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CDMA
05-21-2001, 10:55 AM
Well it works!!!! Finished up some stuff Friday night and dragged the boat out east where I boat Saturday. Spent all of Saturday doing a few unexpected things. The throw on the old Morse shifter wasn’t long enough so we made a longer arm. That problem was cured. A couple other minor things and about 5 pm we dropped it in. Got about ½ an hour of easy run time in. Nothing to crazy and just got a feel for it. I started off with a 23 P mercuiser cleaver and by the end of the day it was clear that it was too much prop. Thanks to one of the all time great Donzi guys, PaulO, I was able to get a 21 P cleaver that night. It was a late night and still was really unsure about that alpha conversion especially since this is the first 18 I know of to run Lh steering with a Rh drive. Early Sunday morning the boat went back in and I put about 3 hours on it. All I can say is what a difference. No GPS reading yet but it feels A LOT faster than last year. Using the wild ass guess I am thinking 5+ mph with no engine changes at all. The 21 cleaver pulls up to about 4700 rpm and the Lh steering works just fine. I have no tabs yet and while I have not been in the boat alone yet with 2 people in the boat and the cleaver the boat runs almost perfectly level. I still may need the tabs when I try running alone but the necessity that some say to have a right hand helm with a right hand prop isn’t all that bad. Now I know this will cause some disagreement but the Alpha is far superior to the Volvo WITHIN it’s power restraints. If you want to run 400+ hp I think the alpha is cooked but for a stock or near stock SBC the alpha just is better. It doesn’t shift as nice for sure but the trim, power steering, control; one finger on the wheel at 60+ is all worth it. I cannot stress how pleased I am with the conversion. It is the single best thing I have yet to do to my 18. The x dimension is also very noticeable. I think it definitely picked up a few mph there and also it handles very different than PaulO’s old 18 with a stock x alpha. For example, I expected this, when you were running in Paul’s old 18 you could trim the bow to the sky. Literally you could lever so much of the boat out of the water with the drive. My trim has ¼ the effect of his. While I can notice a running altitude difference not nearly as much as his had. However this said I think I still gained speed even with less trim. In hindsight I do not thing my actual x went up the full 2.5 I was shooting for maybe more like 1.5 –2 but it works great. No ventilation getting on plane or turning.

I can not stress the difference. With the exception of the shifting everything is better. The boat is much more in control and while it still can get away from you it is more fast now than just scary. Much more confidence inspiring…

Regrets…. Would have like to go up a little higher on the x but that is my fault. I am running the trim through the old tilt switch for the Volvo. That is unacceptable. Way to far away. Kill switch-hits my knee. And oh yeah countless hours.

So time to enjoy it a little. Work on my trailer maybe a new engine and admire my ugly mug in my beautiful paint. Also would like to try a mirage and just see how much difference the round ear hub makes….oh and some detailed gps readings so we can see the numerical gains of a volvo – alpha conversion with nothing changed to the engine….should be interesting.

I am happy to talk to anyone interested in such a conversion.

Chris

BERTRAM BOY
05-21-2001, 02:14 PM
Chris,
I'm intersested to know at what speed you start to chine walk? What was the speed before you raised the X dimention? I usually never had a problem getting on plane with 2 people in the boat, but 4 is completely different story, but then again I was running a cleaver.

Scott Pearson
05-21-2001, 03:12 PM
Chris,
Sounds like it went great. Im glad to hear the port steering worked with the drive. I hope I'm as happy as you. I will be putting my boat in the water to test in 2 weeks. I would not try this weekend coming up. It will be too crowded.

I ended up using a 16 foot steering cable. It worked out great! It was just right.


(NJ)Scott

RickR
05-21-2001, 03:42 PM
Way to go! You've been busy!

Glad to hear the left hand steering worked. You might have more list with a round ear.
Is the prop surfacing with the raised X?
Geuine Trouble'X is up 1.25" and the prop surfaces at high speed/trim angles.

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RICKR
mailto:riggerb@aol.comriggerb@aol.com</A>

GEOO
05-21-2001, 06:14 PM
Chris, Sounds like she's running well. You'll have to bring me for a ride. Can't wait til you start the next project!!! I have those parts. Call me and we'll hook up one of these days. GEOO

CDMA
05-21-2001, 08:14 PM
Bertram boy,

I was running 58 with the same engine stock x Volvo 280 14x22 volvo ultra. No problem planing off with 5 people. I am not sure if it was actually chine walked but the boat was hairy. Jumped around at WOT and could be a real scary ride on occaision. The raised x alpha is in complete control. Trimmed up as far as I would ever want to no chine walk, no bow hunting or anything...I would almost call it predictable. Hole shot is as good as the stock x volvo ( I think due to trim) and no problem planing off 4 people with a cleaver prop.

Chris

Geoo rough week at school but will try to be in touch.

Rick

I feel no ventilation...how can I tell if prop is out of water???

RickR
05-21-2001, 09:12 PM
That type of ventilation is not a problem and will improve performance with the correct prop.
In Genuine Trouble you can feel the vibration and speed increases.


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RICKR
mailto:riggerb@aol.comriggerb@aol.com</A>

Jamesbon
05-22-2001, 08:29 AM
Congrats! Yeah, while the Volvo's are reliable and shift smooth, nothing beats power steering and trim/tilt. I think I've dreamt (dreamed??) about that before. What a feling.

Look what happened to my neighbors Volvo drive when pushed by a radical 502 in a 24' Cigarette...needless to say, he is on the hunt for a Bravo...

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1229726&a=12610062&p=48936857

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1229726&a=12610062&p=48936856

PaulO
05-22-2001, 08:44 AM
That's too bad. I guess he realized that painting it black didn't make it a Bravo!! http://www.donzi.net/ubb/wink.gif
PaulO

Forrest
05-22-2001, 02:16 PM
Ouch!!!

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Forrest