since I has sat idle for a few years. I changed fuel filter, plugs, oil and lower unit oil and put fresh gas in the tank and some sea-foam. I take the boat out again after the above maintenance, this time its me, my brother, 3 batteries, and about 25 gallons of fuel. The boat wouldn't even get on a plane, the engine was maxing out at about 3500 RPMs. It would just plow thru the water with the bow high in the air, I tried adjusting trim, but could not get it up on plane. I had my brother get out, and still the boat would not get on top of the water. Boat came with a 19 pitch prop, so we put a 15 pitch on there just to test. With the 15 pitch prop, the boat would get on top of the water with both of us, but it did take longer than I think it should, the boat will plow thru the water before finally getting up on top of the water. With the 15 pitch, we could get the engine to about 5700 WOT with an empty livewell, if the livewell was full it would only turn about 5400, max speed at this point is about 34mph. Basic specs: Xpress H18. Yamaha 115 4-stroke, 6" manual jackplate. Now to my questions. 1. What should be the normal performance for this boat with a 115? Does anyone here have this same setup and maybe give me an idea of what to expect? How is the hole shot? What is average top speed? 2. If this in an engine issue, what could be the cause? Engine seems to run smooth. Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm hoping its an engine issue, because if this the normal performance of this boat, I will be greatly disappointed. Troy